Should schools reopen next week

[2X4B523P]

There's many threads on the coronavirus board discussing schools reopening next week but I've not seen one here where the voting system could give an 'at a glance' indication of public opinion.

It would be interesting to see the figures as it seems at the moment the vast majority feel that it's not safe for children, staff and the wider community to reopen as planned next week.

YABU - schools should open next week as planned, with the staggered return of secondary.

YANBU - keep them closed to most with a similar setup to March until the figures fall and / or we fully know the affect of the new strains on transmission between children.

I think it really depends on the vaccine, whether it’s round the corner, and what our hospitals are like, how busy they are, is there an admissions trend.

Recent ONS study (England) c. 2% people aged between 11 and 24 have covid-19, compared with about 1%in most other age groups.

The idea of 'bubbles' in school is bonkers - most children will have siblings in other year groups.
The cost of proper IT provision for online learning would be small compared to the economic cost of prolonging the impact of the virus by keeping schools open.
Maybe keep primary schools open - but teenagers are young adults, and as likely as adults to transmit the virus; secondary schools and 16+ education should either close, or be open on a similarly restricted basis to the initial lockdown from March.

The government should make vaccinating school staff a top priority and start a programme on 4th January and teach online until staff have had both doses.

No should be online for January I think.

Yanbu. The only reason they opened was so people could go back to work. If that is the primary concern, rather than the nation's health, why bother with any of the lockdowns or tiers or any of it?

I think they should be shut.

So torn by this! Kids off school is obviously not good for their mental health and education. Mums seem to take the burden of home schooling more than most and a number of mums I work with have been really impacted.

Then again, we have 70k deaths and rising. Not sure what the right route is to be honest

If the situation is so dangerous that we can’t spend more one day together over Christmas then how is it safe enough for schools and unis to return?

They need to be open imo. This is beyond ridiculous.

School is not just a vehicle for knowledge, of that was true. Kids could just read up the required information themselves.

I work with different age groups in mostly stable, nurturing homes where everyone has access to tech and the kids in those families are struggling. Throw in special needs, more kids than devices (plus parents working from home), domestic abuse, special needs etc. By all means give staff PPE (ffp2 masks) and split up classes but kids need proper, consistent schooling and they need contacts with their friends. Schools need to stay open unless a specific school has an infection.

There needs to be an in between on your poll.

Secondary (I don’t have experience of primary or much knowledge of the current case data so can’t comment) schools should be on a staggered return. Class sizes of no more than 10, one week in one week out rota to allow for the smaller sizes.

With a group of 10 I could give more 1:1 attention to students and they would probably learn more in one week like this than they do in 2 weeks in a group of 30 anyway so I don’t believe learning would be hugely affected.

We've seen this government make the wrong decision again and again and this time it's absolutely staring us in the face that reopening schools is going to affect how the virus, especially the new variant, is transmitted and the resulting impact. I think there should be a partial lock down throughout January, even in primaries. Schools should be open for children of key workers, vulnerable children and selected year groups until things are under better control. We are set up for adequate remote learning and should be more prepared this time. It's a dreadful choice to make but there are still hundreds of people dying every day and thousands being infected.

The underlying condition thing is a red herring in a way though. Some of the ‘underlying conditions’ are ones, like mine, that are unlikely to kill you and that you are born with.

I think it should be left up to the individual schools to decide. I also think fines should be removed & again individual families can then discuss with the head & decide accordingly what is best in their particular situation.

They definitely need to be open.

They should reopen. The new variant of covid is very infectious and most likely will overwhelm hospitals whatever we do. So we should continue with mitigation methods like masks but keep our schools and economy open.

I would like to see teachers with serious health conditions that make them vulnerable, offered the option of furlough with schools given more money for supply teachers.

I would also like students with a vulnerable household member given the option of remote learning with their school place held open and more funding available for this.

And I would like people especially children to be able to get tested with a wider range of symptoms.

But I would like schools to stay open. They were closed for too long. Given the amount of isolation last term most children have hat about 9 or 10 weeks of face to face teaching since March last year.

As it stands I don’t see how they can possibly re open next week.
I just wish the government would get one with acknowledging that.

Open. They were shut for far far too long. Alot of damage has already been done. Allow parents to keep their kids off if they are worried. Offer the vaccine to teachers asap (no mandating). But keep schools open.

I want them to reopen.
However the new variant has me worried.
At my dcs secondary they are mixed and streamed so move around the school, they have no windows open, there’s no soap, no social distancing, year groups mix on the bus.

None of that feels safe and more so with this new strain.

@Tomorrowillbeachicken

The underlying condition thing is a red herring in a way though. Some of the ‘underlying conditions’ are ones, like mine, that are unlikely to kill you and that you are born with.

And so are COVID deaths. My gf had an acute heart condition, was 91, in hospital with said heart condition, contracted COVID and that was listed as cause of death. An acquaintance of mine has a similar story re her mil who had a brain tumour.

It'll be out of our hands soon.

As a parent I don't want them to shut. My kids were horrendous during the last lockdown. I was horrendous. My marriage was horrendous. My work was horrendous.

However. I work in food production. If we don't keep a certain number of key workers going then essential services will struggle. With the numbers rising we are terrified about how to cope with staff off sick.

I need food, warmth and essential nhs healthcare more than I need education. As does society.

So on balance I'd say schools shut is slightly, just slightly less horrendous.

Closed
I’ve kept mine off for 3 weeks prior to Xmas and will keep them off till I feel it’s safe for them to return

YANBU.

They should close and we should plan urgent re-organisation along the lines of the WHO advice for schools.

YANBU

An education does NOT trump everything. I had a family member who cracked her skull open (fractured jaw, fractured skull, fractured collarbone, and ribs) from an RTA on Boxing Day. Ambulance was there within 15 minutes.
I fucking dread to think what her fate would have been if she had this accident in a few weeks time.

I think much more discretion should be given to individual head teachers and they should be supported with funding for PPE, laptops and basic infrastructure like opening windows and more handbasins. It's wrong that they've been made responsible for track and trace without giving them resources. Education in the UK is simply too fragmented for one size fits all rules. Closing schools should be a last resort, however. We saw how hard it was to re-open them last time. Being out of school is awful for children's mental health and in some cases means they don't even get fed.