Keir Starmer backs unions in wanting schools to return safely ⚡⚡⚡

[DumplingsAndStew]

"We'll have to see where the data is, where the science is, but that's what we should be working towards. If that means more testing, if that means Nightingale classrooms, if it means other measures, let's do that because I want to get our kids back into school."

Isn't it great that he agrees with what school staff and unions have been saying for months. That he wants schools to put in place cautious safety measures to enhance safety, so that everyone can return.

news.sky.com/story/amp/covid-19-labour-calls-for-all-schools-in-england-to-reopen-on-8-march-and-for-a-debt-charter-12224393

Everyone I know or work with those conditions have been offered their vaccine. I imagine they are prioritising within that list too. And it's still two weeks until schools go back

Nowhere near all of group 6 have been offered the vaccine yet across the whole country. The vaccine also takes 3 weeks to be effective, which we now don't have before 8th March even if group 6 had all been vaccinated. There are lots of people around in group 6 that you wouldn't even be aware they were in that group unless you knew their medical history.

@Mrsbrownsgargoyle

There will be no safety measures.

Bloody scary isn't it?

When nothing else can open with covid secure measures because they aren't deemed enough to warrant safe opening.

[quote VaVaGloom]**@napody* I'm actually more annoyed with KS for saying we need proper mitigation now (smaller groups), with two weeks to go, when it's impossible, when teachers have been saying so for 10 months, than I would be if he hadn;t said it at all. These measures are not possible with a return date of 8th March. What's the point in saying it?*

In January Starmer called for teachers to be prioritised for vaccination this Feb half term - so he's suggested more to help make school returns safer than the sweet FA the Government have offered...[/quote]
Yes OK you're right, that is something. That would have been more workable than nightingale classrooms with no staff too...although it probably wouldn't have impacted community transmission.
But given the leader of the opposition doesn't have to actually follow through or pay for anything, he could have at least been a VOICE for safer school measures this whole time. Labour voter. Disappointed.

Masks need to be mandated because there will always be a small minority of gung-ho mask hating head teachers who are covert Covid minimisers/deniers and who will discourage or forbid staff and students from wearing masks for their own reasons, which might include power games.

@Watchingbehindmyhands I really don't understand your comment. You asked if I would accept it, I said I have. I have kept my children home when I could have sent them in. I don't understand why this doesn't count, and why it tells you all you need to know about people like me?
Sadly there have always been children unable to attend school for health reasons. And in the past tbh I don't think many people were sadly very interested in that, or what could be done to help them actually attend school. Did you campaign then for better ventilation and infection control in schools to allow them to attend?

I'm hoping they will vaccinate all school staff ASAP then.

Oh and I know it's not the point of this thread, but why can't mps all go back to parliament if school is expected to just go back. This is especially true of secondary school. Which is essentially 1000+ people mingling. It's all illogical to me.

@DumplingsAndStew
I should have said this earlier: this thread was a great idea. 💐

@Viciouslybashed

Oh and I know it's not the point of this thread, but why can't mps all go back to parliament if school is expected to just go back. This is especially true of secondary school. Which is essentially 1000+ people mingling. It's all illogical to me.

Such a good question!

@Viciouslybashed

Oh and I know it's not the point of this thread, but why can't mps all go back to parliament if school is expected to just go back. This is especially true of secondary school. Which is essentially 1000+ people mingling. It's all illogical to me.

That's been a question I e seen asked a lot and I agree it needs to be asked.

Alongside why it isn't safe for a restaurant to open with screened pods, SD and masks.

Why it isn't safe for swimming pools full of chlorine which kills it aren't safe.

I totally get the argument we have to start somewhere. What I don't get is why mitigation's are only expected in some areas.

I'd love someone to ask this to Boris via the presser tomorrow

viciouslybashed, you might want to check out #UsForMPs on Twitter. It's amusing!

I doubt the unions would ever be satisfied tbh.

They will just forever move the goalposts.

@Ilovegreentomatoes

I doubt the unions would ever be satisfied tbh.

Why should any decent person be satisfied with institutions putting workers or the wider public at risk?

@Ilovegreentomatoes

I doubt the unions would ever be satisfied tbh.

This again?? Unions are asking for mitigations to keep its members more safe which will have the knock on effect of making school more safe for children and helping them stay in school without having to worry about bubbles bursting.

If you want to learn about the importance of unions, watch American Factory. It is a real eye opener.

As so many people point out, factory workers are thrown to the dogs : why? No one advocates for them. That is literally the job of the unions. I don't know if MN is anti all unions. Or just anti teachers' unions.

@donkeysjanetdonkeys

viciouslybashed, you might want to check out #UsForMPs on Twitter. It's amusing!

Desmond Swayne is probably a member.

@donkeysjanetdonkeys

If you want to learn about the importance of unions, watch American Factory. It is a real eye opener.

As so many people point out, factory workers are thrown to the dogs : why? No one advocates for them. That is literally the job of the unions. I don't know if MN is anti all unions. Or just anti teachers' unions.

Well they didn't seem anti the doctors unions over their PPE, or the transport ones over the same, or the nursing one or the factory ones who are doing the same.

And everyone I ask if they are when they slate the teaching unions never responds to my questions on the thread.

I'm taking the silence as the answer I suspected in the first place

@HipTightOnions
My 16 Yr old clinically vulnerable d has been vaccinated today.
So you're wrong saying no cv children have been vaccinated

It’s just not going to happen.
I say this as a jaded teacher.

We’ll be shoved back in classrooms and canteens with some handgel, cleaners wiping my classroom door... and breathing in a load of exhaled coronabreath.

I'm not sure it's anti teacher union so much as it's anti teacher.

@Ilovegreentomatoes

I doubt the unions would ever be satisfied tbh.

Are you serious? What a silly comment. School staff want safe working conditions. I don't think the goal posts have ever moved and school staff continue to work throughout.

[quote Theredjellybean]@HipTightOnions
My 16 Yr old clinically vulnerable d has been vaccinated today.
So you're wrong saying no cv children have been vaccinated[/quote]
My 16yo CV ds hasn't.

So it's also wrong to assume most will have 🤷‍♀️

Why is it a silly question? At what point would unions be happy for ALL children to receive some face to face teaching?
Zero covid? All adults over 18 vaccinated? Children on a rota basis? The fact is schools may of been open but a lot of children are not able to attend and so are stuck with home learning which is not a substitute for classroom learning.

And I welcome any safety measures but our children have missed enough and I feel that if they are not all back by the end of march then the year should be repeated. The logistics of this will be hard but if you want children to catch up imo it's the only way.