Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

How many teachers will be handing in the section 44 letter tomorrow and not going in?

840 replies

SoscaredforJan · 03/01/2021 13:00

My DSis is scared to go to work tomorrow in a private primary school in Tier 3 but lowish numbers. She is not ECV but has got chemo damaged lungs so it petrified of catching Covid.

She desperately wants to follow union advice and not go in tomorrow but she’s worried that most teachers will be in as normal, she will have a black Mark against her and will be quietly pushed out.

Are there many teachers on here planning not to go in tomorrow? What do you think will happen tomorrow?

OP posts:
cdtaylornats · 03/01/2021 15:50

Or you know, scrap Trident - not spend a fortune on new aircraft carriers without aircraft or whatever.

Are you sure you are a teacher - if so I weep for our future.

The carriers have aircraft. If you scrap Trident then over the next ten year you will save enough to fund the NHS for less than 2 months of 2020. You will lose 40,000 jobs and the technology than Rolls Royce plans to use to build mini power stations.

TheFallenMadonna · 03/01/2021 15:50

Do you need help there though? Will you will not be able to distance sufficiently? Apart from the 4 TAs with a class of 30 each...

mrshoho · 03/01/2021 15:53

@MH1111

Can teachers who are not going to work volunteer at their local hospital
No because they will be working. They may be asked to supervise kw or vulnerable children. Or they may be asked to provide remote teaching. Nice idea.
BungleandGeorge · 03/01/2021 15:54

@TheFallenMadonna

Do you need help there though? Will you will not be able to distance sufficiently? Apart from the 4 TAs with a class of 30 each...
Yes it’s the 1 person in a class of 30 that’s the problem! Surely they need to split them into 8 classes of 15? The others who can social distance and wear a mask if they need to be near another teacher or having planning meetings meet the guidelines
SecretSpAD · 03/01/2021 15:55

I don't have primary school aged children, but if I did they would not be returning tomorrow. I have no concerns about the impact on the health of children, but it is obvious to all but the govt and the very dense that schools are driving this infection now. They need to close for a while, to have funding available for heads and LAs to implement proper measures to make them secure and to give the NHS time to roll out the vaccine.

There are no more restrictions we can make. Hospitality is on its knees and the current takeaway arrangement is the only thing between survival and bankruptcy. Same with non essential shops and click and collect. Not all office jobs can be done from home.

This is the last option. And the safest option for teachers and the wider community.

deedeemegadoodoo · 03/01/2021 15:55

NEU member numbers have risen where I live both for teaching and support staff. Headset are unable to close schools if instructed to open but the Government. They can close school if insufficient staffing makes them unsafe. Invoking Section 44 it’s giving the Heads the power to close. The Stats I have seen in the last couple of days are very sobering.

NeurologicallySpeaking · 03/01/2021 15:55

@ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule

I don't think the section 44 letter will help us in our situation.

My school is only open to key worker children, our issue is that all staff have been told they must be in. So the entire staff body will be attending work during their normal hours in order to provide live online lessons and remote learning. We'll have around 120 key worker children in organised into four classes, one per year group. Classes taught face-to-face by learning support assistants, while whole teams of teachers plan and provide work for the ones at home. We just don't know where we stand.

The section 44 letter doesn't cover us, it states we will be available to teach KW children and we are, but with no word from on high and no sign of a rota like last time, we're all in all through the next fortnight.

They might backtrack on that. We had originally planned to have all staff in to deliver remote learning but now have a more tailored approach
Theunamedcat · 03/01/2021 15:56

Most of our schools have an inset day tomorrow

FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 15:56

Ylvamoon

You are aware that if teachers are ill they won't be in school to teach your children?

And did you know that cover work set by teachers that are ill is done by good will?

SecretSpAD · 03/01/2021 15:56

Oh and I'm also predicting that any teacher who can walk into another, better paid job where they are shown the respect they deserve will do so and then will the bullying, gaslighting parents complain that they did what you told them to do?

nancyclancy123 · 03/01/2021 15:58

We live in Tier 4 and my dd attends an SEN school. Her school is expected to remain open for those with EHCP’s, vulnerable students and those with parents who are key workers. So..........that’s the whole school the ???? Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I won’t be sending her in, it’s not fair!!

manicinsomniac · 03/01/2021 15:59

Zelda But why is it an issue for you to be delivering your lessons from your classroom? It makes total sense - you have everything you need, don't need to show children your front room and have plenty of time and space to do what you need to do, surely? I wouldn't be able to deliver an effective lesson from my house, I've always used my classroom - even in March. You barely see other people and it's nice to be able to wave at someone through the window occasionally.

earthyfire · 03/01/2021 16:00

I have one child whose school who has delayed going back and one child's school who hasn't. I don't want to send my child back, my husband is working from home due to being of high risk, so with three of us being at home it seems crazy to then send one child into school. I was hoping the school would close, but they are always open doing teacher strikes so I don't think they will. Every letter sent from the school about the pandemic reminds parents about the threat of fines and prosecution if we don't send our children in.

ktld · 03/01/2021 16:01

I’m an immunosuppressed NQT and I’ll be going in as normal. Whilst I appreciate it’s not an ideal situation by far, I want to be available for the children who’s parents have no choice but to send them to school for whatever reason.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 03/01/2021 16:01

@PanPeter - I really hope you can get signed off - it's unreasonable of anyone to expect you to risk your own and your baby's health.
Stress, pregnancy-related complications, anything like that - get to the GP tomorrow.

I hope as many teachers as possible will send in their letter - the schools should not be re-opening at this time, it's ridiculous.

@mumsneedwine - so sorry that you have lost 2 colleagues, how awful :(

Hearwego · 03/01/2021 16:02

I don’t really understand why teachers should be any more protected than other workers? What about supermarket workers who have contact with hundreds of random shoppers , with no system that proves who entered the shop, where anyone could have covid.
What about my prison service colleagues who work with hundreds of prisoners? At risk from being spat at, having urine thrown over them and being assaulted. These risks don’t just go because of covid..
What about key workers kids who need them to be at school?

FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 16:03

Hearwego
I don’t really understand why teachers should be any more protected than other workers?

When teachers have the same protections as other workers it might be a valid question.

Hearwego · 03/01/2021 16:03

Well if teachers strike , how long will they last without pay? Not long I suspect.

FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 16:04

Hearwego
What about key workers kids who need them to be at school?

They are still going to be in schools.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 03/01/2021 16:04

I also don't understand the insistence on no mask wearing in schools - has that changed yet?

ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule · 03/01/2021 16:04

@manicinsomniac

Zelda But why is it an issue for you to be delivering your lessons from your classroom? It makes total sense - you have everything you need, don't need to show children your front room and have plenty of time and space to do what you need to do, surely? I wouldn't be able to deliver an effective lesson from my house, I've always used my classroom - even in March. You barely see other people and it's nice to be able to wave at someone through the window occasionally.
It's an issue because the choice isn't afforded to us. You might find the classroom a better place to teach from, but some don't and want the option to teach from home. Or the option to go home again after teaching the one or two live sessions they need to run. We've been told tomorrow from 12 is basically our time for planning, prep, recording and answering pupil questions on the chat - which can be done more safely and just as effectively from home for a lot of us. Instead, we're all in 8-5 when other workplaces - including secondary schools - are told that's not an acceptable level of risk.
FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 16:04

@Hearwego

Well if teachers strike , how long will they last without pay? Not long I suspect.
But its not a strike.
Jetatyeovilaerodrome · 03/01/2021 16:05

The thing is, this is going to lead to some schools shutting because of this and others not. Because a large part of staff's decision will be what their colleagues are doing. No one will want to be the only staff member not 'taking one for the team' and staying at home, but if there is a small group together saying they are not coming in, then that will probably be enough to get to a critical mass of staff saying they are not coming in. So it will all depend on that. Which isn't a great outcome overall, its the worst of all worlds really.

I don't know of anyone in real life working in a school who has told their head they are not going back. I am going in tomorrow.

FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 16:05

@ThumbWitchesAbroad

I also don't understand the insistence on no mask wearing in schools - has that changed yet?
Nope, the DfE still say only in corridors and moving between lessons.
Hearwego · 03/01/2021 16:06

**