No school

[chocolatesweets]

There are no supply teachers and my ds is off school.

Last time I checked, they were entitled to an education.

They are but the school can’t magic teachers up from nowhere.

What a desperate situation

Where are they supposed to magic teachers from if there aren’t any available?

Supply is rammed at the moment. It would be illegal to open school without the staff to keep children safe.

Have you listened to yourself? What do you expect them to do if they can’t get staff?

Teachers are also "entitled" to be protected against catching Covid but that seems to have gone out of the window.
How long has your child not been having an education?

Would you rather he go in without adequate supervision? Ffs. Teachers and schools are doing their best.

Well , there you go. This is what happens when the government does nothing to put in measures to try to prevent the spread of covid in schools. As teachers have been saying on MN from the very start, this was inevitable when staff get ill.

I could go into school on supply. I won't because I value my health and that of my family.

What do you want the school to do? Make teachers out of paper mache? Drag in random folk of the street?

Not the schools fault at all. And staff have rights of course they do.

And this is exactly why schools needed mitigations to prevent the spread of covid. If there aren't enough teachers well to stay open, and there's no supply, then schools can't open.
Perhaps all those on mumsnet who like to tell teachers that they have a low risk of catching covid (based on government stats that were shown to be incorrect months ago by actual statisticians) would like to train so they can cover the supply?

Our large LA had not a single primary supply teacher available on multiple days last week and no support staff supply either

But Ofsted are still visiting!

Supply teachers have been poorly paid with inadequate pension provision since the system was privatised. Reap what you sow etc

So what do you think "they" should do?

He should be getting "education" of some sort remotely though.

The year 8s at my local school are off due to a lack of teachers.

Email your MP to ask them why the government has not been willing to put money into keeping schools open, and point out the end result of this is your child missing out on even more school. Why are schools being asked to fund their own air cleaners from govt suppliers when they don't have any money?

I’m a class teacher - off with Covid as are all my chn (one of whom is in my class). 4 other chn (so far) in the class are also off. The person covering me has just had a positive LFT and they can’t get a supply to cover. They’ll probably borrow a TA to cover today but after that - what are they meant to do? My class have no one to teach them. I know it’s irritating but the isolation rules make staffing incredibly difficult and change things last minute

Many parents have no idea, no idea at all, how quickly covid will spread in schools, and the impact this will have on the chances of schools staying open.

Read the current thread bemoaning the cancellation of nativity plays. Covid is making everyone's lives a bloody misery, but those parents who think that schools are some sort of magical places that can keep going on with uninterrupted 'service as usual' have no bloody idea how hard it has been for school staff throughout this mess.

They are fed up their kid will not be a sheep this year? I am sick to me stomach that eight of my family have caught covid in the last six weeks - all of it via contact with cases in school. And I am beside myself with fear of the impact of this on my friend's delayed cancer treatment.

@amillionmenonmars I'm so sorry to read of your friend. It's been really tough on staff, of course it has. The government need to make sure we have an adequate pot of supply staff and pay them correctly.

It's not really just about having more supply staff, or the pay, to be honest. I could work on supply. I will not - even if they double the pay - because I am doing all I can not to get covid. My friend needs me more than any school does.

The issue is not pay. The issue is that schools are not safe, and have never been safe, because the measure teachers and the unions have been crying out for from the start were never put in place.

The government need to make sure we have an adequate pot of supply staff and pay them correctly.

How would that work? Supply staff don't get paid unless they're working. You can't just have a pool of people sitting around without pay waiting for teaching staff to get ill.

I would 100% train if I had help with childcare and funding.

This was always Inevitable and is going to get worse. More schools will close over the winter as more staff get sick. It was completely predictable, and somewhat preventable. Take it up with the government and it’s ‘schools are safe’ bollocks.

My son's home too. I'd rather he was home than insufficiently supervised at school, but I appreciate it's the other way round for some households.

Schools can’t supply source supply for 2 reasons: 1. Supply budgets have already been eaten into and 2. Who in the right mind would want to knowingly go into a school where covid has decimated staffing?

Hopefully you’ll have remote learning provided but it won’t be live lessons and no doubt ‘busy’ work. If teachers are too ill to set work then it’s difficult to set work in their place - we don’t know where teachers are up to in a scheme, the needs of a class etc.

This isn't covid, it's been shitty education policy for years now. The average teacher leaves mainstream education within 5 years of qualifying. Some qualified teachers NEVER teach in a school. There are more leaving (retiring or quoting) than entering. COVID has just brought it to a head.

There also needs to be a certain number of first aid trained staff in a school (can’t remember the ratio) so even if they had enough supply teachers, they may not be able to open safely if not enough are first aiders.

it is desperate. I feel so sorry for the children, and their lost education