Home learning at the end of term or face isolating over Christmas

[urbanmist]

Schools are clearly driving the pandemic. Unless schools switch to home learning for the last week of term, many families will have all hope of ‘saving Christmas’ ruined. Children sent home to isolate in the last week will have to isolate on Christmas Day. Being in school is clearly the best for them, but at the expense of a ‘normal’ Christmas (if the rumours of a few day let up are true)?

Saving the 25th December. So important

I wish they would close early (open for key workers and vulnerable children) and let other kids work remotely for a week or two.

My DC's might get to see family if they finish school early. We don't have a bubble and there would only be seven of us, but we have to isolate first.

I would much prefer kids in school than normal Christmas. I know of only 4 cases in the schools in my town since Sept 2nd. Hardly "driving an epidemic ". Let the kids get their education, they have missed enough this year.

makes me wonder who you expect to have the 'keyworker kids' so you can teach from home. Would it be the TAs by any chance?

It would be our Teachers, on a rota, just like it was throughout March-May, before we were all back full time as normal in June.

Our TAs didn’t come in at all.

Personally I think whether schools should shut is a completely different argument to the saving Christmas one.

Schools is a complicated multi layered issue is it is far to simplistic to say they are driving all of this (although they certainly are a factor) the differences between Secondary and Primary and the fact school NEVER shut the first time round and were open to keyworker.

CHristmas is not going to be normal and I cant believe people want to sacrifice more of the economy and more closures at this stage. I have always thought it was about trying to make sure the economy got the well needed shot in the arm it needed in December.

It is just one arbitrary day picked out of a hat - if you do have family you want to see surely the holiday is 16 days long there is scope to isolate and still see them for the day. Although there was plenty of time to do that as well within the summer holidays.

I am however quite grinch like over CHristmas and think we put far too much stock in one day rather than seeing and enjoying family for the whole entire year

And more good vaccine news is out - they will be available in the New Year - now just to get people to understand they are safe and take them

Keeping schools open is much more important than all this “saving Christmas” nonsense. It’s one day and people need to get a grip!

My work have taken all our annual leave left of us over furlough so I'd be stuck if schools closed again.

@Giningit

Keeping schools open is much more important than all this “saving Christmas” nonsense. It’s one day and people need to get a grip!

Couldn’t agree more!

People will mix more at Christmas.
If we keep everything else the same, then cases will surge.

Do we restrict businesses or schools around this period? Because doing nothing seems like a recipe for disaster.

Even if the choice is given before Christmas I wouldn't take my youngest out. They really look forward to the Christmas activities and the school has tried to make it extra special this year. It looks like a lot of normal Christmas time things will be cancelled so a virtual santa visit etc will be looked forward to. I'd take my eldest out of secondary right now however if I was given the choice. Primary is doing fine but the secondary is constantly sending kids home, only a few at a time of course so there's more positives a couple of weeks later from the same bubble.

If anything I think it would be more sensible to keep schools closed longer after Christmas and after all the socialising over Christmas. It doesn't matter if your family stays within their household when so many won't and will then all be cramped back into classrooms again.

@whenwillthemadnessend

My work have taken all our annual leave left of us over furlough so I'd be stuck if schools closed again.

Exactly! I'm sure people think that its still only key workers going out to work like it was in April! Most people are "out" at work now what happens to those children? Parents have to take unpaid leave? That's sure to make a fantastic Xmas losing valuable income at the most expensive time of the year. Can't send them to Grandparents too look after for obvious reasons. And before anyone spouts "school isnt child care" nonsense well in fact it is the foundations that allows parents to work as there is no other child care setting for school age children unless you are in a very privileged position to have a Nanny or Au pair.

Will those who are planning on taking kids out of school early also isolate after Christmas and go back later? Or are you only meeting with family/friends who will also have isolated from the 11th? Otherwise surely if you’re spending prolonged time with people that haven’t been isolating you’re just risking bringing it back to school/community in January?
Good point from the poster above that two weeks might not be enough, if asymptomatic kids bring it home from school then pass it on to household members just in time for Christmas.

@Nellodee I agree but sadly I think that the main restrictions this time need to be around households meeting in homes which is Christmas

Because close contact in homes with multiple households IS the main driving factor. How on earth it is seen as being sensible to even moot this idea when schools and business should be prioritised.

Now whether schools should finish a week earlier to allow business and hospitality to open up for that week is a different beast and one which I certainly would support the idea of online learning for secondary schools (not Primary though I think that would cause more problems that it would solve) to give the economy the boost it needed would be something that I could accept

We will be taking the kids out. Yes there will be another Christmas next year. Unfortunately MIL probably won’t be there to see it.

Kids learn more at home with me anyway...

I am sad they will be missing their friends and the end of term parties and videos (KS1)

I really think it should be optional. If you want to take your child out early you should be able to, without being fined.

Schools would be better closing after Christmas. Mid to late January has the potential to be pretty grim with all the mixing over Christmas people plan to do wether it’s allowed or not. Could be potentially another lockdown. Schools locally are already struggling to stay open in some cases due to staffing. Seems worse since half term when kids were obviously mixing, staying at each other’s houses etc. My sibling works in a school the kids happily share their stories. Also two weeks isolation prior to Christmas isn’t a guarantee, what if one of you doesn’t show symptoms for a week or even ever: they then pass it to you a week before Christmas....

We are having a different Christmas this year, doorstep/distanced visits to my vulnerable relatives rather than all getting close for a day. Meal at home. No it won’t be the same but it’s the right thing to do to keep everyone safe. I can’t isolate and am a risk with working with patients. NHS ward staff can’t take holidays over Christmas and new year in my trusts

My dad will be alone, he will have visits from us all but is sovulnerable to this illness and would rather survive this year he is very pragmatic and relaxed about not celebrating our normal way. He sees the bigger picture.

@Giningit agree. We could all be paying for Christmas for weeks 😢
Just this one time, I wish people would consider a smaller celebration.
Just imagine the environmental positive of people not buying crap as well.

I've just had a 4th class sent home due to another positive case ( asymptomatic child who was tested as parent has it and so does the child). I want schools to be open. I'm sharing work online to pupils at home daily. But I dont think some people understand how disrupted education is at the moment. Lessons are never a full sixty minutes due to one way systems , collecting pupils from zones , checking everyone is in the correct seat for track and trace , etc etc. So yes, take your kids out of school early if you want. Just don't expect teachers to provide work/ pick up the pieces as we are likely to be dealing with other things ( assessments, reports) on the last week of term.

A level studying DS in sixth form needs the time in school.
We won't be exposing any other family to the virus risk of him being in school or the DH working in a hospital. We will see them when virus levels are low again, probably outside to start with.

Instead of a 25-day lockdown to pay for a 5-day celebration that the majority of the population don't even want, maybe the government should take advantage of the 2-week school Christmas holidays and the fact that many people are off work as a circuit-breaker of it's own. Why impose a lockdown after 2 weeks when most people will be off anyway? (with a DH working in hospitals I fully know this doesn't apply to all, but those people would have to work through any lockdown anyway).

@Eng123

There is no evidence to suggest schools are driving transmission. It's impossible to break this out of the statistics.

Indeed.

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-supermarkets-most-common-exposure-setting-for-catching-coronavirus-in-england-latest-data-shows-12136418

@PostsAndRuns - the voice of reason - thank you!

Schools are clearly driving the pandemic

Are they? There have been 3 cases in my son's 6th form college with upwards of 2000 students.

There are some posters who literally have dying loved ones who have not seen their families or their GC hardly at all this year and they are desperate to take their dc out before xmas so they can quarantine and be safe and see their relatives

Well take your kids out then. Why do schools have to close for everyone else? If you want to take your kids out a week or two weeks early, do it.

(by the way, grannies can pass on the virus to kids - the traffic is not one-way)

[quote Pomegranatespompom]@Giningit agree. We could all be paying for Christmas for weeks 😢
Just this one time, I wish people would consider a smaller celebration.
Just imagine the environmental positive of people not buying crap as well.[/quote]
Yes all of this too.

You do realise T&T hangover responsibility for contact tracing to HTs. Therefore those stats are bollocks.

@walksen

If echos are closed a week early it won't be for special memories at Christmas.

It will be because it is clear that schools are a significant source of community infection and whether they allow it or not people will socialise over the holidays regardless and the spike this will cause could be much bigger than the 30k cases recently, threatening hospital capacity again.

The effect of the lockdown should be clear from case numbers in the next couple of weeks so will have to wait and see.

In Scotland Nicola Sturgeon told us yesterday that in the first 9 weeks of this school term 78% of Scottish schools have had no cases at all, and in those schools who have had cases there has been little transmission within schools, they have been as a result of community transmission. In my school we have had four cases, all community transmission, no spread within school.