Secondary schools are stuffed, GOVERNMENT ADMITS

[noblegiraffe]

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

Mass testing for secondary school pupils in worst affected areas.

The decision will be based on the data, if rates are rising in that age group.

Secondary school pupils have been the most infected subset of the population for a while now.

Mass testing was done in universities a long time ago now.

Why are you making excuses for the government's incompetence and denial of issues?

@noblegiraffe

The government lies have killed people.

I want Chris Whitty and pals to publicly retract their 'schools are safe' letter to the public.

This. x 100

And it's not just the deaths that have already happened. This is about January's preventable deaths. The lies and denials aren't consequence free.

I think Merkel might have hit the nail on the head with her speech they other day about looking back on this event and not being able to find a solution for the end of this term.

@noblegiraffe

attendance in all state schools (England): 85.5%

"On 3 December, attendance in state-funded primary schools was 90%, up from 88% and attendance in state-funded secondary schools was 81%, up from 78%."

You get that that's terrible, right?

That sounds ok though for this time of year plus a pandemic ? Our school hits about 94% in a normal year but it does drop over winter and is better in the summer term. Add in the pandemic too and that sounds like pretty good attendance to me. Roughly 8 out of 10 kids are in school. That’s good news surely

One in five secondary school children not in school because of Covid.

Do this bunch of bozos actually have a clue?

I work for NHS hospital ... still not EVER been tested ... and ward was hot for 4 months! A couple of patients became positive In hospital despite being inpatient for 3 months!! Nurses still not swabbed! Its been 9 months!

You must have missed the detailed PHE stats I posted eyesofblue.

Add in the pandemic too and that sounds like pretty good attendance to me. Roughly 8 out of 10 kids are in school. That’s good news surely

The government didn't think so, the DfE decided it needed an urgent inquiry into why so many kids were out of school.

Nice try though.

@BertNErnie

In a firm believer in schools staying open where possible and I have also been calling for mass testing in schools.

It's one of these scenarios where people tend to only think about it from a personal perspective and how affects their family situation.

The inability for some to think in wider community terms rather than further than their own family unit is the reason I think changes are always lagging and the virus is spreading. My children's school hasn't been very affected at all but I know of many schools close by who have been utterly ravaged by the virus and some staff members and family members in these schools/communities have become very ill.

Just because my children haven't been affected doesn't mean I'm not going to campaign for safer measures for schools.

That’s it in a nutshell. Their whole approach has been to appease parents who want only want what’s best for THEIR child; schools open as normal as possible, with windows closed, after school clubs. As a Mum I want that in my own children’s primary school (not least for the childcare, I’ll be honest!) As a senior leader in a secondary school, I know that the blasé approach to safety has led to huge spikes in cases, a horrendously unfair experience for exam year groups in different regions, and quite possibly 1000s of unnecessary deaths. I’m delighted my two have made it to December without needing to self-isolate, but I cannot base my views on schools on that. Decisions about schools need to be made by people who work in them and know them best, not a half hearted attempt to keep parents happy.

Why?! If Boris or Matt Hancock did that, half the people in here would be calling it fake, insincere, laughing, ridiculing etc etc.

That's because Merkel has more credibility. Mostly Johnson and Hancock just sound as if they don't care so an outbreak of caring is questionable.

Decisions about schools need to be made by people who work in them and know them best, not a half hearted attempt to keep parents happy.

I don’t think this is happening. But I think a local approach is best.

@RubyViolet thank you for your kind words about Leicester.

I can't pretend I know the answer, but I do know that for whatever reason it is clear those in power feel we don't matter.

That’s your opinion. It’s not mine but that’s fine.

Two rules, one for the north and one for the south. Shameful.

@sashagabadon

That’s your opinion. It’s not mine but that’s fine.

Why do you not care that hundreds of thousands of kids are missing school due to inadequate mitigation measures?

Is it because it's not yours?

BBC news. 3 students in that classroom all wearing masks.
Still no masks in actual classrooms.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55265098

The BBC must be completely baffled as to why secondary schools are actually stuffed what with all the mask-wearing and social distancing that goes on in them, according to all the photos they've ever seen.

What has really annoyed me, and I work in a school, is that all of Kent is Tier 3, but they refused to allow some boroughs with very low rates to be Tier 2, yet are only testing some children in Kent. Why all of the county for 1 measure and only part for another? And yes it was always clear that schools, as hard as they tried, would not be able to put in place tight enough measures.

On Thursday 3rd December:
attendance in all state schools (England): 85.5%
proportion of open state schools: 99.5%

I don't know if this translates to the data above, but in our school Covid-related absence is given a special code and is not included in the attendance figures! As far as I was aware this was following national guidelines.

As for open schools,last week DH:s large London secondary shut to all year groups but staff had to go on-site to teach their remote lessons so that the school did not have to be recorded as closed.

Surely nobody without symptoms will get tested knowing full well that if it comes back positive that's Christmas over?

I do care but I am also really pleased to see hundreds of thousands if not millions of kids are getting to go into school. That’s a success and no doubt down to the hard work of teachers, school leaders and governors.
So much better that the spring when millions of kids were just sitting at home day after day with minimal schooling.

The attendance code x hides the impact of number of pupils off isolating on attendance figures

Call me suspicious but if there's only a small uptake they'll use this as evidence that parents dont want thier children tested.

So the question is what's the balance between those who want a test before seeing Granny and those who don't want to risk being told to isolate over the free for all.

@sashagabadon

I do care but I am also really pleased to see hundreds of thousands if not millions of kids are getting to go into school. That’s a success and no doubt down to the hard work of teachers, school leaders and governors. So much better that the spring when millions of kids were just sitting at home day after day with minimal schooling.

This isn't about schools open v closed.

Those hundreds of thousands of kids who are currently off school could have been in school if the situation had been managed better.

That is a failure of government. They said that keeping schools open was a priority. They didn't say that keeping kids in them was a priority. So they offered nothing in the way of funding to protect against covid spread, and actively rejected measures that would have protected families and teachers and kept more children in school.

All while trumpeting that they kept schools open.

Yes, absence due to any Covid-related issue is marked with an X. This doesn't register as a "proper" absence, so the figure of 90 whatever % being in school is a red herring. Also, the school being "open" hides the actualities - my local secondary school had half of only two year groups on the premises last week, yet were deemed "open." Not in any real sense (as the Government would like to claim, I mean. The staff were all working, albeit from home, unless ill).