Are schools allowed to shut down classes / year groups if lots have Covid?

[Tuliprain]

My child’s year group are going down like flies at the moment. Just wondered if there is a point when the school is able to close for that class or year group? Or will they just have to keep going?

It's better for kids to be in school with a TA or whoever teaching / supervising then stuck at home.

Many kids (including mine) need routine and socialising with their mates as it's beneficial to their mental health.

You can't keep sending classes home to isolate for a few cases of the sniffles.

@Remmy123 not all TA are able to run a class. It has to be HLTA again there is shortage.

On well we must have a HLTA running our class as teacher is out with covid!

I'd rather this than they all get sent home.

@Remmy123 - honestly there isn't enough. It is a shortage problem at the moment.

[quote beebeebe]@Remmy123 not all TA are able to run a class. It has to be HLTA again there is shortage. [/quote]
Lol. Absolutely cracking up that you think it has to be an HLTA to cover a class. Alrighty then. Clearly you have no clue what is going on in most schools. I can assure you- many schools do not have the money for hlta and have normal TA’s covering.
My kids school had normal TA’s covering in two different classes for a week in September and they had literally only just started working as a TA!

I’m glad scientists have been working non stop to develop vaccines for a mere sniffle @Remmy123

@toomuchlaundry I'm referring to those vaccinated 🙄

What do you expect to happen if there are no staff @Remmy123?

@borntobequiet

Nothing will provide 100% protection against Covid.

Well, of course not. You’d have to be dim to think that anything would. My point wasn’t about limited protection via vaccine - I felt far happier about interacting with students in an educational setting after mine, and even more so after the booster.

What school staff have said all along is that, given vaccines only provide limited protection, other measures should have been put in place, such as:

-Rolling out child vaccination over the summer break
-Installing improved ventilation in schools (such as the portable systems I see in some shops) and guidance emphasising the expectation of good mitigation practice such as regular mask wearing indoors
-Strengthening and improving contact tracing and monitoring in schools, with additional help so that schools aren’t carrying the burden alone
-Reintroducing isolation for contact with persons testing positive
-Proper planning and provision for a rapid move to online learning if required, for all schools, including those in deprived areas that found it challenging in previous lockdowns
-Contingency planning in case of exams being affected again, with clear guidelines and resources from the DFE
-Making sure that school staff are prioritised for vaccinations and boosters

And so on. As per common sense and lessons learned.

For how long? You cannot keep those measures in place permanently.

For how long? You cannot keep those measures in place permanently.
No you can't keep it permanently, but these were the sorts of measures many teachers were talking about when Covid first showed up.
In fact there was dozens of threads where teachers were talking about what would be needed to get schools to run as much as possible, which mitigation measures would be useful, potential pitfalls of some plans and the response on thread after thread after thread were posters piling on saying that lazy teachers wanted to shut the schools down.
Then schools closed to most students and went to remote learning and there were more threads with posters piling on complaining.
And then they opened and there were more threads of posters complaining about how awful and lazy teachers were.

It's almost like some posters were only interested in having business as usual for the whole time and weren't interested in proper planning for the sake of school staff, students, and the wider community.

It will calm down though as immunity builds, a few eeeks ago it was at around 75%

My dc have had covid and I preferred just do that rather than loads of isolation around it for other cases

As have their friends. The school and the area peaked a while back

We didn’t have any classes off

@LolaSmiles

For how long? You cannot keep those measures in place permanently. No you can't keep it permanently, but these were the sorts of measures many teachers were talking about when Covid first showed up. In fact there was dozens of threads where teachers were talking about what would be needed to get schools to run as much as possible, which mitigation measures would be useful, potential pitfalls of some plans and the response on thread after thread after thread were posters piling on saying that lazy teachers wanted to shut the schools down. Then schools closed to most students and went to remote learning and there were more threads with posters piling on complaining. And then they opened and there were more threads of posters complaining about how awful and lazy teachers were.

It's almost like some posters were only interested in having business as usual for the whole time and weren't interested in proper planning for the sake of school staff, students, and the wider community.

Yes, and there have been countless threads on what should have been done differently. It's been nearly 2 years now, what's the point in constantly talking about what should have happened? It didn't, and it won't do at this stage now. People aren't willing to accept that though.

We had 18/30 off in one class. There wasn't any supply teachers available locally that week, so two TAs covered the class!

Currently have at least nine positives in a class, although 21 are off.

Minor adjustments have been made as most classes now have Covid case(s) and these will be reviewed next Monday

@MarshaBradyo

It will calm down though as immunity builds, a few eeeks ago it was at around 75%

My dc have had covid and I preferred just do that rather than loads of isolation around it for other cases

As have their friends. The school and the area peaked a while back

We didn’t have any classes off

Also, posters on MN don't make decisions, the government does. So what posters were saying makes no difference.

Sorry @MarshaBradyo I quoted you by mistake.

Yes, and there have been countless threads on what should have been done differently. It's been nearly 2 years now, what's the point in constantly talking about what should have happened? It didn't, and it won't do at this stage now. People aren't willing to accept that though.

Because many of us want schools to be running in a way that prioritises the health, safety, wellbeing and learning of everyone involved in the school community instead of knee-jerk responses and shitty soundbites. That requires leadership from the people at the top and we aren't getting it.

Each time parents shrug their shoulders, moan about lazy teachers and say put everything back to pre-covid normality asap, they're allowing the government to fail our nation's children.

@LolaSmiles

Yes, and there have been countless threads on what should have been done differently. It's been nearly 2 years now, what's the point in constantly talking about what should have happened? It didn't, and it won't do at this stage now. People aren't willing to accept that though.

Because many of us want schools to be running in a way that prioritises the health, safety, wellbeing and learning of everyone involved in the school community instead of knee-jerk responses and shitty soundbites. That requires leadership from the people at the top and we aren't getting it.

Each time parents shrug their shoulders, moan about lazy teachers and say put everything back to pre-covid normality asap, they're allowing the government to fail our nation's children.

The biggest failing for us was closure

Nothing else has come close, not even getting a covid positive.

It was the isolations and closing to non KW dc that impacted heavily.

They can - our whole school is currently closed and will remain so for another week due to a high number of pupil cases. Not an easy decision for them but one that's been supported by parents. 20% of DSs class have covid and similar in the other classes.

@LolaSmiles

Yes, and there have been countless threads on what should have been done differently. It's been nearly 2 years now, what's the point in constantly talking about what should have happened? It didn't, and it won't do at this stage now. People aren't willing to accept that though.

Because many of us want schools to be running in a way that prioritises the health, safety, wellbeing and learning of everyone involved in the school community instead of knee-jerk responses and shitty soundbites. That requires leadership from the people at the top and we aren't getting it.

Each time parents shrug their shoulders, moan about lazy teachers and say put everything back to pre-covid normality asap, they're allowing the government to fail our nation's children.

My child was failed the moment schools closed.

The biggest failing for us was closure

Nothing else has come close, not even getting a covid positive.

It was the isolations and closing to non KW dc that impacted heavily.

You're not alone in that situation, but I think this is why as parents and schools we need to be vocal and united in pointing out that the reason we ended up in that situation wasn't because schools were useless. It was because the government didn't bother to put appropriate measures in place in schools, and didn't bother to take any action regarding Covid until it was too late.

Wanting a proper strategy so that schools can run effectively, teachers can teach, students can learn and the health, wellbeing and learning of the school community is prioritised should never have been a controversial view. Various astroturf groups and politicians have played a brilliant game in turning parents and schools against each other because it removes the accountability from where it needs to be.

@LolaSmiles

The biggest failing for us was closure

Nothing else has come close, not even getting a covid positive.

It was the isolations and closing to non KW dc that impacted heavily.

You're not alone in that situation, but I think this is why as parents and schools we need to be vocal and united in pointing out that the reason we ended up in that situation wasn't because schools were useless. It was because the government didn't bother to put appropriate measures in place in schools, and didn't bother to take any action regarding Covid until it was too late.

Wanting a proper strategy so that schools can run effectively, teachers can teach, students can learn and the health, wellbeing and learning of the school community is prioritised should never have been a controversial view. Various astroturf groups and politicians have played a brilliant game in turning parents and schools against each other because it removes the accountability from where it needs to be.

I do not want isolation for positive case close contacts though

Do you include that?

I don’t need the dc stopped from getting Covid I need the schools to stop using harmful, to them, measures to slow it down.

Eg any time off

Boosters whatever I don’t care about. We don’t have supply issues if people want them even if they are young fine

There are guidelines for stepping measures up:

5 children, pupils, students or staff, who are likely to have mixed closely, test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period
10% of children, pupils, students or staff who are likely to have mixed closely test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period

Then advice on closure:

for individual settings, on public health advice in extreme cases where other recommended measures have not broken chains of in-setting transmission
across an area, on government advice in order to suppress or manage a dangerous variant and to prevent unsustainable pressure on the NHS

DD2s year group shut for 3 days as it was continuing to spread at a rate. All the siblings were banged out too which was more questionable for me.

MarshaBradyo
I'm willing to be led by what scientists with relevant expertise say regarding isolations. Whether to isolate close contacts should be a decision based on a range of complex, interconnected factors, not whether people do or don't want their child in a classroom (and believe me I would rather have all my students in school in front of me than in and out in dribs and drabs).

Half the issues we've been having in schools is because people think a whole system should be running according to their preferences instead of having an overview of the bigger picture.

@LolaSmiles

MarshaBradyo I'm willing to be led by what scientists with relevant expertise say regarding isolations. Whether to isolate close contacts should be a decision based on a range of complex, interconnected factors, not whether people do or don't want their child in a classroom (and believe me I would rather have all my students in school in front of me than in and out in dribs and drabs).

Half the issues we've been having in schools is because people think a whole system should be running according to their preferences instead of having an overview of the bigger picture.

So you’re happy with the current set up?

No isolation for close contacts

I can’t tell from your post

If schools hadn’t closed how do you think things would have panned out? Bearing in mind schools are struggling now with the majority of adults vaccinated