Secondary schools are totally stuffed, WELL-RESPECTED SCIENTISTS ADMIT

[noblegiraffe]

I don't normally get asked for an encore, more usually 'urgh, not another bloody thread', but per a request we have a follow-up to the resoundingly popular:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4078722-Secondary-schools-are-fucked-BOFFINS-ADMIT

Feedback has been received and acted upon re the title so hopefully that will temper the urge to complain.

Quick round-up of where we were at:

1. the infection rate is now highest in secondary school pupils in Y7-11, higher than uni students and sixth formers. They're not catching it at the pub...

2. The government/ONS put out misleading figures to suggest that teachers weren't at higher risk than NHS frontline workers, where actually looking at the data, they may well be. They fudged this by calling the largest group of teachers, who are at higher risk than frontline NHS staff 'teachers of an unknown type' and pretended they were irrelevant.

3. The DfE have changed the format of their attendance statistics report to remove the reference to how many hundreds of thousands of kids are currently isolating due to exposure to covid at school.

4. Boffins are cool

New info: The Guardian reports that teachers are being instructed to ignore app notifications to self-isolate by the school helpline and this might be a bad thing. They can't help themselves though, and have a lovely photo of a socially distanced classroom of lies at the top of the story.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/16/union-says-teachers-in-england-being-told-to-pause-covid-app-in-school

The dfe's only concern appears to be massaging figures and data :

schoolsweek.co.uk/trusts-quizzed-over-covid-cases-in-urgent-commission-for-education-secretary/

I guess we can expect a 'good news story' soon on rising attendance.

I wonder what it's actually going to take to make them take action....

So they go "ooh too many pupils are off school due to Covid

And instead of saying "how concerning - we must look at what we can do to prevent infections", they go "how can we stop pupils self isolating?".

Ffs

I wonder what it's actually going to take to make them take action....

When it starts to affect them or their families personally. And it will soon.

Have any teachers in your school been told to self isolate for teaching kids who then test positive?

Yes but Sen so we are very close and holding, cuddling, physical therapy a lot.

Have any teachers in your school been told to self isolate for teaching kids who then test positive?

The opposite, even for front-rowers. I've not seen any kids have to isolate because of teachers either. 2m innit.

No teachers but a couple of slt. Maybe they sat in an office with an infected child for ten minutes? Know they isolated due to identifying themselves as close contacts of infected year 11.

Know they isolated due to identifying themselves as close contacts of infected year 11.

Bloody tempting at the moment!!!!!

Presumably parents may have only been to the supermarket, but caught it from kids in school possibly even asymptomatic ones. But will have answered supermarket as the onky place they've been..

Partly why we're only getting online deliveries. DH and I go nowhere other than school drop and pick up. Yes we're fortunate we don't have to but if we catch it, it can ONLY be via our kids.

DD caught a bug and was ill over half term. She only had a runny nose but DH caught it 3 days after her symptoms started, had a fever and cough so got tested (negative) - the person doing it asked him where he'd been and he said nowhere - I caught it from my daughter. In the questions they ask people they should ask if they have school aged children.

Now schools in New York and Greece are/have closed they'll have to acknowledge they are creating a big part of the spread.
I feel for school staff it is awful at least here they and students are masked.

Going on our track record we'll keep going til the new year whereby it'll be either "Due to the shenanigans over Christmas we have no choice but to switch to remote learning" or "Based on new scientific evidence it turns out that surprisingly schools are the biggest contributor to infection spread and must close". Or as is now happening in some schools locally, they shut due to unsafe staffing levels. My eldest is due to sit mocks next week but is convinced they'll be all sitting at home instead.

They'll blame anything to avoid pointing out the risk at school.

That’s why I was suspicious about the supermarket percentage being so high compared to schools - do they honestly believe the majority of shoppers are less than 2 metres apart for at least 15 minutes of close contact? Not to mention the fact that the vast majority of shoppers/staff are wearing masks. Whereas in schools....

Surely the less self isolating kids do, the more adults will be exposed and more schools will be shut due to a lack of staff?

That seems terribly short sighted to me.

DH is a NQT and has been properly thrown into the fire. Pupils in two years are off school self isolating. He has had brief contact with them and is not allowed to self isolate. Yep, 2m! But the kids don't wear masks. DH makes sure he wears his the whole time now. He can't take any chances due to previously being hospitalised with pleurisy.

The bottom line is they don't want teachers taking time off.

Totally, Sansa!

I think this is happening why many (most?) schools seem to going from fine to bam, totally screwed. It's all the silent spread.

I’ve had kids in the front row test positive, been told no need to isolate despite that front row being well under 2m away, then come in the next day to find said front row has been shifted back another meter. Very curious!

Long term not allowing teachers to isolate must cause more problems? Because if they have been infected, they will be spreading it to a lot of students and other staff, potentially.

I feel like so many decisions in schools are being made in such a short sighted way at the moment, just to help the school limp along for another week or two =/

I feel like so many decisions in schools are being made in such a short sighted way at the moment, just to help the school limp along for another week or two.

I feel like this too. I am a primary supply teacher and have been shocked by the differences in the ways schools are dealing with things.
One school I went to had a y3 TA off with a positive test - bubble not closed. Teacher was then off (I don't know the reason), so they got a supply teacher (not me thankfully) in to cover the class 😮.

Another school are not allowing masks or visors in school at all. One teacher has tested positive and is quite ill at home, but still the head has made no changes. I even saw her sitting right up close to other members of staff who were in her office. Also seems to be no advice on opening windows or hand washing as each class was doing their own thing 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️
All of this feels like they just want to keep everything ticking along, with no fuss made. On the other hand, some schools I go to have put measures in place that make you feel valued and protected to a certain extent.

Now schools in New York and Greece are/have closed

Sorry I missed that, is there more info?

I’ve had kids in the front row test positive, been told no need to isolate despite that front row being well under 2m away, then come in the next day to find said front row has been shifted back another meter. Very curious!

Hmmm, curious would not be the word I'd use - devious? Recklessly endangering teacher and child health for attendance reasons? Sorry to hear that Nellodee. It makes me want to cry. They care more about having teachers in and the school open than truth and reality and spreading the disease. It's just awful. And so underhand and dishonest. And shortsighted too. Do you know who moved the front row back?

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/head-city-academy-bristol-school-4716727

Also some HT’s are encouraging teachers/students to get a test and return before the 14 days... 🙄

I mean what's the message to the kids there? Surely they know there's a positive case, they know the seats didn't used to be 2m away. Not all children are clueless. They will see the lies and deception and lack of care.

We tell children we want them to be honest, to care for others - but a lot of schools are taking actions that very very clearly are the exact opposite of these values. That break the rules we have (a close contact is less than 2m for 15 min) and the science we know about (the longer the exposure the higher the risk, especially indoors).

Children - certainly of secondary age - have access to this information - what must they think of the adults in this country?

My teens laugh at the stuff on the telly with the socially distanced kids "that's not what it's like at school, mum".

My eldest is a rule-follower, and the difference between the rules inside of school and out don't make any sense to him. Or me.
He's very worried about bringing the virus home to his grandparents. Understandably, I think.