No more masks in classrooms - hurray!

[TeddingtonTrashbag]

Hurray!
I am a secondary teacher and just hope it really happens.

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/06/exclusive-end-masks-classroom-boris-johnson-defies-unions/

@Toomanymuslins

September and October is two months, actually. I am sure I would get used to it but I don’t feel teaching is as effective with them.

In my year 10 class I had a child with a hearing impairment plus several EAL children. It made life pretty difficult. Obviously, you go along with it and put up with it but I am allowed to think ‘oh good’ about this announcement.

OK two months, the rest of us have been wearing them for much longer.

In my year 10 class I had a child with a hearing impairment plus several EAL children. It made life pretty difficult.

So your class, which you haven't been in, should dictate what everyone else does?

Obviously, you go along with it and put up with it but I am allowed to think ‘oh good’ about this announcement.

And the rest of us are allowed to think that the announcement is a crock of shit and just there to placate the noisy few.

How much longer? As schools went back March 8 and it’s the 9th of May today and there was a two week Easter break there it seems about the same to me?

And fripp you say ‘the rest of us’ as if to show I’m somehow in a minority or one and I’m not. There have been a number of teachers on this thread saying the same as me.

Toomanymuslins

How much longer?

As long as it takes. I know that you weren't there for the covid carousel of pupils missing lessons and how hard it was for everyone.

And fripp you say ‘the rest of us’ as if to show I’m somehow in a minority or one and I’m not.

You may not be "one" but you have yet to prove that you are not a minority.

No you misunderstand me you seem to think you’ve worn a mask a lot longer than I did, but I wore a mask for two months teaching September October 2020, and you have worn yours March 8 to May 9, with two weeks of holiday in there. So not that much different?

We have different experiences and that’s OK. I do agree with you that the carousel was awful. But I have found the whole pandemic teaching horrible. I started ML early because of it.

Toomanymuslins
No you misunderstand me smile you seem to think you’ve worn a mask a lot longer than I did, but I wore a mask for two months teaching September October 2020, and you have worn yours March 8 to May 9, with two weeks of holiday in there. So not that much different?

I have been wearing one since September.

But then I work in a school that values its staff.

@toomanymuslins Are you in a state secondary school in the UK? Whereabouts is your school? I don't know of any state schools who insisted on masks in classrooms last September. As previous posters have already commented, the dfe guidance expressed that they should not be worn in classrooms by students or staff at that time.

And my going on ML means I don’t

It is a dreadful mistake by a government who seem to delight in making dreadful mistakes over and over again.

mrshoho I didn’t see your message, sorry.

Yes, secondary state academy. Lancashire.

Lancashire is where the Indian variant is causing concern, isn't it?

I've been wearing a mask in school since August. Do I win?

Can’t be true, mistress, you must be dead of hypoxia and bacterial lung infections caused by mask wearing by now.

@Mistressinthetulips

I've been wearing a mask in school since August. Do I win?

Nah, nurses, doctorsetc. have been wearing them since march.

But as noble pointed out, its amazing that any are still alive given the issues that they cause.

@Toomanymuslins

mrshoho I didn’t see your message, sorry.

Yes, secondary state academy. Lancashire.

Thanks, that must have caused a stir going against dfe guidelines like that. Even in areas of high local transmission the requirement back in September/October was for masks to be worn in communal areas only.

We started without masks in corridors and only added them after a couple of weeks when it became clear it was completely mad.

I think one local school only added them in corridors once that was mandated during the November lockdown.

If it did I wasn’t aware of it to be honest.

there are state secondary schools in lancs that have enforced masks in class and corridors since september for sure. My local school has forced this all this academic year

Wonder if you were one of my colleagues!

masks will likely go because almost all those who suffer serious infection are vaccinated,

yes some teachers worry - but it's misplaced - if they were at any real risk they'll have been in a priority group

we cannot keep masks just because some teachers can't assess their risk and suffer with health anxiety

Now with vaccines it's not so big deal if people even get covid!

Covid public health thing on the radio today stated - "people of any age can become seriously ill".
So is it the government that cannot assess risk?

Where do you think the breath goes when you wear a mask? It doesn't catch a tiny virus. It goes around the edge. If anything it channels it in more directions and to the sides where other pupils sit. Open the windows and increase circulation. Much more effective than masks.

@GiveMeNovocain

Where do you think the breath goes when you wear a mask? It doesn't catch a tiny virus. It goes around the edge. If anything it channels it in more directions and to the sides where other pupils sit. Open the windows and increase circulation. Much more effective than masks.

That is incorrect. There have been lots of images and videos demonstrating how masks work. They show what you are saying is incorrect.

Do you have any scientific credentials to show that your statements are Infact correct and the published scientists world wide are wrong on masks and their use?

we cannot keep masks just because some teachers can't assess their risk and suffer with health anxiety

If it's "not safe" to be unmasked in the supermarket/ on the train / name your space, it's clearly "not safe" in a classroom.