Is a change beginning to happen regarding schools?

[Covidfears]

I’ve been noticing more articles lately in the mainstream press about the difficulties in schools (which will come as no surprise to most people). There’s also been some research which has basically confirmed that schools are driving infections. So, along with it looking like this lockdown has been a waste of time (due to schools being kept open to continue the spread) and people in power calling for Hull schools to be closed do we think that schools will be closing early for Christmas?

Is there any chance that blended learning or rotas will be coming in after the Christmas holidays?

We are a vulnerable family with children in primary school and the risk that sending them every day with no safety measures poses to our family is causing me huge amounts of stress.

Randemola,

It was hard for many teachers whose own dc were not being taught by their teachers. If they had been thus occupied, it would have cancelled out the problem.

For those of you with health anxiety, you should seek help with your mental anxiety.

How rude and dismissive.

I was anxious about my health because I have been told from day 1 I was vulnerable.
I was anxious as I knew going back to the classroom in the current situation, under the Government guidelines, was going to increase my risk.

And now I am anxious as there is no guarantee I will have acquired immunity, the situation hasn't changed, the risks in school are still the same, I will be working in exactly the same manner that led me to catching covid - oh, and now I have an extra health issue to consider if I caught it again! And I know that even moderate Covid can be dangerous in some situations.

What on earth will 'getting help/support' do to sort all that?

I guess I could leave my job - BUT I actually like my work and I'd really rather not retrain to do something that I would enjoy less.

Fingers crossed the vaccine works and I can have it at some point int he foreseeable future.
Fingers crossed for natural immunity.

MusicalDilemma would prefer unsafe schools to safer ones and accuses others of being selfish.

That’s all you need to know.

My husband has a heart condition : he can't even get a flu jab locally.

When you deregister, there is no requirement to do anything. No checks are made. We should be doing all we can to encourage them to be in mainstream education, no matter how that is delivered.

The only thing I am trying to sway is that they all get an equal education so that gap doesn't further increase.

Schools already have systems in place to reach those who need it including reduced time tables. However, they aren't allowed to use these policies. The blanket policy doesn't differentiate the needs of the school community, and how best they can deliver an full time education program.

The current set up is impacting the future working generation. There are those at home at the moment SI whilst their peers are sitting their mocks. It's an important point of their school life.

How many would have been able to sit them if they weren't in the current bigger class sizes? Will this figure even be released?

Don't we owe it to them to try different options rather than what they have?

Then what happens in January when the temperature levels really start to drop?

No way. We’d have to have an Ebola outbreak for schools to close again. Closing schools caused far more problems than it solved last time. Nobody is saying it’s a risk-free environment but closing them impacts far too much on too many people for it to be beneficial overall.

@TheSunIsStillShining - you don’t need to advocate and worry about the rest of us. Sort out your own situation, speak to your headmaster or headmistress and find a solution for your child/you. In my DS primary there are parents keeping their kids at home - the school is working with them. Plenty of good schools have safety measures as the heads are thinking for themselves, just as they did teach online previously and are providing catch up sessions for the families that need it in the morning and after school. Good schools do know their families. They don’t need the government to micromanage them. This isn’t a Socialist State. Councils and schools are working together in most cases. Solutions are flexible. People are doing their best, families, teachers, kids etc. Do you know in the summer I thought the UsForThem movement was over the top - now I feel like joining them listening to the likes of you and all the other teacher union Spiel. It is getting boring. I will reiterate: the vast majority of parents and kids want to keep going to school in person. Thankfully our government understands that.

[quote Musicaldilemma]@canigooutyet - if I felt my children learn better alone at home I would deregister them and sign up for online school and or homeschool. It is legal to do that in this country - it isn’t legal in all countries. There is that option for anyone who feels strongly about it. Anyone who feels strongly about Covid and not being in school should do just that and not try and sway public opinion and spoil the lives of the majority of children and the future workforce. It is selfish.[/quote]
You just don't get it, do you?

Let me try to spell it out a bit more (why do I bother?)

1. THERE SHOULD BE MORE OPTIONS! Many parents like the school their kids go to, but don't feel it's safe NOW. Not in 1-2-5-x years. So they need the option to homeschool, but not attend and KEEP THEIR PLACE.

1. A pandemic and reactions to a pandemic should NOT BE PUBLIC OPINION! Public, as a group, is stupid as hell. Pandemic measures should be driven by SCIENCE.

1. I love how education is really important, but you are not referring to individual options later in life, but "workforce" as a general mass. Very telling.

1. It is not selfish to want schools to be SAFER for ALL children. Even yours.

And on a sidenote: look where this world beating education system has brought us: covid deniers, mask deniers and brexit. Basic science understanding is missing. Basic math skills are missing in the majority of people.
As much as I like (and side with) teachers in general I think the system is fundamentally broken to produce such a massive number of morons.

Our school has been closed because of 20 cases

TheSun I have pm’d you!

[quote Musicaldilemma]@TheSunIsStillShining - you don’t need to advocate and worry about the rest of us. Sort out your own situation, speak to your headmaster or headmistress and find a solution for your child/you. In my DS primary there are parents keeping their kids at home - the school is working with them. Plenty of good schools have safety measures as the heads are thinking for themselves, just as they did teach online previously and are providing catch up sessions for the families that need it in the morning and after school. Good schools do know their families. They don’t need the government to micromanage them. This isn’t a Socialist State. Councils and schools are working together in most cases. Solutions are flexible. People are doing their best, families, teachers, kids etc. Do you know in the summer I thought the UsForThem movement was over the top - now I feel like joining them listening to the likes of you and all the other teacher union Spiel. It is getting boring. I will reiterate: the vast majority of parents and kids want to keep going to school in person. Thankfully our government understands that.[/quote]
I don't worry about ourselves or others. As I said: did my research, made my assessment and am doing according to our beliefs. I really don't have any emotional attachment to anyone else's kid or circumstances.
What I do have is an opinion which I can freely express.

It is not always possible to socially distance from other staff. I teach a student who can only really sit in one place in the room due to her needs. The student is always accompanies by a TA who sits next to her. I can't maintain a 2m distance and write on the board. I imagine it's the same in many classrooms.

We also have two students who require 2:1 TAs due to their health needs. These TAs cannot socially distance from each other, and it must be tricky for them to distance from the class teacher at all times.

It is also very stressful for staff to constantly be aware of these issues.

Staff are trying their best, but sometimes they will get it wrong.

I saw some really horrific MH decline in teens over the first lockdown - I'd be really concerned that closing secondary schools would at best lead to a significant increase in self harm/severe eating disorders which may well affect our teens health in the long term and at worst a significant increase in teenage suicide. I think we really do owe it to our young people to keep schools open for them given that we didn't last time round.

I think we really do owe it to our young people to keep schools open for them given that we didn't last time round.

Please write to your MP to ask why the government isn’t putting any money or resources into making this happen.

They are leaving schools to close through neglect.

The area I work is pushing really really hard to get the Government to move to tier 2, the ‘contain framework’ that they published for schools , that detailed the tiered system of which classes would close, the rota system etc. We have consistently asked the question, if you’re not going to use it now, in lock down, in x area(one of the highest in the country if not the highest some days) , when are you going to use it? There is no answer from the Gov on that. In the area I work all the Academy high schools have already moved onto a rota system due to the significant disruption to students and the lack of staff ,but it’s all ad hoc rather than the using a planned system. It’s all such a mess, feel so sorry for all the teachers and headteachers that are dealing with the fall out everyday

Guidance from PHE TODAY

How to stop COVID-19 spreading

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19

Do

• wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds

-use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available -wash your hands as soon as you get home -cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze -put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Nothing about it being an airborne virus.
Let's be fair, if the officials are this stupid -who are supposed to be much smarter than us!- why are we expecting generalpopulationjoe to know better... :(
(sorry to all joes)

Haven't read the full thread as I'm pretty sure it's a lot of responses from the same posters.

What I will say though is, I hope a change is beginning to happen.

My eldest is isolating after a positive case in his bubble. His school was already closed for a week before half term due to a outbreak. This is a primary school (SEN school) so I dread to think what it's like in Secondary.

@noblegiraffe- utter nonsense. The heads of most schools are doing what they can to make their schools as Covid safe as possible in the circumstances. Closing schools/blended learning/masks are WORSE for children’s MENTAL, emotional, educational, social well being than Covid is a risk to their health, on balance, on a whole population level. The government scientists have done their analysis. The worst thing they did in this pandemic was to close schools for as long as they did previously. The life chances of many disadvantaged kids have been irrevocably altered long term. If you are not happy being a “teacher”/teacher unionist, look for another job.

I see you Musicaldilemma

My preference for secondary schools is for the school to focus and sort out proper online learning rather than constant stream of supply teachers or ad hoc days and week having to do online learning as whole classes or individuals are isolating.
I also think we need to think of vulnerable families and teachers right now.

@noblegiraffe ah that COVID safe bullshit popping up again. If only they knew.

[quote Musicaldilemma]@noblegiraffe- utter nonsense. The heads of most schools are doing what they can to make their schools as Covid safe as possible in the circumstances. Closing schools/blended learning/masks are WORSE for children’s MENTAL, emotional, educational, social well being than Covid is a risk to their health, on balance, on a whole population level. The government scientists have done their analysis. The worst thing they did in this pandemic was to close schools for as long as they did previously. The life chances of many disadvantaged kids have been irrevocably altered long term. If you are not happy being a “teacher”/teacher unionist, look for another job.[/quote]
If you would like schools to stay open, what are you doing to support that?

Or are you just expecting that it will happen because that's what we'd all like to happen?

Nobody wants schools closed but they're already closing. Your attitude is the problem here. You can't carry pj as normal in a pandemic and not end up paying for it somehow, sometime. We need to start delivering education differently and realise that it's something we either queue up for or pay for now, one way or the other.

[quote mumsneedwine]@noblegiraffe ah that COVID safe bullshit popping up again. If only they knew. [/quote]
It’s the usual lot that don’t want anything done differently in schools at all. Why aren’t you thinking of the children?

I was clucking for the kids to go back but the way things are going I'm not sure remote learning would be such a bad thing. My DD is in year 11 but so many teacher are self-isolating/shielding and the cover teachers aren't teaching new content. It's not much of an education at this point and I am starting to hope they cancel the GCSEs again as it just isn't fair.

@musicaldilemma

The heads of most schools are doing what they can to make their schools as Covid safe as possible in the circumstances.

Yes. In the circumstances. That's the circumstances of being woefully underfunded even before covid started, now financial reserves have been wiped out it's even worse than it was.

This government don't care if the welfare and education of school pupils in state schools suffer. They don't care about their mental health or the mental health of teachers. All they care about is school as childcare so parents who are not wealthy can continue to go to work, they don't have to bother because the well off private school parents can afford to use their wealth to provide care for their children if the school are unable to do it.