If so many people wanted schools closed then why are some schools seeing up to 75% of children in?

[Waxonwaxoff0]

I have never wanted schools closed although I do recognise why they need to and that they need to be made safer.

Yet it seemed like I was in the minority, all over the internet people wanted schools closed and their children safely at home.

So why are so many trying to send their children in? Is it a case of "schools should be closed except for my child?"

I have been amazed at what has happened.

I absolutely did not want schools closed. I thought and think it is a disgrace, but I accepted it and have children at home and didn't even try to get them into school.

However the number of people who were 'CLOSE SCHOOLS NOW' types and have now got their children back at school is truly an eye opener for me.

It's Piers Morgan shouting "close the borders" then flying off to Antigua for Xmas

Neil Ferguson demanding a lockdown and slipping out to shag his Mrs

I am starting to see that a lot of the people who shout the loudest for restrictions are genuinely the massive hypocrites / authoritarians in all of this.

I have been and remain very against taking away our freedoms and have thought the response has been disproportionate, but wow, this has been a real eye opener.

*I get that there is a massive morale issue in teaching right now, but the unions are the vector to the government and they are both letting the teachers down. Not the parents, or the children, who are just trying to stay sane/free from poverty(

Totally agree about the government and I want to know what they are doing now to make schools safer. They do need to work with the unions, who by nature are there to protect their members, and come to an agreement. The government's primary concern might be the pupils and wider society, but this isn't really what the unions are there for, so I see why they are asking for safer conditions. If Gav won't communicate or work with them, that is the fault of government alone.

Probably because many more people have been classed as critical workers and now employers are telling those individuals they have to be in work rather than at home. I'm a HE lecturer (as is DH) both teaching on healthcare subjects that fall into the government loophole of "can still continue teaching face to face". So now we have to be in, no option of furlough and therefore if we had school age children we would have to see if they could go in.

I wanted them to go mainly remote except for those children who needed to be in.

My ds was offered a place and I declined (I'm a keyworker and he has an ehcp) because I can manage to juggle both for next few months (just send )

So I actually stuck to my beliefs.

But yes, you are right that there seemed to be a huge internet campaign to shut them - and not just FB - yet some schools are quite full. I'd be interested to know how many have such high attendance though or we're just hearing about a few because it goes against the general consensus?

Cos lots of key workers have kids?!?!

@NOTANUM

No-one knows your individual circumstances *@ShowOfHands*. For all we know, you could be doing open heart surgery and deserve a KW place. The internet doesn't need to know frankly about individual people's situations.

The reality is that as a COUNTRY, we've become more selfish and concerned about our own lives than society at large. Of course the country is made up of individuals, some of which are giving their all and some of which care about themselves only. That's the reality.

That is the reality and has been for a very long time but doesn't change the material fact that the sweeping generalisations posted here and elsewhere completely fail to employ any critical thinking and merely encourage division.

For example, the now often toted "she's sending her dc in and she's WFH". Yeah? And? What if she's on the phone all day to people in crisis/suicidal/vulnerable/at risk? Doing case conferences? Child in need meeting? Can she do that with a 6yo next to her? Of course not. No people don't need to unpack their individual reasons. Same as people don't need to make sweeping generalisations about other people's choices.

You acknowledge that people don't know my circumstances. No. People don't. But because I'm WFH, I've been told multiple times that I shouldn't be using a KW place. I don't have to explain myself and nobody has to make sweeping generalisations about groups doing differently to them.

If schools have too many children in, then their parameters and provisions need to be reviewed and implemented sensibly. Levelling accusations at people using a system as it exists helps nobody.

@notevenat20

This, absolutely. I haven't met a single person in real life who sees it as anything other than a tragedy for children to have their education interrupted, whether they thought it was necessary or not

I agree completely.

Completely agree

I would have been ok with schools staying open if they had removed the fines for parents who were CEV and unwilling to take the risk. Some kids thrive better in classrooms and some don't.

I can't blame anyone for doing what they think is best for their family,

@itsgettingweird

I wanted them to go mainly remote except for those children who needed to be in.

My ds was offered a place and I declined (I'm a keyworker and he has an ehcp) because I can manage to juggle both for next few months (just send )

So I actually stuck to my beliefs.

But yes, you are right that there seemed to be a huge internet campaign to shut them - and not just FB - yet some schools are quite full. I'd be interested to know how many have such high attendance though or we're just hearing about a few because it goes against the general consensus?

I also think we might hear more about the busier schools and not so much about the ones where most are learning from home.

Dd's class are almost all home learning. Just a handful going in. Not sure if it's to do with the school not allowing many in or families choosing not to request places.

How are those key workers who work full time away from home managing to make use of school places anyway? Are their schools still offering before/after school childcare? Because ours isn't.

We're entitled to a place but not using it because DH can wfh. But if he didn't have that option, I'd have to drop 15 hours a week to be able to do the school run.

Nobody in real life wanted schools closed.
A few but very vocal people on the internet are not the majority ( also you don't even know if these vocal ones actually have children!). I doubt anyone sending a child to school at the moment ( key wotkers and vulnerable) said they wanted them closed.

No clubs here, one of us drops, the other picks up, adjustment of hours to do so. One of us WFH but as others have said, some roles just don't allow for kids to be present.

@hamstersarse
I am starting to see that a lot of the people who shout the loudest for restrictions are genuinely the massive hypocrites / authoritarians in all of this.

So so true. After all the hand wringing and hysteria on social media about schools closing...

Drama filled posts from healthcare professionals on social media then pictures of granny and grandpa eating turkey.

Schools should never have closed... We need to acknowledge that all these restrictions and lockdowns aren't working... The less vulnerable are likely to come to greater harm long term and the collossal elephant.. work out why vulnerable and elderly people are still being exposed or exposing themselves to the virus.... And do something about that.

This has really made me angry . I am seeing and hearing loads of schools with 50% plus occupancy and parents who work in non essential roles but they happen to be in a certain sector like telecoms, financial services , retail but all from home .

I fully support children going in because of key workers working away from home and where there would be significant impact on mental health of the child or parent but there are a lot of people taking the piss

I am in a very senior role and constantly presenting/being interviewed and I have to juggle this from home. Which means 12 hour plus days ! So excuses that you can’t expect to work from home and teach your children didn’t wash with me

My kids only have 12 in their class at normal times and now they are remote learning and will be stuck with this for months as everyone seems themselves a key worker and the virus numbers don’t go down. I could technically get my kids in on key worker status but I won’t as I am towing the line for collective good

Because very few parents DID want them closed! The people talking about shutting them on mumsnet were almost certainly not parents of primary aged children.

And the reason I mention the number in their class is I am hearing many key worker classes bigger than this!!

Collective good doesn't pay the mortgage

You be a martyr if you wish, but don't accuse all others of "piss taking"

I have a married couple of key workers in my family - they have 2 children.
Back in March they didn't take up their places in the schools - they were coping & managers were sympathetic, etc, etc.
This year however they've sent their children in. Their workloads have increased over the last year & managers are no longer as understanding.

I have a mortgage to pay @whittystitties and for the record I didn’t want the schools shut but everyone keeps bleating that schools need to shut because it’s spreading yet if that’s the case large populations like this won’t stop that !

But it really isn't just the elderly who are in hospital. And there are vulnerable people clinically who have not been told to shield. For example, people who are very overweight or obese. I don't think there would be support for asking everyone with an elevated risk to stay at home, while everyone else went to work and school. If all of the overweight teachers and TAs did not go in to school, I imagine there would be hardly any schools open as nobody there to teach them! There are so many underlying conditions which elevate your risk, that the country would grind to a halt if we told them all to stay at home. The PM is still pretty overweight for example and is not young. He was also in hospital with covid. It is not just the extremely sick or elderly who end up in hospital.

@Nerdygirl

I have a mortgage to pay *@whittystitties* and for the record I didn’t want the schools shut but everyone keeps bleating that schools need to shut because it’s spreading yet if that’s the case large populations like this won’t stop that !

Don't you see, the stories about 75% are rubbish

I am going off the schools where I know the attendance is over 50% . And I am being told this by teachers that work there as many of my friends are teachers

I don't think any parents or anyone with grandchildren, neices, nephews etc wanted schools closed. This whole lockdown is a joke - as far as I can see everyone is carrying on as usual but just with more limited opportunities to shop and socialise.

@Nerdygirl

I am going off the schools where I know the attendance is over 50% . And I am being told this by teachers that work there as many of my friends are teachers

Yes but that's only going to be a few schools and isn't indicative of a country

@MrsFogi

I don't think any parents or anyone with grandchildren, neices, nephews etc wanted schools closed. This whole lockdown is a joke - as far as I can see everyone is carrying on as usual but just with more limited opportunities to shop and socialise.

It really is, I see people in FB who have a different bubble walking partner every day, I'm not sure that's how it's meant to work?!