In two weeks pupils can safely return to school..

[Regulus]

..can they fuck.

There maybe plenty of reasons why they have too but to lie that it's safe is deplorable.

@MmeLaraque yes it will help some kids with SEN sending them to school. This is the only chance some parents get a break so they can function and in some cases get some sleep. It's not like having a toddler who naps or a baby where there's light at the end of the tunnel. You try managing a child or even 2 children or more with complex issues and being able to restrain them safely on 4 hours or less sleep. Your more prone to making mistakes. I had my finger broken because I wasn't alert enough to restrain my son properly and made a mistake. Not to mention by the time he goes back he's likely to be 3 weeks behind if he keeps going the way he's going, and thats not through lack of trying. It might not be completely safe for them to return but it's safer than their parents not getting a break so they are able to cope with them better. Believe me I know theres risks because if I get it I'm unlikely to survive it at present. But the risks of them not going back with an overtired mum making stupid mistakes especially with complex issues is far worse. Johnson hasn't persuaded me it's safe or OK it's just what needs to happen for some families at least.

Although I do think families that wish to continue as they are as they don't think the risks are worth it should be given the right to choose providing the kids are engaging with the work.

Well keep your at home then. Let other people get an education if they want.

@wasthataburp if that was aimed at me wasn't referring to myself but what another poster wrote lol

No.I think myself that we will look back in 5 years' time and say that we should never had schools open like this, We will say, what were we thinking. It was obvious, we will say, that it was a pandemic of a respiratory disease and that 30 people should not have been put in a room together to breathe over each other.

There will be detailed analysis of the figures to take into account confounding factors like social background and deprivation and BAME etc. People will do PhDs on this.

Workers like cleaners are likely to be vulnerable on a number of counts in their work and home lives, and being a HCP in a pandemic is a bit risky even with PPE. I think teachers do have risk factors for covid around the overcrowded and under-mitigated nature of their jobs, and this is a bit disguised because they are probably less risky in other areas of their lives.

I think we will see more about this in the future. It may ultimately lead to some positive changes in the field of education, who knows. It might lead to measures that will make things safer in schools in terms of infection control in the future. We can only hope.

(I'm not a teacher by the way)

It’s safe for them OP and they need their lives back. They’ve been isolated from society completely since week before Xmas. How long should they be stuck at home with NO social contact in your opinion?

sorry I think I must have put that on the wrong thread!

@Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum

The REACT study found levels of infection are being halved every 14.6 days. If the rate continues, the UK can expect to reach 1,000 cases a day by the second week of April.

Public Health England has a "high degree of confidence thatthe vaccineswill work against variants", including the Bristol variant of concern.

*Between the above and the vaccination program doing so well. Plus all the marvellous of new results from vaccine research. How is it not right to start returning to normal.

So long as we take the slow care pace that is planned the benefits out weigh the risks. Nothing apart from schools will open before group 9 are nearly finished. This is the right thing to do and the right time to do it*

Well that rate won't continue if we open schools, will it? That was why some people have been so concerned about the kids going back, especially in secondary.

All those comments "so don't send your kids then" are plain dumb. One of the problems is that it's not a choice. It's mandatory and if parents don't send their kids to school they face fines or worse.

"Don't publicly comment on things you have no idea about" is a good rule to stick to in life.

@herecomesthsun No it definitely is very unlikely to stay at that rate. Which is basically what was said at the briefing. However we have wiggle room to open. In the sense that a slight slowing down won't hinder us to much.

We are now at 10k rolling average for cases and 400 rolling average for deaths. Most places cases are the same place they were end of September. Several days left for figures to drop further.

Unlike September the kids are going back with masks and a larger percentage of teachers with some immunity (some are vaccinated already or have had covid). Also a lot of the kids now have some immunity because they had covid before.

I would say add that we have better testing and not opening up anything else until April. We should be ok.

@JonSnowIsALoser

All those comments "so don't send your kids then" are plain dumb. One of the problems is that it's not a choice. It's mandatory and if parents don't send their kids to school they face fines or worse.

"Don't publicly comment on things you have no idea about" is a good rule to stick to in life.

Those comments are aimed almost entirely at the members of ‘grassroots’ parents groups such is Us4Them who spent most of the summer telling people with vulnerable household members to just ‘not send your child in’ if you’re that bothered. Keeping them off school wasn’t that simple then and would also have incurred fines, but it didn’t stop lots of them repeating it when anyone had a worry.

Now Us4Them types are having to send their child in with a mask on and aren’t too pleased, people are using the same language that was hurled at them the previous year.

People can publicly comment on what they like on a public forum such as this :)

@1WayOrAnother2 "Just that in sending them back to school we are accepting a risk for the people most dear to us. Some of us will regret this in the worse ways possible."

My dearest have been vaccinated and we don't see anyone else. The kids go to school, we come home. In lockdown we're just at home. Our families live hundreds of miles away. Our poor kids see no family and no friends because there is no rule that will allow them to socialise until the 8th March when they can run about with their friends.

Not only that, my dearest are really worried about the children and us - it's been bloody awful working and having them at home. They'd take the risk.

Thirdly, tell that to the people already taking the mick having relatives round and socialising every day. That's where the real risk and mixing is.

How they are not having to send children in with a mask on.

Secondary school children are entitled to refuse masks and CV19 tests and must be allowed into school without either.

"Children are not under any obligation to wear face masks, the Government said on Wednesday night, telling schools not to send pupils home if they refuse to wear one.

While masks and regular Covid tests are strongly encouraged, they are not legal requirements and pupils should not be "denied education" as a result of non-compliance, officials said.

This week, Boris Johnson announced that secondary school students will have to wear masks in the classroom when they return if it is not possible for them to keep two metres apart.

Pupils are also being asked to take four lateral flow tests during the first two weeks of school, three of which will take place at school and one at home. After that, they will be asked to take two tests per week at home and report the results to their teachers.

But ministers have said both these measures are voluntary and pupils must not be kicked out of classes if they refuse."

"Johnson didn't persuade me it was OK. The fact that Covid is barely a threat to children persuaded me it was OK."

Children can contract this, transmit it and die of it. Schools are a high vector of transmission. So you're okay with that, provided it's not you on a ventilator? That's what you're saying.

@MmeLaraque .... I'm with you there!

Leave schools closed until September. Completely scrap the 2020-21 academic year and start again.

Yes, it would mean everyone's education is getting put back by a year but there are other countries who test students in the summer and if they don't meet specific standards they are held back to resit the year. If we do this just for this one year at least the kids will be able to catch up rather than those who should be doing GCSEs/A levels having "qualifications" that aren't properly trusted by society.

Another plus to this solution would be that everyone will have had their vaccinations come September so parents shouldn't be worrying about whether it's safe or not to send the kids back into school.

@Xenia

How they are not having to send children in with a mask on.

Secondary school children are entitled to refuse masks and CV19 tests and must be allowed into school without either.

"Children are not under any obligation to wear face masks, the Government said on Wednesday night, telling schools not to send pupils home if they refuse to wear one.

While masks and regular Covid tests are strongly encouraged, they are not legal requirements and pupils should not be "denied education" as a result of non-compliance, officials said.

This week, Boris Johnson announced that secondary school students will have to wear masks in the classroom when they return if it is not possible for them to keep two metres apart.

Pupils are also being asked to take four lateral flow tests during the first two weeks of school, three of which will take place at school and one at home. After that, they will be asked to take two tests per week at home and report the results to their teachers.

But ministers have said both these measures are voluntary and pupils must not be kicked out of classes if they refuse."

"Officials believe the wearing of masks should be treated like any other disciplinary issue and that it is up to schools to decide how to implement their own behaviour codes, but students should not miss out on learning as a punishment for not wearing a mask."

If it is disciplinary, then I am delighted that my DC's secondary school takes discipline extremely seriously . I would be very surprised if they get away without wearing masks.

After all, schools can take a very stern line just on uniform, can't they, and this is a similar issue but with a Health and Safety aspect.

If the government has negotiated this with the unions to go back, then I imagine this will be enforced.

Alternatively, we could just go back after Easter, couldn't we? when the numbers would have gone down and it would be safer.

It's really such a difficult debate.
@Harmonypuss, it's not just about academic achievement though is it? Poor mental health of kids due to loss of socialization will also have immediate and long-term impacts as will poor mental health of overstressed parents. A combination of the two - something many are already experiencing - will be catastrophic. And think of some parents whose children need special support e.g. SEN kids.
Perhaps a compromise of sorts should be to bring forward the vaccination of soon teachers.

Read this. Plenty more evidence from Israeli and European countries that you will find by Googling. Research and learn the truth. Don't believe what some click bait headlines say or what some random person on the internet says.

www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n521

Your kids are in more danger the longer school is closed. Even if you don't realise it now. Lockdown for kids should only ever be a last resort and a short term solution.

I would like my kids to be back at school for a number of reasons. However, I certainly don't think they are in any danger and they are able to do learning at home. And the BMJ article is inaccurate on a number of counts (to which I'll return at a more civilised hour).

@herecomesthsun

I would like my kids to be back at school for a number of reasons. However, I certainly don't think they are in any danger and they are able to do learning at home. And the BMJ article is inaccurate on a number of counts (to which I'll return at a more civilised hour).

Plenty of research out there from all over the world. Deaths, hospitalisations, even the early findings from long covid all say kids are not in much danger. So many more things that are dangerous for them. Yet we live with that.

I want my children to be living their lifes. Not hiding in the shadows from something that isn't about them. Time is right to just crack on with it.

Cases are still high (1 in 115 from the last ONS survey). If we don't want cases spreading in schools, then we should be insisting that all children get tested and also that all children wear face masks before they go back. Otherwise, we should wait till after Easter (when parents and teachers over 50 and the clinically vulnerable) have all been vaccinated. It isn't long.

It really isn't to children's advantage to have the South African variant spreading round the country and creating problems over the summer - they need their teachers, parents and families (many of whom are still unvaccinated and vulnerable to covid), they need healthcare to be there if they have an accident, they no doubt want to go on holiday. They need to be out of all this and it really isn't long to wait till Easter for cases to have fallen lower.

They are at more risk from the effects of a resurgence of the virus spoiling things for them in this way than they are from masks. No one wants a more infectious & virulent form of this virus to be taking hold.

We should either be testing everyone in schools, and allowing schools to insist on masks, or we should be giving schools these few extra weeks for the numbers to have fallen that crucial bit more.

It is so close to being right and we need to nail this

@MmeLaraque

"Johnson didn't persuade me it was OK. The fact that Covid is barely a threat to children persuaded me it was OK."

Children can contract this, transmit it and die of it. Schools are a high vector of transmission. So you're okay with that, provided it's not you on a ventilator? That's what you're saying.

How many children have died of it?

Yep, happy to take the chance thanks. And I work in a high risk environment as well so I'm at just as much risk of catching it at work. Again, happy to take the chance.

As for thinking schools should stay closed until September - talk about not living in thr real world.

But ministers have said both these measures are voluntary and pupils must not be kicked out of classes if they refuse."
Thank you for this @Xenia
I will not be actively enforcing mask wearing in my classroom and won’t wear one myself unless it is mandatory.

Did Xenia get this idea about masks not being enforceable from the Telegraph? As I can't see it anywhere else and the BBC and TES seem to think masks are compulsory.

Presumably, the SLT at any school would have a line to take on this?