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

I can drive a car and have a degree.

I think I might swap for being a lawyer as training clearly isn't an obstacle. ££££££

I know nothing about teachers salary scales but the U.K. don’t pay teachers anywhere near enough. £30k is too low for a teacher. No wonder so many move abroad where their skills and qualifications are properly recognised.

@Parker231

I know nothing about teachers salary scales but the U.K. don’t pay teachers anywhere near enough. £30k is too low for a teacher. No wonder so many move abroad where their skills and qualifications are properly recognised.

Definitely.

Here is the pay scale for England. You can see why the government talks of making the starting salary £30k has some interesting implications, especially when you consider that they haven’t mentioned increasing any other point on the pay scale.

@OverTheRainbowLiesOz

I can drive a car and have a degree.

I think I might swap for being a lawyer as training clearly isn't an obstacle. ££££££

Dh is a solicitor. I sat opposite him for several minutes this when we both worked from home. From what I can tell it involved lots of telephone calls, mostly chatting about how people are and how they're getting on not being in the office, and lots of making cups of tea.

I reckon I could swap

I’m retired (was UPS3 and a TLR) but the job I have now in FE - which utilises all my teaching skills - pays about £23000 (full time, I work 0.8). So a little more than a van driver it seems. Frankly, they’re bloody lucky to have me and I’m financially OK because of my pensions, but it’s a bit annoying to be so undervalued. I like the job though so I’ll stay for now.

Independent SAGE report on schools here www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Safe-schools-v4b1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2Q4zYc173vQ1CwJ-qiWvya8EBQVF8HuHdIFLxEgvNmjA-reLsLKECwxX4

Sage - at long last.

Now the government, MP's, academy heads and parents need to support teachers instead of putting them in ICU.

That's independent sage though.

I hope they won't be ignored.

Unfortunately they are being depicted as a fringe group in the media

Well, Independent SAGE is reporting that SAGE is now agreeing transmission is happening in schools & etc.

Also, the only people I have seen saying that Indie SAGE is less than mainstream have been the very odd far right harpies on here, repeating like parrots that schools have to stay open, ECosse and Us4Them and their sock puppets. As I remember. Not sensible posters engaging in reasoned argument. I'm not sure what the popular view would be, but Indie Sage are regularly in the media?

Good grief, a report which backs up what teachers have known for a long while. There was an independent SAGE adviser on C4 (??) evening news on Friday and she was fantastic - calm, knowledgeable and articulate.

That's a great report of current conditions and what needs to happen. Seems the government got out ahead of it effectively banning local decisions.

BBC reporting yesterday and today about the impact on schools. Is the government about to spring something on us?
BBC News - Covid and schools: 'Children know things aren't right'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55105275

Having seen Chris Whitty, JVT and others spout lines that they are clever enough to know aren’t true or not the full picture, it’s clear that the government isn’t following the science but the science is following the government. It has been so disappointing.

Let’s hope that the mainstream Sage people start to realise that they’ll catch the flak when it all goes pear-shaped very soon (and when people start to realise that they’re coming out of lockdown into restrictive tiers because lockdown was scuppered by schools being open) and begin to change their tune.

Let’s hope that the mainstream Sage people start to realise that they’ll catch the flak when it all goes pear-shaped very soon (and when people start to realise that they’re coming out of lockdown into restrictive tiers because lockdown was scuppered by schools being open) and begin to change their tune

This.

I'm gobsmacked by the bread and circuses approach by the UK government. Irresponsible crowd pleasers.

I think it's been a long time coming. There's been such a sustained dumbing down of print journalism and tv news reporting and of politics itself. I can't watch or read the bbc for example because it's so patronisingly light and clearly emotive eg steering of the audience as to what they should think or feel.

I think it helps that I've had semi regular periods of living overseas through my adult life so I get to actually see how much things change whilst I'm away by the contrast to before itms. As opposed to the gradual turning up the heat on the frog in the pot effect.

@lonelyplanet that picture was yet another bizarre class of only 2 people in an empty room!!!

I think now its clear the govt know the risks but are happy to pretend they are not there or cary on regardless. Its shocking. I dont know if its beacuse they are scared of losing parent's vote (childcare - but still these repeated 2 weeks isolation are hardly better) or if its a calculated risk with an acceptable level of ill health/death

Hilariously, now, those pictures with few kids in ARE looking more and more like reality - not because of planned social distancing/spread out classes, but because of how many kids are off self-isolating or positive .