So it looks like we're being prepared for children not to go back until after Easter

[choosingcrumble]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/children-face-months-at-home-as-schools-stay-shut-until-easter-wp5ltpm82?fbclid=IwAR1l0gRSzuJLIv508reRmBEojbYfoGOsWwe3_pBFmKpA4EbI1IgC5dKC2uE

I suspected it wouldn't be until then, let's just hope that it doesn't stretch into the summer.

It’s just so awful. I feel so angry. It’s so difficult for families.

@Emmie2021

Absolutely fucking joke

Scandalous , our kids are meant to stay indoors for months

Parents need to make as much noise about this as they simply can. It is competent unacceptable and unnecessary

Having the worst death rate in the world, maybe we should be having a no death policy.

After all death is the one thing you cannot recover from?

I’m not really sure of the strategy on this, or are they just genuinely incompetent? I don’t think they’re getting parents on side anyway. Suggesting that it might be past Easter (when we don’t really know what things will be like next month as we don’t know how the vaccine will affect things) when people are seriously struggling isn’t really getting parents onnboard

Emmie they can go to play parks, on walks etc.

@BungleandGeorge

I’m not really sure of the strategy on this, or are they just genuinely incompetent? I don’t think they’re getting parents on side anyway. Suggesting that it might be past Easter (when we don’t really know what things will be like next month as we don’t know how the vaccine will affect things) when people are seriously struggling isn’t really getting parents onnboard

It was NEU leader and another education leader who said beyond Easter, May possibly

It's a bloody nightmare. It is a mental health, physical health, educational timebomb not having kids in school. I'm fulltime and work long hours. I cannot home school beyond doing some printing and leaving a list of instructions for the day. The kids do their best, but it is all pretty rubbish and not sustainable.
All the suggestions of getting kids in in small groups part time make total sense. Vaccinate the teachers, make a really covid safe environment following the processes and practices used in hospitals so they get some social interaction, they get out the house, see the daylight instead of a screen and experience a tiny flicker of normality back in their lives.

Apart from teaching unions was anyone begging for schools to close? I think most of the primary kids went back as normal!

I'm relieved, I know lots of people on mumsnet have big extended families, aunts, nanna, cousins... Maybe more people to loose?

Exactly- it certainly wasn’t parents who wanted schools shut, other than a very small minority.

our kids are meant to stay indoors for months

No they are not there’s no rule saying they can’t leave the house. They can go outside to exercise, play in gardens etc.

We have the worst death rate so should be doing all we can to stop that, remote education isn’t a big deal and most people want their children, family and friends to be safe and healthy.

What is needed is some investment in schools - infrastructure, premises, teaching staff, and some fucking imagination for once. Led by educationalists. Unfortunately our govt. haven't seen a way for any of their mates to monetise that currently so it won't happen.

@User133847

Surely it depends on rates of transmission/hospital situation/vaccine targets met going into March. If it's still dire then they'll stay closed off. If it's looking a lot better then why wouldn't they be allowed back?

I absolutely agree - and the statistics are looking as though the fall in cases is just beginning to feed through into hospital admission figures, in which case the position ought to be very much better by March. But the government can read their own figures as well as I can, so either they don’t believe them or they’ve changed their strategy. (If they have a strategy, of course.) I don’t think zero Covid is achievable, but if that isn’t their aim, I don’t now know what is.

The rhetoric about schools being a priority has completely vanished in the last couple of weeks.

I’d write this year off for school if I’m honest. It’ll be either May or September.

I’m Fortunate to not have children but I feel for all the SAHMs (and dads) who have now got to grapple with having to actually wfh as teachers for quite a long time. Start the day as early as possible that’s my advice.

A hunch tells me to watch what they do with the furlough scheme, if that gets extended beyond March into the summer then it’s a big sign schools out this year.

If the schools will be shut longer term there needs to be help for one parent to take time off to homeschool.

We have home educated for years and I am lucky that I only work part time from home while dh works full time. If you want parents to homeschool you can’t have both parents working full time.

The schools also need to move away from just sending home twinkl worksheets - you can’t recreate school at home it’s a nightmare and is lesson that most home educators learn in the first few months.

Once they have vaccinated all the vulnerable adults, and add the teaching staff to the priority groups, then why can they not return? Does it matter if they transmit it between pupils and parents if all the vulnerable adults have been vaccinated?

And yes they need to relax the meeting outdoors rules, or allow outdoor sport. It is very difficult for children with no siblings to not see any other children for months at a time (or even those who have siblings but quite frankly want to see some other kids). As an adult I can go for a run with a friend, but my primary aged DC obviously can’t go out unsupervised.

@Eyewhisker

Yes, this is zero covid. As long as one person dies from covid, we can ruin our children’s physical, social and educational development. As well as their job prospects, but the Conservatives don’t care about the economy any more given what they have done with Brexit.

What are you talking about? No it is not zero covid. And it has nothing to do with the unions as a pp inferred. It's because the NHS has breached capacity. Medics are rationing treatment. People are dieing but could have a good chance of surviving if given adequate treatment. We can't just click our fingers and make it better. We are a long fucking way from zero covid.

@LickEmbysmiling
Emmie they can go to play parks, on walks etc.

In the freezing cold and rain, on their own

The rhetoric about schools being a priority has completely vanished in the last couple of weeks.

Boris literally said schools reopening is still his first priority in his last briefing this week so that’s not true at all.

Let's not forget the fact that journalists like to have an interesting headline of the day. Just because one expert suggests something may happen as a possibility doesn't mean anything.

[quote Deliaskis]@justanotherneighinparadise this is a huge problem. Remote provision at DD's school is an absolute disgrace, and shows no sign of improving, despite buckets of robust feedback about it. How can we accept this for our kids?[/quote]
that's appalling . i am so sorry. my kids have live lessons from 8.30-4.30pm 5 days a week inc PE, music, assemblies...
why can't other schools offer this? i can see there would be a huge problem if the child doesn't have access to a computer.
we live very rurally down my kids haven't been able to see friends but they are coping well

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Easter/May seems a good decision. No point rushing back in to have to do it all again. The pressure on the NHS and case numbers is still what too high.

Given the numbers still in school, it was always going to be a slower process his time. Last lockdown there were far less children in.

I agree

Blended learning worked quite well in our 6th form before we shut down.

Year 12s in one week then home learning the next- with some live lessons

Year 13 in alternate week then home learning the next week- with some live lessons.

@MistleTOEboughski

Let's not forget the fact that journalists like to have an interesting headline of the day. Just because one expert suggests something may happen as a possibility doesn't mean anything.

Yep as absolutely woeful as it is

The quote was from someone invested in the longest closure they can go for

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis let’s be honest going to school on a dark cold wet morning was grim as children. I would have absolutely loved to be staying at home doing schoolwork in my pjs. The dream!