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

@Andromache77

In Spain schools have been open since September and throughout the last two waves. Everyone over 6 yo wears a mask (many children under 6 do, especially the 5 yos, but it's not mandatory). It works and no one has suffocated so far. I'm guessing that SEN children don't but since we are no longer allowed inside the premises I can't see them, they are only a few in my DD's mainstream school and they must enter through another door instead of waiting outside in a large courtyard like the rest of children. Windows open, staggered entrance and pick-up times and absolutely no exceptions to mask wearing other than those legally allowed. Secondary education children are one week in one week out (remote learning) to reduce numbers in the classrooms. No teachers infected in our very large school that I know of, and very few groups sent home to quarantine. I dress my DD in extra layers due to the open windows but other than that it's normal school. It can be done, seriously.

Yep. If you have a Govt with a spine!

@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.

Exactly!!!

Why can’t this feeble government protect teachers?

They don't want to. They have spent quite a lot of their time in power briefing the media against teachers. Started with Gove's 'The Blob' rant a decade ago. Continued with the lies about 'battling unions to open schools' last summer.

That's why so many teachers have quit.

In my school it's 85% are taking the test, and almost every kid is wearing a face mask.

But Noble Giraffe is right, it's all about trying to reassure parents that schools 'are safe', not actually about trying to make them safe. Luckily our head teacher's got other ideas and goes well beyond what is asked by the government. I suspect a lot of HT are the same.

They should be wearing masks. I do however think there is a problem with the lateral flow tests. They aren't really "better than nothing" if a positive is more likely to be false than a true positive and if after receiving a positive the student, their family and everyone may have been in contact with has to stay at home for two weeks. Students should be asked to do a PCR test and if that's negative they shouldn't have to stay off school two weeks. If they don't make this a policy soon no one will have the tests.

Why are the U.K. government so pathetic? Make the mask wearing mandatory (subject to the very limited medical exemptions) as in other countries and we wouldn’t have had schools closed so long and missed f2f education.

I have told the school my DD will not be wearing a mask in class.

I have read the literature and all (2!) randomised controlled trials at source - the evidence for masks making any difference is very weak.

My daughter is a child - I will not force her to put something on she does not want to, and has no proven benefits other than being a placebo to some.

Not an anti-vaxxer BTW before I'm accused of that - very pro-vaccine and will take it as soon as offered.

Just an ITU nurse who knows how to read and critique academic evidence. Masks are NO magic bullet.

"To be fair, the tests are arguably worse than useless."

What does this even mean? "Arguably worse than useless"?

They aren't really "better than nothing" if a positive is more likely to be false than a true positive

Happy to be corrected but i'm pretty sure it's false negatives that are the worry, not false positives. It's statistically very unlikely to be a false positive.

If I was a head I’d provide visors for those unable to wear a mask (we do that in the hospital and funnily enough, most people take a mask rather than a visor).

We’ve had no false positives since October with our staff. They’re pretty good. A couple of false negatives but minimal.

There are reports already of bubbles bursting and classes being sent home.

This is so wrong. I can't get why it wasn't made compulsory. Nearly all of the children at my ds's secondary have complied with tests, and masks. Very very few refusals.

The statistics actually do show teachers are safer then other professions. As long as you’re mask wearing, there’s touchpoint cleaning and the majority of people are tested any issues will be picked up.

Happy to be corrected but i'm pretty sure it's false negatives that are the worry, not false positives. It's statistically very unlikely to be a false positive.

False negatives are going to be much more prevalent but because they don't have any immediate visible impact, they're not causing headlines.

The issue with false positives at the moment is that it's rare to get false positives, but it is also rare to get a true positive (due to low infection rates and low accuracy in tests in picking up true positives). So chances of getting a false positive are very low, however if you've got a positive, the chances of it being a false positive are relatively high.

Sending bubbles home is an easy sensible solution

That's to be expected if you make something optional.

My children haven't and will not do LF Tests, they all have strong gag reflexes as in they all gag (as do I) when cleaning their back teeth. But they all know they have to wear their mask while in school unless they are eating or drinking an they are happy to do so.

If schools were safe, everyone would be able to crowd into small rooms with 30 other people

Do you know that has been allowed in places of worship throughout lockdown in England? And Nicola sturgeon has just said 50 people, all from different households can now meet indoors for communal worship, before our children are even back in school. Maybe a belief in God makes you immune .

The statistics actually do show teachers are safer then other professions.

Define 'safer'? Define 'other professions'?

"I have told the school my DD will not be wearing a mask in class."

Your daughter must be primary aged. I would expect a secondary age pupil to be allowed to decide for themselves even when their parent doesn’t agree with them.

Prenatal consent is not needed for 16+ for testing so it's up to the students themselves. The thinking among some of my DCs friends is that they do not want to test because the results give 'false positives' and they will have to isolate unnecessarily. There is lots of rumours and misinformation out there. I also have little confidence that of families continuing with regular testing at home. Oh and just to add to the issue lots of talk of sleepovers and parties already

Do you know that has been allowed in places of worship throughout lockdown in England?

No, crowding into small rooms with 30 other people hasn't been allowed in places of worship throughout lockdown.

Places of worship have to observe social distancing.

@Piggywaspushed

Really? Goodness . Well over 90% at mine!

I don't know if this correlates with the school being in an area where take up for the vaccination has been poor. It's concerning as it is a high risk, inner city area and the school closed early in December due to high volume of Covid cases.

The school mailed out about consent for testing several times, but said only 50% had opted in.

It doesn't matter whether OP is elderly or vulnerable. No one knows how this illness will affect them and we shouldn't be putting people's lives and health in danger unnecessarily. Lots of people are quite selfish OP and I'm sorry you are dealing with this. Is there anything you can do, raise with your managers?