Read to the end if you can...
Government to primary school staff in September: Yes, we know you can't safely distance due to the nature of primary classrooms, oh and don't wear PPE please as it negatively impacts on teaching, but you're fine, crack on...
Staff: Errrrr okay then, whatever is best for the children
Government: Keep going until Friday 18th December, it's fine
Staff (many of which have now contracted the virus from asymptomatic children): Okay, if you say so, we would actually rather be fully open, we need to teach, feed and look after the physical and mental wellbeing of these children we care about
Government on 19th December: Oh bugger, there's a new variant, children are in fact super spreaders, we know you've been mixing with people from 31 other bubbles all day every day for 4 months, but you're now in tier 4, stay home, don't see anyone for the whole holidays.
Staff: Hmmmm, funny how that happened the day after schools closed, but okay we'll continue to be compliant
Government: Right primary staff back to it on 4th Jan, you'll be fine, but still no PPE, no Covid or anti-body testing, no vaccine for staff who want it. Did we say children are super spreaders and this new variant spreads really easily? Nah, we didn't really mean it, put those invisible shields back up, you'll be fine
Staff: We would rather be back in school, but how about 1 week of remote learning to allow all the Covid that will have been spread round on Christmas day (due to everyone ignoring your tier 4 rules) to surface and clear before we welcome 31 bubbles back into each room. We know children don't seem to be affected by the virus, but we are! We have remote learning sussed now, 1 week is doable, we've got this!
Government: Nah, just crack on
Staff: Maybe put us as priority on the vaccine list then (please?) so we can protect ourselves as we still have no PPE. It will help to stop schools closing due to lack of staff - which is what we all want
Government: Sorry, what did you say? We were busy slagging you off in the press again, just crack on
Staff: Sod You! We'll get jobs as a delivery drivers (except you know full well we won't because we are passionate about what we do. In fact the Government are solely relying on this detail). Good luck recruiting primary school staff in the future though!
**It seems primary and nursery staff are the only key workers still working with no PPE, yet are in close contact with at least 31 contacts from 31 different bubbles on a daily basis. They have continued to willingly work from day 1 of lockdown back in March (not sat at home doing chuff all which the media may have made you believe) and have successfully juggled face to face and remote learning throughout (whilst also being classroom cleaners), sometimes while being ill with Covid themselves. They have just cracked on and not complained once about the vulnerable position they are in. We all prefer the children to be in school rather than at home. However, it's time to offer them some protection in some way, especially if things are as bad as they are reported to be - or are they? Time to cut them some slack and show a bit of respect too...
Where are the figures which show how many primary school staff have now contracted the virus, how many have been hospitalised by it and how many now have 'Long Covid' yet continue to work despite their exhaustion. All the talk around primary schools is that the children won't suffer if they do contract it, no mention of the millions of unprotected staff who crack on regardless. We do our jobs because we care and we are grateful to still have jobs, but it's time for the government to listen...
#TimeForTheTruth
#TimeForProtection
#StopTheContradictions