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?

We are never going to achieve zero covid.
Mutations will happen again in the future.
We cannot put education on hold any longer.
Home learning is not a substitute and it's gone on for to long already.

@katieloves
I am a 49 year old asthmatic teacher and live with my 69 year old mum and kids. She has dementia. She is still waiting for her vaccine and I haven't been offered one. Mine is looking to be in the Summer, if I make it that far.

So no, not all school staff with vulnerable relatives or health conditions have been vaccinated. And i'm in school all day in a hotspot with levels higher than most cities. It would be ludicrous to send all 35 of my class back with no mitigation other than my window, again.

@SignsofSpring

We won't be here in June having the same old discussion, this is a seasonal illness, rates are dropping in Europe anyway, even though they have vaccinated almost no-one.

I won't be having this debate in June because I won't be living a locked down life in June, I'm happy to go along with lockdown in the middle of winter to protect the NHS (and Boris's reputation as they mismanaged care homes and hospitals so badly they will probably be prosecuted) but fundamentally not at any other time, and definitely not in June!

Same

[quote phlebasconsidered]@katieloves
I am a 49 year old asthmatic teacher and live with my 69 year old mum and kids. She has dementia. She is still waiting for her vaccine and I haven't been offered one. Mine is looking to be in the Summer, if I make it that far.

So no, not all school staff with vulnerable relatives or health conditions have been vaccinated. And i'm in school all day in a hotspot with levels higher than most cities. It would be ludicrous to send all 35 of my class back with no mitigation other than my window, again.[/quote]
The problem lies with your school then, if you are genuinely vulnerable they shouldn’t force you into that situation.

We cannot put education on hold any longer. Home learning is not a substitute and it's gone on for to long already

Trouble is, if it does around schools again you will have bubbles popping and kids being sent home again for more ..... home learning.

I don’t think we should waste this lockdown. Wait till after Easter and let the numbers get even lower. At least then we’ve got a chance of keeping kids in school over the spring and summer term.

@Fembot123 no, the problem lies with the DFE who decreed that asthmatic teachers are just fine to work. So I have to be in or off unpaid. That's government directive.

I agree that children need to return, and like others feel the years 7,8 and 9 seem to be forgotten and will possibly be the last to return if phased.

Years 8s this year, missed a lot of their first year at secondary last year, it's not just about school my DS and his friends have lost social skills, lost the confidence they had gained from starting to walk to and from school alone. Important parts of growing and maturing.
My DS is an only child, I'm letting him meet a friend outside a couple of times a week as he needs that. Pre half term he was no longer engaging in school work and as a single parent with a full on full time job I have no option but to try and encourage him but ultimately he's left to it and will sit in his room on his iPad all day.
I'm early 50s and have no issues with him going back, I worry more about what this is doing to his mental health than the impact to me if he brought it home.

I completely agree, I cannot see the point in reopening schools for 3 weeks to then have the 2 week (at least) Easter hols. Most of the most vulnerable will have had their 2nd dose by the time schools reopen after Easter and the vaccination effort for everyone else will be so much further along.

Part time school for all.

Each child gets 2 or 3 days at school per week. Small classes, social distancing.

It’s not difficult. They should have done this from last September.

@phlebasconsidered, your mum definitely should have been vaccinated, can you chase this with your GP surgery and/or contact one of the hubs. I don't know how bad your asthma is, but there are conditions which if it is bad enough would also put you up the list I would definitely see if you can get a vaccination, at least the first one. Also, you are a carer, and so should qualify for one that way, my friends who are carers have had one. Contact your GP surgery and explain the situation (do you get carer's allowance or anything like that?)

Your mum definitely definitely should be vaccinated in the next two weeks (and because of the dementia should have been done earlier).

I really would chase this as you are entitled to a vaccine.

Phlebasedconsidered, sorry about your situation. With your Mum have you tried booking on the online system? If not I think you should be able to book hers calling 119. Apologies if I am wrong .

But this is exactly what schools are doing, cv staff are expe ted in when schools return. If the unionds get involved then staff are called lazy andworkshy. Can't win!

[quote phlebasconsidered]@Fembot123 no, the problem lies with the DFE who decreed that asthmatic teachers are just fine to work. So I have to be in or off unpaid. That's government directive.[/quote]
And aren’t you? I thought asthma was reduced from its initial status as a serious co morbidity ages ago. So you were working in September just accepting that you may die??

And agree you should be in group 6 as a carer.

@Fembot123
I answered your question. Teaching staff and support staff are in school covering key worker and vulnerable children on a rota. I don’t think this is unusual but I guess schools all have different approaches. Yours seems to have gone down a different route and you seem to have been shafted.

Anyone who works in a school needs vaccinating before all of the children return.

@Stickytreacle

But this is exactly what schools are doing, cv staff are expe ted in when schools return. If the unionds get involved then staff are called lazy andworkshy. Can't win!

Unless you are support staff and CEV then you’ve been expected in the WHOLE time.

Totally agree, @BogRollBOGOF.

Also, 8 March works as the Easter holidays should break any chains of transmission. If not, then no later than 15 March. Easter to May half term is 7 weeks - too long to try out a continuous return to test the water. Maybe even go for a model with a max of 3 weeks in school, then a week learning at home or a school holiday if at that point, then back to school for same length of time. Govt won't go for that, however as in their minds that could disrupt the economy, with places potentially shutting for the week when parents are at home with their children.

I think teachers, esp over 40, should be vaccinated before the return and shielding parents or others concerned be allowed to keep their kids off without penalty.

@phlebasconsidered you should be able to book your mum in for her vaccine online

Mine is looking to be in the summer, if I make it that far
Slightly dramatic! The aim is to get the over 50s done by end of April so you should receive yours early May either due to your age or profession depending on how the next lot of vaccines are being distributed, if you make that far of course. If your asthma is deemed severe you'll obviously be done sooner rather than later.

Until boris's announcement we do not know how schools will go back anyway.
There is a high chance that it will copy Scotlands model of younger years first anyway and I suspect secondary will be last to go back anyway.

No, children should be back in from Monday. They have given too much already.

[quote BustopherPonsonbyJones]@Fembot123
I answered your question. Teaching staff and support staff are in school covering key worker and vulnerable children on a rota. I don’t think this is unusual but I guess schools all have different approaches. Yours seems to have gone down a different route and you seem to have been shafted.

Anyone who works in a school needs vaccinating before all of the children return.[/quote]
I don’t feel shafted, it’s my job to be in and in I am whilst the teachers teach online, seems a strange use of resources to have actual teachers just sitting there watching the Keyworker children.

In September

• we were going into an unfavourable season (winter)
• everything opened at once including university students travelling around the U.K. and from abroad
• everything else was open and pretty lax
• there were no vaccines

Now

• we are going into a more favourable season
• there are vaccines and the programme is going well
• there are new variants that are more transmissible
• nothing else will be open, there will still be very large restrictions on freedoms meetings and travel
• there is every chance he does open in a staggered way

So no it's not the same - which is my point.

How is bubbles popping and a couple of periods of 2 week home learning any worse than what we have now though? We've sacrificed a LOT of classroom time, people are now arguing for more, on the basis that it might avoid missing another 2 weeks or so at some point in the future. DD hasn't been taught any maths since December. How is the risk of a burst bubble and a 2 week isolation worse than no teaching at all?

I know some schools are doing much better at remote provision, but this is NOT universal. And neither was 'bubbles popping all over the place' last term by the way.

Bubbles weren’t popping all over the place in my school either, secondary. As for my sons primary zero bubbles popped at all.

Yes. I'm the sole breadwinner and I have a mortgage to pay and kids to support. Asthma is a funny one - my trigger is usually colds or viruses but because I haven't been hospitalised overnight in the past two years it is deemed "safe" enough by the DFE. I was told to stay at home in the first lockdown but not thereafter. There are many teachers in this situation.

I have chased the GP for mum and she is due one in the next 10 days - waiting on a centre spot now. I don't get carers allowance but I suppose I should let my GP know I live with mum- it's probably not on my record as she is at a different surgery where she used to live. I didn't think i'd qualify without a carers allowance?