Greenwich schools closing tomorrow

[Starch1e]

Leader of Greenwich council tweeted an open letter this afternoon asking schools to close from Tuesday. Our school is complying.
I need a meltdown emoji. Work is stupid f*king busy this week for me and DP and I cannot do it with 4 & 7 year old at home

@OverTheRainbow88

I think more areas will follow suit.

Schools are majorly struggling, I never thought I would say this but I wish ours would close except to key worker children

Why? You can always keep your children off school

So what should parents have done, refused shifts at work in case the schools closed? Ensure they had enough savings to cover the mortgage in case schools closed?

Halfpasthree - clearly been nowhere near my primary school lately then.

The letter to headteachers (in the link I posted above) explains that PHE advised that cases are doubling every 4 days in Greenwich (and much of London), so staying open the 4 days to Thursday will see increases.

Which is better for working parents - an extra 3 days off (with provision for key workers and socially vulnerable DC), or the risk of 10 days SI which if it started on Thursday would knock out the whole of the Christmas concession period?

@SquirmOfEels

This is the official announcement

www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/news/article/1753/statement_on_school_closures

It suggests that the decision was made in conjunction with PHE

(Not sure if relevant - it's a borough with a large Labour majority)

I wonder why this one area when others must be similar? Also how does DfE fit in v PHE

@WinstonmissesXmas

I hear you! Mine were due back this week now they’ve reduced the 14 days of self isolation to 10. The school won’t allow them back, which directly contradicts the gov advice that came out on Thursday. You can’t have people making up their own rules all over the place!

Schools follow DFE advice. DFE say to keep at 14. Been discussed at length in another thread.

I think it would be fairer to ask parents to please not send in their children unless they have absolutely no other arrangements. I imagine most would be able to sort something but I do honestly worry some children will be left at home unsupervised as a result of this.

@ThreeTwoOneGoo

Why? You can always keep your children off school

Because our staff are dropping like flies, 800 kids currently off isolating anyway, it’s an unsafe environment to be in

[quote OverTheRainbow88]@ThreeTwoOneGoo

Why? You can always keep your children off school

Because our staff are dropping like flies, 800 kids currently off isolating anyway, it’s an unsafe environment to be in[/quote]

But at my DC primary school only one year class has had to isolate since they went back in September, so why close all schools when some are doing fine.

Are you joking?

This is a good thread summing up the evidence

twitter.com/apsmunro/status/1337426764189020160

"Summary: Young children seem significantly less susceptible, probably less likely to transmit. Less clear for teens. Schools mainly follow community trends, but secondary much higher risk than primary"

The reason they said schools would be the last thing to close is because it does the most damage for the least effect.

I appreciate that many people are nervous about schools, and that some people believe children are the cause of the second wave, but that doesn't mean it's true

Primary school children hardly spread it, and we've known this since April

Who's 'we'? What are you basing this on? Because most people know it's not the case at all, as they're literally living with the reality.

Ark academy (much beloved of DfE) not doing it. This is party politics.

Its crackers tbh. Specially as school children will not be vaccinated and the vulnerable have started to be vaccinated

The thing is @HalfPastThreeschools aren’t solely full of children so when all the staff are off sick with covid or isolating they become unsafe.
Never mind secondary school age are the highest age of transmission followed closely by primary children.

@HalfPastThree

This makes no sense. Primary school children hardly spread it, and we've known this since April. If they think older children are spreading it, why on earth are they closing primary schools? What are they doing?

I am seeing the exact opposite! Primary schools struggling massively

but I do honestly worry some children will be left at home unsupervised as a result of this.

They will be. Parents are being put in an impossible position. The run up to Christmas is insanely busy for many businesses, with no slack in the system whatsoever.

In our business, we normally have a little discretion and are able to turn down some contracts in December. Not this year. To make up for lost revenue earlier in the year, we’ve been instructed to take on everything going in order to avoid any more redundancies. We are slammed.

@ThreeTwoOneGoo

Kind of similar to arguing it mainly Kills over 80s so why lockdown the rest of us?

@multivac

Ark academy (much beloved of DfE) not doing it. This is party politics.

Ark Academy is not based in Greenwich. They are in Brent.

@multivac

Ark academy (much beloved of DfE) not doing it. This is party politics.

Sorry - free school.

it's getting to the point where it's not safe as there are simply not enough staff

That with bells on. We're back to full school of kids this week, but not staff. Erk. 3 weeks ago it all felt slightly panicky, as if the shit could hut the fan at any point.

I imagine most would be able to sort something but I do honestly worry some children will be left at home unsupervised as a result of this

Do you have the same worries when a child is off sick, or close contacts are sent home to SI?

Because both those things could happen on no notice (ie much faster than this which gives 24 hours). And could (or for SI definitely would) require longer at home than 3 days (assuming Greenwich is breaking up next Thurs like many other London boroughs, give or take a new short-notice inset which has already lopped a day off for pupils)

Of course primary school children spread it. The only people I know who have had covid work in primary schools.

At least secondary school kids and teachers can wear masks and minimise what they spread.

@MarshaBradyo

I wonder why this one area when others must be similar?

Might be something to do with the leader of the council being a former teacher? Just wondering.

@multivac

Just checked out their site. They are waiting to be instructed by DFE/PHE directly before they close. Interesting.

I thought ONS showed the difference between primary and secondary? Primary is lower