Government denial over schools issues will cause deaths this Christmas

[noblegiraffe]

I just can't get my head around how utterly crazy the government Christmas policy is.

Secondary school kids are the most infected subset of the population with it now estimated that more than 1 in 50 of them are positive. As they are children, most of them will never be tested as they either are asymptomatic, or will display different symptoms to the main three that are required to trigger a test (councils are overruling this in some parts of England and asking parents to use a more sensible list of symptoms).

Schools mostly break up on 18th December, 5 days before the Christmas relaxation period begins and people start taking advantage of this to mix with other households indoors, in poorly ventilated small rooms, which as scientists warn, is a terrible idea. twitter.com/devisridhar/status/1331931594400149506?s=21

Closing schools a week earlier (or moving online) would give 2 weeks out of school before Christmas day, which would reduce the infection rate in school children significantly (we saw a dip in the infection rate just in one week over half term) and make it safer for them to mix with other households, particularly if people took advantage of those two weeks to significantly reduce their contacts and other risks.

Some schools took it upon themselves to protect their own communities by changing the term dates to close a week earlier. The DfE has overruled this and forced them to stay open.
schoolsweek.co.uk/overruled-dfes-sweeping-coronavirus-powers-force-trust-into-early-christmas-holiday-u-turn/

Because of the tier system, if families don't get together at Christmas during the relaxation period, when their children pose a much higher risk, they will not be able to see their families properly for Christmas at all. Essentially Christmas is being funnelled into a time period which is insanely risky due to it coming shortly after children mixing freely in unsafe schools with significant numbers of undiscovered infections.

I know the DfE have been reading this board. I understand why you want schools open, but lying to people about the risks as you have is dangerous and immoral. Transparency is needed so that people can make their own informed risk assessments, not propaganda about 'safe schools' and 'saving Christmas'.

Also if it runs rampant as quickly as people say then there’s no reason it wouldn’t have in March in London schools that got hit.

Quality - because I think once that has been done, primaries will follow as the argument seems to be about giving that autonomy to individual heads. Apart from anything else that causes a nightmare for teaching parents, as anyone who has had a different Easter holiday to their child will know.

I also genuinely do not feel that home learning is as good as in school, in the classroom. As things stand at the moment, these students have important exams at the end of the year.

NEU did the close the schools campaign didn’t they? On Twitter etc

Didn't they say open 2 weeks later than the government date as recommended by SAGE?

NEU did the close the schools campaign didn’t they? On Twitter etc

Yes, close the schools during lockdown to increase its impact. SAGE agreed with them.

Here we are at the end of lockdown and infection and absence rates in secondary school continues to rise, so maybe they had a point.

@noblegiraffe

NEU did the close the schools campaign didn’t they? On Twitter etc

Yes, close the schools during lockdown to increase its impact. SAGE agreed with them.

Here we are at the end of lockdown and infection and absence rates in secondary school continues to rise, so maybe they had a point.

Yet we are below 1.

Good news. It can be done

Also close the schools is always going to get dismissed. Then people think unions want it even though others say they don’t.

Yet we are below 1

And yet secondary schools are not below one, and have increasing infection and absence rates with three weeks of term left. Not a resounding triumph?

@noblegiraffe

Yet we are below 1

And yet secondary schools are not below one, and have increasing infection and absence rates with three weeks of term left. Not a resounding triumph?

No I think it’s good if we can keep education as a priority and still get cases down.

Children don’t decline more and we see less pressure on healthcare.

@Aragog

I think your experience is very interesting and useful. It sounds pretty much the experience of the country as a whole during this time! We need to act earlier when the problems first start. The policy of only sending home close contacts probably isn’t the correct one. We’re very fortunate here that background infections are still low and people are widely sticking to guidelines. The design of the schools is more fortunate than a lot too. No room for complacency though.
I hope you are feeling better soon

Oh yes we know all about the horror that constitutes different Easter hols. I have two in primary still. I absolutely agree that online education is not as good as face to face but our disruption is so great at the moment the current plan will only exacerbate the many barriers to a more reliable set of attendance figures. The current plan will cause more deaths and more problems with attendance - it could be managed better.

I actually agree with this I think they should close a week earlier

@juggler82 I disagree, in my DC school cases have gone from pupil to pupil and have resulted in a number of closures of whole year groups, particularly year 11 and sixth form where there was proven spread.

There were so many posts arguing over schools pushing R over 1.

Good it hasn’t happened.

No I think it’s good if we can keep education as a priority and still get cases down.

If this is education as a priority, what would education as a total shitshow look like?

And kids don’t exist in a bubble. Particularly at Christmas.

But then that comes back to families making the decisions that best suit them and their circumstances.

@noblegiraffe

No I think it’s good if we can keep education as a priority and still get cases down.

If this is education as a priority, what would education as a total shitshow look like?

And kids don’t exist in a bubble. Particularly at Christmas.

Well obviously my area is different and I’m glad other people wanting to close schools hasn’t impacted here.

But if we do go up the spout I want local decision by school to move online. Which they are ready for.

Extraordinary how willing people are to jump in front of the government’s terrible Christmas policy to defend it.

The last time ‘personal risk assessments’ were wheeled out it was to defend Cummings’ jaunt up north.

@noblegiraffe

Extraordinary how willing people are to jump in front of the government’s terrible Christmas policy to defend it.

The last time ‘personal risk assessments’ were wheeled out it was to defend Cummings’ jaunt up north.

Change that then.

Not schools

Change that then.

Change what?

I certainly don’t agree that it’s only 11 and 12 year olds with SEN who shouldn’t be left alone all day on a regular basis. Teenagers should be fine.

The reason I mentioned funding is that better funded schools should be able to fund more safety measures

Lockdown managed to bring the overall R down below 1, yes.

R in secondary schools is certainly not below 1. The point is that we are about to mix those who are at high risk of contracting Covid and low risk of complications with those who are currently at low risk of contracting Covid but at high risk of complications.

I won't even mention teachers, they really are not that relevant to a discussion of risks at Christmas.

Cummings actions were wrong in the context of lockdown. No one likes a hypocrite. Outside of lockdown, it would have been fine.

Shit Christmas policy

Come jan if teachers and staff have to isolate who will teach children. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want your precious child missing school they won’t be able to go due to no staff think outside YOUR BUBBLE.

How exactly can I change the shit Christmas policy, Marsha?