Any of you school staff feeling a bit worried?

[Ledkr]

Im starting to think its inevitable that ill catch cv. Im in a primary, dd 1 at University but living at home. Dd2 is at another primary and dh is front line emergency services.
Fingers crossed i guess.

Yes.

I'm special secondary.

We will open as normal and we aren't taking up testing.

I'm so sorry op and others on here. I really think they should have closed more primaries. Where we are, it is rife, but somehow we have missed being closed! I'm seriously thinking of not sending dc anyway.

@Bluewavescrashing

Fuck yes. Primary schools have no testing, no distancing, no ppe.

Wear your own and make them, make you take it off you.

You could be the test case for wrongful dismissal

@Ledkr

That is not the full words he used though .

He said it’s the spread back to households from schools that is the problem .

If it was not a problem they would not be attempting the mass testing .

My grandsons primary school the teachers do wear masks when close to pupils and use ventilation etc . Have had very few cases up to now.

But I think that will change with new mutation.

I know we can wear ppe but i didnt as nobody else is but i will now. Im pastoral so will hopefully be able to see one to one or small groups so can be distant i guess.
Im also going to do a lot of "playground observations"

I've just written my resignation letter. Had enough now.

Wear your own and make them, make you take it off you. You could be the test case for wrongful dismissal

Wearing a mask doesn't protect me, just others around me. And I can't expect 5 year olds in my class to wear masks. They spend all day releasing aerosols in my direction as Jennie Harries so helpfully recommended having them all front facing at tables. Which, by the way, is developmentally inappropriate for such young children. If we had rotas and could limit numbers I would feel much safer and would also be able to accelerate their learning massively. But, no.

I'm a dinner lady in a primary (tier 4) and I'm pretty worried, we come into contact with most of the children when serving and although we try to keep hygiene standards high we are touching dirty plates and so on when clearing up. One of the other dinner ladies had a positive case just before Christmas and she was pretty sick. She's a lot healthier than me so that made me even more concerned.

Yes sen primary. They've stated we won't close at all.

No masks at all

I work in a school as lunchtime supervisor twice a week. Even I can see that primary kids aren't social distancing at all, everything is just the same only without mixing year groups. Kids going to the toilet that they share with other year groups is deemed fine though.

I have 4 kids in 4 settings, nursery, primary, secondary and college. But it's fine. Boris said schools are safe. What he said after that I don't know as I turned it off

Yep. Worried.

Think the secondary testing is going to be an utter shambles, probably worse than useless.

Mixed . Mainly confused as I have zero idea about whether or not I will be testing pupils... will I be at school? So confused!

We had it before xmas so hoping we have some antibodies now. I can see why people would refuse returning their child though.

2 secondary teachers here. Very worried. Gutted for primary and nursery colleagues in tier 4 who aren't on 'the list'.

@DBML

Yes.

I’m secondary, but you can clearly see what is going to happen.

Schools will go back. There will be a chaotic attempt to mass test and test contacts of cases.
Children will start to have to isolate again in large numbers. Staff will end up off sick again and cover teachers will be teaching important lessons. Many pupils will refuse to be tested and it will be window dressing and nothing else.

Meanwhile, the numbers of cases in wider society will continue to rise. We will have more areas put into higher tiers. More people will lose their jobs as retail and hospitality and entertainment continue to close to even more severe levels. The government will have to think about what other restrictions they can put in place to keep schools open. We’ll inevitably be in lockdown for longer.

We’ll hear about anomalies...the odd young person or young parent who will die here and there on the news. We’ll be told they had underlying health conditions. We won’t be told that they would not have died otherwise and should have been able to have a normal lifespan. This will comfort us, after all, they would have died soon anyway...probably...right?

Children who have missed weeks and weeks of learning due to repeated isolations will be forced to take important exams, competing against other children who have been fortunate enough not to have to isolate at all. They will achieve grades far lower than what should have been possible...but the government will hail this as a great success and one of utmost fairness.

Teachers will be fearful going into school and resentful that they have to be there. There will be some who are distracted, anxious, not on top of their game and certainly not putting in 100%. Sorry, but it’s true. They won’t want to run after school clubs. They won’t allow children to remain in their form room over lunchtimes to avoid the school bully. They will dash home and shower just as soon as the bell goes.

But...people will have that childcare they wanted, so it’s all good.

Absolutely agree.

I work in school. We’re in tier 4 and I’m devastated that schools in my area are closed. I understand that I am in minority - most people seem to be relieved that we’re not going back. I would go back to work in a heartbeat. And I would also send my kid.

All the mitigation measures just make life more difficult rather than actually reducing risk.

Eg my class are not allowed to use the toilet when other classes are (bubbles) so if anyone needs to go I have to walk my class all the way round the one way system round the whole school and I gave to check if the cubicles are all free of other children not in our bubble. Then my class can queue up to use the toilet. They are 5 so need to go quite often throughout the day... With this and hand washing at 8 specific points during the day, 28 of them lining up at one sink, there is not a lot of time left for actual teaching and learning and a big potential fir messing about.

[quote DBML]@SaltyAF

Yep. I’ve said a few times I’m looking to get out of teaching...been teaching for 20 years. I get excellent GCSE and A Level results consistently and the highest residuals in my school. I’ve always put my heart and soul in to my work and given up weekends, holidays and evenings to get the absolute best out of my pupils.

I can’t do it anymore. I only feel inclined to do the bare minimum. I hate what has happened to teaching anyway over the last few years, but the pandemic and how we’ve been treated has put the nail in the coffin for me.[/quote]
25 years here for both me and DH. Feel exactly the same.

Yep a bit. Not for me, but for vulnerable partner, and the nightmare of him having to deal with an isolating child while I'm ill.

I'm mostly concerned about workload and logistics chaos at school, plus inability to keep children physically safe when we're so low on staff (due to shielding and mental health stuff).

Very very worried. I work in a preschool i feel physically sick about having to go in on monday as normal. 2 dds in primary school packed into classrooms of 36 and 32 with 2 tiny windows open.

I'm not particularly worried about catching it on my own account.

But I am absolutely LIVID that they are continuing with their INSANE plan to open primaries up as normal when this WILL lead to an unnecessary and avoidable further rise in infection and death rates.

All the mitigation measures just make life more difficult rather than actually reducing risk.

Agree here. Also the children are a bit broken, anxious and so on. Behaviour is off the charts, so we can get 3 lessons done in a day, max.

Is it true that secondary teachers will be doing the actual covid tests on pupils?!!
As if teachers aren't exposed enough

Yes, primary aged. I'm really anxious because last term social distancing at work was not possible (and working with EYFS kids, it's not even demanded in guidance). Only thing that's successful is reducing spread across the whole cohort through bubbles.

I'll get back to it next week, though, and while I'm actually at work the anxiety is less because I'm focused on other things.

I'm convinced we'll still see cases and admissions skyrocket after Xmas mixing, and govt will be forced to uturn in a week or so. But it makes me furious that people will be ill and even die unnecessarily while the govt procrastinate.