Will schools really go back with 30 in a class and unvaccinated teachers?

[Lemons1571]

This is giving me anxiety. DH is late 40’s and not the fittest, but not CV as far as we know. Probably the most at risk in group 10 (if such a group existed).

We are both ok with waiting for our turn for the vaccine while the schools have relatively few kids in them and therefore sd is more possible and it feels a bit safer. But recently I’ve scared myself shitless with the new variants and the thought that the late 40’s are not on any priority list. DH is not allowed any ppe, it’s not allowed, no mask, no Perspex, and is at best 1m from the front row of 11-18 year olds in a poorly ventilated room.

Do you think teachers will be forced back into these working conditions? I’m losing sleep over this. I don’t know how to gain perspective, as my gut says 31 people with no ppe in a poorly ventilated room is not safe. Do you think if I contacted the gp they’d give me anti anxiety meds? CBT? Just until we get a vaccine and maybe then will feel less scared.

Anyone else a teacher or have a teacher in the family? How are you dealing with this?

DH is a teacher and age 64. He’s really anxious about this. That said, covid ripped through his school at the end of November and he taught several classes a day or two before confirmed cases, and yet he didn’t catch covid.

Bonkers isn't it? 😭

Yet NHS Senior Managers working from home are getting the jab. 🤷‍♀️ 😤

@FrostyDay

I’m doing a study on how the pandemic has affected children and young people for my final year uni dissertation, and I would appreciate it if parents could complete my short survey. You need to be a UK parent with a child aged 5-17yrs to complete it. All answers are completely anonymous and no identifiable personal data is required.

I would be very, very grateful as I desperately need more responses to support my results. 💖Please pm me if you can help and I will forward you the link. Thanks very much in advance.

Happy to but not sure how to PM on the phone?

Why is our government completely resistant to schools returning in any other format/way?

I expect nothing will change. And cases will continue to rise.

@RiverSkater Thank you for replying. I have sent you a pm. x

@FrostyDay

I’m doing a study on how the pandemic has affected children and young people for my final year uni dissertation, and I would appreciate it if parents could complete my short survey. You need to be a UK parent with a child aged 5-17yrs to complete it. All answers are completely anonymous and no identifiable personal data is required.

I would be very, very grateful as I desperately need more responses to support my results. 💖Please pm me if you can help and I will forward you the link. Thanks very much in advance.

Also happy to help but not sure how to PM

I'd like to think that no of course they won't but based on Sept and Jan, I'm afraid they might.

Yes of course because the government does not have two shits to give.

I don’t know if all the teachers will be vaccinated by the time the kids go back. Probably not.

30 kids in a class what can be done about that unless you magic up more teachers and classrooms.

@Dustyboots

Why is our government completely resistant to schools returning in any other format/way?

This

I’m under no illusion that we will be back in as before.

I have been on Sertraline since September, it’s done wonders for me - can sleep well, still feel anxious but no longer have panic attacks. My GP was very supportive and very sympathetic to what teachers are coping with.

Rotas would be a great idea. 2 day school week.

I’m a primary school teacher and have been at school throughout (not every single week but the vast majority of them). I deal with it by going into complete denial about the whole thing. It’s not just school, it’s my commute in on public transport that terrifies me. I just push the feelings down and get on with my job (which I love) but the stress is still there and evident in me having nightmares, gaining weight etc. I hope in the future people appreciate the sacrifice those of us who have worked throughout have made (& yes I am perfectly aware it’s not just teachers before anyone accuses me of forgetting about nurses, shop workers etc). The government literally doesn’t care if we die. I hope everyone remembers this next time there’s an election.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55863841

This is an interesting read and I can definitely relate with one of my children.

@FrostyDay I would definitely be happy to talk to you. I have 4 secondary school DC, a toddler and currently 31 weeks pregnant. It's affected all my children completely differently.

@VashtaNerada

I’m a primary school teacher and have been at school throughout (not every single week but the vast majority of them). I deal with it by going into complete denial about the whole thing. It’s not just school, it’s my commute in on public transport that terrifies me. I just push the feelings down and get on with my job (which I love) but the stress is still there and evident in me having nightmares, gaining weight etc. I hope in the future people appreciate the sacrifice those of us who have worked throughout have made (& yes I am perfectly aware it’s not just teachers before anyone accuses me of forgetting about nurses, shop workers etc). The government literally doesn’t care if we die. I hope everyone remembers this next time there’s an election.

Totally agree

@FrostyDay

I’m doing a study on how the pandemic has affected children and young people for my final year uni dissertation, and I would appreciate it if parents could complete my short survey. You need to be a UK parent with a child aged 5-17yrs to complete it. All answers are completely anonymous and no identifiable personal data is required.

I would be very, very grateful as I desperately need more responses to support my results. 💖Please pm me if you can help and I will forward you the link. Thanks very much in advance.

Can't see how to PM either but happy to contribute. I hate what this is doing to my children.

OP, please don't assume that secondary schools will return on the 8th March. Johnson very clearly said, more than once, that the 8th is the very earliest date that schools will begin to return. I think that primaries (just a few year groups) will return first, and then a phased return for the rest. Then, after Easter, a phased return for secondaries.

My secondary has a lot of key worker students in on the rota, and all the other teachers/TAs I work with are ready to invoke section 44 if we are told to return on the 8th to full classrooms. This will be happening everywhere - the government knows this.

And yes, your GP will be sympathetic I'm sure, if you think that would help. But personally, if you can manage I'd wait it out for a few more weeks and see what's going on with the R rate, vaccine rollout etc. A lot can change in 5 weeks. Johnson made it very clear that schools will only start opening up on that date, if everything improves significantly.

I'm a teacher and parent and want schools to get back to normal asap. The current situation is causing more problems than it is curing. Children need the routine of school, after school clubs, time outside, time with friends. That's said surely it would be easy enough to let the teachers and students who want to go back to go back. Anyone with vulnerable family members or who is vulnerable themselves could continue to receive online support. This is easy enough as we have the technology to live stream lessons. The government just needs to put in the resources to make sure all teachers are trained in how to do this and all teachers also have the equipment needed - I had to buy my own!

I work in a nursery with over 30 children every day and none of us have had the vaccination
All I’ve got protecting me is a disposable apron

I’m a cv teacher with a cv husband and am worried about this too. I’m not ecv (I’m asthmatic) nor is my husband (he’s type 1 diabetic) but we both get the flu jab and are supposed to be at greater risk (whatever that means). If those vaccine calculators are right then it doesn’t look like we will be getting our first jabs before late spring / summer yet schools are supposed to be back in from March.

I’m still teaching a bubble in school at the moment as well as providing home learning and trying to home educate my own kids. It is exhausting and definitely feels like more work but at least it feels safer. I am, however, frankly scared about returning to full classrooms before being vaccinated and before my husband is vaccinated.

Regardless of what propaganda states most teachers now that whilst school buildings themselves are safe, when you cram them full of people who could be carrying the virus then. that changes things, especially with the new variants.

My school had multiple cases, loads of staff getting ill with the vast majority catching it from school or their own kids who got it from school. Yet still it didn’t class as an outbreak and the school stayed open with just a few classes left in. And that was before the new strain of the virus.

After having so many cases, our school now encourages masks for teachers and I have been teaching in a medical grade mask which makes me feel a bit better. I will also be thinking about section 44 again if they expect teachers to work without any additional safety measures.

After the way teachers have been treated, I don’t think I be teaching after this year. Depending on announcements, I may even resign before then. I’ve given so much of myself to this job but asking me to potentially risk my life and my husband’s life is too much. We have two young children to think about and they need their parents.

The case that got to me the most was a head teacher who spent six days in hospital herself with COVID and passed it onto her mum and also husband who subsequently died. Just awful.

It’s absolute madness that the DFE could be putting things into place to make opening schools more realistic but instead will just insist on the schools are safe mantra and open them all as normal. It’s infuriating that they only see it as open as normal or closed.
We had an outbreak in my primary classroom. Six of us tested positive over a week. It was awful. It spread into students family's and I was poorly for some time.
I can see us going back to the chaos of September when kids were sent home over and over to isolate. That was extremely damaging to their mental health. We had students in tears.

Do you go to a supermarket?

I’ve seen so much of people freaking out about 30 kids a day but what about the hundreds / thousands that go through supermarkets with people sitting at the check out bleep bleeping your shopping.

I now have 25 children in my key worker bubble. May as well have my old class back whom I miss terribly.