Statement in parliament this afternoon on 'reopening of schools in England'

[DownRightAmazing]

By Gavin.

I'm aware there are a million threads on this generally but this is specifically regarding the statement - any leaks/clues/predictions?

To state my own position: I think schools need to close to all except keyworker and vulnerable children. I feel it's obvious this needs to happen. My own two children are thriving at school and I'm not concerned about them at all - if their (primary) school is open, I will send them - but I worry for their teachers, any vulnerable parents of their classmates and of course the NHS.

My prediction (based on nothing): secondary schools blended/part time. Primary fully open. We are tier 4 fwiw and I disagree with opening schools in January...

Old news - schools were told this over a week ago

No they weren't

I don’t think they ought to do different rules for tier 4 schools than other areas. How would that be fair when it comes to exams?

Even if they cancel exams and go on predicted grades you’d still get a big divide against those with extra weeks/months of teaching compared to others. Which won’t be fair either for this year’s predicted grades or for when those students go onto the next stage of their education and are behind.

But this is already the case. Some pupils across the country have been isolated multiple times while others who will be taking the same exams have been able to be in school full-time. To have nationwide exams go ahead as normal is already an extremely unfair idea.

They should keep the schools open and vaccinate the kids (and the teachers). School nurse could do it surely (vaccinate her first) - kids are all in situ so they could roll it out like vaccination programmes of yore class by class or whatever. Keep the kids in school and stop the little blighters spreading it - job done.

If primary schools do open up fully next week and cases continue to surge, closing them at a later date will be inevitable but that will be too late for many people. Makes much more sense to close next week, vaccinate staff and then open up.

What time is the announcement?

But this is already the case. Some pupils across the country have been isolated multiple times while others who will be taking the same exams have been able to be in school full-time. To have nationwide exams go ahead as normal is already an extremely unfair idea

But the government don’t care. At the moment, they can say, ‘schools were open-we kept them open!’ and they just will ignore individuals saying otherwise.

And people will still vote Conservative!

@LillianGish I haven't seen a school nurse since about 2005. I think we have about 2 for a whole county, part- time.

I haven't seen a school nurse since about 2005 - sorry I'm in France. Obviously hopelessly out of date.

School nurse could do it surely

Is that a joke?

We have one school nurse for about 25 schools. She is part time and was redeployed in March.

Primaries in Wales aren't open until possibly 18th. I teach secondary in England. All exam classes. I have no idea whether I'm going to be able to access kw place, as dh is not a kw.

This was dropped on us on the day of term. I'm supposed to be back in work on Tuesday. Fuck knows where my kids will be going.

School nurse??!! No such thing at our school anymore.
We do have 2 fantastic first aiders who are rushed off their feet at the moment just with day to day issues!
Many people have no idea what it is really like in school at the moment. I fear for the staff and students wellbeing at the moment.

phlebasconsidered -please don’t patronize me with your sigh. I have opinions, as you do, not misconceptions. They may be different to yours that is all.

The point is it would have been far better to do a full term in the summer and close down schools for the first half of the spring term. Any idiot could have seen that the r number would be higher in January than it was in April/May.

The R number is being ignored now because children have missed too much of their education and schools closing are no a last resort. It really is quite pathetic to say the government doesn’t give a shit.

Whilst I realise that unions don’t have all the power the government does regularly cow tow ( wrightly or wrongly) to those that shout the loudest and the unions and councils were shouting very load indeed. Yes it was ridiculous to insist on bubbles of 15 but nowhere have I said that the government is not partly to blame.

No work place is safe. I’ve been working in one of the highest risk health professions for covid transmission throughout all of the lockdowns. And no my son still didn’t get to go to school because my DH isn’t a key worker.

Apologies.
I misread the messages -
Yes, TES leaked the news yesterday - I thought you were referring to the news in press 17th Dec about 11s and 13s returning next week.
My mistake.

Our local primary has zero cases, so I don't want to see it close. I'm sure there are others with a low numbers of cases too.

Schools should only be closed on a case by case basis, and be given the power to close when they believe it is unsafe to stay open.

Teachers and school staff should be made a higher priority on the vaccination roll-out. They should also be given PPE equipment.

Twitter suggests nurseries will def stay open.

Amazingly Rachel reeves (Labour) has just been on sky news saying schools do everything they can should stay open.

Peston is guessing, he doesn’t suggest he’s actually been told anything.

It seems bonkers to me to open any kind of school where the rates are high and increasing. But closing schools in some parts of the country and not others is politically hard, surely, as it will come across as unfair. I can’t see schools being allowed to open in the north but not in the south.
But of course it is unfair anyway because up to Christmas the north was hit with far more bubble closures than the south.

@Rubyrubyrubyred

@DecemberSun schools are essential. They can not just be closed indefinitely. It is not the same as most other work places. By that stance hospitals should also be closing. As well as supermarkets.

They can and should be closed if they are unsafe. They are closing on a regular basis when there aren't enough staff or so many DCs isolating anyway.

You do know that hospital staff wear PPE, don't you? Daft comparison with teachers who are not allowed even masks.

If you want schools to be open ;lobby your MP for the money to make them safer. Don't try to bully or emotionally blackmail teachers into risking their health. They've done enough.

Points to clarify:

1. If the unions had the power to prevent schools opening fully in the summer term, do you really think they’d have been ‘allowing’ 32 kids and an adult to be spending six hours in a tiny Victorian room with windows that only open two inches, and no masks come September?

1. Schools - and most especially state run nurseries and pre schools - are the only workplace in which PPE is actively banned.

1. The GOVERNMENT suspended the curriculum during lockdown 1. Most schools provided a full online curriculum, and teachers worked more hours than ever. Some followed what the GOVERNMENT had dictated and didn’t. Their teachers were then redeployed into KW hubs.

1. Not one school has yet received a single penny to cover cleaning or supply costs.

1. Most primary children need an adult to complete online learning with them. A huge proportion of parents work all day. Therefore to provide an entirely ‘live’ experience for those children would disadvantage them because they need to be able to access the videos at a time that suits their parents. Those demanding the live curriculum, please think about the parents in your child’s class who have to work all day.

Our local primary has zero cases, so I don't want to see it close

Unless everyone in the primary school is tested on a daily basis, your point is mute

What time is the announcement?

I believe it's due at 4. However, they have a tendency to be a bit late and the provisional times mean nothing

Is that a joke? - sorry it wasn't meant to be, but obviously it is! I still think we should try and vaccinate kids ASAP if it means the schools can stay open. Much flows from that - it makes it easier for parents to work, gives kids a bit of normality even if other stuff is locked down. I know they are not at greatest risk, but they do be put others at risk by spreading the virus.

Forgot one:

1. Teachers had to fight to get any KW provision at their own children’s schools/nurseries/pre schools as they were widely perceived as being ‘at home’ (before grandparent childcare started again, I did some key worker cover shifts with my 18 month old running around the classroom, disrupting all of the children’s learning).

Vaccinate kids? It's not been tested on kids!!!

I still think we should try and vaccinate kids ASAP if it means the schools can stay open.

The vaccines are not approved for kids. I don't know if they've even done any testing on kids.

Vaccinate kids? It's not been tested on kids!!!

This^ exactly which is why children and pregnant women can't have the vaccine (yet).

@kateferguson4 on Twitter:

EXCL: The return of schools is expected to be delayed by two weeks in the worst Covid hotspots. Gavin Williamson will announce the plan later today

Those briefed on the plan tell me:

• Primaries and secondaries in T4 hotspots will stay shut for another 2 weeks
• Secondaries in T1, 2 and 3 will stay shut an extra week. Primaries will reopen as normal.
• Delay is to allow mass testing to be rolled out in schools

It is important to stress that these details could still change. Official statement later this afternoon. Gavin Williamson and Matt Hancock have been in talks today to thrash out final plan

www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/13604134/covid-schools-final-decision-kids-mutant-delayed/

Yes, I know it's the Sun