Vulnerability is not just to the virus.

[OpheliasCrayon]

I'm getting increasingly frustrated with people just calling for schools to be shut immediately. I absolutely understand the risks in keeping them open, I work in them and have seen covid spread in my workplace like wildfire. I also don't know what the correct answer is. Fortunately I don't have to make the choices though and for as long as I am required to be in work, I will be, gladly.

I am not in this for a fight. I definitely can't be bothered with that. But I do want to explain and remind people of something which does not come from Science papers, medical journals or government policy. Rather from what I've seen and worked alongside during decades of experience in the classroom working with vulnerable children.

Vulnerability in this situation does not just relate to becoming unwell with covid and dying or getting long term illnesses. I don't belittle those things, this said, I have multiple chronic illnesses and have lived with them for decades and ive lost a child (not to covid) so, I wouldn't ever belittle either thing and understand the gravity and tragedy of both situations...

However when people say that vulnerable children may be in school I'm not sure they are truly understanding the situation. It's true, they can be in school, they should be in school..... Tragically though, the children who are the most vulnerable are not likely to be in school. Their parents for whatever reason may not want /be able to take their children into school. Therefore we, as education staff, cannot keep an eye on the children we MOST desperately need to keep an eye on. Abused, neglected, malnourished children aren't going to be willingly brought into school during a lockdown and if they are not in school them we cannot monitor what is happening to them. If people from outside the family cannot monitor what is going on then we cannot act to keep these children safe.

We may well be protecting the most vulnerable to covid, if we lockdown (I'm CEV so that does technically apply to me although I haven't shieled and worked throughout despite letters but I reserve my right to my personal choice )...but surely we need to, people need to realise that there are other extremely vulnerable people, people who cannot and will not speak out for themselves in the vast majority of cases, people who need us to look out for them.

There is more to life than covid and there are more vulnerabilities than covid. But because of covid we are losing sight of these vulnerable young children more and more and I am wondering do we have chance to get them back into our care if this continues?

Im an SEN teacher but I have been in countless mainstream schools over the years and have enough experience and knowledge in all settings to know these vulnerable children are across all settings.

For those of you who did realise this theny apologies. For those of you who didn't.. then please understand that whilst I hope for you your children are safe, fed, loved and cared for, this is not the same for all children. I have seen things over my years of work which have affected me still 20 years on. I'm not going to repeat them because this isn't what this is about , I'm not going to give details of children's desperately tragic lives to prove my point. But every time we mention vulnerable, we are thinking of the most obvious sort of risk - that of covid itself, but whilst you're calling for schools to shut, please realise what that means.

If we are working together to protect the vulnerable, why are we also not working together to protect the most vulnerable children,? By which I mean mandating school attendance so they have to attend along with their peers, and we can keep the eye that we very much need to keep on ALL the children in our care.

If the virus is allowed to continue circulate, more mutations are likely to arise.

I agree. Then where will we be?

Safer schools - online learning, blended learning until vaccination is properly rolled out. I want to protect my children, myself, other children, their parents. etc...

I completely agree with everything you’ve said in your OP, from experience I know you’re right.

While encouraging people to open their minds to a different type of vulnerability, you need to include those you don’t have experience of in your own life as well. These never ending, ever stricter lockdowns are also severely affecting vulnerable people of another type.

As much as I believe schools need to be fully functioning, we can’t go on with everything except school being closed because it’s just prolonging the suffering for everyone.

Not everyone who is thinking that schools should close is ignorant of how much children need to be in school, but children are only one section of society that deserves consideration.

As a parent - I dont want my children to catch it. They cant SD in schools as it currently is. The virus has become more conagious. That means they are likely to spread it to one another.
As a teacher - I can wear a mask and ventilate the room but I cant SD from your child. They come up to me. I cant teach them properly without being close to them.
Schools will have fragemented learning because they will have to isolate [ This is already happening] Creating disadvantage to everyone.including the vunerable.
If its not happening at your school, it will.
We need a sustainable way to teach children that will see us through this. Being in school full time currently, isnt the answer. Look at the posts on here. Parents saying about their child isolating, schools closing. That is the reality of letting covid spread.

Thank you for posting this OP, I have been thinking the same thing but couldn't put it quite so eloquently. Throughout all of this I have thought of these children, we can't abandon them.

Schools WERE a safe place for vulnerable children. At the moment they aren’t a safe place for anyone.
We need other plans for looking after vulnerable children right now.

It’s ridiculous to call the action taken to stop the spread of Covid “hysterical”. Governments don’t pay people to stay home for most of a year and plunge deep into national debt on a whim! This is a genuine pandemic. When will people realise?
The reason we are now in a deeper crisis is mainly because schools were opened and the virus circulated freely there. Kids take the illness home and some parents are vulnerable.

Surely it’s worse to become orphaned than to miss out on learning long division - or whatever? That can be caught up on later. I would like to see schools improve on their distance learning.

My teenager was in school throughout first lockdown as a vulnerable child. He was also more vulnerable to covid than NT children but his mental health being at risk took precedent. I don't think some people understand how distressed some young people were. In his case so distressed it risked his safety and that of everyone around him. Some young people are now in residential care because they didn't get the provision they needed.

No doubt schools pre-Covid were a safe place for some vulnerable children. But there are also plenty of kids who are thoroughly miserable in what can seem like a cold and hostile institution. Those kids for whom going to school is a battle. The self-harmers, the scared, the suicidal. Some kids are not fine in school.

If the virus is allowed to continue circulate, more mutations are likely to arise.

The problem is thinking that we can "allow" a virus to do anything. We cant. Its a virus and can't be controlled the way some people seem to think.

@FromEden

If the virus is allowed to continue circulate, more mutations are likely to arise.

The problem is thinking that we can "allow" a virus to do anything. We cant. Its a virus and can't be controlled the way some people seem to think.

Nonsense! To a certain extent it can be. Look at other countries. They basically shut down their borders. This Government has been shocking. Its down to them we are where we are now. Look at these countires now: China Norway Australia NewZealand Singapore

The cases are few and far between. So no. You arent right.

Quite simply because we’re in the biggest health and economic crisis for a century. I think to ignore this fact and the potential issues of keeping schools open (for all) is naive and showing a scientific illiteracy. Don’t forget this is a novel virus they’re still learning about. From what I’m reading about possible effects on immune system a precautionary principle is required even for healthy children until more is understood. Be careful what you wish for,

Social services should be involved. They need more money. Maybe the children should be in care.what happens to the child when school finishes or the weekend/holidays. This codv has brought to light how Many services are underfunded or not fit for purpose

Totally agree OP. I think also the mental consequences are being hugely underestimated. If people who don't usually have mental health issues have really really struggled, then what about the people with pre existing issues.
We are going to be dealing with this damage long after Covid has died out.

The vast majority of students are safe and not “vulnerable” so how does it make sense to make a decision that may negatively impact the majority and only protect a minority?
I agree vulnerable children need looking after more so during this pandemic, but other than subject teachers at school there are other professionals and bodies that are more responsible and accountable for their well being. As far as schools are concerned then there are people in school (slt links) who will continue to work even during lockdown to ensure that schools continue to do their bit. Most of the vulnerable children currently in school have already been identified, so if schools do lockdown then other services responsible need to step up and do their bit and protect and safeguard these children.
Even before the pandemic when schools were not disrupted there were still some vulnerable students who slipped through the net as far as schools are concerned unfortunately.
The government just needs to put a plan in place for these students if it decides schools will be locked down for a short while.

@Oaktree55

Quite simply because we’re in the biggest health and economic crisis for a century. I think to ignore this fact and the potential issues of keeping schools open (for all) is naive and showing a scientific illiteracy. Don’t forget this is a novel virus they’re still learning about. From what I’m reading about possible effects on immune system a precautionary principle is required even for healthy children until more is understood. Be careful what you wish for,

this

@happystone

Social services should be involved. They need more money. Maybe the children should be in care.what happens to the child when school finishes or the weekend/holidays. This codv has brought to light how Many services are underfunded or not fit for purpose

also this

so how does it make sense to make a decision that may negatively impact the majority and only protect a minority

This whole fucking lockdown and restrictions have been based entirely on that premis! The vast vast majority of people are not in anyway affected by covid many people don't even know they have it let alone die from it, yet we have negatively impacted the majority of the country and continue to do so to protect a minority!

We need to take this seriously from an infection control point of view.

I think we need more parental choice around schools.

Clinically vulnerable parents who can educate their children at home temporarily need to be allowed to do so,in a pandemic. Without penalty. Until the vaccine is rolled out.

Social services need to do the job of social services. I think the OP is well intentioned but sadly and fatally misguided, and the main consideration at the moment should be keeping families and the wider community safe in a pandemic. Strewth.

@3littlewords

so how does it make sense to make a decision that may negatively impact the majority and only protect a minority

This whole fucking lockdown and restrictions have been based entirely on that premis! The vast vast majority of people are not in anyway affected by covid many people don't even know they have it let alone die from it, yet we have negatively impacted the majority of the country and continue to do so to protect a minority!

It is to protect all of us from society broken apart by disease and failing systems.

Be careful what you wish for, because the next few months are likely to be tough.

@Mumof3andlovingit

The vast majority of students are safe and not “vulnerable” so how does it make sense to make a decision that may negatively impact the majority and only protect a minority? I agree vulnerable children need looking after more so during this pandemic, but other than subject teachers at school there are other professionals and bodies that are more responsible and accountable for their well being. As far as schools are concerned then there are people in school (slt links) who will continue to work even during lockdown to ensure that schools continue to do their bit. Most of the vulnerable children currently in school have already been identified, so if schools do lockdown then other services responsible need to step up and do their bit and protect and safeguard these children. Even before the pandemic when schools were not disrupted there were still some vulnerable students who slipped through the net as far as schools are concerned unfortunately. The government just needs to put a plan in place for these students if it decides schools will be locked down for a short while.

We need SAFE schools where covid isn't being spread to the wider community. That will enable them to stay open and have multiple benefits in all sorts of ways - smaller classes would be hugely beneficial to students for example.

It is interesting how much interest there is now in vulnerable students and it would be great if this enthusiasm for their welfare persisted after the pandemic and showed itself in greater funding for children's social services for example

@Toddlerteaplease

Totally agree OP. I think also the mental consequences are being hugely underestimated. If people who don't usually have mental health issues have really really struggled, then what about the people with pre existing issues. We are going to be dealing with this damage long after Covid has died out.

The mental health issues from the economic, medical,social and psychological impact of a poorly managed pandemic are far worse - compare South Korea and the likely impact on them with us.

We need to take the pandemic seriously people! and follow the science.

@Freddiefox

Our whole approach to vulnerable children and the pressure we put on schools to pick up the slack of underfunded services is unfair and is just a sticking plaster for the children. We need to look at a longer term approach for the children.

Agree with this.100%

@Piccalino3

Thank you for posting this OP, I have been thinking the same thing but couldn't put it quite so eloquently. Throughout all of this I have thought of these children, we can't abandon them.

We are not abandoning them by taking the pandemic seriously.

If we really cared about children's welfare, we would fund schools to be covid safe and socially distanced and put the WHO guidance in place.

Far better for the children, their families and everyone else.