Secondary schools are stuffed, GOVERNMENT ADMITS

[noblegiraffe]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55265098

Mass testing for secondary school pupils in worst affected areas.

@Chaotic45

I am in tier 3, have been since 2 weeks after the first lockdown. We have had no testing, I am well aware of the situation on a local level, I watch and read the national news several times a day and I work in a job that is involved with this issue but thanks for the tip

@Chaotic45

I think you could be right!

Well in my son's school it was the staff that were bringing it in - community spread - unavoidable - but not the kids in the first instance.

@noblegiraffe how do you know secondary schools are the main sourse of transmission. I read the graphs as 0-9 very low rates. 10-19, similar on the whole to other working age groups but at the higher end. This group is not solely made up of secondary children. Some 18 and 19 year olds are working, attending college, going to bars and restaurants. You cannot therefore assume, their covid has been caught at school.

@Susanwouldntlikeit

Parents are just not in the same mindset as March This. So will not gain traction - bust flush. Parents (and most teachers outside a Mumsnet bubble) get that the whole thing is PR and will refuse testing. How about just channelling (remaining) energy into planning and teaching good lessons up to the end of term instead of bearing the tired old drum? No, thought not - rabble-rousing far more exciting than the day job.

How about you focussing on planning and teaching good lessons up to the end of term, or are you too busy stirring? Not enough excitement or fulfillment in your day job?

Our schools (SW) are all holding Christmas Dinner as usual this week.

[quote Chestnutacorns123]@noblegiraffe how do you know secondary schools are the main sourse of transmission. I read the graphs as 0-9 very low rates. 10-19, similar on the whole to other working age groups but at the higher end. This group is not solely made up of secondary children. Some 18 and 19 year olds are working, attending college, going to bars and restaurants. You cannot therefore assume, their covid has been caught at school.[/quote]

Only when it affects London though. I’m also absolutely furious 😡

@noblegiraffe

Care homes and unis were the biggest problem at the time so the available tests went to them

And yet the available tests are still going to uni students despite secondary students being more infected than them.

Can't have uni students taking covid to grandma, but fair play if it's a school kid?

Testing had reduced enormously before the Christmas exit. The movement of students across the country caused absolutely enormous problems with the spread of disease. It’s not about Grandma it’s about the enormous surges of infection moving across the country and normal student behaviour causes. You can’t lock students up with no good reason, I don’t see how there is any alternative to testing them.

When we X code students as per government guidance for COVID, it does not affect the attendance figure. That 85.5% will not reflect the COVID absences.

I'm livid. Where was the testing for my child in the Midlands, tier 3? 5 self isolations in Gcse years since September and a good dose of Covid too. Yet 10 per cent of his class have it, 50 plus cases since September - did they not deserve tests too? We have been crying out for this. Our schools have been on their knees for months and they have just let kids and staff catch this.
Bastards.

@jazzandh

Well in my son's school it was the staff that were bringing it in - community spread - unavoidable - but not the kids in the first instance.

Well, a question that is frequently asked on these boards is, how do you KNOW that?

@WhyNotMe40 my excitement today involved organising the closure of 1 year group and the sending home of 273 other students due to another 6 cases. I also taught on line and in class, dealt with a student whose mum is in icu and another who's Nan died last night. What did you do today ? Time to plan ? You are funny.

No, some of the other graphs break it down by year group and for weeks now, school years 7-11 have had the highest rates in every area, followed by schools year 12-13 (then the 20-somethings and other working age). Primary age groups and the very oldest age groups the lowest.

This has been clearly published and available to read.

[quote Chestnutacorns123]@noblegiraffe how do you know secondary schools are the main sourse of transmission. I read the graphs as 0-9 very low rates. 10-19, similar on the whole to other working age groups but at the higher end. This group is not solely made up of secondary children. Some 18 and 19 year olds are working, attending college, going to bars and restaurants. You cannot therefore assume, their covid has been caught at school.[/quote]
Secondary school kids, that is, Y7-Y11, not 18 and 19 year olds, are the most infected subset of the population, per ONS random sampling which doesn't rely on people with symptoms getting tests.

I didn't say that schools were the main source of transmission. They certainly appear to be the main source of infection for that age group, backed up by PHE surveillance reporting. And now the government are finally concerned that they might take it to grandma at Christmas so transmission to more vulnerable groups is also a concern.

Testing children has been highly discussed around the school parents here at our school and the majority won’t test unless their child has symptoms. One of my dcs was invited to test on a random invite study and we did not take part as they where old enough to understand and did not wish to so no consent, one of my dc had symptoms and so they did get tested. However I doubt I could get them to test again. My oldest I don’t see them agreeing to it just because they can if it was offered here either and it’s not exactly something a parent can really honestly force the child to do as they could just mess up the test so it comes back inconclusive anyway.

@SquitMcJit

In tier 3 here.

Wrote to LEA, MP and our Head teacher months ago to ask why secondary schools were deemed to be “magic” and not requiring of all the other measures being imposed on society across the UK. We asked them to consider rotated learning to reduce numbers on site - NOT school closures.

Head blanked us and shut down the conversation - refused to discuss the issue with parents or get their support. LEA didn’t reply and MP replied last week - months after getting our first email.

We watched the press briefing open mouthed when Matt Hancock finally admitted schools were not “safe”.

Why is there not more in the press right now about this huge admission? Why are more parents not angry and taking action about the lies and demanding plans to make January safer with less disruption to children’s education?

I don’t understand.

I think the Heads have been muzzled and handcuffed by the authorities. They are telling their staff to do things they know to be questionable. I would not say questionable myself, l would say completely wrong and dangerous. This government have kept the schools open churning out virus into the community. This is a scandal. I hope people in the Department of Health will be held accountable for the lives lost when they could have tested all along. I also hope that the trust can be repaired between school staff and Leadership. Trust is non existent at the moment.

If kids refuse to test they should not be allowed back in school. The bigger picture of the school’s population is at risk here.

I think people in badly affected regions and schools who have basically been left to fester by this shower of shit government should be writing to their MPs to ask exactly why they haven't been pressing for this sort of action in their area. Especially new Tory MPs.

If a child has no symptoms why should they not be in school because they don’t consent to a medical procedure... that’s a scary line to start crossing.

I wrote to my Tory MP three times too about schools. I got one basic reply.

Every age subset in our country are supposed to have introduced social distancing into their lives EXCEPT school children.

So of course they are the subset with the biggest Issue, and the subset that need testing more rigorously.

Tadaaaaa! It's not rocket science is it?

Trouble is that only London matters?!

Children with no symptoms are one of the major issues with the raging infection rates in schools.

If you don't address that problem, it can't be fixed.

@noblegiraffe

I think people in badly affected regions and schools who have basically been left to fester by this shower of shit government should be writing to their MPs to ask exactly why they haven't been pressing for this sort of action in their area. Especially new Tory MPs.

I agree. Just written to our MP again tonight.

Will any parents now be taking the decision to take their children out of secondary school from tomorrow after tonight’s briefing (and the news from the Welsh government)?

No shit Sherlock....imagine that kids can carry and pass on Covid... I mean who knew?! Ffs what do we pay these wankers politicians for?
Maybe, just maybe noble those complete nobs who've been so vile to you, might have the decency to stay off your threads now.