Should schools close again?

[FuckinGoddess]

I’m at the end of my tether.

Worried about Omicron, of course, and the devastating effects it could have on lives.

Worried about children missing out on even more education. Worried about being forced to stay at home again. And worried about people dying.

What do you think will happen? What should happen ?

@TheKeatingFive

Actually no that's not quite right the vulnerable children are children known to the school to be vulnerable so there has been school intervention or sometimrs social services.

And you can guarantee you've clocked them all, or that no new problems will emerge in pressurised times?

C'mon now.

No you can't that's what I was saying to the previous poster the children identified as vulnerable got a school place but there would have been many more that were who hadn't been that's why school should not close again

You are saying that bo child will come to harm through a short closure? Really? I am saying that a short closure that arises vecause nobody can be bothered to put in the effort to prevent it is appalling. Being ‘taught’ by a lunchtime supervisor for days of non-lessons is appalling. Having a succession of short term supply teachers who don’t know enough about a vulnerable child to keep them safe is appalling. What are we all going to do about it, to keep children safe and well in schools with safe and well adults?

You are saying that bo child will come to harm through a short closure? Really?

I categorically never said that. Please tell me you aren't a teacher with that level of reading comprehension.

Short and limited closures, while regrettable are not even comparable with nation wide lockdown measures in schools.

@TheKeatingFive

these vulnerable children were, in the main, accommodated throughout the lockdowns

You keep telling yourself that

Yes, it is rather a cope isn't it.

We have no fucking idea whether at risk children were in the main in school during closures, and as such it was an inappropriate claim to make. It's perfectly possible to argue that we should prioritise avoiding ad hoc closures now, without engaging in this kind of pretence.

Because we are all agreed that children should be in school taught by their permanent teachers - but that assertion isn’t enough. We need concrete actions, and proper funding, and we need it fast.

but there would have been many more that were who hadn't been that's why school should not close again

Okay, we agree

I did not say that lockdowns were better than short term closures - you know that. Vulnerable children are all safer in school, so schools must be kept open and staffed by adults who know the children. That’s been agreed.

Now - how are we going to do that?

No. There can be no justification for doing that again. And if it does happen and anyone is organising a massive protest/ riot let me know.

The thing is, a ‘short and limited closure’ for a specific child might actually be their pastoral care contact not being available - through absence or through being required to cover- for weeks or months.

The fact that isn’t ‘national’ does not in any way mitigate that harm. Reducing the likelihood of a teacher becoming ill, or be asked to cover instead of doing their job, DOES mitigate the potential harm, and that is what we should be focusing on.

@FuckinGoddess

I’m at the end of my tether.

Worried about Omicron, of course, and the devastating effects it could have on lives.

Worried about children missing out on even more education. Worried about being forced to stay at home again. And worried about people dying.

What do you think will happen? What should happen ?

No, schools should be the absolute last thing to close and only if completely necessary.

I'd expect other measures to come in first like mandated working from home etc.

@RedHot22

No. There’s loads of Covid in schools, they get tested, stay off for 10days if positive and then go back. Nothing has changed.

I actually think they should only stay off if too sick to go to school, regardless of whether they’re positive or not

That second paragraph is unbelievable.

You’d better believe that in future, this will be the case.

No schools shouldn't shut, not least because they are such an important part of child safeguarding.

Surely, thing to consider is working parents. There are no keyworkers and no forlough anymore, everyone is back at work, so huge % of working population would just not go to work?

Hell, no.

Fuxake no. That would send me over the edge. Seriously.

@kingat

Surely, thing to consider is working parents. There are no keyworkers and no forlough anymore, everyone is back at work, so huge % of working population would just not go to work?

Working parents is why it won't happen again. The reduction in R rate and contacts during the last closures were achieved on the back of a furlough programme paying millions of parents to look after their kids at home. Not all of course, plenty had to work and do childcare simultaneously, or farm their kids out to whoever would have them. But enough

We have all agreed - schools shouldn't shut.

HOWEVER, there are so few effective mitigations in schools at the moment (ventilate if you can, which is only possible in some schools, is the only one for primaries, for example), that some schools will shut, and many children and teachers are absent, through Covid spreading like wildfire.

What are we going to do about it? We all agree that schools should stay open - so what are we all going to do to make certain that they all do, all of the time, with the proper teachers in front of their classes and as many children in school as possible?

@Malteser71

At least the teachers would get a long Christmas break. They are on their knees apparently. Might help them get up.

I work in the NHS, in case you want examples of ‘on knees’

Not front-line, face-to-face, I hope? If so, you need to work on your bedside manner.

Absolutely fucking not!!!!!!

This is the thing, though: it doesn’t make sense to put in place many mitigations.

Not unless you’re serious about it. But if you are, you suddenly realise the mitigations also have to be serious. Because if they’re not, they don’t do much. And that’s when you end up in school closure, lockdown or furlough territory.

Uncomfortable as it may be, it’s better to sit tight and wait for more information before deciding to strengthen (or weaken) measures.

The common sense view is to do whatever little extra you can. But it really doesn’t achieve much. So effectively it’s a gamble on Om being benign whether you do nothing or a little.

Pretty much everywhere right now is gambling on it being benign — a few token measures aside. It’ll be negative information, or possibly popular pressure, that tips things. Hoping like he’ll it’s not the latter though — that would be devastating for the kids and everyone else alike.

Well both dds said no one bothered with their masks today?
So... If omicron gets a foothold in a school what will happen?
I can't see the problem with simply extending the Xmas holidays for this by two weeks. One week either side. The last week of term is usually Christmas stuff anyway. The first week is different and usually inset days anyway.

I can't see it being popular pressure. There really has been a sea change in attitudes in the last 12 months. Christmas 2020, there were a fair number of parents who wanted school closures. That population isn't there to the same extent now.

I can't do it again. I worked so hard during the first two lockdowns to keep my children educated, but I can't do it again, I've just got nothing left in me.

The last week of term is usually Christmas stuff anyway. The first week is different and usually inset days anyway.
Secondary here. We don't do Christmas stuff and we used all our inset days testing in September. We've now got to do that again in January.
I don't want to go back to remote teaching but if we can't keep it out of school then that's what will happen when we run out of staff.