Govt attempting to force schools to remain open with court order, against advice of PHE

[Bluegreen70]

Just that.

I've never hated any politicians so much

The unions should be trying to close the schools actually but they aren’t doing a great job.

It is not acceptable for anyone to be going into work with the level of risk that teachers have at the moment.

@FuckOffDfE

The unions should be trying to close the schools actually but they aren’t doing a great job.

It is not acceptable for anyone to be going into work with the level of risk that teachers have at the moment.

Private too or just state?

I see Prof Callum Semple from SAGE has been wheeled out to defend the decision (on the BBC live feed). Where is the evidence PHE have said schools need to close? I haven't seen it, although I know there is evidence of high rates among school children. Saying it's rife in schools is not the same as saying they need to close though. (I haven't read this whole thread through so may have missed something.)

@Char2015

The leader of Greenwich Council has said he has "no choice" but to ask schools to remain open following threats of legal action from the government.

Link to Dan Thorpe's twitter thread which includes his letter

twitter.com/danlthorpe/status/1338797975292743680?s=21

For various reasons I removed my school age DC in September. The oncoming in/out fucking about was obvious. My child's year group have been in school a massive three weeks since September. Between burst bubbles and not enough staff they've managed three fucking weeks!

Kids needs consistency. Sen kids more so. Mine certainly does.

The government have made a complete mess if the school situation. Poor staff, poor kids, poor parents 😢

Those of us asking for testing

Good news

BBC mass testing January

Great news marsha I hope they will also consider the vaccine angle too.

For the good of the entire country children need to continue to go to school or their futures will be ruined.

But who is going to do this testing ? Are schools going to be allocated a nurse ? I'm not doing it to my year 10 tutor group !!

@houseinthesnow in an ideal world that all sounds lovely. How do you suggest we achieve that with 27 positive students, 6 positive staff and 389 people isolating ? Please explain how we keep fully open ?

You work around it, share classes if you have to. It is not the end of the world mum

@houseinthesnow 😂😂😂😂😂😂best laugh of the day. We work round it. How do you suggest I fit 90 kids in each room ? Or magic up extra staff to cover. I assume you don't ever go into a school.
Thanks for the laugh though. 😂😂😂

[quote mumsneedwine]@houseinthesnow in an ideal world that all sounds lovely. How do you suggest we achieve that with 27 positive students, 6 positive staff and 389 people isolating ? Please explain how we keep fully open ?[/quote]
Mumswine can I ask is the school closed or just some year groups?

Silly comment, perhaps you have started on the wine too soon.

Put the children in the assembly hall, and crack on, there it wasn't that hard was it!

I have been very robust in my views about children remaining at school and was disappointed they didn't reopen in the summer. However, at this point I would keep mine off - not least because it might stem the rise in infections but also because when you combine that with the bugger all learning that happens during the last week of term the benefits far outweigh the social/educational arguments.

@houseinthesnow

You work around it, share classes if you have to. It is not the end of the world mum

Oh, bless.

For the good of the entire country children need to continue to go to school or their futures will be ruined.

Indeed. If the government gave a stuff about this they'd have taken measures to actually reduce the spread in schools, rather than paying lip service and declaring them "covid-safe" when they clearly aren't.

Every teacher I know would rather kids were in schools. We (as a group) care far more about the educational outcomes of our students that the average person on the street, and in too many cases we care more than the parents. We have been trying to close the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, support mental health, promote physical health etc whilst the government have been cutting real-terms funding in schools and removing support services for years. Telling teachers (and most parents) how important schools are is like teaching your granny to suck eggs. It is high time the government actually DID something to support schools to stay open properly, full time and for all pupils.

Wow the leader of the council of Basildon was fantastic just now on radio 4. Justifying school closure and saying they'd close even if govt threatened with legal action (why did they threaten some councils and not others!?) He pointed out 40/45% of their cases (!!!) were from schools.

And a briliant line when questioned about
Wanting to close schools - pointing out as we oftennsay that noone wants to close schools! But the health was at risk. Really impressed.

He has another great line something like if Ed secretary was as quick to respond to rising covid cases in schools as he was to threaten legal action ...

@RosesAndHellebores

I have been very robust in my views about children remaining at school and was disappointed they didn't reopen in the summer. However, at this point I would keep mine off - not least because it might stem the rise in infections but also because when you combine that with the bugger all learning that happens during the last week of term the benefits far outweigh the social/educational arguments.

Exactly. It’s just such a stupid argument for the government to pick over 3-4 days that might prevent greater disruption over the next 2 months.

My dc's secondary school closed on Thursday last week on the instruction of PHE, due to rising cases, though not as many as in those London schools, by the sound of it. No sign of anyone telling us we have to open up again. Mind you, we're in a relatively rural area of NW England - I doubt Gav would take much notice of us.

@RememberSelfCompassion

Wow the leader of the council of Basildon was fantastic just now on radio 4. Justifying school closure and saying they'd close even if govt threatened with legal action (why did they threaten some councils and not others!?) He pointed out 40/45% of their cases (!!!) were from schools.

And a briliant line when questioned about
Wanting to close schools - pointing out as we oftennsay that noone wants to close schools! But the health was at risk. Really impressed.

He has another great line something like if Ed secretary was as quick to respond to rising covid cases in schools as he was to threaten legal action ...

Will have to listen. Did Basildon council ask that schools close? When did they do this?

Is it a conservative rural area lazylinguist? That might make a difference.

Exactly. It’s just such a stupid argument for the government to pick over 3-4 days that might prevent greater disruption over the next 2 months.

It’s avoiding precedent. It’s not just the few days but what could then legally follow.

@lazylinguist

My dc's secondary school closed on Thursday last week on the instruction of PHE, due to rising cases, though not as many as in those London schools, by the sound of it. No sign of anyone telling us we have to open up again. Mind you, we're in a relatively rural area of NW England - I doubt Gav would take much notice of us.

This is fine as PHE asked them to not the council.

Yep Basildon council leader urged schools to close and Ive googled and 8 out of 9 secondary schools closed for this week as a result and over hald the primaries.

It was world at 1 and we think 13.27 is the schools bit. They discuss Greenwich and Basildon.