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.

@herecomesthsun
Xenia is talking rubbish. Infact, the LA near me have said masks are compulsory (exceptions obviously) and no mask means the child is sent home or spends the day in the Isolation Room. Glad they’re making a stance.

Here do you mean compulsory bar exemptions?

You wouldn’t be able to refuse a student with an exemption I don’t think?

I haven’t read up though so more a question

X post

It is not compulsory for children to wear masks in school. The government have advised them to do so, that is all. It has been made clear that no child will be denied school for non compliance.

yes compulsory bar exemptions.

Apparently a disciplinary matter for the school.

So of course no child will be denied an education.

But the school might want to take a tough line regarding discipline.

Think there are going to be a lot of children off sick. I wear a mask for work. Have tried lots and genuinely feel sick after 5 hours and have to go outside for a break from the mask.
I'm sure they'll be a lot of children who are, the same. I know it's a safety issue as in they want schools as safe as possible, just hope they cope better than me.

@Annabell80 they won't be wearing it for 5 hours solidly they will be allowed to take them off when outside during break times so probably 2hrs Max wearing a mask before they can take it off again. I agree its not ideal but it is necessary

If it's an issue for the length of time they could even introduce an extra short 5 minute break before each class., there are ways around it. I'm sure schools have already looked into it. Would be no good for me if I was at school but then I do have an exemption but I do try and wear one when I can for as long as I am able which isn't long.

@QuidditchQueen

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.

That is why the UK is in such a mess.

"I'm not wearing one unless it's mandatory. " Christ on a fucking bike.

The ignorance, arrogance, and sheer fuckwittery on display there is breathtaking.

Xenia: again: no one is immune to this. It won't just pass you/your kids by if they don't wear one/the govt say you/they don't have to.

Sheer world beating British entitlement exceptionalism! Always think small, short sighted and selfish to do the absolute minimum or even break the rules if not the spirit of the rules based on agreed scientific evidence.

Check your potential Covid footprint! Have some sense of community civic duty of care to others in society. If everyone continues to be selfish - how many more lives and livelihoods lost plus cycles of open and close lockdowns to overwhelm the NHS do you want? You you expect to be treated as you others treat you? If nobody cares about any basic Covid risk mitigation measures do you not think your health privilege and non vulnerability will eventually mean pain and suffering to someone else? Maybe an elderly relative of a pupil or staff member perhaps? If you are "exempt" for diagnosed medical or mental disability then yes you have the fair and reasonable prerogative to abstain but if you can't be bothered or can't stomach a momentary swab then think if all others did that there won't be any preemptive asymptomatic test, track, trace and isolate but eventually someone symptomatic requiring hospitalisation and continued mutating super spreading which will challenge the current administered vaccines. You may be the next Covid victim because the others cannot be bothered to do a little risk mitigation for their and everyone else's health and safety despite 0.1million plus excess fatalities, more possibly with long post Covid syndrome and even more with mild or asymptomatic disease. Not great for the economic recovery to pay for everything like still "free" education and healthcare either! Time to re-examine what you expect from in person schooling and whether there are small steps you can make to make the full reopening sustainable in the longer term.

@GingerScallop ..... bring forward vaccination of soon teachers

I know they do a thankless job but what makes teachers more urgent than Supermarket staff or taxi drivers for example?

Isay this next thing very tongue in cheek....In light of the fact that everyone (government, scientists etc) are saying that children are not spreading the virus so are able to go back to school, surely that means that the teachers are at no greater risk from it, so why do people think teachers should jump the queue?

@QuidditchQueen

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.

This is why the UK is in such a mess. Why, oh why would you refuse to mask up in a classroom?

I know they do a thankless job but what makes teachers more urgent than Supermarket staff or taxi drivers for example?

I'd say the fact that masks and tests are voluntary in schools. In shops and taxis you have to wear masks. (Not a teacher).

It could be solved by making masks and tests mandatory (unless valid medical condition).

I'm not anti mask at all and it seems like one of the easier interventions to live with but people seem to set a lot of store by them. Do they make enough of a difference to justify the strength of feeling in eg ResIpSa's post?

I know they do a thankless job but what makes teachers more urgent than Supermarket staff or taxi drivers for example?

Teachers (especially primary school) are not allowed to wear masks in most circumstances. They are in rooms with 30 little people and other adults for 6+ hrs a day with nothing to protect them except for an open window and soap / hand gel.
Vaccinated teachers would also hopefully keep more classrooms / schools open for more of the time too.

@PosyWella

I know they do a thankless job but what makes teachers more urgent than Supermarket staff or taxi drivers for example?

Teachers (especially primary school) are not allowed to wear masks in most circumstances. They are in rooms with 30 little people and other adults for 6+ hrs a day with nothing to protect them except for an open window and soap / hand gel.
Vaccinated teachers would also hopefully keep more classrooms / schools open for more of the time too.

Well, they are now allowed to wear masks. And plenty of people are in rooms with 30 adults a day without vaccination, so I am afraid teachers are not unique in this. It's crap for all in similar, vulnerable situations, but that's why the lists are done on basis of health needs instead of occupation.

Just because some teachers believe they are in an exceptional situation of risk, doesn't mean that they actually are.

For those who don't want to wear a mask, get a fucking grip and wear one. No they aren't pleasant, and there will be some who are genuinely exempt, but for everyone else, the moral stance is simple: don't be a selfish, inconsiderate arsehole!

[quote Harmonypuss]@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.[/quote]
What happens with kids due to start school though? If they are also deferred a year, then school starting age moves forward a year for the foreseeable.

Exactly, would screw up nursery as they wouldn't be able to accept the next year's babies as there is nowhere for this year's babies to go. Not good for parents who want /need to go back to work.

What happens with kids due to start school though? If they are also deferred a year, then school starting age moves forward a year for the foreseeable.

And what about those start University this year? Will Unis be empty for one year, then receive a double input next year?

@Violetlavenders

What happens with kids due to start school though? If they are also deferred a year, then school starting age moves forward a year for the foreseeable.

And what about those start University this year? Will Unis be empty for one year, then receive a double input next year?

Exactly, this idea would push everyone back a year for ever more. It’s never going to happen.

The ‘everyone repeat the year’ idea has been debated as nauseum on here. There are so many problems with it, I can hardly fathom that some are still beating this drum.

It is quite obviously not going to happen.

Well, since I follow the science, and the scientists, I can cite them here.

"Project Herd Immunity" is what they're calling this. Including Prof Alice Roberts, and the other scientists I follow and take notice of.

Yesterday, Boris Johnson spoke to Andrew Marr saying that scientists had told him schools were very, very, very safe. On this evening’s PM on radio 4, John Edmunds - who is on SAGE - said “over the autumn the most important route of infections into the home was schoolchildren”.
7:22 PM · Jan 4, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

"7 in 10 infections have been from kids contracting covid and passing it to the adults at home. Yet parents are to be fined for *not sending their children into school?" And many of you here support that? The whole thing is utterly fucked up.

The Tories are using their modus operandi on a pandemic: their rules and treatment of those in the welfare system is being applied to a pandemic. They don't *care how many people end up seriously ill or dead from this, they just want their drones back at work, making money for them. They don't give a flying fuck about children, and they certainly don't care about any of you.

It's horrendous. It really is.

There's some very interesting reading here: 22 tweets, some with links in them. twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1364019581971558401

I'm not going to engage further with those who refuse to mask up. No one is immune. No one.

@TheKeatingFive

The ‘everyone repeat the year’ idea has been debated as nauseum on here. There are so many problems with it, I can hardly fathom that some are still beating this drum.

It is quite obviously not going to happen.

Couldn’t agree more on all this

BMJ article about keeping schools safe here www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n524