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

Walkaround the ONS study tests all ages so asymptomatic or different symptoms will be picked up. It’s not high in primary age group. Not as high as secondary anyway.

Incidentally, we're in a London borough with rising rates. Our primary school has has one case since April (and the closest academy-mate similar). So no, they shouldn't close- they're not 'on their knees'- it should remain case by case. We're key workers anyway so no difference to us as they'd be going in, but there are plenty of vulnerable kids who are heading into a long risky period anyway, every day of school is a bonus to them.

Too little, too late, last minute and on the back foot is how the government has managed every step of this pandemic.

Councillor gone rogue

Doubt it - the link with the letter (from the leader of the council) is published on the official borough website.

Telling parents that it's 'circulating on social media' rather than an official council strikes me as a hostile act.

Agree it will be interesting to see if the Mayor has anything to say about this.

And who will win between PHE and DofE, as it seems the Ark position does make that fight inevitable

@Hellandcoldwater

Incidentally, we're in a London borough with rising rates. Our primary school has has one case since April (and the closest academy-mate similar). So no, they shouldn't close- they're not 'on their knees'- it should remain case by case. We're key workers anyway so no difference to us as they'd be going in, but there are plenty of vulnerable kids who are heading into a long risky period anyway, every day of school is a bonus to them.

It’s so varied. I’m London and one here in primary too.

@SquirmOfEels

Councillor gone rogue

Doubt it - the link with the letter (from the leader of the council) is published on the official borough website.

Telling parents that it's 'circulating on social media' rather than an official council strikes me as a hostile act.

Agree it will be interesting to see if the Mayor has anything to say about this.

And who will win between PHE and DofE, as it seems the Ark position does make that fight inevitable

No not individually

Do state schools have to follow DfE? Or can LA intercept

It’s almost like the teachers and unions have been warning about this for months.

PHE was involved in his as well.

[quote monkeytennis97]@ChloeDecker am just about to send you a DM[/quote]
No worries monkey!

most damage for the least effect.

First of all, Alistair Munro is a highly biased mouthpiece for various organisations.

Secondly, the 'least effect' bit is not true. Even SAGE acknowledge that closing schools reduce R more than almost any other single measure.

Hellandcoldwater our local primary was like that this time last week. One confirmed case, one class sent home to self-isolate.

Then suddenly it wasn't. Lots of classes sent home to SI. Two more confirmed over the weekend. Staff dropping like flies.

The secondary school next door where lots have siblings is closed next week as there are 50+ staff SI and numerous positive cases among the children.

Good move. Hopefully more follow suit. Rumours here of a delayed start in January too.

@2020out could you link to the thread where there is discussion about isolating for 10 or 14 days ?

I've looked briefly at DfE site for advice that it's 14 days but not found anything .

TIA

Too little, too late, last minute and on the back foot is how the government has managed every step of this pandemic.

Yes this , and sadly if it hasn’t affected a school parents have no idea what the situation is in other schools due to the radio silence. And it’s just a matter of time before it rips through your school as it’s shown from the north to the south recently.

I live in Greenwich. DD is in school (primary) just over the border in Lewisham so this won't affect us unless Lewisham follow suit. Our school has so far fingers crossed not had a single bubble burst since September so I'm really hoping that they are able to finish the term as planned on Friday.

Personally, I'm more concerned about the return in January with just a week between this "Christmas bubble" period and the start of term.

It also doesn't bode well at all for the tiers announcement on Wednesday....

I think we will see a lot of schools in badly hit areas closing due to lack of staff this week- on a wider scale than we have seen.

There will be a lot of people who won't want to risk having to self isolate over Christmas.

I do agree it's a concern that some children will be left unsupervised, but surely this has been a concern all term with 2 week isolation periods at the drop of a hat?

Sensible decision.

Do state schools have to follow DfE? Or can LA intercept

Good question. We’ve got the gov Covid helpline saying one thing and the LA another.

Nice - but there is a difference between one year group closing and a whole school! I don’t know why this always gets brought up as an argument for closing schools, and I am not being goady.

Let’s say a school has 700 pupils, for arguments sake, with year 6 and year 3 bubbles bursting. That’s obviously a pain for the parents of those children but it cannot be helped.

But there are still 500 children attending school.

I see nothing wrong with politely asking parents to keep their children off if they can, but unilaterally deciding to close with such short notice is a nightmare for working parents.

I am very curious to see what attendance will be like this week at my (currently open to all year groups) secondary.

@Hellandcoldwater

Incidentally, we're in a London borough with rising rates. Our primary school has has one case since April (and the closest academy-mate similar). So no, they shouldn't close- they're not 'on their knees'- it should remain case by case. We're key workers anyway so no difference to us as they'd be going in, but there are plenty of vulnerable kids who are heading into a long risky period anyway, every day of school is a bonus to them.

I would have agreed with you 10 days ago. Ours has had 2 cases since April.

However, in the last 10 days, 3 unconnected members of staff (me included) at our primary have tested positive. Worst symptoms were cold-like, only tested due to a fever. It must have spread through the children. Just because you can't see Covid at your school doesn't mean it's not there.

I wish our school could close for 5 days to protect families. But we can only isolate close contacts and those left without a teacher. So Covid may well continue to silently make its way through the school, and then to the children's families over Christmas.

Not in Greenwich, but not far from it. I think it's an appalling decision. I'm praying our borough doesn't follow suit. Our school has had one case since September...no need to close imo.

In in Greenwich, we’ve received nothing ‘official’ yet from school.

London Borough here. DD’s secondary has sent home all Y7-10 due to too many teachers off and cases in pupils rising.

DD was infected mid-November and while she was isolating her whole form was sent home. On average there were 50% of children per lesson.

Look at Germany, they just closed the schools from Wednesday for a months, we won’t we that far behind.

This is totally unacceptable from Greenwich Council. Schools must remain open for numerous reasons. In particular, we cannot have individual heads and councils being allowed to close schools.

It is particularly ridiculous that working parents are being given one day's notice that they suddenly have no childcare.

It's all very well for middle class parents working from home to advocate closing schools. But parents struggling to put food the table already should not be put in this impossible position.

The DfE should order schools in Greenwich to open as normal. They should also be clear that any head who closed their schools will face dismissal and/or prosecution.