Schools in the UK

[pommedeterre]

Why is it so different? I feel so cross that infant kids in Wales and Scotland will be back to school first. I'm sure many will tell me I'm wrong and somehow evil and stupid but this seems so unfair.

I think waiting until 22nd Feb for confirmation is really demoralising and unfair. We need a plan and an aim now. Being responsible and wfh while teaching (rather than just sending the kids in anyway with any old excuse..) is wearing thin now and I'm starting to feel like such a mug.

@Thiscantreallybehappening

Lockdown lovers. Urgh.

How dare you, you have no idea of my situation. I am not a lockdown lover FFS.

I have teenage DC who have had their lives totally thrown up in the air. I am worried sick about them. I have written numerous letters to my MP about the issues with school closures.

I am coping with elderly relatives and I am desperate for restrictions to be eased.

I am just stating the facts but the reality is posters like you are just looking for arguments. You are ridiculous.

does stupid dance to irritate the poster that started the argument by being unnecessarily abrasive then told the original poster off for not UNDERSTANDING THEM Blah blah blah.

I pointed out that we have been told what the plan is and what the aim is.

All you want to do is rant, about how everything is so unfair for you.

@HSHorror

Scotland i think secondary can wear masks in class as can teachers? I think too over 5 wear masks in shops.

Blame the gov for not enforcing masks as almost every other country has done in schools.
Also blame them for the huge jan wave caused by those kids infecting their relatives at xmas.

Yes all teachers wear masks as do senior pupils since 31st Oct I think. Over 5’s in shops.

@pommedeterre

Ive just looked - 4th Feb Wales and Scotland at 120 per 100k and England at 212 per 100k.

Ok a bit higher.

Part of it here is that two weeks notice is necessary, is it in Scotland and Wales? It sounds like loose plans are in place but not fixed.

I don’t know what the two weeks will be for. But it does mean adding it on to Feb 22

I find the 2 week thing odd. Like if they told me the schools were opening tomorrow I’d be ready to go! They’re literally at home - I have no need for 2 weeks to ‘make arrangements’. The ironing takes half and hour and the packed lunch is ready to go when they are 😂

@Yellow85

I think the 2 weeks is so schools can prepare.

School risk assessments will need to be reviewed, pages of DfE guidance read and actioned and planning overhauled for a return to face to face teaching for all so two weeks notice is important for schools.

[quote Thiscantreallybehappening]@Yellow85

I think the 2 weeks is so schools can prepare.[/quote]
Oh duh of course it is 🙈

OP you are being unreasonable your comparing different places that are not really comparable and its a matter potentially if a few weeks difference , plus you don't really even seem aware of how the schools are going back
Most of us want the kids back but you are complaining about how the goverment have handled it , yet now they are being cautious and following numbers etc , thats wrong. You can't have it both ways

Not. this. Again.

🙄

Scottish school terms differ to England - they break up earlier than us for summer and therefore start back to school in August. If they were to hold off returning after the Feb half term and go back when English schools do then they will end up missing more in-school time than children in England given all the class isolations that went on in schools in the term before christmas.

I’m in Scotland, lockdown has been very hard here and much tighter, I’ve seen 3 people outside of my household since last March. Schools have kept pupil numbers to a minimum throughout lockdown - my kids are in very part time with 5-7 kids in per year. Our infection rates are much lower (even in the highest areas). I know my kids school has had much tighter Covid measures going by discussions on here - my primary school teachers have been wearing masks in the school, have the option of wearing them in class, endless hand sanitizing, staggered start, finish and break times, enhanced class room cleaning throughout the day, no one other than core staff allowed on school premises, staff not mixing during breaks.

The number of folk you see on here looking for ways round the restrictions, bending the rules or deciding to do their own thing suggests folk aren’t working within the rules. The end result is longer restrictions for those who do follow the rules which means schools closed. Our schools aren’t opening fully in March and have been closed since mid December, I don’t like the way it’s been handled but I accept there are few other options.

Swings and roundabouts to be honest. Am in Scotland and we've had a much harder lockdown here overall, very little opened up last summer and then went into a harsher lockdown again from September. Nurseries have been closed since before Christmas whereas England didn't close them at all this time. Mine are 1 and 3 so it's been hell tbh, and it has felt frustrating to see nurseries kept open down there! I can understand the opposite frustration now from your p.o.v but this is us reaping some small benefit of more pain!

@DisappointingAvocado

Swings and roundabouts to be honest. Am in Scotland and we've had a much harder lockdown here overall, very little opened up last summer and then went into a harsher lockdown again from September. Nurseries have been closed since before Christmas whereas England didn't close them at all this time. Mine are 1 and 3 so it's been hell tbh, and it has felt frustrating to see nurseries kept open down there! I can understand the opposite frustration now from your p.o.v but this is us reaping some small benefit of more pain!

Private nurseries have been open here, some school nurseries only did KW etc but I felt so much sympathy for people in Scotland that private wasn’t even open.

So tough.

And I did think tg at least early years are opening there finally.

I’m in Wales and my kids last day in school was 11th December - think that was a week earlier than English schools?

Plus our lockdown started before Christmas - here we had been in local lockdown since beginning of September anyway - so we’ve had months longer of restrictions, but our 7 day cases by 100k are down to 105, today’s figure is only 14.

Despite this, only 1 of my 3 children are going back to school, and we don’t know yet whether that’s part time or full time, so I don’t think there’s huge difference between England and Wales at the moment despite the fact are numbers are much lower.

@Yellow85

Also I’m in Scotland and we’ve been under real tight restrictions since bloody October! There was about a 2 week window where we went into level 3, but haven’t been allowed in anyone’s house since the summer

Same here. It feels never ending.

Actually I'm Glasgow, I dont even remember level 3

@ssd

Actually I'm Glasgow, I dont even remember level 3

Me neither, but it defo happened cause I was able to get my hair done!! Lol. Think late Nov maybe? Lasted a couple of weeks.

So grateful little ones going back sooner. Wfh with pre schoolers and no nursery open attempting to suppport 6 year olds work is impossible. But its been so strict here. Both parents have to be keyworkers both working out of the home to get place in school. Feels like its been one long lock down from sept I wouldn't be jealous of here, as someone said we finish up earlier than england so really need to try and get back earlier.

I think all schools should be going back asap. We are punishing the young by the government not devising clever/better ways for schools to be safer.

But should they go back without those measures? As those measures are not in place and never have been, unlikely ever to be either.

You've said yourself in the same post that Wales per 100k is much logger than England's.

It feels 'unfair' as a UK parent in a low rate area following the rules though. It absolutely does

Would it be fair to send lower rate areas back before higher rate areas?

4th Feb Wales and Scotland at 120 per 100k and England at 212 per 100k

Both countries have large rural populations where the virus hasn’t taken hold in quite the same ways as it has in urban areas.

I felt like such a mug last time, especially as I believed that by doing my bit to keep kids out of school would mean they all would go back quicker. Well that backfired, all I did was get myself so far down the schools seemingly handpicked list for a school place that muggins here has been working full time for a year with two kids (7 and 5 at home) who are now so uninterested by any notion of home school that I now look like a really shit parent for them not doing it.

I'm angry about it. There's never been one case of covid in our school of 400 kids. It's a modern building with doors opening onto the playground but most of the time the teachers chose to keep them shut anyway. They've had 100-200 kids in through various lockdowns, but like I say no transparent policies about who gets a place. You don't get one as a vulnerable family or key worker family, the head seems to do it based on wellbeing but I'm not sure how she knows who is well or not.

The place I live had always had under average covid, and the neighborhood itself far lower than that.

I'm glad that cases have fallen so much but in most cases that would still have happened with primary schools opened.

Hopefully not long now. It's already been 7 weeks...more than half way I hope.

Are we all assuming English schools will go back in March. I thought Mr Johnson had said only if the figures stack up. Do you all think 1000 + deaths a day means it's all OK now? I sound like I am being facetious but I am not.

@Viciouslybashed March 8th is still 4 weeks away so daily deaths will be lower by then.