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?

[quote trulydelicious]@MoirasRoses

Kids go to school to get an education & enhance their life chances & selves .. in turn, children being at school means parents or sorry, woman can go to work to enhance their lives, pay a mortgage, put food on the table

You talk about 'enhancing lives' when we are in the middle of a pandemic, do you realise how out of place these comments sound?[/quote]
I think you're misinterpreting the word "enhance" in that sentence, to mean something over and above what should be expected. I'm not reading it like that. The measures taken to reduce infection have to be balanced with the risk those measures.

[quote trulydelicious]@Allispretty

We will have a generation of kids that are not educated to the normal standard and will have more limited options than those before/after

Please, you are blowing things out of proportion, we are talking 12-18 months here. Surely most children will be able to catch up?[/quote]
Blowing out of proportion?
Earning less over their lifetime - 15% every year from the study posted above isn’t really an out of proportion reaction

But most cutting is the enhancement of inequalities. Children with educated mothers still do ok, those without, do worse.

I honestly can’t fathom how people think this is an acceptable risk to take with our children. The worst off kids getting worse off.

I’m actually all right Jack, kids in private school, their mh is good, I wfh ft but can spend at least some time with them during the day if they are home schooled. But still, I think it’s totally utterly wrong to sacrifice children further.

I work around MH and have worked in deprived communities. Education is the only way out. Other than crime of course.

Not overly concerned about DC getting COVID but am concerned about the spread to teachers, families and wider community. Also with the new variant it’s a possibility that it will cause more infections in children thereby increasing the chances of serious illness or complications. Schools should adopt rotas and online learning. Even in normal times pre pandemic there are children in every class that are “left behind”, (however wrong it is, it is fact) this will still be the case by having lessons online and rotas in place. It’s acceptable in normal times so it should be acceptable now. Oh wait more middle class children may be affected now!

@TheKeatingFive

Also there are a lot of grandparents who provide wraparound care for their DGC. If schools shut they could have them for the full day as childcare support

And they’re all ready, willing and able to provide full time childcare?

You know this how exactly?

I obviously don't know everyone's circumstances. My point is that these could be choices. For example, I have two very small jobs. One that is now WFH and one that I can still do as I'm only out of the house for a couple of hours a week and DH is WFH so can manage while I'm not there. Therefore I can keep my 4 DC at home and homeschool them.

My parents are childcare support for my DSis and would prefer to have them full time and homeschool them rather than have to look after them after school after being exposed to many other households.

That's now 6 DC not in school. Many others may be able to and want to do the same. This would mean that those not able to homeschool or have Grandparent childcare could send their children to school with less people there.

As I said in my first post, I'm aware not everyone can keep their kids off, not everyone has help with childcare and some kids need to be in but fining those parents who can and forcing kids to school when they don't need to is making it far less safe for those who can't and the staff at school.

catch up - to what? Surely there is a new normal? What are they expected to catch up to?

Not worried about that.

@makingitupaswegoon

School is so important in terms of developing social skills, friendships, independence as well as learning. My DS needs to be back at school as he has no siblings and he needs to be with this peers. Play dates are a dim and distant memory and it is too cold to go to the park which is what we did in the autumn.

I would happily home school if I could continue to get paid and my job was held open for me. But the grim reality is that I am expected to home school and do my job which while not directly front line is pretty essential. But we can't access education hubs because both parents need to be key workers for this.

So all that happens is that my mental health and resilience and that of DH is destroyed. For a virus that isn't actually that much of a threat to the greater majority of the population.

I do think however teachers should be offered the vaccine first alongside NHS / social care staff

You make a lot of sense, thank you for this post. We are in exacty the same position. Many people do not understand or do not want to understand that it is impossible to WFH and homeshool properly. In practice, women are expected to quietly give up their jobs to take on the task of homeschooling their kids. This is what is happening. No-one is willing to address this situation.

Yes but I am more worried about children's mental health.

I'm not worried because mine have both already had it (passed on by me as I thought I just had a cold for a week or so). They had very minor symptoms between them including headache, sore throat, loss of smell and feeling tired. The effect of the last school closure on their happiness and mental health was a lot worse than them catching covid. I do agree with other posters that teachers should be prioritised for the vaccine though, just like doctors and nurses.

@ByersRd

catch up - to what? Surely there is a new normal? What are they expected to catch up to?

Not worried about that.

There are many children finishing school this year, they, for example have no opportunity to catch up. It’s over.

So they go off to do A levels without having completed basic concepts that they would have done if schools were open, and A Levels don’t have room to back up over basic GCSE concepts.

They then do worse at A level, and degree choices are lowered. And salary prospects are now reduced too.

Of course, the above is less true for children from more wealthy educated families. They’ve the resource to pay for tutors, and believe me they are already doing that!

It is just not acceptable to throw children under the bus like this

Exams will not happen this Summer.
Universities will continue to offer places, because if they do not they will go out of business. I would advise anyone with a child in a GCSE or A Level year to get them to concentrate on their assessed pieces so that their teachers have lots of evidence to base their assessments on.

@Myothercarisalsoshit

Exams will not happen this Summer. Universities will continue to offer places, because if they do not they will go out of business. I would advise anyone with a child in a GCSE or A Level year to get them to concentrate on their assessed pieces so that their teachers have lots of evidence to base their assessments on.

I agree My GCSE year ds is absolutely doing this already

But he comes from a home where his parent is on the case, buying him a good laptop, getting him desk space, feeding him good food, joined him into the gym, goes running with him and is testing him before all the assessments

This puts him at a clear advantage to many children. It’s genuinely not fair.

It is just not acceptable to throw children under the bus like this

I agree this is true - however, if schools had been funded to minimise transmission and masks mandated, far more children would have had an education last term and far more would be getting one next .

Simply saying 'open schools' when in some places 50% of children are off isolating most of the time, or there are insufficient staff still standing for schools to open safely is just pointless. In others there are supply teachers unqualified in the subjects they're supposed to be teaching. This isn't a proper education. Until teachers are better protected children won't get a decent education .

I can't believe there's still no mandate for masks in classrooms from age 6 like everywhere else in the world.

I also can't believe that - with all the money spent on furlough and Serco profits - there's still no money for schools. It's outrageous.

For those wanting schools to stay open due to childcare - how did you manage in the first lockdown? Did you need to give up your jobs?

Although childcare should never be put above the health of children it does need to be taken into account by the government.

I didn't have a job in the first lockdown. Now I do. What's your point?

@IloveJKRowling

I’m not sure what’s happening in other schools but ds’s school is starting a testing procedure in jan

If someone has symptoms, lateral flow test for them and all contacts. Every morning, lateral flow test for every one in the contact bubble, if negative they can go into lessons, if positive, obviously home and isolated

All teachers are being tested twice a week even if not in the contact bubble.

Private school

Hamster
No it isn't but it never has been.
I teach Y4 in a very deprived area. We have been lucky in Autumn Term and only 3 of my kids needed to isolate. My class are caught up. They did very well in their assessments and are not now significantly behind. I am aware though that this is because they have been in school every day and have had access to ME, their teacher. Teachers in deprived areas work really hard, every day, to mitigate the effects of that deprivation on the children we teach. We do not get extra funds, we do not consideration from OFSTED, we are competing in terms of league tables with schools in middle class areas. We got 4 laptops for over 100 vulnerable kids on our roll. It absolutely fucking stinks. But we do it. I want my kids to be in school. But ... figures for Primary are nearly as bad as Secondary. How can it be safe for Primaries to go back and not Secondaries? It makes no sense.

@GoldenLabbie

Many parents in this country see schools as a free child minding service. So to answer your question, no they don’t care.

Holy fuck! Bit harsh!

Well, let's have a look at some of the figures on how parents managed during lockdown last year. To give but a few:

• According to the Telegraph, mothers lost 5,000 pounds and reduced their working hours by around 40%.
• The NSPCC received record numbers of calls.
• Cruelty to babies was up by 1/5.

Whatever else you want to say about the first lockdown, the kids were not OK.

I didn't have a job in the first lockdown. Now I do. What's your point?

My point is as I said this should be taken into account by the government.

@Myothercarisalsoshit

Hamster No it isn't but it never has been. I teach Y4 in a very deprived area. We have been lucky in Autumn Term and only 3 of my kids needed to isolate. My class are caught up. They did very well in their assessments and are not now significantly behind. I am aware though that this is because they have been in school every day and have had access to ME, their teacher. Teachers in deprived areas work really hard, every day, to mitigate the effects of that deprivation on the children we teach. We do not get extra funds, we do not consideration from OFSTED, we are competing in terms of league tables with schools in middle class areas. We got 4 laptops for over 100 vulnerable kids on our roll. It absolutely fucking stinks. But we do it. I want my kids to be in school. But ... figures for Primary are nearly as bad as Secondary. How can it be safe for Primaries to go back and not Secondaries? It makes no sense.

I really appreciate that there are teachers like you

I have friends who are similar.

I know my kids will be fine, really I do, they would cope, as I would, but we have to not allow inequalities to get even worse. It has to be priority (and I know it is for you, I’m not saying that it is not)

How can it be safe for Primaries to go back and not Secondaries? It makes no sense.

It is for childcare reasons only.
My DCs secondary school was allowing places last time for key workers but they are saying this time the places will only be available for vulnerable or SEND kids as they are mature enough to look after themselves at home. So literally only those who need childcare.

All those concerned about children catching the virus - kids aren't even on the list for getting a vaccination (unless on the vulnerable list). So how long do people that want to keep their kids at home intend to do this for?

This reminds me of June/July time, when people had September as the magic month when all risk would disappear. That's been replaced with March/April now.

I WISH, that all the parents on treads like this that are pro schools closing/ keeping children safe from covid-19 will actually go ahead and de register their children. They can go ahead with home schooling and be happy that their children are safely at home wrapped in cotton wool.

In turn, that will leave us parents who want schools open with a less crowded school,
give teachers a chance to reduce their bubble size and helps reduce the spread of the virus. Our children will continue to get the education and social interaction they so desperately need...

Win Win for everyone! Shame nobody actually acts on it... I wonder why.

Because why should anyone have to deregister their child because schools aren't safe Ylvamoon?

Wanting schools to be safer is based on broader social concern, not just concern for your own family. It's very clear that sky rocketing rates in schools have increased community transmission.

Children are entitled to an education, either in school or via HE. Why should they lose that entitlement because some people don't care about their safety, or that of their teachers and the wider community?

@Sockbogies either until rates fall back to where they were in the autumn or when I am vaccinated. February or March if the Oxford vaccine is approved.