Annoyed that schools weren’t mentioned once in the press conference

[OnceuponaRainbow18]

So masks back in shops and on public transport, where most people are double jabbed and can distance, yet not in secondary schools where majority unvaccinated and unable to distance at all. But don’t fear we can open a window.

@Naughtynovembertree

Yep… walking around school it’s very obvious that there’s many supply teachers in… many kids won’t go into lessons with supply, the supple teachers can’t manage those in the class, or the supply isn’t a specialist so doesn’t know the gcse physics they are covering:

I’ve not taught my year 7s for 5 weeks as someone who teaches year 11 at the same time is ill with covid and I’ve been taken away from year 7s to teach year 11- outside my subject area as well but better than a supply!

There’s so many kids with anxiety atm,the last thing we need is yet more changes in schools. I hope and prey they stay open. Kids have been thrown under a bus during this whole pandemic.

I highly suspect we will get more restrictions this week though-WFH if you can, worry about mandatory vaccinations (I’m double vaccinated but respect the rights of those who are not), suspect bubbles back in schools

We were told on Thursday that schools are back to masks from next week anyway. The dc were a bit "about time too" as it's going through local schools like wildfire.

@Comedycook

Thankfully. I don't want my children's education to be affected anymore by restrictions

@Comedycook In many schools children's education is already badly affected, just you know little about it because absence, tracking and outbreak data is being returned directly by schools to the DfE this time - and the DfE are keeping quiet!

I have schools with as many as 75% of children with COVID; schools with 50% of staff positive too. Education is being delivered by a range of supply and support staff, anybody the school can find. Some schools can't find supply cover at all. Some schools have one teacher teaching three classes remotely, from the corridor. Social times have stopped, gatherings and performances too.
Don't believe that children's education isn't affected - or did you just mean, please don't let them have to be at home?

My supply agency has literally been begging me to work full time, rather than the part time I actually choose to do supply for.
They just don’t have enough people to fill the demand.

I’ve done some extra but I’ll stop completely if they ignore the safety of teachers completely, in the face of an uncontrollable new variant.

If we want to stand any chance at all of slowing the spread of Omicron (so we can get more boosters into people and prepare better) then we need more mitigations in schools .

As schools are operating at the moment, once it gets into a school it'll spread like wildfire and it may well then be too late.

They seem to think that it may evade vaccines. Do we know if people who've been infected with a different variant previously may also have less protection too? Because if so, it could take off very fast if it got into even a single secondary school.

They're not acting fast enough IMO. But they've been resistant to any protections in schools from the start - it's a huge blind spot.

Agree with previous posters schools are already being affected. Our school had two years groups remote learning recently due to 50-75% of kids having it and teachers too. Closed as they didn’t have enough staff.

Agree as well that kids have really been thrown under the buss. My DS in now in year two and hasn’t yet had a full year at school. All the closures and all the lockdowns affect kids and I really hope there’s not more school closures.

All the closures and all the lockdowns affect kids and I really hope there’s not more school closures.

It's been tricky enough staffing schools since September when the isolation rules were relaxed, it's going to be a whole different ball game if it's 10 days isolation for contacts of a positive Omicron case. As much as schools want to stay open, the new isolation rules will mean school closures are almost inevitable.

At the school where I work the 1:1s have been taking the classes.

They seem to think that it may evade vaccines.

It already evades vaccines. I'm double vaccinated, I caught it from my double vaccinated partner, who caught it from his double vaccinated dad.

1:1s have been taking the classes

Which means a child who has 1:1 support, then doesn't have it. Which has a knock on and a knock on and a knock on impact. Completely unfair on the TA too.

Many don't even have properly opening windows.

I can open my windows and have a lot of them. But the sun shines directly in and the children can't see for much of the day. So I have to pull the blinds... which stops the air...

I guess some kind of film could stop the sunlight being such an issue? But is a big old building with BIG windows. I can't see it happening.

@Whinge

All the closures and all the lockdowns affect kids and I really hope there’s not more school closures.

It's been tricky enough staffing schools since September when the isolation rules were relaxed, it's going to be a whole different ball game if it's 10 days isolation for contacts of a positive Omicron case. As much as schools want to stay open, the new isolation rules will mean school closures are almost inevitable.

Oh yes, very good point. If teachers are isolating then staffing becomes so difficult.

And our school has been brilliant with staffing to keep classes open.

It's difficult I see both sides with friends who are teachers and friends with secondary school aged children. In Scotland mask wearing is still a requirement in secondary..... However our numbers are not magically lower than Englands as a result, in fact we have more cases per population rate for children to date and had a much higher spike than England did back in Aug/Sept.

Masks to be beneficial need to be of the correct level and worn correctly, even so the studies into surgical level mask still show with delta it escapes and it still builds up in the surrounding air. If it escapes a mask it can be breathed in by a mask. If the mask gets moist especially its actually easier.

I would much prefer they invested in ventilation which can effectively reduce the risk then a cheap measure which doesn't have much benefit once they spend a significant amount of time in that poorly ventilated area mask or no mask.
Most adults don't wear masks effectively let alone a teenager.

Children especially teenagers seem to be a scape goat throughout the pandemic and the language used is horrendous which does have considerable mental health impact for youngsters.

More should be done on a ventilation perspective as a workplace under the health and safety at work act but let's stop using children as the reason levels are high or blaming them for a highly infectious virus.

@Happyharry2003 You're so lucky to think that, let's hope it's not you on them next x

Schools are covered by local public health.

Ds had masks all day, PE kit on PE days until half term and numbers fell so it became masks only in corridors and communal areas. Numbers are apparently rising again but head said in letter that he's hoping that masks in class won't be required before end of term.

They hang around outside school without masks

And? What’s the problem here?

For weeks now the highest rates of infection in our area have been in the 5 to 17 category and 30 to 49 so yep clearly schools are an issue.

@Northsoutheastwest76

For weeks now the highest rates of infection in our area have been in the 5 to 17 category and 30 to 49 so yep clearly schools are an issue.

Yeo, they even acknowledged the significant transmission in young people during yesterdays briefing, but nothing was said about how to mitigate this. I can't see many people complying with new measures to help reduce the transmission if it's left to carry on spreading freely in schools.

Ffs please not schools again. Am glad they weren’t mentioned.

Please please don’t close them. It will finish off my dcs and many others. Not to mention the parents.

@FutureHope

Ffs please not schools again. Am glad they weren’t mentioned.

Please please don’t close them. It will finish off my dcs and many others. Not to mention the parents.

As a parent I don’t understand this message.

There are measures that could be taken without closing schools. Things like informing close contacts, insist they take a PCR, having masks in communal areas. Better do those things now than things turn to shit in Jan.

It’s a shadow of what happened last year to be honest.

Ffs please not schools again. Am glad they weren’t mentioned.

Ignoring schools won't prevent them from closing.

Discussing schools doesn't just mean whether they should be open or closed. It means considering measures to help reduce the spread and to minimise disruption to learning. A school being open doesn't mean your child is receiving a decent education.

Ignoring schools and putting no measures in place means covid will continue to spread. That's been difficult enough to deal with when isolation rules were relaxed, especially with the shortage of supply staff. But a 10 day isolation for close contacts of those with the omicron variant means schools may have no choice but to close due to lack of staff.

Ffs please not schools again. Am glad they weren’t mentioned.

This doesn't mean they will not close. It's just ignoring the inevitable.

I agree with a previous poster about schools already struggling to maintain staff. I work as a supply teacher and have been busy every day since term started back in September. I'm regularly being asked to do work for multiple schools on the same day and work extra days (I'm part time) as schools desperately try to plug gaps in due to staff isolating, testing or having covid.

The new isolation rules because of this new variant will absolutely lead to schools closing, anyone who thinks it won't has their head very firmly in the sand.

@FutureHope

Ffs please not schools again. Am glad they weren’t mentioned.

Please please don’t close them. It will finish off my dcs and many others. Not to mention the parents.

The problem is, in many schools right now, things are not looking good. The surge we saw in sept / oct in secondary schools is now hitting primary. The are staff absences, supply staff shortages and in some cases (including at my dc's school) half the class and teacher off with covid. Some schools round here have had to move to online teaching this week due to rising cases in children and staff.

There's no protective measures in place for children or staff in schools, except for cracking the windows open 🥶

But, none of this is being acknowledged or publicised by the media. It has all been brushed under the carpet and people are in the dark about the situation,

Our school has never stopped masks in communal areas and has been back in compulsory in lessons since September.

I assumed they all did this

@Willyoujustbequiet

Our school has never stopped masks in communal areas and has been back in compulsory in lessons since September.

I assumed they all did this

No. So my son’s secondary have no masks etc. funnily enough rates have rocketed again in September/October with so many children off.