Why are secondary schools staying open in the worst affected areas!!!???

[GinAndTonicOnIt]

So primary school children and staff are not safe. But they are allowing secondary school staff and students back in these areas (the extra week really won't achieve much in terms of covid!!??)

Or have I missed something?

The idea is that the secondary kids will be mass tested before their return. Secondaries won't be fully open till the 18th either. Only Y11 and 13 in the week before.

It'll be a shitshow and there'll be a u-turn on that too.

Because the govt don't truly give a flying fuck.

Yeah, that won’t happen.

I don't think they will open on the 18th. The govt is just taking its time.

In their eyes, if 5% staff die, 10% of the vulnerable extended families and students die, but schools still remain open then great stuff...

For the greater good old boy....
For theirs is to do and die, but not question why....

But the testing is OPTIONAL? There will be so many students who won't give a fuck and won't test

The plan will change by the time these dates roll around.

Schools won't be able to mass test the kids who sign up for it anyway in the timescale given.

And when the whole mad plan fails, the government will blame schools for not being able to do the impossible.

DS (year 12) got an email today saying he’ll be tested tomorrow in time for a public exam on 11th.

The school must have signed up to a pilot project, Tills because other schools won't even be receiving their tests till Monday.

You don't know for sure whether or not the majority will or won't test. The situation is changing day by day. They are just delaying the decision until it has to be made.

It's just silly old Gavlaar being a twillock again...secondary schools won't reopen on the 18th to all years. All schools will be shut by then.

I know for sure that schools won't be able to test 3.4 million kids twice within a fortnight.

Look how long it took them to do the lorry drivers.

@noblegiraffe so sorry I meant Monday not tomorrow!

No way on earth will secondary school children go back on the 18th in areas where primary schools are shut next week. Testing or no testing.

[quote Tillsforthrills]@noblegiraffe so sorry I meant Monday not tomorrow![/quote]
it’s that bit of the year when no one knows what day it is.

I know for sure that schools won't be able to test 3.4 million kids twice within a fortnight.

We all know this. Every staff member in every school in the country knows this. But Gavlaar wants us all to go along with his narrative. So for now, we humour him. Then in a week or two, we can nod sagely. When we are all delivering lessons on line...

Ah I see, so it'll be a (literally) last minute decision just to keep up the appearance that they are as dedicated as possible to keeping schools open, to please those who wish for that? Don't get me wrong I'm sure they do want schools open, but surely even they can see that the idea is completely insane?

Because schools are safe. Boris said so. Twice.
They committed to keeping schools open. So they're keeping them open. Heads and LAs will have to close them - and then the DfE can say "it wasn't us. It was those terrible feckless lefties and their unions"

@Tillsforthrills DS (year 12) got an email today saying he’ll be tested tomorrow in time for a public exam on 11th

I take it he'll then self isolate until the exam today ensure he remains virus free if he is virus free?

Until the exam today

OP, we have a reactive not proactive government.
They should say, "Schools are closing, this new strain is highly contagious, it is spreading in schools...we have no choice, alas, alack, alas ad infinitum."
But they won't. We have a people pleaser PM, and a weak willed ineffectual Minister of Education.

So, they will maintain that they are doing all they can to reopen schools, whilst knowing that it is unachievable.
Then, they will say it is due to staffing, inability to deliver tests, etc.
Us teachers are used to it. The buck stops with us.

Thanks everyone. Oh god I hope you're all correct, it's madness!