No school for us til 9th April at the earliest. Royally fucked off now.

[WeAreFromThePlanetDuplo]

Announcement just made for NI that most kids won't be going back to school until after the Easter holidays, and there's no guarantee of that. So fed up.

The scientists say the vaccine works. We are trusting science right. We needed to wait till the vunerable groups had the vaccine and they have. Any vunerable child should be allowed to be homeschooled if parents wish with no fines anyone else can choose to stay in for the rest of their friggin lives if they wish.

@TableFlowerss

I actually do want schools to return. I've never advocated for school closures at all. I don't believe it is best for the vast majority but equally they do need to be opened in a sustainable way to move forward from this, not to be opening and closing them the way it has been done up to this point because it does no one any favours.

If community transmission was driven down further by a few extra weeks at this stage then there is the possibility that shielded children could return to the classroom (shielding has been extended to 31st March atm) as well with their peers because nothing will be risk free but the risk would certainly be lower than it currently is.

@Unsure33

There was a doctor on today and she was very clear on her warning . Long covid is affecting a lot of people and in her case she has severe mobility problems which means she can not do her clinical work . She also said this is affecting many people in their 30s and 40s so with this danger and the new variants still being a worry the government are still in a sticky situation . Apparently the teachers unions don’t want to go back to early but Boris does want the schools to go back , but he was criticised before for knee jerk reactions? Don’t forget everyone was screaming close the schools ! They are spreading the virus . But now you are are screaming open the schools !

There is no right answer . Surely you can see that ?

A doctor on what?

@ThePenIsBlue DH is late 40’s and has a condition on the CV list, but misses out on a vaccine as doesn’t quite meet the requirement for group 6. So he’s as at risk as you can get after the first nine groups I suppose.

If there were actually helpful mitigations in classrooms it would be fine. If he were 10 years younger it would be much better. He is just on that not-so-sweet spot of risk.

@WeAreFromThePlanetDuplo I'm in Switzerland. Pretty much everything else here is closed, but they have kept schools (and hairdressers) open.
My sister is in ROI and her schools were closed from March till Sept and now again from January until who knows when - but possibly April. They will have had four months school in a year.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Vulnerable people are being vaccinated they haven't all been vaccinated yet and those who are vulnerable under the age of 16 cannot currently be vaccinated !!

@ssd

They need to repeat a year. So awful for everyone.

They don't need to repeat the year, they need to adjust the curriculum. Our children will have lived through a pandemic.

@peachgreen

All NI hospitals bar are at 97% or above capacity. Most of them are above 100%. DH was admitted to hospital (not with Covid) in September, between lockdowns, when things were about at their best. Even then staff were pretty overwhelmed and DH had to wait for 2 days in a theatre for an ICU bed. In October he went to A&E with irregular heart rhythms. There was no room for him to be admitted so they made him a further outpatient appointment. He died two days later. If he had been in hospital he might have survived. Who knows. It's not just about Covid cases. It's about the health system being unable to cope. Sorry if that means kids have to stay at home for another 3 weeks, or even 3 months. It sucks, but it's temporary. My DD doesn't ever get her Daddy back. And there are many more like her out there.

So sorry to hear this

@Woolff

Silly me. The concerns aren't even about education, it's just about socialising.

Definitely worth killing people for then!

Yes just about socialising 🤦🏼‍♀️

They are 4 & 7 though, their relationships at that age won’t be as important as if they were 12/13. I would have felt the same as you when mine were that age. The older they get, the more important their friendships become.

Well my kids are 17, 12 and 9 and they still don’t think their friendships and themselves are more important than everyone else. My oldest missed out on doing his GCSEs, my middle child had to start a new school, but they still have more compassion that many adults on here show.

@ThePenIsBlue

Sorry, my numbers are from the data I heard of closer to 800 beginning of the week and over 1000 from before. I heard that these numbers are actually just hospital and care home numbers, so there are more.

But my point stands, still 400 too many deaths.

Our DCs are not in bunkers and I sorry, as I said death is permanent, but I don't see how children from loving homes can be so scarred for life that it's comparable to people dying permanently, when those DC are allowed to go for a daily walk etc.

Problem is that we have always seen this virus as a passing thing, so no provisions were made. Maybe the gov can look into dispatching some kind of support in place like distanced counselling, giving people practical ideas on how to help with cabin fever etc.

What I'm uncomfortable with is risking people dying, because you have no way back from that.

@MarshaBradyo

Woolf right so online learning is overstating the provision. Not much help is it.

For non KW dc they’ve had one term in last three if they’re lucky. A bit more if 8th March goes ahead.

Not sure why you’re trying so hard to talk this away.

I can see that many people are exaggerating the effects, and even the factual length time.

They've had 12 months of this! It's been two terms of online learning! They've only been in a term!

So current year 11 have had 33 and a half terms out of 34 and a half so far. They missed around 75 days of being invited into the building through a whole school education. But work was provided and teachers on hand throughout.

As I said earlier, my year 11s have produced loads and come on leaps and bounds despite not seeing each other. Because their learning isn't really about all the others shoved into the room to make it cheaper.

All those without children gleefully saying to not send the grubby disease vector children back for months (or even ever- why bother, after all it’s a parents responsibility to educate their own kids right?) - you do know that if schools arnt back, you won’t be allowed to do anything more than now? No friends, no hugging anyone, no mixing for another 2+ months. Total lockdown like this for 2 more months at least but likely 3 months

Peachygreen that is very sad and I am so sorry to hear that.

It is hard for everyone to see past their own individual set of circumstances. Parents that are struggling want their kids at school. People who are vunerable want everyone to be on lockdown as it reduces their personal risk. I believe at this point we have a responsibility for our kids to stand up for their education. I do not want the NHS to be overwhelmed my own father is fighting cancer currently but we cannot stay locked away for ever. My child has not been in school since the 18th December and last year he missed 6 months. That is not a small amount and cannot be accepted just in case the NHS is overwhelmed. Currently it is not and that should only get better now the more people that are vaccinated. The end does not justify the means right now

They've had 12 months of this! It's been two terms of online learning! They've only been in a term!

Wtf are you talking about? Are you trying to say my year 6 has had more than one term in school over last three terms? Unless back 8th March

I do not get what you are going on about. I know when he has not been in school

So odd

My child is also CEV - he is 10 and has been shielding for most of the year. I don't want schools to be off, and at the moment we can keep him home, but there are 2 reasons why I hope the schools stay closed
1-because *the lower the community rate if infection is, the safer it is for him, and he will not be vaccinated (possibly the end of the year...at best) and if quite like a chance if him being able to transition to secondary.
2) his sister's (In year 10 and 9) - whilst keen yo be back at school are worried about bringing it back to him and *see above.

I know it's all fucking awful, I'm not some priviledged lockdown lover as is often talked about on here...but we are in the shit, and the quicker we try and get out of the shit, the faster we'll slip up and land back down in it again.
(Sorry for the graphic shit falling comparison...it rather ran away with me)

Can't we just allow someone to feel fucked off without jumping all over them?

Yes it's quite a significant period of time, and it's really hard going for a lot of people

To be honest I am feeling very sympathetic to both sides.

We are very lucky that we can homeschool, our kids are quite good company for each other and they are good at schoolwork. Though they have their moments.

It is terrible for so many people to be so torn.

I still want England to follow the other nations and be sensible but I can see this would come at a significant cost for many people, and I'm sorry about that. But our rates here are still very high to be coming out of lockdown.

I am really hopeful that we will be in a much better place soon though, given that we have the vaccines and the government is being cautious about quarantine - while that limits us in another way, I hope this will pay off later on in helping us get through this.

Let's hope JVT's train is pulling into the station now and we can all get to where we want to go.

@MagicSummer

Because as soon as they let the little darlings back to school, the infection rate will rise again. They need to scrap this school year and re-do it starting in June.

And that would be totally unfair for kids who have worked hard and made ok progress. As well as making everything that schools have done - absolutely busting a gut to provide decent home learning - a bloody waste of time!

@WeAreFromThePlanetDuplo

It’s not a couple of weeks. It’s from March 8th to April 12th.

That includes the Easter holidays from 1st-9th of April so it's just over 3 weeks.

And 2 of those will likely be heavily restricted barring no home school what's the difference really between term and holiday any more?

I've actually found it worse. Don't be pedantic

Woolf -your comments are ridiculous and inflammatory, not mine. Even Boris is clear that across the board the overall effect is that children are harmed by being locked out of school. Parents are not trying to get their children ‘out of the way’ as you do charmingly out it. We want schools to be regarded as critical infrastructure in our society, for our children’s sake. You obviously do not have children, and can only see as far as your zoom class you are teaching from your kitchen.

@HauntedPencil

And 2 of those will likely be heavily restricted barring no home school what's the difference really between term and holiday any more?

I've actually found it worse. Don't be pedantic

@HauntedPencil

Instead of looking on the whole situation negatively why not try and do something positive over the half term holidays.
You can still have fun you know with a bit of effort and imagination.

I don’t want them to repeat the year or term etc. Why should those that have been doing the remote learning and continuing with the curriculum be penalised because of different decisions made by others?