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Original poster

Longer school days to make up for lost learning

999 replies

StitchInLime · 06/02/2021 10:52

Source: Various newspapers, give it a Google (admittedly with a right wing lean)

Apparently one of the options being considered, nothing set in stone of course but for the purposes of discussion...

AIBU to feel both joy and sadness at the prospect of this (joy for me so I can claw back work hours, joy for children so they can claw back some school time but sadness for my teacher friends and all teachers who will need to add more hours to already heavy workload).

OP posts:
valentinescmalentine · 07/02/2021 14:04

@Nellodee

Do you really think that if the risk you believe in actually exists that masks etc would still be banned in school?

Yes.

That probably does explain things.

The risk you believe in doesn’t exist though!

cantkeepawayforever · 07/02/2021 14:04

Do you really think that if the risk you believe in actually exists that masks etc would still be banned in school?

Yes. The number of cases in schools in December were extraordinary - there were boroughs with 35% attendance - but the political 'schools are safe' message was so sacrosanct that the politicians were completely prepared to lie through their teeth about it.

Amusingly, their current position is that 'schools are safe but the virus can be transmitted via schools to others in the community'. Apparently, there is some magic reason why it cannot be transmitted via schools to staff. Maybe it only becomes infectious when the pupils leave the school building.

valentinescmalentine · 07/02/2021 14:05

Visors are indeed relatively useless unless someone is spitting in your face etc.

year5teacher · 07/02/2021 14:05

@valentinescmalentine way to spectacularly miss the point of my post. I’m not being drawn into some pointless debate over whether teachers should bear personal responsibility for what’s happened with schools, so you’re wasting your time.

If you’re unable to see that right now, unsafe working conditions benefit absolutely nobody, then that’s on you.

CarrieBlue · 07/02/2021 14:05

Do you really think that if the risk you believe in actually exists that masks etc would still be banned in school?

It does and they are so yes

valentinescmalentine · 07/02/2021 14:07

@year5teacher you are missing the point @Doublefaced was making about PPE?

Italiandreams · 07/02/2021 14:08

You have to wear masks indoor everywhere else that I’m aware of , do you really think that risk isn’t there in schools? What makes them different to every other building?

cantkeepawayforever · 07/02/2021 14:09

The risk you believe in doesn’t exist though!

What is that risk?

The risk we are - I think - all talking about is that school staff can catch Covid within the classroom, and then may have a course of the illness in line with others of their age, underlying health and gender. Equally, they may transmit the virus to others - both the other people they live with and care for, and to the students in the classroom, who similarly may take it home to the vulnerable.

Because the number of contacts a typical teacher has indoors, and at close quarters, and for extended periods, the risk of transmission rises accordingly - as all the public health people say, the reason for lockdown etc is to decrease numbers of contacts.

Do you genuinely believe that risk is 0, which is what you are saying when you say it doesn't exist?

Nellodee · 07/02/2021 14:09

During the previous half term, 12 students were in my class with Covid (receiving positive tests later). Five of them sat within 2m of me for over 3 hours.

I am completely imagining the risk, though.

Letseatgrandma · 07/02/2021 14:12

The risk you believe in doesn’t exist though!

What do you mean?

SusieSusieSoo · 07/02/2021 14:12

Our school did some extra catch up lessons last term. All run by teaching assistants. Ds had 2 handwriting lessons - not sure it was worthwhile really but a good headline that they were doing funded catch up lessons

BungleandGeorge · 07/02/2021 14:12

@cantkeepawayforever

HCPs eg speech therapists etc

They have been coming into school? Ours won't consider coming into school to work with children face to face - apparently this is 'too dangerous', despite being what we do all day every day with large numbers - so have been working solely via zoom. Ditto Ed Psychs, Social Services, etc etc etc

The risk around going into multiple schools is very high, you must see that? A school can’t operate without teachers, it can operate without SALT. As somebody has mentioned a lot of allied health care professionals have been redeployed to plug gaps on hospital wards, and community nursing. There’s also more covid patients needing urgent SALT because covid is associated with increased clotting causing strokes. Ditto all the people coming off ventilators with swallowing problems. Everything takes longer because of the need for increased hygiene/ PPE. SALT isn’t a particularly well resourced area in the first place, we’re in emergency mode, help is going to the most needy and there is a huge increase in those numbers.
year5teacher · 07/02/2021 14:13

[quote valentinescmalentine]**@year5teacher* you are missing the point @Doublefaced* was making about PPE?[/quote]
Not sure how, when I’m saying that the conditions NHS staff are being expected to work in are not acceptable.

My opinion is that when you use the bad working conditions of one group to defend the poor working conditions of another, you’re saying that it’s ok to have something bad because someone has something worse. You should be saying that no one should be expected to work in unsafe ways. It’s not a competition about who has it worse, and making it so ignores any opportunities to make things better for everyone.

sherrystrull · 07/02/2021 14:13

@valentinescmalentine

What?

I believe the risk of being in an unventilated room with 30+ children and no social distancing is real. I've seen colleagues catch it and I've had it myself. At least once.

I also believe the government have tried very hard to put out this belief to everyone that schools are somehow covid safe. It's misleading and very wrong.

valentinescmalentine · 07/02/2021 14:13

Everyone is at risk everywhere and it’s not possible to completely stop that.

You (generic you) don’t know where you caught it and there have been posts on here where people at home never going out have tested positive for covid.

HercwasanEnemyofEducation · 07/02/2021 14:14

The risk you believe in doesn’t exist though!

Are you really this stupid?

HercwasanEnemyofEducation · 07/02/2021 14:15

So the country is in lockdown and limiting contacts with other humans, but this virus is so clever it knows to not transmit in classrooms.... Riiiiight.

motherrunner · 07/02/2021 14:16

@Oldat40

What sort of masks do school staff in the classroom wear?
None. Cloth mask in corridor as per DFE guidance.
cantkeepawayforever · 07/02/2021 14:17

Bungle, not an issue with SALT in particular. It has been very difficult to be absolutely unable to get SS to see a child and family in extreme need, a child with acute mental health issues any support, and a child in desperate need of an EHCP for intensive 1:1 support to see an Ed Psych.

It's a huge contributory factor in workload - filling in paperwork, pleading on the telephone, researching and providing what I can (as 1 adult with a class much larger than 30), counselling...and just the mental load of knowing this is 'all on me' - there isn't anyone out there to help, so it's up to me to do it all. Bubbles within the school make it even more isolating.

HercwasanEnemyofEducation · 07/02/2021 14:17

Everyone is at risk everywhere and it’s not possible to completely stop that.

It's about minimising the risk, of course it can't be completely stopped.

(I think I'm arguing with a covid denier/antivaccer now)

Oldat40 · 07/02/2021 14:18

I find it astounding that school staff working in busy classrooms are doing so without a mask!

motherrunner · 07/02/2021 14:18

@Oldat40

I find it astounding that school staff working in busy classrooms are doing so without a mask!
But that’s what the DFE advocate 🤷‍♀️
cantkeepawayforever · 07/02/2021 14:19

@valentinescmalentine

Everyone is at risk everywhere and it’s not possible to completely stop that.

You (generic you) don’t know where you caught it and there have been posts on here where people at home never going out have tested positive for covid.

I agree that it isn't possible to COMPLETELY stop transmission everywhere.

However, that surely isn't a reason to deliberately not try?

valentinescmalentine · 07/02/2021 14:19

All I am saying is that the risks are not any higher in schools than for the rest of the working population.

Not sure how you can be banned from wearing a mask if you want to though?

sherrystrull · 07/02/2021 14:19

@valentinescmalentine

Everyone is at risk everywhere and it’s not possible to completely stop that.

You (generic you) don’t know where you caught it and there have been posts on here where people at home never going out have tested positive for covid.

Someone else had this exact same argument to a post I made a few days ago... almost word for word...

I explained then and will say it again. I have been nowhere other than work and home. I care about my CV colleagues and colleagues with CEV relatives and am trying hard to minimise the risk to them.

Why is it more likely I would catch it from a petrol pump I visited once in a fortnight and sanitised straight afterwards than spending all day every day in a small room with lots of children very close to me and only small windows?