Schools in England should go back at Easter

[GinAndTonicOnIt]

I'm terrified that full return will result in increased transmissions. This will increase the chance of more mutations. Which increases the chance of a mutant that is resistant to the current vaccines.

Or just back with full wards, and yet another lockdown.

I loathe lockdown. I would give anything to wake up tomorrow and life be back to normal. But it's for this reason I think we should wait that extra bit longer. Get those rates right down and vaccines out, then have a return to school that won't result in another lockdown.....!

AIBU for thinking this? Am I wrong?

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

Of course all teachers want to go back. None of us signed up for online teaching and it’s more fun in schools BUT we don’t want to get long Covid or die The young teachers aren’t really fussed about Covid as they are unlikely to be affected. Those over 40 will often be spinning it to you - the ones I know are desperately worried and don’t want to go back unvaccinated. The stress levels were very high before Christmas. We won’t say that to you though. Honestly , it would be nice for older teachers to have support from parents.

I agree.

I don’t know. This is started to be the topic of conversation with people I see whilst out walking with everyone I am speaking to saying thry think after Easter I do really want DS back but also really want this to ge the last lockdown .

Our local paper said this week that 70 schools in the county have had cases since January with some of them having to close to key workers children as a result. Our ambulances are still struggling apparently .

Ideally to have best chance of no further lockdown I think we need low case numbers, all of groups 1-9 vaccinated plus 3 weeks for immunity to be acquired as this would help protect all teachers and parents over 50 and who are vulnerable . I don’t know when this will be, think I read looking on course to be end of March . DS’s Summer term due to start 19th April so that would be about right in terms of group 1-9 plus 21 days.

However it’s a shit situation and everyone can see that. Most people I have been talking to feel if more go back before Easter it should be early years mostly with occasional face to face to mitigate damage to small extent for other years.

Guess we will find out more next week.

I agree OP. After Easter, otherwise the risk is of loads of time off due to isolation.
I have 4 children, 3 in GCSE years and one at primary. My older children had many weeks off on the autumn term (2 kids had 5 weeks off each,one kid had 4 weeks off). This was due to having to isolate because of being close contacts.
The teaching had been much better when the whole school is at hone rather than just a few out of the class. If it's just a few at home they don't get any home teaching.
If we go back too early rates will rise again in schools just like they did in the autumn terms and education will suffer.

We are so close to the end. We shouldn't screw it up by going back too early.

@Cherrypie32 this is exactly my argument. Years 7, 8 and 9 are the forgotten children. The younger ones have plenty of time to catch up. The ones like your son, not so much.

Totally disagree kids need to be in school. In 2 weeks we will have vaccinated what over 20 million people.

I would also much rather that they wait until after the Easter holidays.

At the speed the government are going with the vaccinations, all over 40s will have been vaccinated by then and be ready to move onto 39-16 year olds.

I would much rather stick this lockdown for a few more weeks than risk another one and more distribution to my children.

I have signed the petition doing the rounds asking to keep schools closed. 60,000 signatures so far.

@FoolsAssassin so say they wait until groups 1-9 are vaccinated. What happens then? As I can bet my life people would then say they need to wait until all adults are vaccinated.

@BettysButtons what's your suggestion then? Never go back? Because if I remember rightly the whole population is facing the same? 🤷‍♀️

I think Primary at least should go back on 8th March. We then have only a few weeks before the Easter holidays which should have a positive impact if rate is increasing too much.

@mummyh2016 then they'll say, all secondary school children vaccinated then it will be all school children. Then they'll say ooh we need to wait intol people have had the booster. 🙄

Of course all teachers want to go back. None of us signed up for online teaching and it’s more fun in schools BUT we don’t want to get long Covid or die The young teachers aren’t really fussed about Covid as they are unlikely to be affected. Those over 40 will often be spinning it to you - the ones I know are desperately worried and don’t want to go back unvaccinated. The stress levels were very high before Christmas. We won’t say that to you though. Honestly , it would be nice for older teachers to have support from parents.
This sounds right to me! I’d also add young teachers / TAs who live with elderly parents or other vulnerable relatives.

We cannot risk losing all the progress made over this lockdown; another one in the summer would be beyond awful. A phased return with exam years and younger primary prioritised would be a good compromise. I say this as a parent of Y7 and Y4
who are unlikely to be prioritised. The Y7 is struggling with lockdown and home learning and is desperate to go back but even he would agree that it would be better to hang on a few weeks to have a more normal summer. Oh, and in common with lots of secondary school kids he has a parent over the age of 50 who has not yet had a vaccine.

[quote supersonicginandtonic]@mummyh2016 then they'll say, all secondary school children vaccinated then it will be all school children. Then they'll say ooh we need to wait intol people have had the booster. 🙄[/quote]
Spot on. How long do these people expect our children to suffer for?

My 12 year old DSD is severely dyslexic. She's dropped massively behind. There is no additional support for her at home. The teachers have even sent her work home on white paper when they know full well she can only read it on yellow 🤷‍♀️

I've got to ask, why aren't they emailing it to you and you printing it onto yellow paper like all the other parents are doing? If that were me, a printer and stack of yellow paper would be the first thing I invested in before tutors. That sounds a bit lame. We all want schools open as soon as possible, but when you read things like this you do wonder how much of the insurmountable problems everyone seems to have really are insurmountable to everyone else.

I disagree. Sadly this virus will be with us forever. A few more weeks will not make a difference in terms of mutation development. The main issue for mutations is global vaccination, which is very difficult. Even though the UK vaccination program is going very well, unless we have fast global vaccination, more mutations are inevitable, and as we've seen, the UK are not willing to shut borders. Children NEED an education, and parents NEED to work to try and rescue the dire situation with the economy, which will cause many more deaths in the long run.

@Wakeupin2022

I think Primary at least should go back on 8th March. We then have only a few weeks before the Easter holidays which should have a positive impact if rate is increasing too much.

Why Primary? Secondary have more catching up to do and less time to do it.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

Of course all teachers want to go back. None of us signed up for online teaching and it’s more fun in schools BUT we don’t want to get long Covid or die The young teachers aren’t really fussed about Covid as they are unlikely to be affected. Those over 40 will often be spinning it to you - the ones I know are desperately worried and don’t want to go back unvaccinated. The stress levels were very high before Christmas. We won’t say that to you though. Honestly , it would be nice for older teachers to have support from parents.

You said yesterday you were in school teaching?

@Cherrypie32

I’m sick of the prioritising of 4-7 year olds. My year 8 son is just as important and another 6 weeks of lessons on Teams and not seeing another kid his own age is going to inflict more damage than a reception age child who’d be playing on the carpet and learning a bit of phonics. His social skills are waning as is his ability to engage in lessons just at the time he should be immersed in these things.

As a parent of a Year 1 and Year 4 child, I can absolutely understand why they might prioritise the younger kids.

Home Learning does not really work at that age. Its not great for my Year 4 but she is able to manage it a whole lot better. Still not comparable to school though.

@bananamonster

Doesn’t really matter what the R rate is at the moment.

Hospitals are still rammed with covid patients. The same number as in the April peak. It has taken 2 months of lockdown for us to reach where we were last April!

We can’t open everything up yet if it means more hospital patients and all operations and treatments being cancelled.

You have a strange definition of rammed. Currently 19,392 patients in hospital. 2535 on ventilation. The NHS has 141,000 beds and 30,000 ventilators - although only enough nurses for the 7000 or so we had before Covid. Peak respiratory season has passed for usual winter pressures. Not my definition of rammed at all.

All the other beds and health services will be 'rammed' soon enough mind if we don't get this country back up and running very soon.

Spot on. How long do these people expect our children to suffer for

The title of the op was very clear. After Easter.

Unless you would rather a third lockdown in May and bubbles bursting all over the place?

Surely the phased approach is getting schools back before other restrictions are lifted? Not it taking months to get the schools back.

Why Primary? Secondary have more catching up to do and less time to do it.

Because primary kids spread it less!

Many high school kids can manage better with home learning.

I think Scotland may have the right idea. Get the older kids back for the practical subjects and do other lessons at home.

*@mummyh2016 then they'll say, all secondary school children vaccinated then it will be all school children. Then they'll say ooh we need to wait intol people have had the booster.

Exactly. Constantly shifting goalposts has made people lose all confidence. Some people won’t be happy until the unlikely event we eradicate Covid entirely.

@WhenSheWasBad

Spot on. How long do these people expect our children to suffer for

The title of the op was very clear. After Easter.

Unless you would rather a third lockdown in May and bubbles bursting all over the place?

In May? Nonsense. The disease its seasonal and will be on the wane we do. Add vaccinations into the mix and May will be a very different picture to now whatever we do.

@WhenSheWasBad

Spot on. How long do these people expect our children to suffer for

The title of the op was very clear. After Easter.

Unless you would rather a third lockdown in May and bubbles bursting all over the place?

You conveniently missed the quote I was replying to. Which stated that people would then want all secondary children to be vaccinated, then all primary school. Then for everyone to have boosters. If you're going to quote what I'm saying then don't quote out of context.