Is there going to be any announcements today?

[ilikexmas]

I cannot see anything on the news.

About what?

Johnson is on Marr this morning, he might have a fake pledge or two to make on there.

I understand his general theme at the moment is that 2021 is going to be a great year for Britain , which would be made a lot more likely if he just fucking resigned.

I imagine op means about schools, given that yesterday saw legal action instigated against the government to try to force a policy uturn regarding schools reopening tomorrow.

Sorry, yes I mean regarding primary children returning to school tomorrow.

It seems from the papers that they will be standing firm against the "leftie unions" . I actually can't believe it. How can parents feel confident about sending their children to school under these circumstances? This is a nightmare.

No probably not because the government have no respect for schools staff or parents and don’t care about their concerns regarding safety or the impact of schools in the NHS

I am not aware of anything scheduled - the letters from NAHT said the DfE were given until Monday to respond?

Am sure Johnson will say schools are safe.

But he's a massive lying liar.

I am thrilled the government is making schools a culture war battleground.

I bloody hope so! I’m so sick of major announcements happening with 5 minutes notice on Twitter. The vast majority of working parents in this county are not key workers and we do need adequate notice to prepare ourselves for remote learning if that is what will be happening.

I think most parents are already preparing for remote working, surely?

Better to prepare for the worst, if school opens you be fine.

Don't bloody wait for Johnson! He's not got a clue what's happening.

Johnson has proven time and time again he doesn't give a fuck about the health of school staff or state school children.

Given that Starmer has neither confirmed nor denied reports (afaik) that he’s set to resign today, I’m wondering if the govt will leverage whatever he does to throw out more changes? It could serve as a good deflection in the media from full on attack over schools and hospitals crises, otoh they will want Labour to get as much bad press as possible and wouldn’t want to ruin their moment in the spotlight by announcing more measures at the same time. Hard to tell.

I think it will also depend on rates, there’s a huge lag of data due to bank holidays and suggestions that we could actually be close to 70k positives once all are accounted for. Terrifying stuff. He just can’t do nothing if that’s the case (although this is Boris, and we all know doing nothing is something he’s very good at)

I am actually apoplectic about the reporting on this this morning. Teachers have a right to safe working conditions! Parents should not be fined for keeping their children out of unsafe environments. What can we do? They are clearly going to plough on regardless despite knowing it is going to collapse the NHS. They have no idea about this new strain and it's effect on children.

@DecemberSun nor has he said anything about independent school staff and children either, just for the balance you clearly didn’t want to add!

@Beebityboo I think you get the same advice every thread - find a reason to keep your kids off for the first couple of weeks and see what happens.

If cases do rise, schools will.close anyway, even where they open.

Boris johnson, is and will always be a murderer.

@inquietant I totally agree. Every parent should already be prepared for remote schooling, it’s not like there hasn’t been plenty of warning and your bubble could burst at any time.

[quote SnowGnome]@DecemberSun nor has he said anything about independent school staff and children either, just for the balance you clearly didn’t want to add![/quote]
The PM has direct responsibility for state school children, only indirect/regulatory responsibility for independent schools.

[quote SnowGnome]@DecemberSun nor has he said anything about independent school staff and children either, just for the balance you clearly didn’t want to add![/quote]
I saw no need to add that - they have the finance to ensure safety in the schools. Plus smll classes to enable social distancing. I thought that was tacit but obviously you need it to be spelled out.

So there you are. Private schools have the finance to afford safety measures for pupils and staff.

Yes, I was chatting with a friend who works in independent sector and she said she thinks it will be just symbolic if independents don't open as they have the time, space, staff, tests and freedom to manage this (more) safely.

State schools have none of these luxuries

@Beebityboo

It seems from the papers that they will be standing firm against the "leftie unions" . I actually can't believe it. How can parents feel confident about sending their children to school under these circumstances? This is a nightmare.

The more I watch this unfold after their initial response to unions - the more I believe this isn't about safety but totally about unions being a left wing thing.

This is purely based on the fact they won't provide data or evidence to back their argument (maybe it doesn't exist?) and keep repeating "schools are safe" and bashing unions for "wanting schools shut" when they want remote learning and better safety measures.

When you get propaganda that says 'lockdown kids forget how to use a knife and fork' you can see that schools are being used to provide free childcare and prop up poor parenting, rather than education.

Teachers aren't frontline for vaccines, children don't get them anyway, so the spreading will continue but the government doesn't care.

This is purely based on the fact they won't provide data or evidence to back their argument (maybe it doesn't exist?) and keep repeating "schools are safe" and bashing unions for "wanting schools shut" when they want remote learning and better safety measures.

You do know it's the government who won't release the data on school staff and Covid, don't you?

If you didn't then you do now.

@DecemberSun independent schools are almost exclusively following government guidelines to the letter, so whatever measures he enforces in state schools are replicated in independent settings. They are also following PHE advice just like everyone else and take their directions from PHE in the event of cases. Whilst class sizes are smaller, in many cases there are still often 20-23 in each class and classrooms are proportionately smaller because of that. Our kids are at independent schools and there are none of the magical additional safety measures you describe explicitly because they have not been recommended by DfE and PHE. Not because of money, but because schools want to be able to trust the advice of educational leaders and bodies just as much as anyone else does.

My guess is they will let them go back for about 1 perhaps 2 weeks so I would guess there will be an announcement next weekend for nationwide lockdown with school closures.
But I dont thing even the goverment have an idea of when they will close them so it's all speculation.