Those who work in schools ....

[THATbasicSNOWFLAKE]

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?

It didn’t happen in my school @bananamonster!

We had the first two weeks of lockdown off before the Easter holidays, but after Easter most of us were back in except the vulnerable staff members. The rest of us did more than our share on rota so that others could stay at home, and on days off we were calling families or delivering resources, which admittedly did leave some time to enjoy the sunshine!

I couldn’t have been happier when it was announced that my class was one of the ones that was allowed back in June, so I went back then, and had to work more hours than normal (without pay) to protect the bubble.

It wont be like last time? Lockdown only happens when the hospital become overwhelmed but with the danger groups vaccinated that won't happen.

Yes bubbles may pop but there is no need for them to close again.

I can't work out if it's the teachers that kick up such a stink about schools reopening or the parents who don't want to send their kids back?

Section 44 is pointless-would never stand up in court as ‘imminent danger to life’ how utterly absurd!
School can dismiss the —deluded— person and it is down to that —batshit— individual to take the school to a tribunal and unions would not fund the legal coats as it would have no chance of success.

I totally disagree Emmanuelle and each setting has interpreted the rules differently....

There is no consistency between settings, between heads and what each place does

Emmanuelle, loads of people take companies to tribunals by themselves.

I wish people would understand that teachers are bloody exhausted doing remote learning and key worker provision, of course we would all rather be back with a more normal workload. But Where's the bloody common sense, if you send all pupils back at the same time obviously rates will go up and restrictions will be strict all year.
Also for the majority there has been learning throughout, there has been little lost learning as long as your child has made an effort with whatever your school has provided. People don't realise how little learning time there actually is in a school day, think about registration times, movement time from lesson to lesson, breaks, packing and tidying up belongings etc,low level disruption, technology problems. Plus generally passive learning and sitting there letting it flow over you. They don't do hours upon hours of writing, and some parents feel pressure to get students working at a level they just aren't used to. We have free and or affordable access to education thanks to the Internet, you can learn most things at any stage of your life. What we actually need is children to be able to socialise and gain some normality and social skills, and that isn't going to happen if we go back too soon, wait til Easter!

I'd go back to full face to face teaching g straight after half term if it was allowed. I hate online learning, the children hate it and their progress in my subjects is compromised by being online. Our SLT practically worship Teams and produced all these reports at the end of the summer term to 'prove' the children hadn't been disadvantaged by online learning. I can well believe they were true for academic subjects. But practical subjects just don't work well and it's a miserable experience. I'm due to start rehearsals for our major production after half term and want as little of that to be online as possible. It's going to be so difficult on Zoom.

We have had no cases in our school at all and I would say 80%+ of staff are desperate to be back.

However, just because I/we want it, doesn't necessarily mean it should happen. If it's really going to mean we end up in the same position again by May half term then we should wait till Easter. I have no scientific knowledge to be able to judge that myself and just have to trust the 'experts'. Which is hard when they say different things!

There almost definitely wouldn't be any section 4s where I work. And our CEV adults haven't been allowed to work since Nov (I know because one is my friend and she really kicked off and tried to sign a waiver to say she wouldn't blame the school if she got very ill but they were having no e of it and made her teach from home anyway). I think we only have 3 though.

@Snowsnowglorioussnow

I totally disagree Emmanuelle and each setting has interpreted the rules differently....

There is no consistency between settings, between heads and what each place does

It would be impossible for consistency to be imposed in any beneficial way, schools are just too different from each other.

What is possible to provide with a full staff team and the space of a three form entry school will not be the same as what can be provided in a one form entry school. What works for a class of mostly middle class children with nice homes and motivated parents won’t be the same as what works for a class of children whose parents are unwilling or unable to support their education.

I wish people would stop comparing schools to each other, it’s just setting them all up to fail.

In my primary school, we have all been full time since May anyway. The rooms are so small that social distancing is impossible even with 50% of the class. So that combined with teaching the other half at home has doubled the workload
I desperately want my own teen children to be back at school for their mental health but know they are more likely to catch and spread the virus. I don't understand why school staff are not being vaccinated this week.

@NCTDN
In total agreement with you - very similar situation, until you get to the last paragraph.

If vaccination doesn't prevent transmission then I am not bothered about myself as I would still be taking it home to my family.

@beforethetakingoftoastandtea
I was going to ignore your comments but because they weren't true I felt I had to reply. Most HCP do not use fit tested masks when dealing with covid patients. These are for aerosol generating procedures only. The HCP you dismiss causally worked from March through to January with no vaccine. Most do not have full protection as they have had one dose only.
HCP etc need to be close to their patients and this carries a great risk of being exposed to a high viral load. Masks offer some protection as does distance from an infected person.
Hospitals like schools are not built for a pandemic. High occupancy, poor ventilation, no windows etc. The building I work in is not fit for purpose, too small, no ventilation, high occupancy, limited cleaning time due to above. The trust acknowledges this but the service needs to continue. What this pandemic has highlighted is the moral acceptance by some group that the lives of HCP:social care workers and others (delivery drivers etc) are expendable. There is no moral outrage that they may die at work anymore because society deems this is an acceptable risk. So, yes, you are lucky that so many have worked in less than ideal situations so you can be afforded the luxury of choice to stay at home safely. What if the delivery drivers had issued a section 44? They have a high risk of dying of covid. You would have no food. No one should be at risk at work but they are.

If vaccination doesn't prevent transmission then I am not bothered about myself as I would still be taking it home to my family

I feel the same. I teach but Dh doesn’t. He is vulnerable but hasn’t been vaccinated yet. I really don’t want to bring it home to him.

After all the hysteria on MN from some school staff about their terribly dangerous workplaces, it will be amusing to see what the vaccine refusal rate is among school staff. Probably similar to the decline rate in health workers.

I'm a TA, and there's plenty of work I can do at home right now. Checking who's done their work, marking work, giving feedback, planning and setting work for the small groups I would normally teach, responding to messages asking for help/clarification, doing small group interventions via Google Meet...

Our school has teachers and TAs on a rota, everyone in school about half the time. At the moment I'm in charge of a Key Worker bubble 3 afternoons a week, in school on call to support 3 teachers who are in bubbles by themselves 1 morning, and in school making paper packs for children with no computer access another afternoon. The rest of the time, I'm working from home - my usual hours, no "paid holiday" here!

My mum's school has all teachers at home and all TAs in full time. I would hate to be working there right now.

Our school has all the TAs in full time and the teachers in just one day a week. We’re exhausted and demoralised. Can’t wait for school to reopen properly,

I'm amazed at those with tas in all the time and teachers not in much? We're all in all the time.

I was speaking to friends in Europe, in a country with high cases where the schools haven't closed but where pupils and teachers wear masks all day, and they think we're crazy. They have very, very low cases of transmission in school and can't understand why the British won't wear masks if it means getting the kids back to school. This. I live in France and teach part time in a school. I don't for the life of me understand why Britain doesn't enforce mask wearing (along with hand gel at the gate and in the classroom, anti-bac wipes on desks, one way system in corridors etc) and get the kids back. Some kids - with access to a screen, a workspace and supportive parents at home - won't have suffered much from what amounts to the best part of a year out of school, but many more will and will never make up this time. Viewed from this side of the channel it looks bonkers. If British teachers are still worried then why not vaccinate them as a priority?

@bananamonster

I should also say that the TAs were at home on full pay from March to June until we reopened! Nice long paid holiday for them. Don’t think this happened in every school though.

Definitely not 😂

Anyone vulnerable 16-64 please call your GP. Conditions on page 10. The existing GP lists are not all accurate. I know at least 2 CEV locally who were only contacted after being proactive themselves. So any school staff/parents who are CV make yourself known. Anyone vulnerable should not be forced back into work without having had an offer of a vaccine.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/961287/Greenbook_chapter_14a_v7_12Feb2021.pdf

School has never shut, all of us support staff are in full time at mine and others in the area. Teachers can come in if they want and not if they don’t want.

@LillianGish I don't want to have to wear a mask and my son definitely doesn't ( only wears one in communal areas in his high school). However, if it means schools will reopen and be safer then I'll def do it!

@NCTDN - no-one wants to wear a mask do they? I'd much prefer not to, but not if it means we all have to sit at home on our own. The kids in my school - including the primary school - wear masks all day, even in the playground. Actually you just get used to it in the end - it's quite funny because schools in the UK will happily enforce strict uniform rules, but draw the line at masks.

I do think it's awful how TAs have been treated in many schools. I can easily see how it must feel like your lives matter less - especially where schools have got say, 14 year 3s and 9 year 4s in so decide to stick them all in the same room because they can.

Most of our TAs are over 60 and the others have young children so, apart from 2 who wanted to be in the bubbles, they're all furloughed (our bursary tops up the extra 20% for furloughed staff so nobody is losing out financially).

But then we're lucky enough to have 'spare' staff who aren't needed for online teaching - boarding house staff with nothing to do during the day, 18-19 year old gap year students with zero concern about Covid and some Games teachers (not all needed for the online lessons). So we can staff our bubbles with people who are either a) paid enough for it or b) so young that they're just happy not to be at home.

Most schools don't have extra staff. So I don't know what the answer is when schools have to teach 30-90% of their class online while still being open for the rest. I know some teach normally while zooming the others in. But that sounds so difficult. And not fair on the children at home. And a few seem to be teaching normally and providing very little for those at home. Which isn't right at all.

It is half term, please leave hard working staff alone to have a break without thinking about school. Education staff have worked constantly, their mental and physical health suffering.

Please leave it.

@LillianGish

I was speaking to friends in Europe, in a country with high cases where the schools haven't closed but where pupils and teachers wear masks all day, and they think we're crazy. They have very, very low cases of transmission in school and can't understand why the British won't wear masks if it means getting the kids back to school. This. I live in France and teach part time in a school. I don't for the life of me understand why Britain doesn't enforce mask wearing (along with hand gel at the gate and in the classroom, anti-bac wipes on desks, one way system in corridors etc) and get the kids back. Some kids - with access to a screen, a workspace and supportive parents at home - won't have suffered much from what amounts to the best part of a year out of school, but many more will and will never make up this time. Viewed from this side of the channel it looks bonkers. If British teachers are still worried then why not vaccinate them as a priority?

Because we had a parent lobbying group pushing last summer for schools to go back "as normal" and the government listened to them. So we went back as normal.

Apparently asking children to wear masks is "muzzling" then and to see adults wear masks all the time would make them depressed.

So masks weren't even considered in many schools for a long time. My primary school stated in January that all adults have to wear them in communal areas like corridors.