Do any teachers out there think schools should stay open?

[YouAreMySunshine123]

Just wondering if you ALL think they should be closed again?

My dd is a secondary school teacher and all the secondary school teachers she knows want them to close. Incidentally she thinks primary could stay open. In the very least secondary school should be one week on, one week off with the teachers full time.

She is mixing with 450 non socially distanced 16-18 year olds daily. She's young and catching covid probably wouldn't be a problem. She works with loads of teachers up to the age of 70. I'm also concerned about her bringing it home to me.

I am a TA. I hope schools stay open! Let us look after your kids! A lot of them are not doing so well at home, for different reasons. Some of them are nurtured and cared for at school better than at home...

@TheKeatingFive

All secondary schools in Ireland have mandatory masks all day!

I’m not sure how well that’s being enforced, but even so, it’s an easy fix. Why aren’t the NEU campaigning for this rather than 4 week closures?

Our MN teachers in Ireland all say it's been accepted without any problems from students.

Good question on why unions were not more proactive earlier in the year in calling for these safety measures?

My DH is a primary school teacher. He’s very relieved not to have to teach yr 1s online. He wants schools to stay open.

I want them to stay open but I want them to be safe.
Parents need to drop and go, no mingling, and other rules should be followed. It's not fair that we're open with just hand gel and open windows to protect us while people are still going to be having gatherings with extended family and friends, play dates and birthday parties like they did in the first lockdown.

I want schools to stay open so that we can:
1/. Continue to safeguard vulnerable children and support vulnerable families
2/. Ensure that children can socialise and be with their friends and that young children can learn and play together
3/. Give children the best education we possibly can in the given circumstances so they are prepared for whatever their next phase of education is
4/. Provide the child care that parents need to minimise the utter catastrophe to our economy

What do we need in order to achieve this:
1/. cancel ofsted - it’s causing school to continue to try and do BAU in the most ridiculous circumstances. It causes unbelievable stress in normal times .... It’s an subjective arbitrary view from someone who has precisely 6 hours knowledge of the school. Pointless at the best of times; ridiculous at the moment
2/. HT/CEO need to stop trying to do BAU.... pare back PfM and development plans and the like to focus on the essentials (see list above) and do that really well. Someone on this thread mentioned “learning walks” .... WTF!! No ... I’ve cancelled all school improvement activities that aren’t directly linked to the above
3/. Money ..... we need money to do this. Cleaning costs; supply teachers cost .... I’m burning through my budget and will end up spending every penny of reserves carefully saved to repair crumbling buildings and to buy resources on Covid
4/. Parents .... you need to be reasonable ... particularly those of children with SEND. Im so very sorry but we can not provide all the additional support while constantly managing with 15/20% less staff. I can’t magic a 1-2-1 support worker out of thin air when your child’s support worker is isolating /looking after their own children who are isolating. We don’t have ‘spare.’ I’m sorry but I just can’t and screaming at me and threatening me with ofsted, lawyers etc doesn’t make one appear. We are trying our very best and children with SEND are our number 1 priority but sometimes interventions and additional support simply aren’t possible. And other parents, if the teacher is having to focus her attention on these children due to the lack of other support; please just cut us some slack. We aren’t ignoring your child , we are prioritising need.
5/. Exams - in primary - cancel they are pointless anyway. Let us teach them what they need to learn. Secondary .... sort out teacher assessment NOW and so we know what we are working to. Some kids will have multiple weeks of disruption some will get luck and have none. Some kids will have parents who can support home learning and even tutors and some won’t. Just stop with the crazy idea they can take them in a fair way and let teachers assess the kids and send them off equip for whatever comes next. No one gives a fuck if it’s not exactly ‘equivalent’ to a GCSE pre-pandemic

Yes teachers want schools to stay open - especially teachers with kids!

I'm going to go against the grain.

I think we need to close schools to all but keyworkers for this 4 week lockdown to bring cases down further and faster. I then think we should switch to blended learning in Secondary. I think this would allow us to keep most other parts of our economy going with far fewer restrictions in the medium term.

I think the NEU is right. I think SAGE was right to call for an earlier lockdown. I think people do not see what is needed until it is too late and most people do not understand the nature of exponential growth.

I also think teachers should continue to attend schools in lockdown (without kids, schools are pretty much the safest places ever) and that we should offer a combination of both live and recorded lessons with support available over this period. It wouldn't be necessary for every teacher to live teach every class nor record every class.

I work across many schools.

Yes, teachers want school to be open.
Of course they want them to be safe, for their pupils and their families and for themselves, other staff and families.
I've had a TA die in the last week or so, horrendous for everyone, including the seven year olds asking if it is their fault. We worry about MH, these children really are having it tough.

School staff are doing an amazing job but I've not ever seen such a demoralised and stressed workforce. HT's and us as LA staff are dealing with this 24/7 and have been since March.
I've numerous emails this morning, ECV staff asking what lockdown means for them; HT's asking how they can remain open without ECV staff (or do they insist they work and be responsible for illness or death). We don't know yet, DfE updates due tomorrow.

There needs to be some planning ahead, some creative thinking, flexibility and funding.
Even ventilation systems would be a bonus. Teaching all day, windows open throughout the winter is going to be nearly impossible. I supported interviews in a school in September with the windows open, we couldn't hold a pen by the afternoon, it was freezing!
Quality of learning is going to be affected.

Without support around staffing or a par time offer to pupils schools will close simply because there are not enough adults to keep them open.

@Nellodee

I'm going to go against the grain.

I think we need to close schools to all but keyworkers for this 4 week lockdown to bring cases down further and faster. I then think we should switch to blended learning in Secondary. I think this would allow us to keep most other parts of our economy going with far fewer restrictions in the medium term.

I think the NEU is right. I think SAGE was right to call for an earlier lockdown. I think people do not see what is needed until it is too late and most people do not understand the nature of exponential growth.

I basically agree that this makes sense.

Though of course, I can also see why people want for many reasons to keep schools open.

TA here. Want them open. I don't understand you op because our school and my sons school stayed open throughout the first lockdown for vulnerable children and keyworkers children.

At a minimum do you think making mask wearing compulsory in secondary schools for pupils and teachers would help? x

Stay open vote from me.

I also think teachers should continue to attend schools in lockdown (without kids, schools are pretty much the safest places ever) and that we should offer a combination of both live and recorded lessons with support available over this period. It wouldn't be necessary for every teacher to live teach every class nor record every class.

Teacher here. If I'm in school teaching live lessons to an empty classroom where is my 7 year old son? Home alone? And if you then have keyworker groups how can I teach remotely to some and in person to others?

I don't think some teachers necessarily want schools to be shut, they do perhaps want parents to pull children out en masse so they end up with KW / vulnerable children only.

I'm a primary school TA and want schools to stay open.

More funding would be great. The stocks of sanitiser and cleaning equipment are running low. We're also having to cross into other bubbles to provide cover as there is no money to pay for cover staff. We take all the precautions that we can but are all too aware that it's far from ideal.

Staff stress levels are high. We're all running to very strict timetables to ensure that class bubbles aren't coming into contact with each other in corridors, halls, and outdoor areas. Even the slightest delay can have a ripple effect across the rest of the school.

The difference in the children since September makes it worthwhile. They're happier, more settled, and and are far more ready to learn. One of my favourite things has been seeing the happiness when a child returns from self-isolating and the welcome they get from their classmates. Some days you'd think a small celebrity had just walked in to the room. :o

So keep the schools open but make sure that the staff are supported in keeping them that way.

@ChristopherLillicrap it's certainly better for the kids!

More funding, more supply teachers sounds like a better use of funding than furloughing all the parents & footing the mental health bill further down the line.

@Bbq1 other parents need to work. They can't do this as well as the job of teacher. ALL Kids need socialisation. What is confusing?

Not all parents are key workers or furloughed.

Primary teacher here, yes I want them to stay open. My colleagues feel the same.

I agree with schools being open but I think we should have transparent face masks for the classroom. I think all classrooms should have windows that open. I think we should have better access to tests that keep us in the classroom more if we just have colds. I think schools should receive funding so we can pay for cleaning, ppe and supply teachers. I also think the gov should have kept its laptop promises.

I'm pleased that many teachers want schools to remain open

I teach Primary and definitely want schools to stay open. Having said that, I work in a one form entry school which feels very safe. I probably wouldn't be able to say that if I worked at the huge comprehensive down the road.

Surely the answer to this question will vary greatly depending on what area you live in, and hence how safe or otherwise you feel?
At a minimum masks should be used by upper years in secondary. I think switching to half classes would also have a big impact, this would of course be blended learning but the numbers in school would be vastly reduced while maintaining an education.