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) *

But no link tot the actual report delatron. It isn't even on the prof's Twitter feed!

Trouble is, those of us who were actually in schools through the whole thing saw what a compete shit show the whole thing was. As I keep posting, it wasn't like on the telly, with all the kids following the rules etc. It was kids.. being kids and not really giving a shit about catching it passing it on. At the same time, kids didn't really want to do much work cos they'd already'missed so much, so they just need to cancel the exams and anyway, schools will close again soon.' People generally felt life was back to normal- so the sleepovers etc started. Fine, you think it's just your family- but so does everyone else.

They probably should have said they'd open pubs first. And hairdressers.I only went to the pub once, but it def felt safer than being in work. And adults tend to follow rules more than kids, or they won't get served.

I've had cv. Caught from one of the dc when they went in as kw kids. It was shit. More shit for dh, who is in the 50 bracket and still suffering. 50 is not old to me, so I would like him not to die. I should have some immunity when I go back to work, but I really, really don't want y to be like it was before Xmas when we were trying to teach as normal with kids and staff constantly off.

@Bagamoyo1

I’ll be very happy if schools open, and the sooner the better. Any parents who aren’t happy - keep your kids at home. It’s sad for the kids, but ultimately it’s your choice if you want to screw their education.

I agree that teachers should have been in a higher vaccine priority group.

Schools/Govt won't permit most parents to keep their kids home unless they give up their place & (understandably) the home learning programs will end.

So it's not the same thing at all. Or a choice open to most.

Education is not automatically screwed!

Parents dying tends to screw kids up!!

& parents of young children ARE dying.

so what happens to clinically vulnerable children? They certainly aren't protected.

Would they be forced to go to school once they reopen? Can they not stay at home if they feel unsafe at school?

@Rosesaresweet a minority with sympathetic head teachers. The majority either have to return to school or give up their school place.

So this lockdown has been a success because case numbers have fallen considerably. The only real difference between the November lockdown and this lockdown is that schools were closed this time. Go figure! I will ignore the ‘data’ from Warwick University on this one when the lockdown seems to have had the most effect with schools closed. Teachers need vaccinating to protect us against stupid decisions made because of pressure groups like Us for Them.

Ah, that's why I'd forgotten the Nov lockdown. In Wales, I think we had it over half term. 3 weeks.

Would they be forced to go to school once they reopen? Can they not stay at home if they feel unsafe at school?

For how long though @Rosesaresweet ? Indefinitely? If we stop all restrictions, get rid of bubbles and stop isolating those with symptoms and their close contacts, if we just let Covid run through everyone who isn't vaccinated....are you suggesting my 7 year old dd and her 3 older siblings would have to stay off school until a vaccine is approved for children - potentially another year from now? Does that really sound fair to you?

Oh and by the way, it isn't about them 'feeling' unsafe. It's about them being at greater risk of suffering severe illness if they catch Covid. It's not a 'feeling'.

@Delatron

It’s like people don’t understand how statistics work. For example, you’re low risk. You have a 1% chance of dying from COVID. Unfortunately someone in that low risk group has to be that one person out of 100 (or whatever the percentage is, it’s much lower but for arguments sake..)

Doesn’t change the absolute risk if you know people that were in the percentage that died. But yes that will alter your personal perception of risk.

I think people do understand statistics.

However, if you're working solely from home then to hear you have a 1/100 chance of dying when the actual chance of you catching it is low because you rarely leave the house and can always socially distance, is very different from knowing that there is a 1/100 chance of dying when you have a greater chance of catching it due to being exposed to lots of people in a small space with no PPE or ventilation.

Yes the risk of dying is the same but the risk of catching it is greater.

Still doesn’t mean they’re ‘highly likely to die’ @sherrystrull and that was the phrase I disagreed with.

But statistics show that teachers are not more likely to die of it

Yy moth but not every dc didn't care about catching covid, many did actually and where really worried, some of them have parents or gp who are shielding or ill...

It's just been hideously stressful all around... No sd at all...

are you suggesting my 7 year old dd and her 3 older siblings would have to stay off school until a vaccine is approved for children - potentially another year from now? Does that really sound fair to you?

It may not be fair. And I have huge sympathy with your situation. But what's the alternative? Keep schools closed for all?
Even with 'mitigating' measures and bubbles, there are bound to be cases in schools. It's unfortunate but I don't think schools can ever become covid secure.

Boris has said on today’s 5pm briefing that the announcement on 22 February could be delayed.

@Parker231

Boris has said on today’s 5pm briefing that the announcement on 22 February could be delayed.

Noooooooooooo!

5.21
He has reiterated that the roadmap will be presented on 22nd.

@WombatChocolate

5.21 He has reiterated that the roadmap will be presented on 22nd.

That’s what I heard. But tuned in ten minutes late

Yeah... let’s use the kids as guinea pigs! Brilliant... not psychopathic at all ...

Thanks @WombatChocolate, you’ve reassured me, my heart plummeted then.

Mine too. Not sure what pp heard

Whatever.

Bojo says he wants this lockdown to be the last - don’t we all.

The opening up plan needs to be planned so we don’t head for any more spikes.

If we all go back 8 March and everything is hunky dory then great. But if we then end up in another lock down for summer I will be mightily pissed off.

The gov has the data. Quite frankly I would rather listen to SAGE than Warwick uni doing a rushed paper that has not been peer reviewed

Everyone is now in working themselves up into a right tiss about 8th March which may just be the start of a long return.

None of us know what the plan is but the idea of a Big Bang return to secondary school and colleges may seem rash. With OFQUAL making their grand announcements about GCSEs and A Levels sometime around 22 Feb I would argue that those institutions would for the first couple of weeks only really be interested in Years 13 and 11.

BBC is saying that schools don't spread covid.

Ah well that's good then. Good they've changed from being vectors of transmission in beg Jan...

@Rosesaresweet

are you suggesting my 7 year old dd and her 3 older siblings would have to stay off school until a vaccine is approved for children - potentially another year from now? Does that really sound fair to you?

It may not be fair. And I have huge sympathy with your situation. But what's the alternative? Keep schools closed for all?
Even with 'mitigating' measures and bubbles, there are bound to be cases in schools. It's unfortunate but I don't think schools can ever become covid secure.

The mitigations suggested by Independent Sage etc would be enough for me. I absolutely don't want schools to stay closed indefinitely and have never said that - I just want increased safety measures so that the risk of infection feels manageable. Your post suggested that we wouldn't need to do anything to prevent transmission now that the most vulnerable are vaccinated - i.e. get rid of even the limited measures that we had last term.

And a good answer to all those who keep asking him to say now, what he will say next week......he doesn't know yet. He will say it next week. It's still being decided as data G becomes available this week and he will say next week.

He said, rather than listening to people's speculation (and the article this thread is about in the Times was just that ...speculation, not policy) people will need to listen to what he says NEXT WEEK. That's when more info will become available. Until then, all this stuff about exactly when schools return and who is speculation.

My two kids attended School last week for a half day.
They are currently considered Vulnerable but it was a huge job to get the School to offer them that time.
They came home and said 'never again'.
NO hand gel in School (they had their own). NO SD. There were 12 kids, all in one classroom, mixed years. 6 staff popped in and out over the 3 hours. NONE of the kids wore masks on site except my two. 2 of the staff didn't either, 2 of the other staff took them off for a bit.
The lateral flow test they were supposed to do on the day didn't happen. When I asked I was told 'oh, we only have capacity to do that for morning kids' - so you'll have to drive back tomorrow (I did not, it is a 40mile round trip). The laptops were broken and my dd had her earphones damaged. It's a zoo. NASchoolsALT I know but there was almost no educational gain. All it did was expose my kids, me (CV) and staff to Covid risk.
Johnson will do what he thinks is most popular short term (always), and what's cheapest. Stuff the kids / our long term benefit (which will not be helped by a further lockdown if they open up too soon).