So Gav says schools could stay shut beyond half term.....

[Coldwinterahead1]

I'm guessing after Easter. What does everyone else think?

The vaccine is cheap enough and quick enough to administer that if they haven't given it to school staff by the Easter hols then they are fools.

I agree re. unions they seem hell-bent on teachers not teaching

More anti-Union bollocks.

The unions are keen on schools being made safe enough to re-open. The government is the one that has been totally shit on that front.

It’s not about vaccinating the teachers. Before Christmas primary and secondary children were the most infected subset of the population. So they take it home, spread it, mostly unknowingly. Then it spreads in the community.

Teachers vaccinated doesn’t stop children spreading it. The issue isn’t the number of cases either. It’s hospital capacity. We keep being told we are a couple of weeks away from peak hospital pressure. Low incidence areas like the SW have now declared states of emergencies.

That’s the problem. Two things need to happen to get schools open. The acceptance that they seed infection in the community ( which the powers that be now admit). So they’re going to have to sort that out, just saying COVID safe doesn’t work.

Infections need to drop for a while to take pressure off the NHS.

Vaccinating the teachers would be great, it won’t help because it isn’t about them.

Oh please let them go back after half term. Struggling here.

Hopefully the vaccines will work quickly to bring new hospital admissions down. If a significant number of the people in hospital now can be discharged before half term, relieving the pressure on beds, I think we could see a phased return for some year groups starting before Easter. But it's too early to say anything for sure.

I have no idea why people think everyone will be off til September. In the first wave it only took about three months of lockdown to get daily cases down to triple digits, and that was without vaccines.

The unions are protecting the teacher's rights to work in a safe, risk-free environment. They are doing their job.

Schools are not, and will not be Covid-safe until rapid testing is readily available throughout. Teachers will not be able to confidently return to face-to-face teaching until they have been vaccinated.

Yes it's a ballache, but the re-closure of schools is a direct result of the Govt for throwing teachers (and now early years providers) under the bus and turning a blind eye to the bleedin' obvious - SCHOOLS ARE NOT COVID SAFE!!!! Rates of transmission are high in schools, and therefore they must remain shut until the Govt. pulls it's finger out of it's arse and puts a decent test/trace system in place.

When that will be is anyone's guess.

@SophieB100

This was in the Commons earlier. He was repeatedly pressed for a re-opening date and wouldn't commit to it being after half term. He fudged the question, basically. So, he didn't say they won't open after half term, but he wouldn't say they would either. Basically, (this is my opinion) it is far too early to say - they'll look at the figures in Feb and decide where we're at then.

I agree.

It's a complete waste of everyone's time demanding answers now. No fucker knows anything, it's a best guess responding to as much current info as is out there.

Why do (mostly journalists but politicians too) keep asking for 'assurances' and 'dates' and 'guarantees' - none are available, nobody knows, but they'd have more time to do useful shit if people didn't waste time with stupid fucking questions.

This might be why I don't watch the press conferences ...

@alwaysraining123

I agree re. unions they seem hell-bent on teachers not teaching. If the government says next half-term they'll say after Easter, if they government says after Easter they'll say not until summer etc. The government needs to start making some plans now or these poor kids will never get back in to school.

@alwaysraining123 certainly not the experience here. DC at secondary has all classes via Teams. DC at primary is having a daily teams lesson / work set plus about half the school are still onsite being taught. What's your experience currently?

It's the Government not actually listening to the collective voices of school staff that has made returns to school so much harder. I agree the Government do actually need to make some plans NOW and not tell schools on the last day of term or parents the night before children are due back or, even worse, when they've been back in for a day.

The concept of safe won’t be as much of an issue when hospitalisation falls.

Not will number of cases being the driving factor.

Looking forward when pubs, restaurants etc open we’ll soon sit in spaces without needing Covid secure out anywhere.

Hard to imagine right now though

If they don't go back after Easter I will quit work. I'm actually not sure I can last that long, but I can say with perfect certainty I won't be keeping this up until September.

@DarlingCoffee

Oh please let them go back after half term. Struggling here.

how old are your dc? Hang in there

@3littlewords

it depends on the teachers and their unions, as most teachers aren't elderly or vulnerable so won't have been vaccinated

This lockdown isn't to protect teachers its to reduce the amount of people requiring NHS treatment, the younger non vulnerable of society is far less likely to require hospitalisation so they'll have to get on with it the same as everyone else will until their time comes for a vaccine. Its not ideal I agree but we cant hold off education any longer than is absolutely necessary. If a teacher or their family member is elderly or CEV they will be vaccinated soon as will CEV parents. So even though the virus may still be transmitting through the community it should have minimal impact on NHS which is the sole purpose of the restrictions. Of course it will have an impact on society in general with people being off sick or isolating but I think we will all just have to muddle through that .

But it IS a factor though. You all want the schools to open, but this can only happen if you have the manpower to staff it safely. I'm a teacher in my 40's, and juggling teaching from home and homeschooling my own children is tough. I have the most resilient of DD's and one has been in tears today - quite uncharacteristically.

If many of us are saying "get us vaccinated" it's not because we consider ourselves to be more important, it's because we are needed if we are to get things up and running again.

Why do people seem so happy to be declaring September?? September! Of course it won’t be. The summer months will be here and a lot of schools can work outside. Think of the summer just gone! How hot it was. People flocking to the beach and on holiday. It was a disgrace they waited till September the first time they won’t do it again.

When it was first announced I thought Easter but they might try and stagger some back before that

It was a disgrace they waited till September the first time

They didn’t. The government’s error was only opening to certain year groups full time with the rest getting nothing.

@Pinotwoman82

Why do people seem so happy to be declaring September?? September! Of course it won’t be. The summer months will be here and a lot of schools can work outside. Think of the summer just gone! How hot it was. People flocking to the beach and on holiday. It was a disgrace they waited till September the first time they won’t do it again.

I know. I don’t know why anyone would declare September

I think primary schools in areas with the lowest infection rates are likely to open after half-term, secondaries to follow on a staggered basis after Easter. Just my guess though like everyone else commenting on this thread - no one knows for sure.

Why do people seem so happy to be declaring September?

Just because people say they think it's September doesn't mean they are happy about it.

Not every school has adequate outside space to work either - think of Inner City Schools, they certainly don't.

I don’t know why anyone would declare September

Well, I did give the reasoning in my post. Vaccine related.

It was always Easter at the earliest - the 8pm speech by Boris said 6 weeks to half term and then he added on another 3 weeks for infections to reach hospitals and then he added an additional 3 weeks for those infections to recover or sadly die. That's 12 weeks. Easter. By which point, the majority of vulnerable people should have been vaccinated so schools can be opened. I would hazard a guess that the vaccinating timetable doesn't have any slack in it so as a parent, I would suggest don't plan for anything prior to the May half term and if we're in anytime before that, it'll be a bonus.

What exactly is the point of testing in secondary schools if they are being kept shut anyway?

I think that Easter is realistic.

I didn’t see that but don’t see that vaccine make it so slow. It would speed up reduction of restrictions by lowering hospitalisation.

I said September and I’m not happy about it. Next week would suit me better. I’m just being realistic.

To Globe re vaccine slowing it to Sept