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Original poster

Greenwich schools closing tomorrow

498 replies

Starch1e · 13/12/2020 20:16

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 Sad Sad

OP posts:
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Original poster
Starch1e · 13/12/2020 21:42

BlackLamb we're the opposite - live in Lewisham, school in Greenwich.
It is political grandstanding, will be interesting to see which other boroughs follow and what DFE says tomorrow.
To all the people asking what we would be doing if asked to SI, I'd be screaming and tearing hair out too but at least it would feel justified. We've been exceptionally lucky that there have been no full class closures and no obvious staff shortages. I normally WfH but have to into work 1 day this week for stuff that can only be done on site. Hence screaming into the void.

OP posts:
Bluegreen70 · 13/12/2020 21:42

@Bluegreen70

They totally disregard the fact that their decisions cost lives. I don't know what's wrong with them. They seem to think they are somehow too superior to acknowledge any science
Greenwich Free School I am referring to.
Frazzled2207 · 13/12/2020 21:42

whilst it looks like this is the right decision it does beg the question what's special about greenwich whereas where we are (GM) schools have been on their knees since September.

starrynight19 · 13/12/2020 21:43

Frazzled2207

whilst it looks like this is the right decision it does beg the question what's special about greenwich whereas where we are (GM) schools have been on their knees since September.

Agreed

Reindeermayhem · 13/12/2020 21:44

So unfair for children who are not keyworker children though. Keyworker children get taught. People who have one parent not a keyworker had to somehow do their job and have children at home and teachers them.

So those say in finance industry - their kids get taught. Others, no!! Teachers cannot teach the children at home, or mark their work but can those in school. So unfair.

It is either safe for children to be in or not. All in or all out.

TheRubyRedshoes · 13/12/2020 21:44

Middle ager

You see, I'm furious with her.
When she said in an extremely patronising tone that children are not at risk because they all sit facing forward, I could not believe my ears.

But she seems like a hero on mumsnet as the cool clever voice of reason.

Where is she now?
What is boris supposed to do? Are these boris words? Her words? What?

starrynight19 · 13/12/2020 21:45

Also @Frazzled2207 it will be interesting to see what the dfe make of this tomorrow as it doesn’t fit their ‘every child should be in school until the end of term’ stance.

christinarossetti19 · 13/12/2020 21:46

TheRubyRedshoes

Heads who have tried to manage their school situation as they think best eg move to online learning/end term early have been instructed not to and threatened with being sued by the DfE.

Similarly, families with an ECV member have been told that they cannot request that their child learn at home and that they will be fined if they keep their child out of school.

Having windows open was one of the few mitigation measures put in place by the govt. You can't really blame schools for following mandated guidance, can you?

You don't think it's a problem that all the laptops that the government promised schools in the summer simply haven't materialised?

What's the point in schools auditing those who need provision if there isn't anything to offer them?

You do know that the govt expressed instructed teachers not to wear masks in the classroom don't you, and only brought in the masks in corridors directive at the beginning of November?

monkeytennis97 · 13/12/2020 21:46

@ChloeDecker have DMed you againSmile

TheRubyRedshoes · 13/12/2020 21:46

Reindeer there is the tech to simply teach in class and simultaneously at home!

We've done this many a time on Google meets which is free.
It's not ideal but we can't have perfection in a pandemic.

2020out · 13/12/2020 21:46

@middleager

But Dr Jenny Harries said children are more likely to be hit by a bus than catch Covid. More than 50 cases at our school...
Awful. In fairness to her, the headline isn't what she said and is a very poor interpretation. I think it is true that a child is more likely to die in an RTA than die of Covid (too lazy to check for sure just now, sorry). But funnily enough, RTAs aren't something you can pass on to your grandma, teacher, or any person in a supermarket.
StanfordPines · 13/12/2020 21:46

@middleager

But Dr Jenny Harries said children are more likely to be hit by a bus than catch Covid. More than 50 cases at our school...
Be careful of busses then!

Oh and to all the ‘children don’t spread it’ people, do you think children are the only people in schools. In my primary school we have approx 400 children and, across the week, 100 adults. That includes cleaners, kitchen staff, office staff, speech therapists, one to ones, and all other support staff and teachers.

Frazzled2207 · 13/12/2020 21:49

@starrynight19

Also *@Frazzled2207* it will be interesting to see what the dfe make of this tomorrow as it doesn’t fit their ‘every child should be in school until the end of term’ stance.
indeed a local academy trust was told off recently for wanting to close early for christmas. they had to change the term finish date back again to the 18th.
monkeytennis97 · 13/12/2020 21:49

@Hellandcoldwater Secondary here.

Piggywaspushed · 13/12/2020 21:49

I actually looked up the hit by a bus thing recently. In 2017 no children were killed by being hit by a bus.

TheRubyRedshoes · 13/12/2020 21:50

Please don't attack me Christina, we are on the same side it's just I see it as more grey than let's blame the evil tories.

You have also mis read my post.
Some schools are insisting on regulation uniforms whilst having Windows open. I wholeheartedly want Windows open, heating on and children allowed to use wear anything. Anything, that will support ventilation and keeping them as warm as possible.

Some schools seemed to take a proactive lead over lock down and do audits on tech, others did not and blamed the gov for lack of tech.

We all know many schools dropped all their dc and left them with nothing. Like mine did.

Others did far more with less resources.

hedgehogger1 · 13/12/2020 21:50

12 kids have tested positive in my DDs primary bubble. Primary kids definitely spread it!

StanfordPines · 13/12/2020 21:50

@Reindeermayhem

So unfair for children who are not keyworker children though. Keyworker children get taught. People who have one parent not a keyworker had to somehow do their job and have children at home and teachers them.

So those say in finance industry - their kids get taught. Others, no!! Teachers cannot teach the children at home, or mark their work but can those in school. So unfair.

It is either safe for children to be in or not. All in or all out.

I don’t know that keyworker children did get taught. In our school we have 400 children but only about 15 children in throughout. We didn’t do lessons. There was no direct teaching. We played games, made art, explored nature, that kind of things. Learning took place, but we didn’t sit them down and teach them long division.
Piggywaspushed · 13/12/2020 21:51

It's actually very hard to find as the stats don't tend to break it down by vehicle type. That's why political figures can spout bollocks which is hard to factcheck.

Hellandcoldwater · 13/12/2020 21:51

Ah, altogether different fish-kettle then @monkeytennis97

Valenciaoranges · 13/12/2020 21:52

I thought my school had escaped: absolutely zero until last 10 days of this term, then suddenly hit staff and students. Students pretty much
asymptomatic as well, which is pretty risky for family who may be vulnerable.
I don’t see how anyone can deny that the virus is being spread by young people: firstly Uni students, now school age children. The cases will undoubtedly rise and kill more vulnerable people post Christmas.
Germany is closing for a month pretty much and they run a pretty tight ship. I just feel our government don’t have a plan and just go head first into each wave without any apparent planning,

fullofhope100 · 13/12/2020 21:52

I [almost] give up with this.
Ffs.

TheRubyRedshoes · 13/12/2020 21:53
  • we have had very few truly cold days down south, we've only had the odd bone chilling day. I can't imagine what January will be like unless the weather is unseasonably warm.
Hellandcoldwater · 13/12/2020 21:54

I'm not saying they don't, @hedgehogger1 I'm saying that not all schools do have cases, spread, or staffing issues, and where they don't, they should not close. We could have been closed since March in anticipation of a problem that never materialised.

Char2015 · 13/12/2020 21:54

@Reindeermayhem

There was no requirement for keyworker children to be taught. In fact, from what I have read, there was very little teaching of the curriculum going on in schools with the keyworker children during the first lockdown. There was a lot of arts, music, play, cooking etc going on. As a keyworker my child was in school during lockdown and there was certainly no teaching going on by the teachers.