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

Map/table at the bottom of this page, Christina, by area.

explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

SCHOOLS ARE OPEN is no good if 47% of secondary kids in Medway can't attend.

I bet the figures were worse up North/Midlands when they were worst hit. The graph certainly seems to suggest so.

And even worse if those 53% are isolating so cant leave the house. Thats going to have a huge knock on effect on (mainly) women working.

At least blended learning could be planned for , childcare with friends put in place, wouldnt go 2 weeks without school, can exercise outside the home. Teachers could prep properly, continuity of teaching, kids not suddenly isolating..... its all crackers.

Thanks noblegiraffe

@houseinthesnow

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

Who is that? I’ve not seen anyone who want schools closed.

Have you considered that whoever you refer to may actually have work to do? Like a real job? I’m not sure posting on MN 24/7 counts.

@Itisasecret that made me smile. Like when people disappear it must be for some strange reason. Not like we have a job.

@Lumene

”New strain of virus, possibly spreading faster, cause of exponential growth in SE, biggest spread in 10-19 year olds"

Chris Whitty (credible source albeit not a peer reviewed journal) says the new strain may or may not be driving the faster spread of the virus. Not sure of source of ‘biggest spread’ claim above though, or what this means - bigger than what?

Just look at the data on surveillance reports each week. The age group with growth is 10-19 yo. It's the only age group who grew cases during lockdown and had a slight dip after half term.

Epidemiologists have been saying for weeks the age group with biggest rise in cases is 10-19yo.

It's not hard to avoid the data it's everywhere.

Greenwich Director of Legal Services has written Gav a scorching letter telling him that what he did was outside of the law, not necessary and disproportionate. He also asked Gav why he didn’t supply the advice he was relying upon when he issued his directive to reassure people that it was safe.

He provides the figures that led them to believe Greenwich schools needed to close:

www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/5029/letter_to_secretary_of_state_15_december_2020.pdf

Gav is a twat. I hope anyone who gets sick in these few days sues his saggy little arse.
Ooh I feel better for that

I think this might be an area ripe for judicial review idc

I accept Covid is rife in some schools, but why should a whole area be punished because some ....

I'm not sure closing because of transmission of an infectious disease outbreak should count as punishment. But the answer to only closing the schools that need to be closed, in tightly defined areas where there are cases rises exponentially say over every 5 days or faster, is to give greater local control and flexibility

Oh, hang on.....

Good letter from Greenwich. Looking forwards to seeing Gav and the DfE's response. (hopefully with the right date this time)

I doubt they’ll respond.

Interesting to see how Legal Directors set out such letters. Found the tone interesting.

@houseinthesnow

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

I’d imagine their futures may be impacted more by health issues, loss of a parent or relative, no economy as businesses have to keep closing to allow for schools to be open etc.

With remote teaching and parental input there’s no reason why education can’t happen elsewhere and protect schools and stop businesses closing.

It will be interesting to see how this goes, especially if someone takes legal action under health and safety for falling ill or a relative after a loss.

Thanks for the copy of that letter very interesting reading and very much looking forward to reading the response.
Also finally some true and accurate figures about how many children / staff are ill / isolating.

if Ed secretary was as quick to respond to rising covid cases in schools as he was to threaten legal action ...

Absolutely this 👏

@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!

Do y'all remember the suggestion about a bucket of water for the whole school to wash their hands in? More of that blue sky thinking served up right here!

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

All of the close contacts of positive cases in one hall together. Brilliant-what could go wrong?!

Why don't they just allow parents to take dc out without fines.

The risk assessment for all this? How can it go ahead?

Fabulous letter!..

Very well put letter from Greenwich Council. Now tell me which of the two (The department for education or Greenwich Council) has the best interests of the community at heart? Who of the two is politicising this situation? I hope to God this debacle leads to change in our schools. There has been no transparency from dfe. Data has been either fiddled or not forthcoming. Schools are causing cases to rise. Serious illness and deaths will follow and I'm not referring to the children as much as their families and school staff.

Wow what a fantastic letter.

Has the govt got so entrenched in its "schools open at any cost" that it literally cant back down!? Even in the interests of limiting the virus (and the knock on on the nhs and business...)

Boris is seeming more trump like as time goes on.

Mrshoho I'm hopeful for change now that the newspapers are finally running with this.

But feel pretty sure there wont be 🙄

Placemarking

Aw, bless, our U4T bot had a fabulous run today, didn't she? Preaching nonsense to a largely empty room, whilst the people who could have put her right on some of her ridiculous notions were...oh yes, working TEACHING CHILDREN.