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

Actually dealing with the problem would have been a better way to avoid legal precedent.

Its not clear why a conservative council is allowing schools to close for safety reasons (Essex www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-essex-55249370) but not labour controlled Greenwich.

@RememberSelfCompassion

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.

Thanks. He’d be crazy to go to be fine to take it to court though. Cost a fortune in public funds. He mustn’t have received the same letter. Not sure why not though will listen later.

I know! They couldn't really could they. It seems from the soundbite that he didnt get he letter, but was asked if he'd change his mind if the gov threatened the council with legal action. Essex had given them the go ahead though.

All very curious.

@houseinthesnow you are so funny. So you suggest I put 1,800 kids in the 'assembly' hall when we run out of staff. How would you like me to stack them ? If we don't have enough staff we can not teach as we can't magic up space or teachers. So I ask again how do we 'work round it'. And you've given every teacher her a good laugh so thank you.
@MarshaBradyo we have been closed fully, some days for specific year groups and now we are 'open' but running with skeleton staff. Which is only possible as so many students are now off isolating. Teaching on line and in person at the same time which is rubbish for both sets of students.

@houseinthesnow

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!

you make us laugh ......

not allowed to have big groups in the assembly hall, perhaps you missed the SD memo on that

Take no notice of house, they are clearly a goady twat🤪

Oh but she's funny. I'm in the mood for a giggle today (PPA and have loads of marking to do but she's worth a few minutes of my time).

According to Lewis Goodall, Heads in Islington have received a letter by Schools minister Nick Gibb. Says that he's "deeply disappointed and concerned by the unilateral stance that Islington has taken" on school closures. Then says the Dept might legally force schools to remain open.

Waltham Forest schools have received the same letter from DfE

I'm now working out whether I stack year 11 on top of year 7. Or squish them all in and play a massive game of sardines.

@houseinthesnow

The 'close schools at any cost' cavalry have been rumbled and appear to have disappeared from the thread.

who are they?

@Blacktothepink

Take no notice of house, they are clearly a goady twat🤪

specialist subject - teacher bashing

@Notthemessiah

It's fine for their families as all of the private schools have already broken up, so their Xmas is safe - who cares if a few kids in state schools pass COVID on to their grandparents or their families have to self isolate over the holidays?

Fgs. This again.

@mumsneedwine - surely it's Year 7 on top of 11?

We can only have 90 students in our hall under SD rules and not mixing of bubbles. It is not just a case of chuck in any kids without a teacher and 'crack on'.

Crack on with what? Depends upon timetables and setting in a number of cases. Maybe we should work our way through the Christmas films on Netflix

Ah listening to Basildon guy on World at 1. He didn’t get what he wanted? He wanted them all to close.

I think the difference is the schools have closed but he didn’t order all of them to. He would totally do the same re legal action as Greenwich if he got it but swerved the question.

@walksen

* I accept Covid is rife in some schools, but why should a whole area be punished because some clearly haven’t got the right protocols in place to protect their students and teachers?

Another poster who has swallowed the often repeated covid guidance significantly reduces risk. It really doesn't. Name any other business that has the same number of people in the same space doing the same amount of work as they did before lockdown 1. Most schools bubble along with a few cases or none then cases just explode very quickly.

This.

Ive just been looking at some news reports. Ive never been to Basildon so no knowlege at all, just heard the piece on the radio. Looks like this had been the plan for a little while, but instead of a blanket policy the council advised schools to close but gave the schools final choice. 8 our of 9 secondaries closed.

He comes across very well. On fb he was trying to avoid basildon going into tier 3 .

I wonder if advising schools to close will come under scrutiny.

Not as clear cut as instructing all to close.

Looking at the data, the lowest attendance is in secondaries in these areas (from last Thursday)

Secondary:
Medway: 53%
Kent: 55%
Enfield: 55%
Havering: 58%
Thurrock: 59%

That's pretty shocking.

Vaccinating all teachers still won't stop closures in the short term. Unless they are CV/CEV the second phase starts when around March?

There is also little evidence to determine if the vaccinated can pass it on, or if there is still the issue of Long CV. From what I can make out if the vaccinated go on to get CV, they will get it milder so time off and all the rest still..

www.fda.gov/media/144245/download

The borough mine goes school announced last night they are closing from tomorrow and moving to online learning. For many, this means no change as they haven't really been in since September.

attendance seems to be going into freefall this week anyway in some schools

It's shocking but not surprising that the govt are refusing to use the information we have about what happened in the spring in the UK ie a late lockdown costing thousands of lives to do something differently this time, especially when local leaders have explicitly identified a proven way to reduce community transmission.

Where did you get that data from noblegiraffe?

If a school closes does PHE have to ok it?

Or advise it based on situation even