Those wanting school open - are you not worried about your DC?

[Hicksville21]

Just that really. Do you not think it’s time to keep our kids home safe until this wave passes?

i wanted to ask teachers if you are carrying on with normal curriculum even though the disruptions can mean half the class is missing.
or are you doing something else? is there a plan for those kids who fall behind?

I also feel sorry for teachers who have no say in this
When did Parents get a say? De register or pay fines or send them in regardless? Great choices!
Same choice to teachers, resign or go off sick or go in regardless? Again great choices!

@LoveNote the plan is, what ever happens on the mean time, it’s our responsibility to ensure all the children have made good progress by the time they leave us, and we will work as a team for years to come to ensure that happens. That’s all we’ve got right now 🤷🏻‍♀️

3 little words I agree, no choices anywhere and the sheer stress of being backed into corners will affect people's mental health.

Many parents (including teachers) have mortgages and cannot resign. Everyone who cannot work because of Covid needs support.

Pay parents to supervise home learning/buy in help and I suspect much of the opposition to school closures would disappear. It would be a drop in the ocean of the money which has been wasted over the past year.

hamstersarse
And I happen to believe that if you aren’t suited to the job and all it entails, then leave! There are plenty of newly unemployed people who will jump at the chance to train.
You do get, don't you, that all these newly unemployed people who will jump at the chance to train are at least 18 months away from being qualified? What happens, right now, if we all leave?
all it entails When I trained, it was never made clear to me that my job entailed putting myself at risk of catching a virus that could kill me, my family or my friends.

I'm not at all worried about my toddler catching Covid, and I don't want nurseries to close, but I accept it may be a necessity to keep the staff and/or the wider community safe.

DH, incidentally, is a secondary school teacher who really really opposes schools closing but I think that's partially because his school has had such an easy ride so far - a handful of cases all term, no bubbles burst at all - and that he's being a bit optimistic about the likelihood of it staying like that in the spring given the astronomical rise in cases in our (SE, tier 4) area over the last few weeks.

There should be - at a minimum - masks in classrooms for all from age 6 now. Loads of other countries do it. There is no excuse not to and - if we don't - we'll end up with kids out of school for longer.

Really anyone who wants schools open should be shouting from the rooftops that they want masks in schools. I certainly am!

The thing I'm most concerned about is that my kids will break bones / have an accident and won't be able to get an ambulance or seen by a doctor in time. That's my bigger worry than catching covid.

Although I'm also not that keen to catch covid with hospitals overwhelmed. It's a totally different issue if we have healthcare capacity but all hospitals near me have cancelled everything non-urgent so it's obvious where we're headed.

There were very many reports of people unable to get ambulances who died - who may have lived had they got an ambulance - during the last peak. (no criticism of the healthcare professionals - there are only so many of them and they can only do so much - it astounds me that this basic point is ignored by so many).

For my son, no. Not even for me as a primary school member of staff. But I do worry a lot about my fellow staff members, some of whom are very medically vulnerable.

@LoveNote

i wanted to ask teachers if you are carrying on with normal curriculum even though the disruptions can mean half the class is missing. or are you doing something else? is there a plan for those kids who fall behind?

For the last term we have been carrying on with our full curriculum offer. We have also given our time for free, running interventions and booster sessions. Children who are isolating get copies of the work sent home but we have not been offering online 'live' lessons. That said I have only had two children isolating this term. The curriculum is very knowledge heavy so it makes no sense to not deliver as much as we can.

@Myothercarisalsoshit

hamstersarse And I happen to believe that if you aren’t suited to the job and all it entails, then leave! There are plenty of newly unemployed people who will jump at the chance to train. You do get, don't you, that all these newly unemployed people who will jump at the chance to train are at least 18 months away from being qualified? What happens, right now, if we all leave? all it entails When I trained, it was never made clear to me that my job entailed putting myself at risk of catching a virus that could kill me, my family or my friends.

Did no one tell you about viruses or maybe the flu in your education?

I love jl Rowling I totally agree.
I've been on a ward that's struggling to find equipment for children struggling to breathe, pre covid. My dd was rushed through because obviously breathing issues are so serious.
But if they all have breathing issues in a and e?

Yes and for other services, 111, the usual childhood ailments at this time of year which can turn nasty...

Is it really worth removing this safety net for the sake of a few weeks grace?

fab, thanks to the 2 teachers upthread who answered my question

i guess its a worldwide problem, all education disrupted one way or another. all teachers are very much appreciated

Hamstersarse
Did no one tell you about viruses or maybe the flu in your education?
I take reasonable steps to protect myself, like good hygiene and having the flu jab every year. I am currently not allowed to protect myself from COVID which is the whole fucking point.
I'm 52 (extra risk)
My partner is ECV (extra risk)
You really are just like your username aren't you?

I work for a spread of nurseries in Lower income areas. What people like you op don't understand is that not everyone has access to remote learning tech. Some.children are with us for their own safety, somewhere trained professionals can watch over them for a few hours. But everyone can justeasily sit about at home getting money to do it without a care in the world "because we got to protect the world!". Very, very naive thinking.

Did no one tell you about viruses or maybe the flu in your education?

Ahh, now it all makes sense.

Ironically I need to keep working to pay for my dc tutors, we have quite the roster of them now 😂😂😂.

Thank you @LoveNote

@lovenote We have to carry on with the curriculum or we won't get through it.

I've had 3 different classes of 30+ reduced to as few as 4 students when bubbles collapse, but we have to keep going.

The students who are self-isolating are expected to keep up with their online learning everyday and I zoom as many of my lessons as I can. It's hard-going on both students and staff.

You just do,.. I don't understand, what would nurseries do anyway with such tech?

The infection fatality rate for the under 70s with no co-morbidities is 0.05%. That's one death in every two thousand people aged under 70 who catch it.

For children (under 19) it will be much much lower - one calculation is 0.0003%. That's three deaths in a million under 19s who catch it.

So no, OP, I'm not frightened that my children will die of coronavirus or be seriously ill with it, and nor should you be OP.

I am however very worried about the effect of lockdown on their education, social development, qualifications, and mental health; and my ability to pay my mortgage and supply a home for them when the financial reckoning comes, with huge redundancies, higher tax rates, higher interest rates, huge cut backs in public spending, etc. That's the threat to our children, not a virus which barely has any discernable effect on them at all.

(My eldest has actually had it: he just coughed a couple of times for day. That was it. I made him a Lemsip but he didn't even bother to drink it.)

Online learning is worse than useless at nursery and lower primary level.

The thing I'm most concerned about is that my kids will break bones / have an accident and won't be able to get an ambulance or seen by a doctor in time. That's my bigger worry than catching covid.

I know I’m digressing - but my DD broke a bone a few weeks ago. It was incredibly efficient (far more so than usual); in and out of urgent care in 90 mins, a follow up call from the fracture clinic by 10am the next day and we were given a direct dial number in case of any queries. When we had one a week later, the consultant phoned back within 10 minutes. It seemed a lot less stressful than the experience my friend had a couple of years ago when her DD broke her arm....

To be honest, I’m not particularly worried about my children but I am very worried that, with the
much more transmissible new strains, it’s now more likely that they will bring it home. Having been completely wiped out by the flu a couple of years ago and taken weeks to recover (while having to look after small children single-handedly), the thought of getting very sick again absolutely terrifies me. Having them at home when schools were shut before was absolutely awful for all involved, but a few more weeks of keeping them home while we wait to find out more about these new strains and get hospital numbers down would be my preference. I appreciate for some families this isn’t an option though.

@NataliaOsipova I think that’s what they call the lull before the storm