My kids' primary schools and the high school I teach in are following the rules (staggered orderly drop offs and pick ups, parents must be in masks and socially distanced) lunches are on some kind of staggered rota system in the primary, books etc are quarantined 48 hours before sending home, we have set days to return them into a designated box so they can be quarantined again before the teachers handle them, windows open, hand San etc.
Despite the school's efforts one of my kids has had his bubble closed twice (with less than a week between isolations) and they've just sent home some of those children for a third isolation. Crossing over with that we've had to isolate as a family 3 times as well while we waited for (negative) test results (children with temp or cough) - at least it wasn't the full 2 weeks!
In high school when we are not teaching, we are on cover, and working until all hours to set work. I've taught by zoom because I have a primary age kid isolating, I've recorded phone lessons after midnight for pupils who can't access Internet at home, been working hours and hours to rejig my prep to make booklets so we don't hand out worksheets, and to make it more accessible from home. I teach gcse and I'm having to prep topics I've not previously taught because they weren't covered last year, somehow got to cram those topics in too (and even more prep). Meanwhile pupils are in and out of SI constantly because of family members waiting for a test or because they are a contact or have symptoms. Literally from day to day I don't know how many pupils I will have or who I will have, some bubbles I teach have closed and then when they reopened only some pupils came back because some are still isolating because of other contact.
Knowing where each pupil is up to and who managed to access the work and actually do it is a separate struggle.
Personally I am not even anxious about catching covid at this point. It almost feels inevitable as a number of staff have had it. But I do know some teachers who are extremely anxious, and I can literally see the difference to how they are normally.
Honestly at this point I don't see my pupils passing their exams if this continues as it is. I don't know how we would do teacher assessment either as even in our badly hit area each pupil has been affected so differently. I don't have any solutions, really, I just feel awful for my pupils. At least when they are in school they can continue to benefit from the social interaction with their peers. We teachers can continue to give them some sense of structure and routine, and emotionally we can connect with them and give them a bit of support. I worry about the ones at home who have to keep isolating, the effect on their mental health, particularly now it's winter and cold and dark, and they are more shut in, is much greater. There is also the effect of the instability of the constant uncertainty of being in and out. Normally we'd be thinking about the mocks coming up soon, but I think at this point really the focus should be more on the pastoral side. Anxious, stressed children don't learn.
The parents are struggling so badly too. Some are out of work, or worried for their jobs, exhausted from juggling everything, struggling with disrupted children and dealing with the same uncertainty. The conversation has often become so polarised on here, but at the heart of it all is a lot of very tired, worn out and worried people, dealing with a situation that most of us wouldn't have predicted, who care about the children, whether they are our own kids or our kids we teach . Like I said, I don't have any solutions, I really just wanted to recognise that I think most of us are trying our best, even if that's just to keep on putting one foot in front of the other.
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for anyone struggling, whatever your circumstances.