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Original poster

Those who work in schools ....

204 replies

THATbasicSNOWFLAKE · 14/02/2021 07:45

How would you feel about full reopening from 8th March with conditions as before?

Are your unions starting to look at what can be done?

If you submitted a section 44 letter last time would you do so again?

OP posts:
OpheliasCrayon · 14/02/2021 07:48

I've been working the whole time as I teach SEN so I've been there in person throughout. So it doesn't make any difference to me.

I'm desperate for my DD to go back though so I hope they open! She hasn't been able to as it has to be 2x key workers and we see 1& she is massively struggling now.

However, I've always said I respect and appreciate the views of any teachers - whilst I've worked in school and will continue to do so I do understand why some don't wish to & though it doesn't affect me, I support their choice.

mamma2016 · 14/02/2021 07:53

No one at my school submitted a section 44 last time. I doubt anyone would again.
I'd like daily cases to be below 1000 ideally. I have never being a Jeremy Hunt fan but I think he's right with his advice to bring cases down to very low levels and then have rigorous test and trace in place. He says this is how Taiwan and South Korea have kept economies open and protected public health.
We've had three pupils and two staff test positive this academic year and we ate in a part of the country which has always had low rates so I'd be much happier returning to a full school (we still have 30%-40% in as keyworker/vulnerable) with rates below 1000 a day.

delightfuldaisy19 · 14/02/2021 07:54

I'd go back tomorrow - well straight after half term

I felt reasonably safe at school before Christmas, we didn't have many cases ad I and really miss being there. The kids desperately need to be back too.

RosieLemonade · 14/02/2021 07:55

I never submitted a section 44. I have never worried about catching covid from school just about bubbles bursting and making things awkward for child care.

GingerandTilly · 14/02/2021 07:55

Not happy tbh. I’m asthmatic and husband is diabetic. Neither of us have been vaccinated yet. If I am expected to work in a crowded room of 30 again with no mitigations then yes, I would consider a section 44 again. This government has learnt nothing. Without masks, rotas or reduced class sizes or air filtration then the same thing is just going to keep on happening and the infection will spread again. Plus we now have mutations thrown into mix...

Trying to juggle bubble teaching, home learning and educating my own two kids has been exhausting this term but I would rather continue that for longer than go back to an unsafe overcrowded classroom again. We are just starting to get things under control yet are about to shoot ourselves in the foot yet again.

Redbrickwall · 14/02/2021 07:57

Oh god here we fucking well go again. I despair. I am a type 1 diabetic teacher and have worked throughout and desperately want my class back - ALL my class

ChittyChittyBoomBoom · 14/02/2021 07:57

Infections in our area have come down from 700+ per 100,000 to 180 per 100,000. We are now allowed to wear masks in school. Based on that, I’d be happy for schools to reopen.

Also, I have 18/25 children in my class so it’s almost been like we’re fully open anyway.

RosieLemonade · 14/02/2021 07:57

@mamma2016 I agree with your point but it had taken 7 weeks to get it to 13-15k cases it may take double that amount of time to get it to 1k. That is a lot of time missed and would mean a whole term is lost.

Original poster
THATbasicSNOWFLAKE · 14/02/2021 07:58

I was asking as i am aware the vast majority of those working in my dcs primary school DID submit section 44 last time

OP posts:
NiceTwin · 14/02/2021 08:00

I am support in school (technician), we have been in all the time. Support staff have outnumbered the teachers considerably.

I will be in after half term and think the teachers should be coming back too. Their lives are no more precious than those who have been in throughout.
The union rep is already banging on about not coming back, despite him not setting foot is school and seeing even more measures that have been put in place.

Italiandreams · 14/02/2021 08:00

I think the kids will be happier , I think the workload will be less but as a pregnant teacher can’t deny I’m nervous. Will just get on with it though.

EmmanuelleMakro · 14/02/2021 08:01

Happy to ho back then as long as there are no more ridiculous restrictions like insisting on masks in class.
We had no serious cases even with just s light touch regulations -normal lunched in dining hall and teachers mixing normally in with rooms snd over lunch etc.

A few teachers have also been vaccinated seemingly random invites (eg people in 40s - no ‘vulnerabilities’ ) but interestingly those who have volunteered to work with the KW children in school.

Italiandreams · 14/02/2021 08:02

I have been in all the way through , it’s just the larger numbers that makes me nervous

Bluewavescrashing · 14/02/2021 08:03

I've been working full time throughout with up to 25 children in my key worker bubble. So an extra 5 children doesn't change the risk significantly. I'd love to have my old class back.

yearinyearout · 14/02/2021 08:05

I think he's right with his advice to bring cases down to very low levels and then have rigorous test and trace in place.

Bit late for that, our test and trace system isn't fit for purpose.

Useruseruserusee · 14/02/2021 08:08

No one submitted section 44 before as we are in London and closed already.

To be honest I am tired of thinking about it. If we are back, we are back.

OverTheRainbow88 · 14/02/2021 08:29

@NiceTwin

Their lives are no more precious than those who have been in throughout.

Agreed, but it’s only the teachers who are teaching over teams all day every day. I don’t think as a technician you would be teaching classes.

Didiusfalco · 14/02/2021 08:33

I would like them to reopen. I’m support staff and we are supervising rooms of keyworker children anyway. It’s not good for the kids who are sat at computers for hours and it doesn’t confer any particular health benefits on me. I want my kids education to restart as well.

Audacity7 · 14/02/2021 08:34

I am support staff and have been in full time since Christmas. If all school years are back on the 8th of March I would want mandatory weekly testing for all kids and staff and vaccinations for all staff. It will spread like wildfire again if no extra measures are put in. I think Boris wanted to wait until Easter (sensible) but is bowing to parent pressure and I worry it will send us back to square one.

lavenderlou · 14/02/2021 08:34

I'm a primary teacher and I think we'd all like to go back and have been expecting to do so. Infection rates have dropped from extremely high to very low here. I might feel differently if I lived in an area where the infection rate was still comparatively high.

I think it's ridiculous to send primaries and secondaries back at the same time though. They need to ease things in. DH is a secondary teacher. He teaches exam years and they are managing well online.

HipTightOnions · 14/02/2021 08:35

Reactions will depend very much on individuals’ situations. A twenty-something with no health conditions will feel quite differently about it to a fifty-something who is “clinically vulnerable”, who still has a while to wait before being vaccinated.

Didiusfalco · 14/02/2021 08:36

@NiceTwin. Yes, this is true. Although it’s logical that teachers are live-streaming lessons and therefore not supervising pupils. It does create another situation where the lowest paid are taking the highest health risk.

wkaja · 14/02/2021 08:37

I'd prefer it to be back open fully, my work load during this lockdown has more than doubled. In my school we have all still been in full time, teaching kids in the classroom and those at home simultaneously. The amount of planning time has increased and the level of admin they have expected has been unachievable. We've already had a school full of covid for months, I'm completely desensitised to it to be honest. Most of my colleagues have already had it. I'm not scared to catch it, I supported schools closing to help stop community transmission, but I don't think they need to be closed if we can now keep levels low with them open again.

lavenderlou · 14/02/2021 08:38

Iq will be in after half term and think the teachers should be coming back too. Their lives are no more precious than those who have been in throughout.

It's not about lives being more precious, it's that teachers can organise remote learning from home and support staff can't work from home. In my school, both LSAs and teachers have been in on similar rotas but teachers have had to do live and pre-recorded lessons around this, whereas LSAs have not really been able to do much on the days when they are home.

WhenSheWasBad · 14/02/2021 08:40

I’m desperate to get back. Currently teaching my full timetable via teams, it’s hard work. Most kids are doing really well but some are struggling.

I would prefer to go back after Easter. I think 8th March is too soon and the numbers will still be too high. If we leave reopening till after Easter it massively reduces the risk of numbers peaking again.
I don’t fancy another lockdown over summer.