A safe space for parents and teachers who want schools fully open.

[Billie18]

What it says. Children have already been impacted by prolonged school closures, individual isolation, inadequate teaching, isolation from peers and this will have impacted on their education, psychological and social development and mental and physical health. It is concerning for the majority of parents that there is a push for schools to close.

Please no derailment. This is an important issue that will affect a whole generation. There are numerous threads here about enforcing restrictions and limiting access to schools so please discuss concerns about these issues elsewhere.

Ahhhh bless the OP.
Maybe if enough new threads get started then people will be blinded by the rhetoric (bit like Donald Trump repeating that he's obviously won...)

I agree that schools should be open, but one of my year 10s has missed 7 school weeks now due to self isolations (and caught Covid in school - 10%.of his classmates have it). My other year 10 at a different school hasn't been in for a month.
It's disruptive and destroying us.

I think I may have mentioned elsewhere that the FB group UsforThem might be right up your street and give you the validation and 'safe space' you claim to be looking for.

A safe space? 🙄

The OP has a habit of starting threads and then not replying again. Smacks of a desperate 'journalist' out for quotes/soundbites.

I'm disengaging and reporting

OP, can I ask what year your children are in?
Whereabouts in the country are you and how many cases have you had in your school? Have your children had any isolations due to dozens of cases in school?
Do you work at a school? If so, have your colleagues been blue lit to hospital yet? How many are off due to Covid?

@middleager, There's not a chance in hell the OP will answer any of those questions.

Just be pleased they are open even if somewhat limited. My kids have not been to schools since March (live abroad). It’s seriously horrendous.

You people are obsessed. I don't know any parents or teachers like you in real life. I give up and will leave you to talk endlessly about how you want to keep schools open and safe by shutting them

I'm guilty myself of posting without reading a thread. Sometimes you can get away with it but Billie18 your post is an example of when you can't. No one has called for school closures. Not on this thread anyway.

Honestly it’s pointless saying anything about this here. 3% of positive tests in wales have been in schools since lockdown ended and yet we have tens of thousands isolating because of them. They’ve now introduced masks outside at break time. It’s awful and a completely disproportionate reaction. I think anyone who wants children to wear masks and keep 2m away from each other shouldn’t be anywhere near their well-being. Not having Covid isn’t the only measure of health.

Couple of things, Billie18 I certainly don’t want schools to close. They need to be safer, so they can stay open. Your desire to stop students wearing masks and stop students social distancing will make schools less safe, and more likely to close.

Also - nice lack of comment on the illnesses I outlined in my post. Says it all really.

@BooksAreNotEssentialInWales

Honestly it’s pointless saying anything about this here. 3% of positive tests in wales have been in schools since lockdown ended and yet we have tens of thousands isolating because of them. They’ve now introduced masks outside at break time. It’s awful and a completely disproportionate reaction. I think anyone who wants children to wear masks and keep 2m away from each other shouldn’t be anywhere near their well-being. Not having Covid isn’t the only measure of health.

Read my post and tell me how you think the “well being” of those kids is?

And I’ll ask again, as on the last thread. Children on other countries manage to wear masks at school even before the pandemic, without it destroying their mental health.
Why do you have such low standards for British children? Why do you think they couldn’t cope with something that is no problem for countless kids in other countries?

They’ve now introduced masks outside at break time. It’s awful and a completely disproportionate reaction
Hang on, so they don't wear them in class but mask up at break? That is perverse almost to the point of insanity.

I think anyone who wants children to wear masks and keep 2m away from each other shouldn’t be anywhere near their well-being
Anyone who wants teachers enclosed with 30 or so unmasked students clearly has no value for teachers, their families or the families of their free-range little dears' classmates. Pupils in other countries seem to be managing ok.😷

It would be nice if school was a safe place. But no. No masks in class leads to spread of Covid leads to unsafe space.

@BooksAreNotEssentialInWales

Honestly it’s pointless saying anything about this here. 3% of positive tests in wales have been in schools since lockdown ended and yet we have tens of thousands isolating because of them. They’ve now introduced masks outside at break time. It’s awful and a completely disproportionate reaction. I think anyone who wants children to wear masks and keep 2m away from each other shouldn’t be anywhere near their well-being. Not having Covid isn’t the only measure of health.

Had just abandoned this thread as pointless when I saw your comment.

I completely share your concerns and I know that many others do too. It's shocking that measures that deprive children of education and force them to practice social distancing have been put in place with no analysis of the impact it will have on their psychological and social development.There is sadly a concerted effort by many here to shut down any talk of concern.

Wanting schools to be open doesn't mean just saying "schools must stay open whatever". All schools have tried to open normally, with the government's "safety" regulations in place. What is happening in reality is that schools are having to close to larger and larger numbers of children. I live and work in a Tier 2 area. My primary school has recently been closed for two weeks because of Covid-related staffing issues. My own DC's primary has had 3 out of 7 bubbles out so far. My DH's secondary school has 4 full year groups out isolating at the moment because of the numbers of positive cases within the school.

Covid is severely disrupting education because pupils and staff are becoming infected in the unsafe environment.

You can't just will schools to be open and Covid will magically disappear.

Finding it hard to take your request for a virtual “space safe” seriously when you’re so cavalier about the need of other people to safely inhabit spaces in the physical world.

And yet not a care for the social and psychological welfare of kids who are seeing the effects of covid firsthand.

And again, as you haven’t managed to answer yet. Kids in other countries have been wearing masks for ages. My husband wore one in his country from when he was a kid and he’s in his 40s now. There are no impacts on their social and psychological development, they would think that was laughable.

So why do you think British kids are less resilient? Less capable? Why couldn’t they manage something that other country’s kids manage?

I signed the petition to close schools for 2 weeks prior to the holidays to enable a safer Christmas. I know there are a lot of people opposed to it and I understand your concerns. I have had a response from the Goverment and have posted it below. Not sure if its helpful but they are stating categorically that schools wont close early and they are COVID secure. I think its a losing battle OP, sorry :(

The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Implement a two week school lockdown before 24 December to save Christmas”.

Government responded:

As set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan, schools should not close early or change their Christmas holidays. It remains a national priority to avoid further disruption to education.

It remains a national priority to keep schools open full time and avoid further disruption to education. As set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan, nurseries, schools and colleges should not change their Christmas holidays or close early this term. Parents should continue to send their children to school during term time and students should continue to attend college right up until the end of term. A time-limited change to social restrictions over Christmas does not require any children to be taken out of school prematurely. The leaders and staff of education settings have been doing an extraordinary job to remain open, keep settings safe and provide education.

Returning to school full time has been vital for children’s education and for their wellbeing. Time out of school is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children. This impact can affect both current levels of education, children’s future ability to learn and preparation for those studying exams next summer.

School is the best place for children to learn, and it is important for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.

Schools have been open to all pupils since the start of the autumn term with figures showing, on average, 99% of schools are open each day.

The risk to children themselves of becoming severely ill from coronavirus (COVID-19) is low and there are negative health impacts of being out of school. Senior clinicians, including the Chief Medical Officers of all four nations, still advise that school is the very best place for children to be, We have taken a national decision to prioritise education during the current period of national restrictions in order to avoid any further reduction in face to face education for children and young people. This is the chance for them to catch-up on lost education through full time attendance at school, and pupils and teachers will still have a break over the festive period.

We published ‘Guidance for full opening: schools’ (1) to support schools to welcome back all children full-time. Our guidance sets out measures which provide a framework for school leaders to put in place proportionate protective measures for children and staff, which also ensure that all pupils receive a high quality education that enables them to thrive and progress. This includes the public health advice schools must follow to minimise the risks of coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission.

The measures set out in the department’s guidance to minimise the risk of transmission in schools has been endorsed by Public Health England. These include regular handwashing, promoting good respiratory hygiene, keeping groups separate and maintaining distance and minimising contact between individuals. Whilst pupils are in school they are in an inherently safer environment. Closing schools early would also cause additional disruption and inconvenience to many parents, including key workers such as NHS staff due to the additional child care arrangements required as a result of this action.

The festive period is an important time for many people of all faiths and none who come together over the holidays. For this reason, the government is changing some social contact restrictions for a short period of time. When following these new rules, we must each continue to take personal responsibility to limit the spread of the virus and protect our loved ones, particularly if they are vulnerable. For many, this will mean that it isn’t possible to celebrate Christmas in the normal way.

We will continue to keep the evidence, particularly on the transmission rate and wider risks on health, under review so that we can continue to support schools to remain open and provide the education that children deserve.

(1) www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

Department for Education

Click this link to view the response online:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/549015?reveal_response=yes

This petition has over 100,000 signatures. The Petitions Committee will consider it for a debate. They can also gather further evidence and press the government for action.

The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the Government. Find out more about the Committee: petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament

If you want a safe space where no one will disagree with you, log off mumsnet and go and have a nice warm bubble bath.

Schools are open though .

I work in a school and we have covid cases coming out of our ears. Those people are at home (staff and pupils) and their close contacts are self-isolating.

I don’t understand what you want OP - the covid positive people to be in school and their close contacts not to self-isolate?

Schools are doing a hugely stressful job in a very difficult time with no back up from a gaslighting government. What more do the “keep schools open safe space discussion” people want?

It’s obvious that rotas and the renting of larger spaces would have made schools safer and lead to much less chaos than the chaos we are currently in in lots of schools, but the government did not want to fund that.

Billions on contracts for their incompetent mates, yes. Money to keep schools safe, no.

The worst thing of all IMO is that they are forcing schools not to authorise the absence of children whose parents are worried because they have vulnerable family members at home.

They couldn’t give less shits and I hope it is one of the things that hits them hard at the ballot box next time round.

It's shocking that measures that deprive children of education and force them to practice social distancing have been put in place with no analysis of the impact it will have on their psychological and social development

How can you research something that hasn't happened yet? You'd need a longitudinal study, with control groups.

Also - there is no social distancing in classrooms and corridors - it isn’t possible.

3% of positive tests in wales have been in schools since lockdown ended

That is a very very contextless statistic. What % of the Welsh population is at school?

What percentage of the tests are coming back positive? The positivity rate is an important factor. Are you sure that isn't what this is?
Happy to discuss and analyse this stat with the provision of a source. I have looked and can't find this .