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.

@canary1

MarshaBrady0 of course your child would be better learning at school, mine would too. The majority would. Woolf is invested only as a teacher who doesn’t want to go to work, so tries to minimise or dismiss your and most parents’ valid concerns. It’s well documented that there is a wave of depression, self harm and eating disorders due to lockdown. Not to mention that the majority are not learning as well as they would within the energy of a good classroom environment. But Woolf doesn’t mind, as long as she can do zoom classes in her pyjamas bottoms.

I've already told you I'm at work. I'm working with kids on the premises and remotely with those in their homes.

The vast majority will actually still succeed.

So we shouldn't put 10 million people back in close proximity whilst people (more my parents' age than mine or schoolchildren) are still being put in hospital.

@TwelvePaws

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.

Good for you good for them that they are quite ok being isolated and lonely. My DC is really struggling with it.... is that a problem to you? Does that mean my DC have compassion because her MH is suffering???

[quote gallbladderpain]@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 !![/quote]
Well I’m very sorry for them but you can’t sacrifice every other child for those that will sadly need to isolate

doesn’t have compassion

You can disagree but that doesn't make it right - which is why in three of the four home nations reception year one and year two have been prioritised to go back

Just because YOU are finding it ok, doesn't mean that it's the same for all.

@Watchingbehindmyhands

Any vunerable child should be allowed to be homeschooled if parents wish

This again. Vulnerable children have a right to be educated alongside their non-vulnerable peers in as safe an environment as is possible. Currently, there are next to no mitigation’s taking place in schools and as such, they are not even vaguely safe environments for the vulnerable. Why should vulnerable children be denied an education and cut off from their friendships? We keep talking about rights and mental health so what about the rights and mental health of vulnerable children?

Because no where can be covid free so it doesn’t benefit those that would need to shield anyway to hold others back too

@TheKeatingFive

I genuinely don't think you can remote teach R, Y1 and poss Y2.

Exactly. Obvious to anyone with half a brain cell.

But aren't those exactly the children who are going back in Wales, Scotland and NI?

So the staggered re-opening of schools in these countries recognise that these youngest children find online schooling particularly difficult, and prioritise them for return. That seems sensible.

It is easy to see from the graphs of Covid infection by age from Sept - Dec what will happen if schools return in full with infections as high as they are - even if you assume that 50% of people who have had the vaccine are immune from 3 weeks after they have had it, that really DOESN'T affect the infection rate amongst school children and their parents, nor the vast majority of school staff.

There is no point in a 'full school return' if we rapidly go back to a million children self-isolating as contacts of those who have caught Covid, is here?

@canary1

MarshaBrady0 of course your child would be better learning at school, mine would too. The majority would. Woolf is invested only as a teacher who doesn’t want to go to work, so tries to minimise or dismiss your and most parents’ valid concerns. It’s well documented that there is a wave of depression, self harm and eating disorders due to lockdown. Not to mention that the majority are not learning as well as they would within the energy of a good classroom environment. But Woolf doesn’t mind, as long as she can do zoom classes in her pyjamas bottoms.

What a nasty post.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

What so it's ok to prioritise other children's mental health because that is more of a priority than some children's physical health ? That is still prioritising one above the other.

Rather we could just accept that it doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach and there is many options inbetween those two that means we can open schools safely for everyone involved and in a few months time hopefully with vaccination we will all be on the other side !

Enough is enough.
One term of face to face schooling for kids since last March.
This is a outrage

@HauntedPencil

You can disagree but that doesn't make it right - which is why in three of the four home nations reception year one and year two have been prioritised to go back

Just because YOU are finding it ok, doesn't mean that it's the same for all.

Exactly they are going back so why are people still whinging on about it ! We can't have schools fully opened, we have prioritised those who will benefit the most from in school learning those younger years but still people aren't happy with that !

Why do people say they hope for the same for England? Do they hate children? Are they happy for poor families to remain poor?

I think measuring online learning success by work getting sent in is dangerous. The pains we are going through with our reception and year 2 child to get through their work is not conducive to positive learning. They might be submitting the work but it’s not enjoyable for them, they miss their friends, constantly ask when the virus will go etc. We've been careful to shield them from the significance of it all but kids aren’t daft are they. I appreciate that’s different to older children, but again I worry for those in important year groups. My employer and my husbands have been very unsupportive of home schooling this lockdown, basically saying I can’t home school and will have to use all next years leave or be unpaid. I’m not sure how much longer we can keep this up, it’s a choice between work/pay the bills and home schooling. It’s utterly shit OP and I fully understand you feeling this way. I’m dreading Mondays announcements for England

@MrPickles73

Why do people say they hope for the same for England? Do they hate children? Are they happy for poor families to remain poor?

I think the real difficulty is that if something different happens in England - for example if all pupils of all ages return at once on March 8th - this hugely increases the risk that R goes above 1 (in fact, on current data, it makes it a certainty) and cases of Covid rise exponentially again.

With the immunity conferred by vaccines being imperfect, and with so many of the population not being vaccinated by March 8th, that not only rules out any further re-opening of the economy or further social mixing, but also creates more critical illnesses, numbers in ICU, and deaths.

Watch the BMJ talk on youtube on schools and they give evidence that transmission in primary schools is v low (mostly the teachers). So primary should be able to return after half term as long as teachers and parents socially distance.

Because people are entitled to speak about their experiences and it's absolutely shit for the majority of the rest if primary that might have parents working full time or be vulnerable or be struggling at home for a myriad of reasons and you'd think a parenting site would be a reasonable place to talk about those difficulties, or just have a moan?

@gallbladderpain

Of course schools are essential services, but they are not more essential than healthcare right now and of course its right that we prioritise people's access to healthcare !

That argument doesn’t hold give all the operations on hold and appointments now being remote...what the fuck is the point of protecting the nhs when both my children’s appointments haven’t been running

This time schools should be prioritised above all else. It was a complete joke last time with pubs opening first.

@MrPickles73

Watch the BMJ talk on youtube on schools and they give evidence that transmission in primary schools is v low (mostly the teachers). So primary should be able to return after half term as long as teachers and parents socially distance.

And obviously as long as no parents have any further social contacts, including remaining wfh.

the rise in R from children returning to school is not jus from the mixing in schools. It is, critically, also from the behaviour of adults once children are in school.

Full re-opening of primary will be less risky if coupled with continuing absolutely strict lockdown for everything else, including mandating wfh continuing.

It’s not just about a few more weeks of home learning. It’s about the isolation and missing their friends. My 7 year old has become increasingly withdrawn over the last few days. I have made up my mind that he is going back to school whether Boris opens them up for everyone or not on 8 March. I am lucky that I have that option but not everyone does and that is unfair on so many children. I have a family member who is a teacher and spends a lot of time on social media telling other people why schools should be closed. However, his children are all in school despite the fact that his partner is unemployed. It stinks.

@Bolshybun

I think measuring online learning success by work getting sent in is dangerous. The pains we are going through with our reception and year 2 child to get through their work is not conducive to positive learning. They might be submitting the work but it’s not enjoyable for them, they miss their friends, constantly ask when the virus will go etc. We've been careful to shield them from the significance of it all but kids aren’t daft are they. I appreciate that’s different to older children, but again I worry for those in important year groups. My employer and my husbands have been very unsupportive of home schooling this lockdown, basically saying I can’t home school and will have to use all next years leave or be unpaid. I’m not sure how much longer we can keep this up, it’s a choice between work/pay the bills and home schooling. It’s utterly shit OP and I fully understand you feeling this way. I’m dreading Mondays announcements for England

Exactly the same here - "if you don't feel you can work you should take unpaid leave"

I can't work 7.5 hours a day and homeschool and care for multiple children effectively, we are just about getting by.

@MrPickles73

Why do people say they hope for the same for England? Do they hate children? Are they happy for poor families to remain poor?

Yep MN and most of the UK is seemingly pro the elderly and dogs and fuck all else

8th of March has always been 'at the earliest' with a two week warning as notice.
Never 'schools will be open from the 8th'. Those saying 'they had better be open on the 8th', this has never been promised.

@DalryPlace

8th of March has always been 'at the earliest' with a two week warning as notice. Never 'schools will be open from the 8th'. Those saying 'they had better be open on the 8th', this has never been promised.

Well, yes of course. But people hear what they want to hear.

Exclamation marks go at the end of a sentence! No space required.