Are we being primed for all schools to close next week?

[Lemons1571]

All I can see on Sky News and the BBC is that the “teaching unions are telling the government that all schools must be closed NOW”. Don’t usually see the media reporting this unless the government want to get us used to the idea.

@Lucieintheskye

The only thing confusing me is why people are so suprised and are still not tentatively planning to provide childcare if the schools do close. We know it could happen any minute, why aren't parents preparing just in case?

Preparing? How exactly? Ring the vulnerable grandparents and ask them to watch the children? What if there are no options available? So hey ho just take weeks of unpaid leave (again) and struggle to pay the bills. Also contribute zero tax when it is most needed. My company refuse to furlough. I have all sympathy with frontline workers (inc. school staff) but no one wins in this situation.

Great re walk out.

It isn’t a strike they are proposing. It’s legal action against the Government and a S44 walk out. It isn’t legal what the government are doing. School staff have the right to a safe workplace, like everyone else.

Like most bullies, one person took a stand and now the others will follow.

[quote LadyPenelope68]@AaronPurr
As I said those who are brave enough to copy in colour must have a death wish
This was me last day of term. Pressed print thinking I’d changed a 45 page document to black and white before I printed - oops hadn’t! Unfortunately for me, Head was at the printer photocopying when my document came through. I was summoned to the office 🤣😂[/quote]
Oh no!!! I bet that was awkward 🤣🤣🤣

@Itisasecret

It isn’t a strike they are proposing. It’s legal action against the Government and a S44 walk out. It isn’t legal what the government are doing. School staff have the right to a safe workplace, like everyone else.

Like most bullies, one person took a stand and now the others will follow.

Are you supporting the potential action or not?

@Irre247

Teaching unions are rather toothless. I’ll be very surprised if it comes to anything as it will be;

Unions- Close the schools!
Govt- No.
Unions- Well we’re not happy about that.
Govt- going to do anything?
Unions- we’re going to be very unhappy, ok?
Govt- ok.

This - the teaching unions are indeed toothless - unfortunately!

I reckon Government will be forced to do a u-turn with all schools but will cover it up as a decision to do a full March style national lockdown. They won't want to be seen as giving in to unions despite unions being correct.

The Unions are not saying to close though, just move to remote working for everyone to be safe?

Think so yes, assuming a nationwide shutdown for the rest of the academic year myself.

I’m very concerned this will happen too. We’re already shut down in Tier 4/5 whatever it is now.

It’s not looking good is it. Not sure my teen will cope with this all over again. We were pushed to the edge last time.

@Elephant4

Think so yes, assuming a nationwide shutdown for the rest of the academic year myself.

I’m very concerned this will happen too. We’re already shut down in Tier 4/5 whatever it is now.

It’s not looking good is it. Not sure my teen will cope with this all over again. We were pushed to the edge last time.

Still better than risking the alternative though!

I am so fed up with this, online learning in primary is really not the same and teachers are not given time to prep, so how many days will be lost with improvising. Taking your child for holiday for a week is apparently very damaging to their education, but this is all fine.
Either close or open all schools. They will all take the same exams in the future, how is this fair.
I am really worried about my son, he is in reception, so its all about learning to be in the group and actually being ready for year1. He will never have a catch up of that.
Why is there no long term plan for these children? Maybe the curriculum needs to be revised a bit? Maybe they should shorten the Easter and Summer holiday by not staffing schools fully now. If parents have to take annual leave now then maybe teachers can do too and then work two weeks more later with help from supply teachers.
Maybe they could do some Saturdays. I dont know, but nothing is done to think how all those children will catch up

I have all sympathy with frontline workers (inc. school staff) but no one wins in this situation.

Equally no-one wins when classes close because staff are off sick, having no effective mitigations in place. Schools need to reopen far more safely than they were in December.

@noblegiraffe

Does it seem like NEU are preparing to instruct members not to teach in person next week?

Doubt it will make any difference if they do, teachers tend to do what their headteacher tells them to do, not the union.

I'm not teaching anymore so left the union. I'd hoped things were a little different this time as teachers are being asked to put their health on the line with no protection.

NSHNT, yes I do support a walk out. One, to protect KW and V provisosn, so we don’t have medical staff not being able to work and teachers/staff to cover F2F provision. I’d rather my own children have some form of online learning, rather than nothing because all the staff are signed off sick.

Do I think it should have got to this stage? No. Maybe next time, they won’t make the same mistake and actually put some safety measures in place. So schools can stay open F2F for all. Third time lucky? Parents should be angry it has got this far but those who stuck their head in the sand are part of the problem.

Everyone needs to get behind safe schools for all. There is absolutely no way what the government is asking of teachers, with no PPE, is legal. No way, it’s a disgrace.

Our school has been priming us for closure since mid-October. Sending out hinting emails asking if all students had access to laptops/iPads etc. Found it sinister at the time....it's all adding up now.

"Taking your child for holiday for a week is apparently very damaging to their education, but this is all fine."

No one has said that "this is all fine." It's most definitely NOT fine, and none of us has wished for it to come to this. The difference between this switch to online learning and taking one child out on holiday for a week, is that everyone else is forging ahead during that week's holiday. In this situation, everyone is at least receiving the same input (leaving aside who completes the work and who doesn't).

Kingat I don’t disagree with what you are saying, but a huge amount of funding and support has already gone into supporting children to catch up on lost learning - I have been working additional hours after school tutoring children, and we are due to have external tutors start with us next term too. “Lost” education CAN be caught up on. Most learning is a spiral anyway - lots of revisiting and building so many chances to go back over something. We are stressing too much about lost “education”. It may be different in secondary - I speak as a primary teacher.
My concern, as a teacher, lies more with children’s mental health and social skills / readiness for school as you also said.

@Irre247 I was wondering if the meeting called this weekend was to ballot. It's difficult enough to get a good enough turn out for a ballot, yet alone online with not much notice.

@goldielockdown2

Our school has been priming us for closure since mid-October. Sending out hinting emails asking if all students had access to laptops/iPads etc. Found it sinister at the time....it's all adding up now.

They were required by law to enable home working for all, and to make sure that everyone had access.

This is because the government wanted to ensure education could carry on if a bubble burst.

This was all before another full school closure looked at all likely.

Don't start conspiracy theories. It was a perfectly reasonable inquiry.

Ffs I want to know what I'm doing with my class this week. I have a new child starting too.

Just make a decision and stick to it!

[quote Kolo]@Irre247 I was wondering if the meeting called this weekend was to ballot. It's difficult enough to get a good enough turn out for a ballot, yet alone online with not much notice. [/quote]
You don't need to ballot for a section 44 walkout. It's not a strike.

Kingat everyone is frustrated, not least teachers who have been saying this is how it would go for ages, and if that warning had been listened to, then more effective plans could have been implemented.

However, in terms of long term plans, we don’t know what we are dealing with in terms of how long this virus is likely to be impacting us in this way so long term plans are hard. And if you are talking in terms of five, ten year plans, then at the moment, when we don’t have any plans beyond Monday, and even those plans are looking suspect, then anything longer is unrealistic. It would be nice to hope for more from the gvt but naive, I think!

With regards to “nothing being done to think about how children catch up” I don’t think there has been any thinking on this from a government level, but many schools and teachers have been thinking of little else since September.
In our school, we have instigated a type of breakfast club for children who seem to have fallen particularly far behind, to try and support them in catching up. All our work this term (Year 1 and 2 classroom) has been planned with the knowledge that many of our Year 1s, for example, missed a third of their reception year and didn’t even complete the phonics programme, for example, so we started our planning at a different level to normal, and have adjusted all the way through. As a TA, I’m taking individuals out to go over particular areas where it is clear they are struggling, just for 10 minutes here and there a few times a week, to plug galps in their understanding....

It’s not a cohesive plan for an entire cohort but it is being considered by the people who actually have to deal with the children.

Yes, I think we are beyond strike action now. The governments is breaking health and safety law so there are legal routes that can be taken instead to hold them to account.

[quote Kolo]@Irre247 I was wondering if the meeting called this weekend was to ballot. It's difficult enough to get a good enough turn out for a ballot, yet alone online with not much notice. [/quote]
It’s possible- but I for one thought it wasn’t going to be worth my time to listen to talk about how they are basically going to do nothing but be cross about it, so won’t be logging on to the call, if they want to ballot they should tell people.

What a strange situation.

@RedToothBrush right back at you re starting conspiracy theories. They are useful to no one.
Note the 'etc' in my post. Not just the one question. It was worrying at the time that there was an implication schools would again close when on the surface everything was fine, and here we are today facing our children and staff being out through amounts of stress again.