Headteacher unions begin legal proceedings against DfE

[Makingnumber2]

www.naht.org.uk/news-and-opinion/news/leadership-news/update-regarding-start-of-term-sent-to-members-on-2-jan-2021/?fbclid=IwAR3WFugSo-KsSToWAvbteMs8HspeXZTMBd9VaiOlAVxOeL0FM1wDRzqbviA

NAHT and ASCL start legal proceedings against DfE

I think if schools open as they were last term, more people will die. Based on that belief, do you really think I should be going into school?

Yes I do. Especially for primary age children. Young childrens educational, physical and emotional welfare must come first, sorry.

My point was
People are going to die in all settings. Supermarket staff will die, police will die, social workers will die, NHS staff will die, transport workers will die and so on.This is a statement of fact and this is what needs to be understood about this crisis. We cannot protect everyone. All we can do is follow the guidelines and do our best

Primary age children need to be in school, teachers need to be there for them. Just like any other key worker needs to be in work for the most vulnerable in our society

Don't try and justify it, flax. You've told us quite clearly who you are.
And anyway, we are talking two weeks here. That will make little difference in the long run for children, but the continued exponential rise in infections will lead to many more avoidable deaths.

It's taken me far too long but I've realised who Flax was previously.
Threas gets to 1000 posts with 1 poster like a dog with a bone and everyone trying to reason with a situation they've constructed in their head.

CallmeAngelina

So they won't die? Are you saying all those key workers will all be perfectly fine when they go into work tomorrow? That none of them will catch covid and die? Get real. This is a crisis and it's getting worse now everyday but those key workers will still go to work, risk death.

This to me this is all down to whether or not you think teachers are key workers. I think, primary age especially, teachers are key workers.

flax
Teachers won’t be there if the unions say the schools are unsafe working environments. There are key workers and there are martyrs. The two are not the same.

PastMyBestBeforeDate
It's taken me far too long but I've realised who Flax was previously.

You've got too much time on your hands.

Threas gets to 1000 posts with 1 poster like a dog with a bone and everyone trying to reason with a situation they've constructed in their head.

Well it's hard to know who is posting what with so many name changes. Sometimes it's a case of a little coterie of name changers, following one poster around and piling on. A pack of dogs with one bone you might say

BustopherPonsonbyJones
flax
Teachers won’t be there if the unions say the schools are unsafe working environments. There are key workers and there are martyrs. The two are not the same.

I don't think teachers are being well represented by their trade union fatcats. I think it's a mistake. I used to be very unionised. I do believe they did some great things in past, health, safety and so on, but I believe too much political posturing and positioning is going on now. They're out of touch with popular feeling, middle class.

Has Starmer said anything about it all?

Starmer won't say anything that puts him in a bad light with anybody.

Frankly he can't afford to say something without seeing which way the wind is blowing.

If you say so Flax.

year5teacher
it’s almost comforting that throughout every hideous turn of events this pandemic brings, you’re still here posting exactly the same stuff you’ve been posting since March. It’s a given that you’ll be on any thread accusing teachers of wanting to sit on their arses!

Nope, but it's impossible to find a thread on the coronavirus board that isn't a teacher thread ATM

Yesterday 19:19
Barbie222
At all times of the day.

What? Like a shift worker might post at all times of the day? Or, as well as disagreeing with strike action, isn't that allowed either?

@Flaxmeadow

I think if schools open as they were last term, more people will die. Based on that belief, do you really think I should be going into school?

Yes I do. Especially for primary age children. Young childrens educational, physical and emotional welfare must come first, sorry.

Disgusting ignorant comment.

If you had a brain you would be dangerous.

@Flaxmeadow

And what about the physical and emotional welfare of the children who'll lose parents because of this?

So what do you want? All parents to stay at home? Supermarket staff, NHS, social services, police. Thats impossible obviously.

Not sure what you mean?

You aren't sure what is meant by that ? How hard of thinking are you ?

Children who are bereaved suffer long lasting emotional and psychological distress which affects their whole life, sometimes never recovering from it. Having a parent die when you are a child is appallingly devastating.

How can you not understand that?

Schools are being made to take responsibility for everything here. What about pupils who don’t have technology at home and therefore can’t access online learning? The government promised to provide laptops, but failed to do so. What about pupils who are vulnerable and need to be in school? Where are social services and other services involved in this? Why do schools have to take sole responsibility for these children? Why is every thing last minute? The government have know. Since 22nd Dec that schools were safe and have dragged their heels over this, hoping we would believe Boris standing there saying schools are safe. Parents and schools are asking for evidence that schools are safe rather than just being told it’s true and the government are effectively ignoring them

Today 00:18Flaxmeadow

IloveJKRowling And what about the physical and emotional welfare of the children who'll lose parents because of this?

[me]So what do you want? All parents to stay at home? Supermarket staff, NHS, social services, police. Thats impossible obviously.

[me]Not sure what you mean?

^^ No wonder I was confused here. The post you, and others, are referring to, was not a post I had made. Meaning the part I quoted

Thanks because that was really confusing me until now

Bartymao then perhaps all parents should work from home then. Why are the lives of key workers worth less. I don’t really like the idea of sacrificing a small amount of the population to protect everyone else, it doesn’t seem fair.

Teachers will work in school.

In smaller and safer classes with children who need to be there.

Alongside the same rules as everywhere else which limits numbers, has covid secure settings and work from home where they can.

3 members of staff from my hospital have died from covid so I don’t think it is particularly covid secure. Most key workers cannot work from home and numbers cannot be limited or productivity would be limited.

@stairway

Bartymao then perhaps all parents should work from home then. Why are the lives of key workers worth less. I don’t really like the idea of sacrificing a small amount of the population to protect everyone else, it doesn’t seem fair.

Ok. I'll tell the head teacher that I will not be at work then. I can't work from home doing my job, that's ok isn't it ?

Most key workers cannot work from home and numbers cannot be limited or productivity would be limited.

Learning can be done online and for lower primary 2 weeks off with reading and a bit of writing is fine. I understand the point about childcare which is why KW children will be allowed in for childcare. None of this is ideal but if we want to slow the spread we need to do something.

I think everyone who feels that their work place is unsafe should have the right to work from home . I don’t have a problem with learning at home for two weeks, it’s the worry that it will go on for a lot longer. I think if this happens parents should all be furloughed so they can stay at home and teach their kids.

People being wilfully obtuse like Flax are also losing sight of the fact that there’s more than one issue at stake here.

• Teachers have a right to refuse to work in the least safe working environment (see infection numbers of school-age children for proof)

• Pupils have a right not to be exposed to Covid, take the disease home, or risk long Covid

• Scientists (Sage and others) have been advising the government that schools must close for the country to have any hope of reducing a sky-high infection rate which risks paralysing all other parts of society, to say nothing of the mass death.

It’s not about teachers being cowards or refusing to work. Man alive, when will this sink in?

Starry night: that table has repeatedly been in the press.

Supermarket is the highest because that’s the thing people could remember or more importantly admit to.

Add the education sectors together as they are all education.

@Flaxmeadow seriously, what you said was disgusting and the fact you’re trying to justify it is crazy. I think it’s so unpleasant that after months of you posting and challenging teachers who want safer working conditions, it’s culminated in you saying “well if some of them die then it’s ok as long as children’s education is prioritised”.

I would be somewhat more understanding if you hadn’t posted for months about how classrooms are safe as they are and how teachers should be happy to go in regardless. You’ve really shown your true colours. It’s not even like you’ve said “well we’ll do XYZ to keep staff safe because they deserve to have three things, and if when we’ve done everything we can staff die, then...” you’ve literally been like “other workers continue to work so teachers must get on with it in unsafe conditions, and if they die then 🤷‍♀️“

And 25 years a teacher.

No ‘perspective’ boxes in my school. Or in any friends schools