9 out of 20 students in my class are apparently exempt from mask wearing

[Workyticket]

Taught them in a small room with a slit of a window for 1.5 hours

6 of those 9 had chosen not to take a lateral flow test because their Mum said they didn't have to

Schools and colleges are safe though. Apparently

@MyAltAccount

Schools should set up separate classrooms for the anti-maskers and anti-testers. Unsupervised unless a member of staff volunteers to teach them. Give them work to do and monitor them remotely with a camera. Ones who misbehave are sent home. Couple of weeks of this and the numbers will go right down.

If I were a teacher I would refuse to teach in the same room as one of these selfish shits. I bet the union would stand behind me.

The union, despite the ramblings of Lucy and the like, would support you in having reservations against teaching a pupil who has no reason not to mask.

@noblegiraffe

The government are a bunch of fuckwits who didn't want anyone to wear masks in schools anyway (hence the 'review' at Easter) but felt that they had to be seen to be doing something because of the massive infection rates in schools before Christmas that led to them being closed (belatedly) in January.

They're only doing this so they can put on their shiny DfE propaganda videos the 'measures' that are being taken to ensure that schools are safe so send your kids back. They don't actually give a shit if they are safe or not.

And of course they're not safe. They go against everything the general public are told to do to protect themselves against covid. If schools were safe, everyone would be able to crowd into small rooms with 30 other people. What the govt actually means is 'we've decided that it's ok for teachers to have to take that risk and we're not going to put funding into lessening it'. The LFTs are just a last desperate attempt to make the billions spent on Operation Moonshot not a total waste.

Some pupils and some teachers are wearing masks/shields etc now.

What else do you want so that schools are in your opinion 'safe'?

I have read quite a few posts that make me think that nothing will ever make you feel safe. Have you had your vaccine yet (are you CEV/CV/over 56 years old)? That would help increase your feelings of being safe.

We will see if the infection rate soars now that schools have returned with the new measures. We cannot keep closed closed to pupils for ever since the virus will not go away. We have to vaccinate and then treat like any other virus.

Info I can't speak for anyone else on here but I personally will feel 'safe' in a classroom three weeks after my vaccination.
I'm getting a little tired of being lectured by people who, by and large, have much more autonomy over how much risk they personally have to deal with.

I HATE wearing a mask, I’m heavily pregnant and really struggling but I still wear one. If anyone is choosing not to then stay the fuck at home. Don’t send your little non mask wearing snowflake to school.

It is compulsory at my son's academy for the kids to wear a mask, unless there is a medical reason not to, the teachers however aren't wearing them - they can't teach with them on apparently, seems a strange way to encourage the kids to comply!

@willandgrace

It is compulsory at my son's academy for the kids to wear a mask, unless there is a medical reason not to, the teachers however aren't wearing them - they can't teach with them on apparently, seems a strange way to encourage the kids to comply!

It is perfectly easy to teach with a mask on.

@Xenia

...they never make it simple....

So I think no one so far has shown me guidance or a law that says a teenager has to wear a face mask even if not exempt and the government announcement when schools were opened said no child could be denied education because it chose not to put one on.

Once upon a time there were no laws against murder. Most decent people still chose not to murder anyone though. Same with stealing and anybother crime which now has a law against it.

I'm bone tired of selfish people arguing that it's not law so they won't do it

There's no law to say I can't eat ds' chocolate while he's in bed but I won't because it would upset him

Why can't the teens i teach just fucking do it because it will make me more comfortable even if they don't agree with it?

I'll be asking them when I'm back in - I'm on house arrest again. One of the students' dads tested positive Sunday night. He came to school and sat in the front row mask free. Theres about 30cm between me and the front row. He's also positive so I've been sent home. Again. So have the kids in his class.

I have read quite a few posts that make me think that nothing will ever make you feel safe. Have you had your vaccine yet (are you CEV/CV/over 56 years old)? That would help increase your feelings of being safe.

infoinfoinfo how would me being vaccinated make schools safe? It’s not about whether I feel safe (and posters who try to make my threads about whether I’m personally anxious or not are generally very wide of the mark), it’s about whether they are safe. Not just for me, but for all staff, pupils, and the wider school community.

From March we were told that being in enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces in close proximity with large numbers of unmasked people was the least safe thing you could do in terms of covid transmission. Then from September we were told it was fine in schools because the kids were facing forward. Such an obvious lie, and the soaring infection rates in secondary schools demonstrated it was a lie.

The measures that I want to see in secondary schools have been pretty consistent.
Masks (mandatory with obvious exemptions not this optional bodge job)
Funding for ventilation, including outside spaces such as marquees
Proper isolation and testing (PCR) of bubbles (not close contacts) of positives
No fines for CEV families who want to keep their children at home

@Sockwomble

Oh dear. Someone is not coming across as well educated. No wonder teachers have so much to do.

Masks are just a “conform” to policy “ thing . If anyone thinks CV19 killed 100000 people. They are mad. The NHS failed everyone . Treated very few people and allowed hundreds of thousands to go without treatment . A good leader would accept a few thousand might die form CV19 . But why crucify a whole society in a pathetic manner to try and show it might “Help” ? They wont stop the sale of cigarettes etc and they kill way way more . To many excuse made on behalf of these “leader” who just spent £34 billion on a system that will never work. Sage , a organisation that is useless and contracts for millions been handed handed to mates .Billions wiped of our economy .Our borders not protected safely until a few weeks ago . And the public just swallowed it all up like good little people . I am proud we live in a country where people are not forced to wear masks .Respect those not wearing masks . People died in wars to protect this decision .

@lucye1
Are you proud of me for refusing to teach students who aren’t wearing masks? I’m standing up for my rights. I won’t be forced into unsafe conditions! People have fought for me to be safe!!!!!
Respect those who stand up for their rights!!! 😁.

I'm proud of my son for happily wearing his mask (and changing it at lunchtime).

I'm proud of his entire school for respecting their teachers' and each others' safety - their own and that of their familes. They are all wearing masks.

I'm proud of them for taking a scientific interest in the testing and cheerfully participating in it.

I'm proud of the SLT for leading them well.

Do you have children lucy. What age?

What else do you want so that schools are in your opinion 'safe'?
For me I want the same thing I've always wanted: the government to speak with relevant experts, unions, and headteachers to form a coherent strategy.

I don't buy the idea that adults in workplaces have limits on who can be in the office, but it's acceptable to have 32 16 year olds crammed into rooms that are too small.
Given how much is made about the positive effects of ventilation, I'd like every classroom to be well ventilated.

At the moment the government is telling people to socially distance (but not in schools), minimise close contacts (but not in schools), wear masks (but not in schools if you don't feel like it), have well ventilated spaces (but not in classrooms).
Some workplaces have gone on rotas, but schools aren't allowed.

I want schools open with appropriate measures in place instead of gaslighting teachers and families. As Boris put it before he closed schools last time "schools are safe, it's just mixing of people in schools that isn't". In other words they know the current measures aren't enough, but the Tories have a lobby group within pushing for a speedy return to normal asap so the government doesn't care.

It always comes down to government messaging. If it's compulsory/enforced people comply. As soon as the government get wishy washy in their messaging, people don't bother.

In my school it is simply now a uniform rule and enforced indoors, other than in the dining hall, on that unarguable basis.
A fre children are exempt - fewer than 10.
Everyone else has to comply in the sane way they have to tuck in shirts/wear a tie etc.
So there is no argument about the legality.
It is not a legal requirement to tuck in shirts and wear a tie but a school rule they have to follow.
Amazes me schools let it be anything more than that.

Pretty much all the staff think masks are pointless nonsense and only wear them where compulsory /mercifully not in our our staff work rooms/ but we comply because that is the school rule.
All hoping restriction will be lifted at Easter.

[quote Xenia]Teenagers over 16 do not have to wear masks in the classroom although I think they can be required to wear them in corridors etc. Can you point me to the guidance or law which says they must?

I have no skin in this game as my student sons are studying 100% from home but I am just interested in seeing the guidance and seeing the regulations.

Even this very pro mask TES article makes it clear masks in the classroom are a choice for pupils www.tes.com/news/covid-schools-reopening-year-8-only-one-pupil-was-wearing-mask[/quote]
You've posted several times previously about a school governer (possibly not anymore?) and really gone for it on the teacher-bashing front occasionally, so you definitely have an agenda, if not actual skin in the game.

I don't get your preoccupation with the law here either. All the teachers are saying that they know it's the law, but that we think the law should be changed or that more people should respect the guidance.

About being a school governer that should say.

@lucye1 please let us know your background and where your information comes from? I only have the experience of the hospital I work in and your words don’t match my experience but I’m happy to be informed so long as there’s a solid evidence base.

Lucy 🤭

People died in wars yes.

That generation and are now sitting in their houses with no friends or family because of people like you who think that's funny.

Cigarettes kill 100,000 a year do they?

You are honestly deranged. I can't decide if you're a troll or just seriously not OK.

@QuidditchQueen

In my school it is simply now a uniform rule and enforced indoors, other than in the dining hall, on that unarguable basis. A fre children are exempt - fewer than 10. Everyone else has to comply in the sane way they have to tuck in shirts/wear a tie etc. So there is no argument about the legality. It is not a legal requirement to tuck in shirts and wear a tie but a school rule they have to follow. Amazes me schools let it be anything more than that. Pretty much all the staff think masks are pointless nonsense and only wear them where compulsory /mercifully not in our our staff work rooms/ but we comply because that is the school rule. All hoping restriction will be lifted at Easter.

We are the same as you, except we do wear them all the time to set a good example.

For the people saying kids dont have to wear them I'd be interested to see what their schools look like (not OP)

@RootyT00t

Lucy 🤭

People died in wars yes.

That generation and are now sitting in their houses with no friends or family because of people like you who think that's funny.

Cigarettes kill 100,000 a year do they?

You are honestly deranged. I can't decide if you're a troll or just seriously not OK.

Slightly out ..true but officially 77.800 so not too far out .

“Teachers leave our kids alone”. Some of the finest words ever written . And what profession has one of the highest % leaving ? Teachers . Not made like they use to be. For sure .

Good use of the Google there Lucy.

But someone dying of lung cancer doesn't kill anyone else does it? It's their choice to smoke and it affects only them (there are laws on passive smoking, so your no smoking in bars is the equivalent of wearing a mask).

I don't know why I'm trying to speak sense to you mind since I'm one of the ones who according to you get paid for doing nothing

@lucye1

“Teachers leave our kids alone”. Some of the finest words ever written . And what profession has one of the highest % leaving ? Teachers . Not made like they use to be. For sure .

Il give you a clue.

It isn't the kids.

Do you own a mirror?

@lucye1

“Teachers leave our kids alone”. Some of the finest words ever written . And what profession has one of the highest % leaving ? Teachers . Not made like they use to be. For sure .

What do you want from them? I want my children to be educated.