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.

Please don't bother engaging with the teachers on here hell bent on closing schools, they are genuinely a minority, and no I am not a them4us/russian bot/tory bot/Labour bot, whatever. Just don't care for bullies whatever form they take.

More likely embarrassed to have wasted an evening on Mumsnet with a whole lot of dogmatic people with an agenda - luckily they represent a minority view. But wait- one of you will need to have the last word.... hence I am leaving. Precisely @trustthegenegenie. We have to be part of UsForThem because we don’t agree with @noblegiraffe et al. Noblegiraffe- stop telling me my kids schools are not safe when there are no cases and not 1 of them has had to self isolate this term.

But noble and the rest of us do know a fuckload about it. We work in schools. We're on the front line, dealing with this every day and have done all the way through. (disclaimer: not me actually at the moment - I caught Covid in school and am currently not able to return).

The arrogance of people who don't work in schools, know fuck all and yet tell us what is happening and what should happen in school is breath taking. I wouldn't dream of lecturing anyone about their industry. It's ignorant in every sense of the word..

I'm pretty sure their website doesn't say they're covid deniers does it?

Check out their Facebook group.

From another thread “What I thought would be a campaign group to ensure the kids get an education has turned into a bunch of conspiracy nuts. Some gems from what I read this morning include:
"Scientists have proven that viruses are not contagious."
"We don't do any of this stuff for chicken pox."

Plus loads of anti vax stuff, loads of anti mask stuff, and a very weird conspiracy claiming that Matt Hancock is going to be arrested.”

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4080914-To-think-the-UsForThem-group-are-batshit

[quote noblegiraffe]I'm pretty sure their website doesn't say they're covid deniers does it?

Check out their Facebook group.

From another thread “What I thought would be a campaign group to ensure the kids get an education has turned into a bunch of conspiracy nuts. Some gems from what I read this morning include:
"Scientists have proven that viruses are not contagious."
"We don't do any of this stuff for chicken pox."

Plus loads of anti vax stuff, loads of anti mask stuff, and a very weird conspiracy claiming that Matt Hancock is going to be arrested.”

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4080914-To-think-the-UsForThem-group-are-batshit[/quote]
But that's a small minority of posters, isn't it? That isn't what the group stands for, is it?

Some people on here with some really vile tempers. It’s like the dogs have been unleashed. Nasty.

@FredtheFerret

But noble and the rest of us do know a fuckload about it. We work in schools. We're on the front line, dealing with this every day and have done all the way through. (disclaimer: not me actually at the moment - I caught Covid in school and am currently not able to return).

The arrogance of people who don't work in schools, know fuck all and yet tell us what is happening and what should happen in school is breath taking. I wouldn't dream of lecturing anyone about their industry. It's ignorant in every sense of the word..

No no, I'm saying she knows fuck all about us for them, not fuck all about schools.

@Musicaldilemma

Well it has been interesting; off to “name change”. Rest assured that in the schools of my 4 kids I am one of the cautious ones as far as Covid is concerned. Your views are in the very small minority in England. Schools will remain open on the whole and the kids won’t be vaccinated. Somehow you will have to get your heads around that sooner rather than later/resign/homeschool etc.

I don't mean to besarcastic, but is your musicaldilemma going to be a game of musical chairs or Name That Tune as you decide on your new name?

@noblegiraffe

Again, stop preaching about something you know fuck all about.

God if only they hadn’t been on here for months spouting their shit, or all over twitter, or front pages of newspapers, or Facebook groups.

Or are you suggesting that despite all that, it’s impossible for me to have any idea what they’re like?

If all you can come up with is that they're covid deniers, then yes id say that you don't know much about them.

I'm surprised at so many parents who don't seem to realise that we need teachers more than they need us.

The demand for tutoring is booming, there are plenty of opportunities for qualified teachers other than in schools. There's already a retention crisis due to underfunding.

Those parents who routinely criticise and are unpleasant to teachers expressing concern about their working conditions (uniquely bad compared to other professions and other countries in this pandemic) - what are they going to do when there simply aren't enough teachers anymore?

I did consider at one point retraining as a secondary teacher as I have degrees in an 'in demand' subject area. There is no way in hell I'd do it now, not after the way I've seen teachers being treated. Much as I quite like the kids.

But that's a small minority of posters, isn't it? That isn't what the group stands for, is it?

A group that campaigns for no mitigation measures in schools isn’t going to have a minority of batshit members is it? It’s pretty much a given.

Why is that a given?

And I'm sorry but calling people "batshit" because they don't agree with you, is offensive.

Because, Trust we are now in a situation where more than half a million kids are at home, and secondary school kids are the most infected subset of the population.

Campaigning to allow them to continue to freely mix in school with no mitigation measures while pubs, restaurants, hairdressers etc cannot work due to infection levels comes under the definition of batshit.

Us4Them only ever tend to think about primary kids though, and are totally blinkered to the wider picture.

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Why is that a given?

And I'm sorry but calling people "batshit" because they don't agree with you, is offensive.

Well, it is quite batshit to not think there is a need for mitigations in a pandemic, wouldn't you have to agree with your sensible head on? I am sure that you are not batshit, just a little misguided and naive maybe?

@noblegiraffe

Because, Trust we are now in a situation where more than half a million kids are at home, and secondary school kids are the most infected subset of the population.

Campaigning to allow them to continue to freely mix in school with no mitigation measures while pubs, restaurants, hairdressers etc cannot work due to infection levels comes under the definition of batshit.

Us4Them only ever tend to think about primary kids though, and are totally blinkered to the wider picture.

But disagreeing with you doesn't make them batshit, does it? It says more about you than it does about them. Puzzles me. You don't earn peoples trust and respect by calling them batshit. You don't convince anyone by insulting them. You're upset about teachers having a bad name but you're fueling that fire.

What's wrong with kids being safer in a pandemic?

It's so obvious that our schools are among the most unsafe environments there are. Every single scientists says to avoid indoor, crowded spaces. Especially for a long time. ESPECIALLY if no masks. Dr Fauci says it every time he's interviewed. Social distancing, masks, avoid indoor crowded settings.

And although children are generally speaking not so badly affected - the more infection in schools, the less mitigation, the more children who WILL be really ill. There are children who ARE really ill from this disease - and viral load is related to severity of disease so the more there are asymptomatic cases remaining in school, the higher the viral load (especially if no masks). If we had better mitigation we could keep rates down and that would mean fewer ill kids in hospital. Even if it's a really low number, even if we're only saving 10s or 100s of kids hospital - it's such a traumatic experience for a child, why wouldn't we?

When some of the measures will lead to better education too (like more money for extra teaching staff, smaller class sizes).

Why wouldn't you want your kids to have a better education? Smaller class sizes? Less time off isolating?

It honestly mystifies me. This pandemic could be an opportunity to have state schools better funded and providing a better education and people are ACTIVELY campaigning AGAINST that?

@MrsDanvers123 considering I haven't stated my position on what us for them think, I think you ought to stop judging me.

You don't earn peoples trust and respect by calling them batshit.

Why would I want to win Us4Them’s trust and respect? What a bizarre suggestion.

I want them to disappear into the night and their batshit campaign with them. They have done massive damage to the discourse around the safety of schools and at worst, actively endangered people.

[quote TrustTheGeneGenie]@MrsDanvers123 considering I haven't stated my position on what us for them think, I think you ought to stop judging me.[/quote]
Fair dos - I'll be interested to hear because I am always up for learning new things

Trust I know you’re a part of it. You were spouting their lines all summer. Am I supposed to have forgotten?

My daughter's school had extra funding in June/July for covid safety. They employed extra TAs and creatively used space to halve class sizes - whole school went back socially distanced in single class bubbles which had no more than 15 children in each one.

My daughter had a MUCH better education. No-one in her class was off sick once (4 weeks). It was brilliant. She did so much better - more 1 to 1 time, less disruption, she was able to focus more. Now it's back to normal and she really misses that quality education.

@noblegiraffe

Trust I know you’re a part of it. You were spouting their lines all summer. Am I supposed to have forgotten?

I haven't spouted any of their lines?

@noblegiraffe

You don't earn peoples trust and respect by calling them batshit.

Why would I want to win Us4Them’s trust and respect? What a bizarre suggestion.

I want them to disappear into the night and their batshit campaign with them. They have done massive damage to the discourse around the safety of schools and at worst, actively endangered people.

Because they are parents. They might even be parents of students you teach. You'd really rather they hated you?

I haven't spouted any of their lines?

Pull the other one. Plus there’s a sure tell that you displayed.

Because they are parents. They might even be parents of students you teach. You'd really rather they hated you?

Us4Them hate teachers anyway. It’s pretty obvious in their contempt for their safety.