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Original poster

Will there be a U turn over primary schools in the next few days?

175 replies

SoscaredforJan · 31/12/2020 12:31

Just that really. If things carry on getting worse over the next few days are they really going to send primary schools back into the Covid hell?

At what point will we have to have a national lockdown to stop the hospitals from being overwhelmed?

OP posts:
Fortherosesjoni70 · 31/12/2020 14:43

@Subordinateclause

Children did not lose 6 months of education. End March to start Sept is 5 months for a start, and it included May half term and the summer hols so a minimum of 7 weeks holiday for most areas. 95% of children in my primary class are on track to be where they should be by the end of this year and most have already made up lost ground, a third of the way into the year. March - July was grim for primary children and I am happy to teach and happy for my school, where rates are lower than elsewhere, to stay open but I get so frustrated at the 6 month line being repeated over and over.
Exactly! Your childs health could be potentially at risk. They dont have enough evidence about what this new mutant can do to children. They have NO idea. If its infecting them the way it does adults [ which they are saying it will] then some will be ok, some will be quite ill and some will be seriously ill. The Goverment are making light of this. The hospitals are ovewhelmed. Even if it doesnt affect children there will be no a&e if you need it. Wake up to this please!
Fortherosesjoni70 · 31/12/2020 14:45

It is going to be a grim January indeed. The virus is going to explode when schools go back without any mitigations. They will have to shut the schools. All of them.

SabrinaTheMiddleAgedBitch · 31/12/2020 14:46

I sincerely hope so but I'm not holding my breath. They seem to either be completely ignorant or wilfully negligent where schools are concerned

Armi · 31/12/2020 14:50

I can’t get over that there’s still no change on mask wearing. Secondary school students should be wearing them in the classroom, when they return.

It’s just astonishing. It’s almost as if the Tories want to wipe out the teaching profession and make thousands of children and their families very ill indeed.

Fortherosesjoni70 · 31/12/2020 14:50

Id bet willfully negligent.

Blue1316 · 31/12/2020 14:51

I’d support school closures if working parents of primary school aged children could be furloughed to provide basic childcare and education to them. Both me and DH work full time and it’s bloody impossible to work and care properly for young children, if one of us could be furloughed then totally fine. The expectation that working parents (even working from home) can educate their children whilst holding down a full time job is bloody ridiculous. I stuck it out in the summer at the cost of my mental health and I’m not doing it again.
Another option is grandparents as childcare but then is that not defeating the point of protecting the vulnerable.

Tianatiers · 31/12/2020 14:52

I really hope so, doesn't sit right with me to pretend my child is sick so I'll just be honest with my school if I decide not to send them back next week and hope they sympathise. If they're going to insist on keeping some schools open, which I know a lot of people want, then they need to scrap fines, it's just not fair on those who have the choice and want to keep their children and families safe. For those who don't have the choice, it'll be safer for them with less children in school.

I also have to roll my eyes when people say children have missed six months of school, six months implies half a year. They missed a term.

bluebeck · 31/12/2020 14:54

I really hope so, otherwise people are losing their jobs and the economy is on it's arse for nothing. This graphic from another thread shows the reality of the situation. Aside from supermarkets, schools are the top places for catching/spreading Covid.

Will there be a U turn over primary schools in the next few days?
Lmnopqrstuvwxyz · 31/12/2020 14:56

@Tianatiers

I really hope so, doesn't sit right with me to pretend my child is sick so I'll just be honest with my school if I decide not to send them back next week and hope they sympathise. If they're going to insist on keeping some schools open, which I know a lot of people want, then they need to scrap fines, it's just not fair on those who have the choice and want to keep their children and families safe. For those who don't have the choice, it'll be safer for them with less children in school.

I also have to roll my eyes when people say children have missed six months of school, six months implies half a year. They missed a term.

I have already apologised. I didn't realise it was only a few weeks of school they missed. It's been an extremely long year with an awful lot to deal with, it's felt much much much longer than it actually was.
EagleFlight · 31/12/2020 14:56

The primary school closure list is already being revised. I’d be surprised if they are open in a fortnight although many might at least start open.

Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady · 31/12/2020 14:57

I really hope so.

For the people saying "if you're worried just take your children out" it really isn't that simple.

We get the choice of either

A) lying to the school which is. ot something I feel comfortable with. Not a great example to set to our children!

Or b) risking fines/SS involvement.

I have been saying since September that PARENTS WHO ARE ABLE to home school (I.e. those who the schools/SS Have no concerns about) should be offered the choice.

This would reduce class sizes making those in school safer. It would protect vulnerable families.

We know absolutely nothing about these new strains and how they effect children. We don't even know the long term effects of the original strain on children.

Our children are being used as a science experiment and I'm fucking tired of it

Frouby · 31/12/2020 14:57

I hope not, rates are low here, 210/100,000 and unless they go up significantly I want dcs in school, seeing their friends, socialising and learning.

bluechameleon · 31/12/2020 14:57

I work in a special school in a tier 4 area. We aren't in an area where primary schools are closing, but even in those areas special schools are staying open. This seems ridiculous to me - our students are not able to social distance, need more support with self care meaning we are constantly exposed to various bodily fluids, and our staffing ratios mean we tend to have several adults in a smallish room for hours at a time (so even if children do transmit it less we are still at high risk). Adults were dropping like flies the last few weeks of last term and I don't know how many will have recovered enough to return next week. I see no way we can safely operate.

Tianatiers · 31/12/2020 15:00

No need to apologise @lmnopqrstuvwxyz that wasn't aimed at you specifically, it is said by a lot of people as a reason to not close schools. I agree it did feel like a looong time Flowers

effiehabb · 31/12/2020 15:00

I really hope so...

Groundhogdayzz · 31/12/2020 15:02

I don’t think there will be a U turn before primary go back. Our government will do exactly what they’ve done all along.....leave it way too late to act, so we have worst of all worlds.

SabrinaTheMiddleAgedBitch · 31/12/2020 15:02

@bluechameleon my daughter attends a sen school in tier 4, I'm waiting to hear if they are returning on Tuesday as planned. If they do there will be no testing like other secondary schools (all pupils are autistic) and as you probably know social distancing is fairly impossible. Regardless her little sister is off to school on Monday where its pretty much business as usual (not the teachers fault, it just doesn't work) Its a absolute shambles.

Lmnopqrstuvwxyz · 31/12/2020 15:02

@Frouby

I hope not, rates are low here, 210/100,000 and unless they go up significantly I want dcs in school, seeing their friends, socialising and learning.
Just checked the rates in my area as I had no idea. 160/100,000 that's umm.... Low isn't it? 160 people in the last 7 days have got covid
AaronPurr · 31/12/2020 15:02

@Frouby

I hope not, rates are low here, 210/100,000 and unless they go up significantly I want dcs in school, seeing their friends, socialising and learning.
Slightly off topic but I find it really interesting how the perception of cases per 100k has changed during the pandemic. It wasn't that long ago we were restricting travel to countires with more than 20 cases per 100k.
Lmnopqrstuvwxyz · 31/12/2020 15:03

@Tianatiers

No need to apologise *@lmnopqrstuvwxyz* that wasn't aimed at you specifically, it is said by a lot of people as a reason to not close schools. I agree it did feel like a looong time Flowers
Thank you!
Waxonwaxoff0 · 31/12/2020 15:04

@Frouby same here, 168 per 100k for us and no Covid cases in school since before October half term. Really don't see the logic in closing schools that are operating fine. Understandable in high rate areas where schools are struggling but not all are.

Lmnopqrstuvwxyz · 31/12/2020 15:04

Just checked the rates in my area as I had no idea. 160/100,000 that's umm.... Low isn't it? 160 people in the last 7 days have got covid

I realise this maths is wrong Grin

Lmnopqrstuvwxyz · 31/12/2020 15:05

Also our school hasn't had a single covid case. I still know no one who has had it.

starrynight19 · 31/12/2020 15:06

@bluebeck this is more up to date and it’s worse

Will there be a U turn over primary schools in the next few days?
HibernatingTill2030 · 31/12/2020 15:06

I think so.
I can't see numbers staying stable elsewhere in the country. I am in the SE, and we went up crazily fast- in around a week I think, without seeing the data to refresh my memory.

Christmas- especially in areas where people were allowed to mix- will just accelerate it.

My prediction is that when the schools are reviewed (I think 16th Jan?), most already not face-to-face will stay that way, and more will join them.