Schools: anyone else utterly sick of being manipulated by the press?

[Incogweeto]

Just that really. I’m so sick and tired of logging onto the BBC and finding articles every day promoting whatever viewpoint the government currently wants us to believe. At the moment it’s the onslaught of schools are safe/teachers are safe/tests are a game changer. When they were about to close the schools, the narrative was completely different with kids more likely to be index case/variants will kill is all/out of control vectors.

I’m not saying I agree or disagree with any particular viewpoint in any particular article just that I’m SO SICK of being manipulated. It enrages me that they think we are such pathetic sheep that we can’t see what they are doing.

It’s not just schools, it’s every course of action they want us to take or not take. I hate the PR and the manipulation.

[quote StarCat2020]I feel EXACTLY the same
I don't know if this will be helpful to you but if you look at this from page 6 onwards it details "the science" on education.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/963390/S1115_SAGE_80_Minutes.pdf[/quote]
"Differences in school settings and structures and the number of mitigations in place influence the potential for transmission. As with other settings, appropriate mitigations such as ventilation, social distancing and handwashing are important in school settings to reduce transmission."

Still talking about handwashing?
What kind of ventilation and social distancing do they have in mind?

"HSE spot checks in 5000 and inspections in 1000 primary and secondary schools between September and December 2020 identified that around 80% had a good understanding of the guidance and what it means to be “COVID-secure”

Total BS.

I haven't paid for a tv license in about a decade. I can't remember which straw broke the camels back.

It's so reassuring to read other people seeing through this crap. So much of MN seems to have been infiltrated by Us4Them bollocks.

Where are the media exposes of that group? Showing their funding and just how well connected they are and questioning what they are a front for?

Where are the pictures of real classrooms packed full of kids, overflowing bins in classrooms and toilets, the sardonic spot on social comment articles spoofing the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the advice?

Back in September I thought the kids would be plastering videos of their classrooms on tik tok and the like showing up the bs of the spin but sadly they're as apathetic as most of those bbc viewers.

Satisfying thread!

Total BS

What kind of ventilation and social distancing do they have in mind?
Exactly my point, in order to mitigate against transmission in schools there has to be two things which are impossible to have in school classrooms.

Therefore transmission was basically inevitable.

@ChloeDecker

I’ve been very disappointed with the poor questioning from journalists in the live briefings and events such as the Dominic Cummings debacle. Definitely not asking the ‘difficult’ questions and often repeating each other’s questions over and over again.

The Children's minister will be accepting questions posted till midday about the return to school and school safety.

A chance to do better than the journlists.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/4181807-Q-A-with-Vicky-Ford-MP-Childrens-Minister-about-return-to-school-for-all-children

Complete and utterly.

Yes I did get very sick of it last year. I don’t watch, read or listen to the news anymore. I generally get told the main points in conversation anyway... but I refuse to give it any headspace anymore.

@TheHoneyBadger

I haven't paid for a tv license in about a decade. I can't remember which straw broke the camels back.

It's so reassuring to read other people seeing through this crap. So much of MN seems to have been infiltrated by Us4Them bollocks.

Where are the media exposes of that group? Showing their funding and just how well connected they are and questioning what they are a front for?

Where are the pictures of real classrooms packed full of kids, overflowing bins in classrooms and toilets, the sardonic spot on social comment articles spoofing the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the advice?

Back in September I thought the kids would be plastering videos of their classrooms on tik tok and the like showing up the bs of the spin but sadly they're as apathetic as most of those bbc viewers.

Filming in school is banned in most (all?) schools for safeguarding/ staff privacy . Many schools ban phones completely. Putting footage of school on Tiktok would be punished by exclusion! Parents aren’t allowed on the premises

We had an online parents evening last night & it was like political bingo, I got four corners & a line in the first five minutes, the word incredibly was used in nearly every sentence, mandatory too.

After carefully working my way through a number of WHO, scientific and medical articles since the government announcement of a big bang return to school, and seeking the advice of a friend who is an expert in the field, I'm up at 4am thinking about what to do on Monday and feeling very uneasy. Thank you for this thread. I thought I was the only one - or almost.

@MrsMackesy

After carefully working my way through a number of WHO, scientific and medical articles since the government announcement of a big bang return to school, and seeking the advice of a friend who is an expert in the field, I'm up at 4am thinking about what to do on Monday and feeling very uneasy. Thank you for this thread. I thought I was the only one - or almost.

Yes me too, this school reopening is really worrying.

I have tried to keep abreast of the science but can understand the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' having read SAGE's own predictions for this summer

The Times breaking the propaganda lines on education staff and risk? Well only because there’s no rolling back the 8th March return now!

The latest release from the programme includes details on rates in different professions for the first time. Public transport workers were twice as likely to test positive as others, while those working in “education, school, nursery or childcare” had an increased risk of between about 20 per cent and 40 per cent. Those able to work from home were at about a third lower risk than those who had to work outside.

apple.news/AwKUYX7apRmKatZc_uAx6Tw

@Fluffyowl00

I got so sick of the teacher bashing from the BBC (yes even YOU Radio 4) that I cancelled my TV license and have stopped watching/reading/listening to their nonsense. Feel sooo much better, saved myself a fortune and can just watch the Channel 4 news if I really need depressing!

*@Fluffyow100* Sorry, off topic but 'm intrigued!, How are you legally watching Channel 4 news , on any medium, if you have cancelled your TV licence?

according to Moneysavingexpert

You only need a TV licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast or use iPlayer – if you only use other catch-up sites, you don't need one. ... But that doesn't apply to other catch-up services, so the ITV Hub, All 4 and My5 are legal to use without a licence as long as you're not using them to watch live TV.

Whoever said upthread that there's no propaganda, that schools are safe, and that teachers are no more likely than anyone else to be infected... not according to what the BBC website says this morning.

The React study also found some workers were more likely to be infected than others. They included healthcare workers, care home workers and those working in education, nursery or childcare.

As someone already pointed out it's only live tv or iplayer that your tv license pays for.

I simply never watch any bbc stuff unless it finds it's way onto Netflix

I appreciate filming in school is against the rules for kids but so was smoking and truanting when I was at school when I was there and if we'd have had mobiles and internet and anonymous accounts...

What has happened in schools is criminal. They positively encouraged spread in children - herd immunity in those not at danger.
However every day I am learning about more and more pupils who will not be returning on Monday due to long Covid, or still having breathing issues. From December infections and before.
I'm so worried about the long term impacts on children who have been infected. This was not just a flu - it is a whole body inflammatory virus. We KNOW some viruses have long term effects not immediately apparent. Scarlet fever, measles, HPV, chicken pox (shingles). HIV, hepatitis.
We should have been doing everything we can to suppress transmission in schools - not ban those measures that are most effective.
With this new variant, who knows what wl happen?

@EnemyOfEducationNo1

What has happened in schools is criminal. They positively encouraged spread in children - herd immunity in those not at danger. However every day I am learning about more and more pupils who will not be returning on Monday due to long Covid, or still having breathing issues. From December infections and before. I'm so worried about the long term impacts on children who have been infected. This was not just a flu - it is a whole body inflammatory virus. We KNOW some viruses have long term effects not immediately apparent. Scarlet fever, measles, HPV, chicken pox (shingles). HIV, hepatitis. We should have been doing everything we can to suppress transmission in schools - not ban those measures that are most effective. With this new variant, who knows what wl happen?

I think the reckless attitude towards children has been awful, yes. The willingness to push them forwards to catch it - and therefore be experimental subjects - has really shocked me.

Yesterday I organised my classroom to accommodate 2 new pupils. I now have 36 kids. Some are 3 to a desk. All 36 will use two toilet cubicles. By break they will be swimming in wee and loo roll. But I do have a window. So Covid safe!

BBC? Real schools are over here! (Waves.. waits...)

What has happened in schools is criminal. They positively encouraged spread in children - herd immunity in those not at danger.
However every day I am learning about more and more pupils who will not be returning on Monday due to long Covid, or still having breathing issues. From December infections and before
I'm so worried about the long term impacts on children who have been infected. This was not just a flu - it is a whole body inflammatory virus. We KNOW some viruses have long term effects not immediately apparent. Scarlet fever, measles, HPV, chicken pox (shingles). HIV, hepatitis.
We should have been doing everything we can to suppress transmission in schools - not ban those measures that are most effective
With this new variant, who knows what wl happen?

Well said. There is also PIMS. I just don't understand why they aren't doing everything they can to avoid this in children. www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-children-hospitals-intensive-care-pims-b1796419.html

Well I do understand, they're the 1%, they don't care if normal people, including children, get ill or die. They simply do not care, as long as it doesn't impact their wealth.

With PIMS yes only a small proportion of children are affected but a small percentage of a very high number (of total infections) is still absolutely a reasonably high number of kids. Who would likely have not been sick with safety measures in schools recommended by WHO.

We know herd immunity doesn't work - aiming for herd immunity (as they've done in state schools) results in the spread of new variants. This has already happened once.

@phlebasconsidered

That sounds appalling. Even in non pandemic times 36 in a class is insane. Especially with only 2 toilets.

Take a photo and send to a broadsheet or journalist anonymously? George Monbiot? He's been one of a very few journalists resisting government lies and propoganda.

@phlebasconsidered

Yesterday I organised my classroom to accommodate 2 new pupils. I now have 36 kids. Some are 3 to a desk. All 36 will use two toilet cubicles. By break they will be swimming in wee and loo roll. But I do have a window. So Covid safe!

BBC? Real schools are over here! (Waves.. waits...)

The whole of year 8 are using 4 cubicles in a line in a sort of dead end corridor with no window. There are 240 of them. The bins are understandably constantly overflowing with paper towels etc. In that block there is one toilet for teachers to use with 8 teachers, however many tas are there and people working in the office too.

The kids are all in the same zone and faux bubble but teachers and staff moving around. I dread to think how many teachers use that toilet in a day.

Honey Badger. Almost identical situation in my school.
In my kids school year have their own loos but then after that there are 4 loos (2 boys and 2 girls) for every 2 year groups, 2 classes in each. So that's 4 toilets for 120 primary aged kids

[quote BunsyGirl]@ChloeDecker As a parent I (selfishly) want teachers to be vaccinated to help keep schools open. However, I completely understand that the U.K. vaccination programme has been designed to mimimise risk of death and hospitalisation. I therefore support it for the greater good of the country as a whole. The US health system has never put the country as a whole first so I feel that comparisons with it are completely pointless. Age and vulnerability are the biggest risk factors for Covid.[/quote]
I've worked at a Preshool setting throughout and also as a Nanny, I've questioned this from the beginning, instead reading up on the governments ons site. For a vaccine that has total impunity from lawsuits and a distrust of the media (Tony Bliar on Afghanistan) loss of freedoms. I'd rather not get the vaccine. Am presently being coerced into testing and getting a vaccine that I'm unhappy to have.

Same here with us @TheHoneyBadger.

Due to zones all 7 years groups share 3 toilet cubicles each. For 250 of them.

As female staff we share 2.

Make me every of staff share 1. Yes, 1!

Needless to say, just a cut sully trying to have a wee in the day is a ball ache.