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.

News today that Covid spread is second highest (to supermarkets) in secondary then primary schools. It’s al over the news now as well as the graph (attached) which shows primary and secondary infections dwarfing the university ones everyone took so seriously weeks ago.

Surely there has to be some changes now! Please!

Wow! Is it in the news? Where?

I did wonder if they would build it up before putting something in place. But after the summer fiasco just doubted they would.

Here are all the graphs.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936672/Weekly_COVID-19_and_Influenza_Surveillance_Graphs_w47.pdf

Most illuminating.

I was coming on to say new data shows super market then school...

I saw it on sky news

shows primary and secondary infections dwarfing the university ones everyone took so seriously weeks ago

Be very careful how you interpret this graph. It refers to "outbreaks". An outbreak is 2 or more persons. Hence why the uni blocks are so small. So 1 outbreak in a school involving two pupils, is counted the same and 1 outbreak in a university involving 50 pupils. Numbers matter, as this does not reflect actual confirmed infections.

Is this the same research where they just ask where people have been in the last week before a positive test? And most people will have been to the supermarket?

I saw another info graph recently which had supermarkets as low risk... how do they know that is where people are picking it up?

Also I haven’t heard of hundreds of supermarket workers suffering and they are in there day in day out not just 20 mins a couple of time a week:

So we as parents are still liable to prosecution for not sending our children in to the second and third highest place of infection?! Teachers seeing these graphs must be so worried for themselves and their families .
This is actual madness.

Week 46 is 9th November I think - so this is a full week after half term. Does this mean infections came in from half term week off? It doesn't really matter in terms of spread, but is interesting in terms of where it originated.

I’d say it’s more than madness, I’d go with criminal.

People will look back at this in history and wonder how/why people just accepted this.

You're right, I've been shrugging my shoulders, although it feels awful to think that. It feels more like despair and feeling like my voice won't be heard anyway than lack of interest or caring.

@Elladisenchanted I do completely know how you feel and I think most people are feeling that way. I oscillate between despair and rage. My MP has stopped replying to my emails completely (so much for democracy - but at least I have a paper chain for telling him what happened before it did - he can't claim he wasn't warned). I think at the moment I'm most cross with the national media who are in a position to do something but don't.

Local papers are doing better - this from the Hull daily mail - 64% of schoolkids in Hull are not in schools and are 'on the brink of collapse'. Those poor children, how they are being failed. (and poor teachers it must be a nightmare)

www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/hull-schools-brink-of-collapse-4716574

And meantime, the government paid 50 million to one man to act as a middle man in supplying PPE (which he sourced from a jeweller in Florida - the jeweller was paid over 250 million quid)

goodlawproject.org/news/the-jeweller-and-government/#:~:text=Almost%20%2450%20million%20to%20one,jeweller%20is%20called%20Michael%20Saiger.

a situation that most of us wouldn't have predicted

hahaha this person is either completely new to this board or hasn't being paying attention.

Just a s a point of order this doesn't mean schools are the second highest point of infection (or indeed that shop are the highest : Herts PH take note!). That just means that's where people have been (and nearly everyone goes to a shop). They can give more than one answer to that. It doesn't mean they definitely picked it up in the supermarket/ schools/whatever.

Baahh, there are other graphs, some have positivity rates, some have cases. All show worrying trends in exam age pupils:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936672/Weekly_COVID-19_and_Influenza_Surveillance_Graphs_w47.pdf

Maybe year 7 parents have to kick up some more. To parents outside this year is appeared that secondaries opening to more was to get in the new intake at the expense of other years. (Gov fault)

It should be no surprise to anyone that secondary will get screwed in this. They were from the moment schools closed. Gov official sites even forgot about them, and unlike multiple links for primary, secondary hardly anything and the crap they were directed to was aimed towards KS1.

Unions and education staff were saying during lockdown 1, make them safer so they can open - give money, masks etc - but nope they were screamed at to go away and let schools open.

The amount of arrogance from this government is astonishing.

It is criminal you're right. I was worried I would regret deregistering my eldest from secondary but we haven't for a second, so glad she is out of this situation and she is so much happier.
I just wish I could take out my younger two but they are such different children and would really struggle without being at primary. I just desperately hope they close early so that rates can go down a bit. As a CV parent my nerves are completely shot and I am bordering on mentally unwell at this point .
I am so in awe of teachers that are carrying on regardless, it must be so scary and so stressful. I don't understand why more isn't being done.

How will she sit her GCSE's when the time comes?
Im not trying to be goady or anything. This was what prevented me from deregistering.

DD is only in year 8 so luckily GCSE's aren't too much of a worry just yet. We will either sit them through her online school or hopefully, all being well, she will be back in school next September after we move. Just taking it day by day at the moment. I agonised over it for weeks before we made the decision but in the end we made the leap and she is so much happier. She was really struggling.

I’ve been saying this ever since the kids went back into education far too early. I said it again when this spike began and yet again when the 2nd ludicrous lockdown was announced. I have said it so many times I am boring myself .

how would it work though. some kids don't have computers some need to go to work or lose their job. what's the answer

The primary school here has had 3 cases, the first being brought in by a teacher after half-term holiday and the 2 more in the same bubble since. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the children entirely for the spread in schools.

Frankly, I don't think we should be blaming anyone.

Ferrero12345

One KNOWN case, as kids asymptomatic many could be carrying it.

Re teachers families, remember many younger teachers in London will be still living with parents, so I can't see my own parents at all, as there is no way I can isolate. I had an operation recently as did one of my dc, so neither of us could really isolate as we were supposed to. Both of us parents have underlying health issues one over 65 and one has asthma. Consequently I just get on with stuff and don't worry. I wear a mask but don't really keep 2m away from anyone, but does anyone when you are out shopping. Re that supermarket statistic, its stupid as most people with have been to buy food and there isn't really anywhere else you go so of course people are going to say that.!!!

Also, this doesn’t account for the fact that there are a lot more primary and secondary schools than there are colleges and universities. Here for example there is 1 college but 46 schools. If all schools each had an outbreak and so did the college, the schools would look far worse on a chart like this, even though the college could have a larger number of actual cases in its single outbreak than all the schools cumulatively.