AIBU to stand up for children and parents...

[alwaysraining123]

... and say that closing schools is not an option. Some observations.

(1) millions of children will suffer poorer mental health, educational deficits and be at risk of physical harm.
(2) if schools close now the government will struggle to get them back open.
(3) the unions are playing a highly political game preying shamelessly on people’s fears.
(4) online learning is of no use for most of the primary school years. Parents basically need to be available all day to support children.
(5) more parents are going to find themselves unable to work causing more financial hardship. This won’t affect your middle class sahps or people who can work from home as much- there are people who actually have to go out of their house to earn a living.
(6) if you’re parent and you’re worried you can keep your child at home.
(7) educational transmission of the virus is low and infection control standards can be escalated where needed.

Whatever is done we need to place maintaining educational provision for children at the heart of it. We need to make it work...there’s no other option.

Look at the difference between September and now, on that chart. Think about your risk and your children's risk, if you don't care about teachers and TAs.

@chocolatesweets

Stop everything. We can't live in fear forever.

It's not "fear" that is closing schools. It's risk.

and say that closing schools is not an option...

Well, yes it is. You may not like it, but it appears to be the only safe option currently and announcing it is not makes you sound as thick as Boris or Gavin Williamson, frankly.

And you don't represent me or my children. What makes you think you do? Or that all parents think alike?

Ninjasan

Once again slowly for those at the back.....

There are measures in place in supermarkets - distancing, masks, screens, limited people, large spaces, no one coughing in your face or sneezing in your face, ventilation, special times for vulnerable limited contact.

Schools - no measures, no distancing, no masks, no screens, full classes, poor ventilation, small rooms, coughing in faces, sneezing in faces, 6-8 hours at a time, no support for vulnerable, no limited contact.

What a perfect comparison of the two workplaces. Well done! Next should we compare nursing and gardening?

Shut the schools but please at least have pre-recorded lessons by the child's class teacher unless they are unwell.

My DCs school is doing live lessons for the next two weeks.
Good for education but not great for me as I need to go and buy another laptop to use.
We also currently live in temporary accommodation so don’t have a room each to go in to.

I will be preparing pre-recorded sessions as I know many parents will be in a much worse situation and don’t have the money to buy a laptop each or somewhere quiet to work.

children need and can reasonably expect education provision.

Under normal circumstances, yes. But in the same way that the government cannot require children to go to school, the responsibility for educating children lies ultimately, in law, with the parents. The reason we are able to delegate this responsibility to the government is because they can educate a group of children at once, on our behalf. If they lose the ability to do this for any reason - like a temporary global pandemic for instance - the obligation falls back to us.

There’s no easy answer.

I think it’s a game of balancing risks and choosing the best option out of a couple of bad options.

Closing schools will mean some children are more vulnerable to abuse, affect peoples jobs and finances etc. However the with the current situation in hospitals I do think some level of school closure is needed. At other points I would be arguing that schools should remain open....it’s really difficult.

YANBU you make a lot of sense.

YANBU

I don’t get the comments from a lot of posters saying that they think parents will surely die from covid if their child catches it in school... the fatality rate for most people under 50 is extremely low !! Check the records of reported deaths and you will see that the majority of covid deaths are 60+. Plus you could still get the virus from anywhere - covid secure doesn’t mean you can’t catch the virus.
The government needs to make its messaging about all this clearer. All of these “covid secure” measures and social distancing rules are there to slow down the virus, not eliminate it. Wearing a mask and keeping your distance lowers your chance of catching it, it doesn’t eliminate it.

I cannot believe how many parents want schools to close.

Children need an education there is no need to close the schools, impact will be far far greater then keeping them open.

Get a grip people. Stop the bullying tactics.

@Chocolatte21 ‘covid secure’ will be one of the most annoying phrases to come out of 2020. Like you say often it only means letting fewer people inside and people wearing make.

@Chocolatte21 it wold help if schools had masks and social distancing

Shut the schools but please at least have pre-recorded lessons by the child's class teacher unless they are unwell.

Right from March we have pre recorded daily lessons for core subjects by school staff, they weren't always the child's class teacher as that depended on if staff were in a bubble or not. But they were our school staff. Mind you, the bubbles also didn't necessarily have their 'normal' teachers either, so guess it was all a bit mixed up across school anyway.

The non core subjects were a mix and did include external sites.

Many children will be used to seeing supplementary videos from external sites anyway so we feel this worked well for our pupils.

Also my son had online learning for two weeks abd learnt nothing as it's not sufficient.

I think we are getting to a stage where a very basic cheap laptop is essential for every one over five. Heaven knows how OpenReach will deliver the conectivity though.

@Awalkintime

Seasaltyhair

Why does the fact that you don't know anyone that has died have any relevance? Why mention it? To try and minimise what I am saying....that is why.

How do you know it is an anomaly? There could be others. If there are lots of deaths in one area it is likely their kids go to the same schools.

I don't know if it has, the school wouldn't publish any data as it is confidential.

I’m sure if there was 8 parental deaths in one school it would have raised a quite a big concern. Is it secondary or primary? Which school is it?

Chocolatte21

What distancing are you on about? What masks? What measures?

Covid secure is an oxymoron.

Has anyone answered the question what do schools do if they run out of staff as so many are off ill or isolating?

I hope schools won't close, but if they do I'm not that concerned about my infant/lower primary aged DCs education. They've got years to catch up. I'd be more concerned if my dc were doing GCSE's or a levels this year.

Yabu. At a rate of 800 in 100,000 for Covid my children will not be going to school next week.

I was happy to send them in September and right up until Christmas because the rate was significantly lower.

It would help if there were a universal recognised level of infection limit (that everyone could agree on) where the risk is too high. It would help if tiers 1-4 had levels of infection rates which were recognised and that everyone could understand.

There comes a point when it isn’t safe. If the Government were more transparent about how they group tierings then we would all know where we stand.

@Abraxan can you explain further what a re one learning plan is please? I can then bring it up if need be. Also the cover point?

(I am aware that unfortunately our school appears to be an outlier and other schools in the area have provided much better online resources).

We've had not 1 case since sept if they close our school I think there will be a riot!

I understand that for some parents it must be very upsetting not to be able to palm off all responsibility for their kid's learning onto the schools and teachers. However, the reality is, that as their parents, ultimately the responsibility for their learning in somewhat unprecedented times, may end up lying in front of our doors.

Whether they achieve their learning or not, is going to sometimes be up to you, and up to them. Outsourcing the responsibility and culpability may temporarily be less possible.

@Awalkintime wow you sound so patronising!! A right know it all.

Actually you are wrong. It's highly likely you will catch covid from a supermarket as a supermarket worker.

Why don't people ask their head that all kids shouid wear a mask?? My child's school does - that was the head's decision.

Better still take your own kid out and leave the rest be that don't agree with you.

Has anyone answered the question what do schools do if they run out of staff as so many are off ill or isolating?

It has happened in my borough, they have to close. My school came very close to it, the thing that stopped us was when they reduced isolation to 10 days.