To think schools should be shut during lockdown.

[Ilovegreentomatoes]

So shutting down everything but keeping schools open.AIBU to think that a lockdown should involve schools closing as well.Have been about six cases in my dds secondary zero social distancing and is just defeating the object of a lockdown as it has now been proven that schools,colleges etc can easily spread the virus.

@echt

So I’m assuming you have no children of school age or perhaps you home school then if you do?

Why do you imagine that all opinions are motivated by purely personal concerns?

Because no one I know thinks the same. My child’s teacher this morning was horrified at the prospect of the petition trying to force closure. I can ONLY think this desire to rob more education from our children whilst driving their mental health further down the toilet is motivated by petty personal concerns.

@Fawnfour

I do have 3 children all school aged, we do not have the luxuries of being able to fully home school no. But we can do remote Learning. Covid is spreading like wildfire through schools. We are having a lockdown, schools need to close to benefit from a full lockdown, nobody is saying indefinitely.

Locally covid is not spreading like wildfire through the schools. Perhaps you are in a hotspot, I don’t know. But we’ve had one case in my child’s primary which no one else caught. We have one case in a local secondary that has a huge number of pupils. Sporadic cases in some other primaries I know of. Again, the track and trace worked great. No one else caught it.

I have had letters from the local authority telling us of the high attendance rates and low number of cases and to be wary of the hysterical media reporting.

Both my kids have been at school since august and not sent home once. Very little cases between staff and students (my SIL works in one of my kids schools).

So no way do I think the schools should close.

Excellent anecdata, Nickynacky

echt Sorry, am I not allowed to post about my own personal experiences with my children’s school?

@Nicknacky you see personal experience only counts here when its bad, so if you know 5 healthy 30 years olds with 3 children that have died from corona, that's fine, share your experience, if you know many dead or ill teachers, tell us about that, but if you know of a school where things are not that bad, well, that means nothing does it!

Schools aren't closing en masse and neither are teachers dying - this is a fact so why on earth should they shut. There is no justification for it .

I'm In a tier 3 area and we have had 1 case at our large primary and it was a member of office staff who is back fine and well.

Yes I am definitely listening, possibly not all but a lot of unions education monsters and local politicians are saying the same thing.
Like I said I am obviously in the minority.

Ministers

Which education minister is saying schools should shut?

TrustTheGeneGenie If I was posting a negative story then that poster would have been thanking me for my input😂.

Mumsnetters, our children’s education is NOT above the rights of teachers lives being protected. Sorry to break it to you so very entitled people.

Mumsnetters, our children’s education is NOT above the rights of teachers lives being protected. Sorry to break it to you so very entitled people.

Every European country going back into lockdown has decided that the benefits outweigh the risks. Similar to other sectors like healthcare, policing, food production, pharma, etc, etc.

@CallmeFP

Mumsnetters, our children’s education is NOT above the rights of teachers lives being protected. Sorry to break it to you so very entitled people.

Teachers lives aren't necessarily going to be lost though are they?

and for how long? shall we abolish education all together just in case a teacher contracts one of many infectious diseases that go around schools?

@TheKeatingFive

Mumsnetters, our children’s education is NOT above the rights of teachers lives being protected. Sorry to break it to you so very entitled people.

Every European country going back into lockdown has decided that the benefits outweigh the risks. Similar to other sectors like healthcare, policing, food production, pharma, etc, etc.

There are more mitigations in a lot of the other European countries though.

There are more mitigations in a lot of the other European countries though.

Fight for those then, not closures.

The Irish set up is very similar, masks at secondary being the major difference.

"Teachers lives aren't necessarily going to be lost though are they?"

Statistically there will be some, like in other professions. There are half a million teachers in the UK so eventually some teachers lives will be lost. There were 27 in the first wave also TA's and other school staff so there were something like 80 overall.

The issue I have as a teacher is that it is clear that the virus is spreading at a very high rate in schools in some areas and it is rife in some schools. No one is making any effort to mitigate this or introducing additional measures. Most staff will be fine but some will not.

It is also disruptive to the pupils at the school to especially those who isolate over and over again due to multiple cases a day.

@CallmeFP

Mumsnetters, our children’s education is NOT above the rights of teachers lives being protected. Sorry to break it to you so very entitled people.

So it’s about the lives of teachers? I thought it was the teachers driving this but apparently it’s now, although it is isn’t it?

*not

Closing schools is about the most unfair thing the government can do. Depriving children and teens of their education is punishing those who have the least to gain from a lockdown as they will be the least affected by the virus.

@walksen can you point to the data that says 80 teaching lives were lost as a direct result of transmission in a school?

I suppose you are deliberately misquoting me.

I never said 80 teacher's lives were lost.
Nor did I say this was a direct result of transmission in schools.

I couldn't prove how many doctors died from catching covid in hospital either as it is impossible to prove where a virus is contracted. The best you can do is study the DNA of virus strains to see which clusters are related.

I think primary schools should stay open. But I am confused as to why if the infection rate is so high in high school ages children that a rota system of attendance so half in and half home learning can not be introduced. It’s not the kids getting the virus - it’s passing it on to their vulnerable parents which is the issue.

Yes children and their education and their mental health is important - but some of these kids are from families whose parents are now struggling financially to provide for them. I think it’s crazy to be in a position where we need to have been unable to earn for a month but we can’t alter children’s timetabling so they can have a blend of in school and at home learning? And I really feel for the teachers especially the high school teachers. The government is trying to slow the spread - but just some how ok for teachers to be asked to teach in small classrooms with a demographics which has high transmission numbers?

Why would education ministers, unions and local politicians be saying the same thing if it wasn't true?

Can you please name these countless politicians who are calling for the education of our young people to be shut down?

And please take a look abroad, most educated societies are specifically keeping schools open.
They understand their value. They also understand the unintended consequences of closing them!

Statistically there will be some, like in other professions. There are half a million teachers in the UK so eventually some teachers lives will be lost. There were 27 in the first wave also TA's and other school staff so there were something like 80 overall.

So 80 school staff have died?