What do you think? Are schools going to be closed?

[mamamia2020]

We've just returned to the UK to live, my youngest is due to start his new school on 5th January. Big change, new country, brand new town. We're in a Tier 3 area. I know that it's all speculation but what do you think? I've been gearing my son up for his new school now thinking about adding the caveat that it might be delayed. I do hope whatever the decision it isn't left until the last minute...

www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/crunch-meeting-held-whether-reopen-19525748?ref=BNTMedia&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0nIDo3bQOuMbpRfY9MiPun9272DuWDmthepLXabmNC8tnAgPsNPiuH7N4

No idea we are in Kent so in the thick of the new variant which is terrifying in its virulence. Not heard anything about schools different from the end of last term.

Dd is in year 11 and most of her school have been absent apart from years 11 and 13. They thankfully completed their mocks in December which has been a great relief for us, many schools in the area are closed or have whole year groups out.

How this will influence the next few weeks i don't know.

No idea. Some of it will come down to very recent data hence the wait.

Primaries might be in with exam years but no one knows really.

I think that unless they see a real downward curve then they'll to.
What else can they throw at the numbers really.

Plus the implications of having staff off etc.

It seems the most logical if not good solution.

Much easier for me as dd is yr11 and has pretty much self taught her way through school this year. Ive marked some past exam.papers with her and thats it.

However i worry for those with younger kids who need more input in terms of schooling but also childcare - im rather glad im not the person who needs to balance the risks here

I think it depends what the infection rate is in the next few days, lots of people will have delayed testing for the last few, assuming testing centers closed etc, or not wanting to SI over Christmas. I suspect they will maybe send them back January but maybe a 3/4 week break leading up to feb half term, even in March we got a weeks warning and unless something happens tomorrow or Tuesday would assume we are safe for immediately after Christmas.

Well SAGE have said they need to close, along with 1m vaccinations per week if we are going to get on top of the virus by Easter. So going by the governments usual response, we've probably got about 10 days of denials, followed by a week of dithering before the inevitable u-turn.

It does seem madness to have a "one size fits all" approach to schools. DS's school has only had 2 cases of Covid in total and they were both before October half term. Seems unfair that his school should have to close. I KNOW this could change before anyone jumps on me but the situation here is OK at the moment and it's not a given.

I'm school staff and I've been supportive about schools staying open all along but finding the new strain and the government's 'plans' or lack thereof terrifying to be honest. I'd feel so much better about it if all front line education and nursery staff were in line for the vaccine but we're just considered Covid fodder.

I hope they close to get a grip on the case numbers but at the same time I am dreading it. I’ll now have two kids in school so expected to home
School both and I’m now working more than I was in Spring. I wish the gov would come out with a decision sooner rather than later though so I could somehow prepare. I also agree with someone up thread who said at least they can go out for exercise if at home rather than in school and then being sent home to isolate. Both mine had to do this twice before Xmas. Honestly quite worried about the state of the nations mental health though. If it’s till half term how long is that? 6 weeks? I think I can manage that. Gah. I expect there will be a lot of tears and stress though.

I'm really worried about the number of people admitted my local hospital to covid, it's near breaking point and something needs to change quickly.
For my daughters education (yr7) and mental health I know that she will do better in school, but looking at the bigger picture I think it's time for schools to close again.
I'd really like to see teachers be some of the first to be vaccinated, our kids put them at risk every day.

I think they should close for a while. I say this with a heavy heart as a mum with 4 children including a yr7 who has been off so much is a struggling to settle into high school and a yr11 stressed about GCSEs. But it's carnage in schools at the moment. If yours isn't yet it will be.

Tier 2 city here. At the moment our rate is 171. Schools were open when the rate was over 700 in autumn. Dd had to isolate once and ds didn't need to. Both in primary.

I have a feeling they will shut them for an extra couple of weeks. They will want to reduce the impacts on the NHS to enable them to deliver as many vaccines as possible when the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine gets approval. If they get this right there might not be many lockdowns needed next winter. So its a small price to pay in my opinion.

Judging by the speed/ease at which people seem to be catching it in the SE, I'd say that they'll be closed in a few weeks due to staff absence anyway.

I’m unsure but I can say if primaries go back you can say for one thing people won’t take the rules seriously. The difference between lockdown 1 schools closed and anything since is day and night.

Tier 4 should definitely shut. Maybe Tier 3 too.

Doubtful

I work in a secondary and we will be closed to a year groups except 11 and 13 until the 11th Jan. I don't expect it to end up like how it was back in March onwards.

I'm really not sure. I just wish they'd make an announcement soon about it so we know.

Also with a heavy heart, I hope they do close all schools. Let’s get the numbers down, let’s roll out the vaccine to significant numbers. Then we can start to slowly open things up and get back to some normality...as it stands at the moment, if we don’t take action, normality is a very long way off.

I don't know what will happen. Think it could go either way. I do think they should close though. Or at the very least, allow parents to keep children home where possible. This would hopefully help the situation a bit.

It can't just be left though. We're back to hospitals being told to free up beds for covid patients in England again. Schools open as they were before the break are just going to make the current situation even worse.

@Alwaysandforeverhere

I’m unsure but I can say if primaries go back you can say for one thing people won’t take the rules seriously. The difference between lockdown 1 schools closed and anything since is day and night.

I completely agree.

Parents will continue to mix outside the school doors, at the shops/park on the way home/even doing play dates and sleepovers-we know this because the kids talk about it. Plenty of people think there’s no point not mixing their children if they are all bundled in classrooms together for 6 hours a day all week.

If primaries are kept open-we can expect Tier 4 everywhere, for months, with no end in sight and businesses collapsing.

@WanderingMilly

Sadly I think the primaries will be back, possibly a week late. I think this is all wrong, they should be shut until we can get on top of this new strain virus and get more people vaccinated. But no, they'll try to stagger on, not realising how small children are virus spreaders even if they don't show the same symptoms....

This worries me. Best for children’s mental health so long as they don’t isolate, lose a parent or spend the whole time worrying about bringing it home. We need to properly suppress it and bring back schools with blended learning and those that can homeschooling. After we’ve had the decency to vaccinate staff. If only we had a government with morals and compassions. Instead we have this drama production whose main focus is off-loading any blame. So disillusioned right now.

I am in tier 4 and want our schools shut, I do not believe schools are covid safe, from the amount of cases our school have had , I feel kids are only in for childcare so parents can work. Everyone is saying children’s mental health is important my own are happier at home and feel safer at home they are more stressed going to school.

I'm very surprised there's been no announcement yet. I'm in Scotland and there was no hesitation in announcing it. Dreading it as I have DC at nursery and primary school and wfh. Think it will be harder for most of us than first time around - bad weather, and perhaps less understanding employers (I'm assuming many businesses will be expecting their employees to come in, so not sure how that would work?). But a short sharp lockdown is needed, it's pretty bad that England and NI are holding out. Meanwhile airports remain open...hopes for getting this under control are fading fast.