Sunday Times just reported that all schools in England will be back on 8 March

[LimitIsUp]

This quote from the article:
"All schoolchildren will return to the classroom on March 8 under plans to start lifting the lockdown, Boris Johnson will announce in a national address next week.

Under the government’s blueprint to reopen society, adults will initially have only small new freedoms so as to prioritise the return of schools — a move ministers know will raise the coronavirus R number for infections.

Adults will be allowed to sit down outdoors for a coffee or on a park bench with one friend, or with members of their own family — a slight relaxation of the current rule, which permits outdoor meetings only while standing up.

The decision to reopen both primary and secondary schools goes against the advice of some government scientists. But the prime minister was swayed by faster than expected reductions in hospital admissions and infections."

I can link to the article but for those of you without a subscription, there is a pay wall

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/back-to-school-on-march-8-as-johnson-starts-lifting-lockdown-0v5zbz5bt

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• Title edited by MNHQ (it said October, we've changed it to March as reported) *

As a previously shielding teacher CEV have all been offered the vaccine?

School staff over 50 or vulnerable should be getting vaccinated now.

Like I said on another thread, we lost a colleague in her late 50s to Covid at our school.

That really isn't happening to anyone I know user. The first bit, not the second.

As a secondary English teacher, I really hate the way English, sorry, literacy, is taught in primary, thanks to our overlords. They can label parts of a sentence, although any a level English student will say it's not that straightforward really, then you get into discussions about when words actually behave differently in different situations; conversations that work best when kids are older and actually understand. Exam boards at gcse discourage overloading responses with terminology- unless a level language.

I've been teaching 20 years and it's the lack of imagination and beginning every fucking sentence with an adverb that kills me. 'Excitedly, the children ran to the woods. Terrifyingly, there was a monster in there. Hurriedly, with hearts beating like an egg whisk, they ran quickly through the dark, deciduous forest. '

It would have been brilliant if the gov had made primary English all about reading books and writing stories , with compression and inference thrown in. And while we're on inference, I hate the fact kids are too scared to give different interpretations in case it's wrong. Ks3 Sats used to drive me mad for the same reason.

@Piggywaspushed

That really isn't happening to anyone I know user. The first bit, not the second.

I know, I meant that the priority should be changed to allow this. Sorry, my post wasn’t very clear.

[quote Inastatus]@purplebatbear - if you were previously shielding haven’t you been offered the vaccine yet?[/quote]
Unfortunately not. I had a shielding letter last year but my conditions are now considered to be 'borderline ECV' according to my doctor/the revised NHS guidelines, so I'm now CV (but my doctor isn't happy at all and told me to behave as if I'm still shielding 'where possible'. Luckily for me, I'm teaching from home but that won't be sustainable if they go back prior to me being vaccinated

@TheMoth

Your example of writing was spookily accurate!

I actually don’t mind the reading curriculum, we have worked hard on ours within the guidance and it’s broad enough to allow some freedom. If you choose good books, it can work. We teach inference allowing multiple interpretations and leave test prep to year 6 only. No long lists of SATs style questions in year 5. Although it would be even better if year 6 didn’t have to do it either.

The writing curriculum is just pants though, it’s so hard to work with. We want to prioritise composition but it’s difficult to do. The KS2 moderation process has no flexibility. Evidence of the grammar and punctuation elements has to be provided.

@Orangeblossom1977

As a previously shielding teacher CEV have all been offered the vaccine?

As I've just said to someone else, there are those of us who were sent shielding letters last time but this time around under the revised guidelines are now considered 'borderline ECV' (my doctor's words, not mine) and have therefore been effectively demoted to CV. So we won't be vaccinated until Group 6 which, in the timeline, will be after schools return.

Therefore we will be in schools, no PPE and no vaccine. Great...

@purplebatbear - I’ve just seen on the NHS website that all cv as well as 65 to 69 year olds are in this next phase of vaccination starting today so hopefully you should hear very soon.

I'm confused why everyone is so desperate for kids to go back on the 8th stating that the most vulnerable are vaccinated. Firstly they will have only had one dose and the next groups up to group 9 are also vulnerable and still have a high chance of dying and an even higher one of going into hospital. Most of the people I know who have been hospitalised or died have been over 50 but under 70, some with underlying CV conditions (not CEV) and some with no underlying conditions.

I cannot see the logic in going back for 3 weeks when that will give us 8 weeks from today to get the infections right down, hospital admissions right down and loads more people vaccinated and with the second dose. 3 extra weeks is going to make hardly any difference for the majority of children.

I want the kids to go back. With 4 kids at home, I'm exhausted. But when they go back I want it to be for the last time as the in and out of bubbles bursting and isolations is far more distressing to them than being at home doing the work that his amazing teachers have worked so hard to do.

[quote Inastatus]@purplebatbear - I’ve just seen on the NHS website that all cv as well as 65 to 69 year olds are in this next phase of vaccination starting today so hopefully you should hear very soon.[/quote]
That is great news. I really hope so as when I had flu the other year I was incredibly, incredibly ill, so if I were to contract COVID-19 then I would be in serious trouble. It's very worrying.

My Dad is in the over 65s category and is going for his vaccination tomorrow. I hope you get yours soon @purplebatbear.

www.england.nhs.uk/2021/02/nhs-offers-covid-jab-to-clinically-vulnerable-and-people-65-to-69/

@purplebatbear - here’s the link.

Most of the people I know who have been hospitalised or died have been over 50 but under 70

In the country as a whole this is not true. So far the vaccination programme has been aimed at the top four priority groupss* , including NHS frontline staff, care home residents and workers, over-70s, and people deemed clinically extremely vulnerable.
These groups have accounted for 88% of the UK's Covid-19 deaths so far, according to the Department of Health and Social Caree*

So almost 90% of deaths in the groups already vaccinated! That should mean a huge drop in the death rate very soon.

3 extra weeks is going to make hardly any difference for the majority of children.
For those in years 10 to 13 every extra week will make a huge difference. There are assessments and practical work they are missing. If they don't go back until after Easter then they'll have only had one term of science and DT prac out of three.

Oh you are all so lovely!!!
I, along with every other teacher that I know, desperately want to get back into our classrooms with all of our classes and get on doing the job that we love. It's hard teaching from home (made far far harder by having my own children at home too due to the trying to behave as if I'm shielding thing!) .

I cannot wait to be doing the job I love but it just has to be safe. I cannot put myself at risk for my job and then potentially cause my family distress.

X

Moth scarily accurate.

Ticklist included...
Started with a fronted adverbial and reference to senses (beating heart...)

Also the need for extra adjectived. Ecery lessons has started with 3 normal looking sentences which need "improving". They are expected to add extra adjectives and fronted adverbials pretry much as Moth says.

It's such a waste of education. An hour a day for how many years is spent on doing this just to jump through SATs and for no real benefit.

Absolutely if they scrapped it then there would be less to "catch up" on...

@Eyewhisker

I find it staggering how dismissive some posters are of the impact of school closures. I have a DS with special needs. He needs extra help to stay focused and the difference between online learning and actual school is night and day. Every day he is at home is damaging to him and I genuinely believe that this lockdown will result in permanent damage to his education and his social skills. Others can keep up with online learning, he cannot and so will be much further behind.

This is life-changing for him.

I'm really sorry to hear that your ds is struggling so much. The thing is though, pp are equally dismissive of those of us with clinically vulnerable dc will be forced to choose between keeping our dc (and siblings) off indefinitely or sending them in and risking a very serious outcome if they catch Covid, Ultimately, your ds and my dd will both be better off if the government actually does something about making schools safer before reopening them all to all children.

@Pissedoff1234

I'm confused why everyone is so desperate for kids to go back on the 8th stating that the most vulnerable are vaccinated. Firstly they will have only had one dose and the next groups up to group 9 are also vulnerable and still have a high chance of dying and an even higher one of going into hospital. Most of the people I know who have been hospitalised or died have been over 50 but under 70, some with underlying CV conditions (not CEV) and some with no underlying conditions.

I cannot see the logic in going back for 3 weeks when that will give us 8 weeks from today to get the infections right down, hospital admissions right down and loads more people vaccinated and with the second dose. 3 extra weeks is going to make hardly any difference for the majority of children.

I want the kids to go back. With 4 kids at home, I'm exhausted. But when they go back I want it to be for the last time as the in and out of bubbles bursting and isolations is far more distressing to them than being at home doing the work that his amazing teachers have worked so hard to do.

@Pissedoff1234 - Firstly, the one dose of vaccine has been widely debated and researched and proven that it offers a high degree of protection. Secondly, where did you hear that the people up to group 9 have a high chance of dying and even higher risk of hospitalisation? None of the stats I’ve seen suggest this is the case! Even in the much older age groups there still isn’t a high risk of dying.

@Inastatus we've lost 3 staff. Might be a 'small' risk, but it's a pretty shitty one when it's your life.

@mumsneedwine - I’m sorry you’ve experienced that but it is still wrong to state that there is a high risk of dying from covid.

@Inastatus I'm not saying there is a high risk. I'm saying there is a risk, which is increased if in a crowded room with no social distancing or masks. And a small risk is still shit if you are the one that statistically is that risk.

That should be a higher risk than those under 40 and with no underlying conditions.

The talk about all schools returning on 8th March, is just that - talk.

Boris said this in an interview this morning (The Guardian live feed).

"Boris Johnson has said no decisions have been made on whether year groups across schools in England will return together or whether primaries and secondaries could be staggered, PA reports.

During a visit to Orpington Health and Wellbeing Centre in south-east London, he told reporters:

No decisions have been taken on that sort of detail yet, though clearly schools on March 8 has for a long time been a priority of the government and of families up and down the country.

We will do everything we can to make that happen but we’ve got to keep looking at the data, we’ve got to keep looking at the rates of infections – don’t forget they’re still very high, still 23,000 or so Covid patients in the NHS, more than in the April peak last year, still sadly too many people dying of this disease. Rates of infections, although they’re coming down, are still comparatively high.

So we’ve got to be very prudent and what we wanted to see is progress that is cautious but irreversible, and I think that’s what the public and people up and down the country will want to see."

I really think that if schools do start to return on the 8th, it will be very staggered.

And of course they have a higher risk than those under 50 with no underlying conditions. I have this information from every piece of news, government information as this is why they are in these groups and not in group 10 with the rest.

It has been widely stated that those in hospital especially those in there for a longer time are under 70 and most over 50. They may not die but they have a higher chance of going in there initially and have long term problems which still means lots of pressure on the NHS.

I am myself neither over 50 or vulnerable and have had my first jab due to my job so I'm not worried for myself that my children will bring it back to me nor my husband who is isn't old and vulnerable either but this is the perfect recipe to get the virus infecting younger people and kids and it mutating to something else.