Department for Education has refused to plan, fund and implement a multi-layered, scientifically recognised covid mitigation strategy for schools.

[Zotter]

I have not seen - may have missed it - much coverage on the government failing to offer a mitigation strategy for levels of CoVid in schools. Other countries have done so but not England. A good, short article on this and the repercussions of not doing so.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/education/safety-in-schools-and-covid/

We have a CO2 meter for each classroom.

Despite the 'elf n safety' consultant we pay doing a walk through declaring that all classrooms have adequate ventilation my CO2 meter is constantly on red if the kids are in the room.

I have a small room, 30 y6 and 2 windows, right next to each other that only open at the very bottom by about 14cm.

No wonder that as soon as we got a case recently it ripped through leaving half my class off, me off, the supply teacher and TA off all at the same time.

Parents got one letter saying that there had been a case identified in the class. That's all.

My colleague has just returned from a mission in a UK school ( we are in France). It was incredible to see how each country deals so differently with covid in the classroom.
Our students - and us- have worn masks since the return to school in June ‘20. Since then the schools closed for only one week ( primary). It is heating up now but measures are strict. I had a positive covid case announced on Thursday night, parents were contacted and told their child would not be admitted to class without a negative test. Any more cases this weekend and the class will close.
For me, masks are key. I can’t believe teachers are used as cannon fodder like this.

So why not make that argument? If you genuinely believe the reality of ‘blended learning’ is best, then make a case for it. If you instead try to brush it under the rug with rhetoric and platitudes, then you’re not going to get support for it and you’re still going to be here in five years time going “why didn’t anyone support us when we argued that we should fundamentally reduce face to face education and gave no argument for this beyond But The Virus Doesn’t Care If You Don’t Like It?”

@DrMadelineMaxwell

We have a CO2 meter for each classroom.

Despite the 'elf n safety' consultant we pay doing a walk through declaring that all classrooms have adequate ventilation my CO2 meter is constantly on red if the kids are in the room.

I have a small room, 30 y6 and 2 windows, right next to each other that only open at the very bottom by about 14cm.

No wonder that as soon as we got a case recently it ripped through leaving half my class off, me off, the supply teacher and TA off all at the same time.

Parents got one letter saying that there had been a case identified in the class. That's all.

Parents are really not being kept informed and I really think many have no idea what is going on in schools.
I have been the supply teacher teaching half a class as the rest of the children and staff are at home with covid. I have finished a day teaching (covering staff with covid) to be told that they have to close the class for the rest of the week due to rising numbers. On occasion there have been 2 members of staff out with covid, but I am the only additional staff booked to cover, so we've had to make do with people popping in to help.
I am asked to show my negative LFT result to the headteachers, but never told that I am covering staff off due to covid and there are rising numbers in the class - I usually find out the details from the TA...
If I fall ill it is likely I won't be paid anything. If I'm lucky I can get SSP.
I have young children in primary school and some classes have been badly affected by covid, but there has been little communication. Our nativities and Christmas theatre trips have been cancelled though 😞

This.

What people also seem to fail to realise is that by the "schools must stay open whatever but we won't do anything to help" is that by that they are excluding and putting at risk vulnerable children too, children who are clinically vulnerable, and who are young carers to people who are clinically vulnerable.

I would say that the government must think we're stupid to fall for their "schools are safe" propaganda etc. Unfortunately it looks like a large proportion of MN at least has swallowed it hook line and sinker.

That was meant to quote @thecatfromjapan 's post from the first page.

@GoldenOmber

So why not make that argument? If you genuinely believe the reality of ‘blended learning’ is best, then make a case for it. If you instead try to brush it under the rug with rhetoric and platitudes, then you’re not going to get support for it and you’re still going to be here in five years time going “why didn’t anyone support us when we argued that we should fundamentally reduce face to face education and gave no argument for this beyond But The Virus Doesn’t Care If You Don’t Like It?”

?

What a strange post.

I don't know who it's aimed at - but I'll answer.

Firstly, I think blended learning is the tip of the iceberg of what we need to do.

Personally, I think we are miles away from acknowledging what's needed.

And I think that's partly because our government is itself still timorous, in denial and large sections of it are in fear of populism.

As for me 'making the case for x, y, z.'

Well, that's not how modern communicative democracies work, sadly.

Social media is fascinating: it gives us the illusion of some kind of communicative power - it is, after all, a great provider of public spaces for communication.

And, sometimes, that translates into real power.

Some social media characters, incidents and views really do seem to take off, with politics then shifting to accommodate them.

I can't see that happening for me, though.

It's sort of charming that someone might believe it could.

But I have no such delusions about myself.

I never pretend to be anything other than what I am on social media. I'm a very, very, very ordinary mum. I'm invisible in a crowd. I have lived my life in a (pretty happy) obscurity, mainly because I have nothing that really raises me above the ordinary.

I'm not well-networked, I'm not charismatic, I'm not gifted.

I come onto Mumsnet to let the thoughts in my head tumble out and (primarily) to come across other views.

I suspect it's just the same with you.

Sadly, I do think that if you and anyone else, thinks their posts here are going to impact on government decisions, they're mistaken - and going to be very disappointed.

MN is fascinating and there are some lovely people here - but alas. I'm under no illusions about my limits.

A hands off approach from the DfE coupled with ready cash would probably have seen many schools develop effective models of their own that would have delivered an education of reasonable quality to the majority of children while keeping them, their families and school staff safe.

Oak Academy springs to mind. I know it has its critics, but teachers coming together over that first Easter holiday to put together a platform and curriculum of online lessons is mind-blowing. The DfE would have done some shitty procurement, given the contract to some mate and we'd still be waiting for the output in 2022 which would fall over the instant it went online.

And what did we get? Parents complaining that teachers were being lazy to use it.

@noblegiraffe

A hands off approach from the DfE coupled with ready cash would probably have seen many schools develop effective models of their own that would have delivered an education of reasonable quality to the majority of children while keeping them, their families and school staff safe.

Oak Academy springs to mind. I know it has its critics, but teachers coming together over that first Easter holiday to put together a platform and curriculum of online lessons is mind-blowing. The DfE would have done some shitty procurement, given the contract to some mate and we'd still be waiting for the output in 2022 which would fall over the instant it went online.

And what did we get? Parents complaining that teachers were being lazy to use it.

👍

If you genuinely believe the reality of ‘blended learning’ is best, then make a case for it.

Not sure anyone has actually argued that here, or who this is addressed to, but I know I made a very strong case for a version of it (FE) based on evidence from lockdown and it was dismissed out of hand by managers who just wanted to get “back to normal” regardless. Result: attendance and exam pass rates drastically down.
There’s no one to make a case to because no one is listening.

I don't know who it's aimed at - but I'll answer.

borntobequiet who responded to me earlier - quote fail.

Sadly, I do think that if you and anyone else, thinks their posts here are going to impact on government decisions, they're mistaken - and going to be very disappointed.

I don’t.

All I’m saying is that people - voters - won’t support drastic and indefinite plans to change education if they think those plans are bad in practice.

This thread began with a link to an article bewailing the fact that government hadn’t done a package of various things. But that package included things which would have, in practice, been bad. So that is one fairly big reason why it’s never going to get mass public and political support.

One of the Uncomfortable Truths here is that people may like grand rhetoric about hope and goals and planning for a better the future, but they also want to know what that practically might look like. And if what it looks like is children will spending 60-70% of their school time at home learning from worksheets, they are not going to support it unless its advocates can set out specifically why that’s a good idea and better than the alternative.

'
There’s no one to make a case to because no one is listening.'

Succinct, Born.

I see that one proposal to circumvent the problem of teacher with covid being off sick is that teachers shouldn't have to isolate for ten days .
The fact that they may be ill is the least of the problems with this idea.
www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/12/10/must-keep-schools-open-come-may-boris-johnson-told/

This thread began with a link to an article bewailing the fact that government hadn’t done a package of various things. But that package included things which would have, in practice, been bad. So that is one fairly big reason why it’s never going to get mass public and political support.

Which is stupid when you think about it. If there's a package of various sensible things and you don't like one of them, don't set the whole package on fire or hide it under the sofa and forget about it. Make the case for the other things in the package.

I see that one proposal to circumvent the problem of teacher with covid being off sick is that teachers shouldn't have to isolate for ten days

Which would then just create other teachers being off sick. Such idiotic, short-term thinking.

The government really are not the brightest.

If there's a package of various sensible things and you don't like one of them, don't set the whole package on fire or hide it under the sofa and forget about it.

I did think that beginning my first post in this thread with “I absolutely think schools should be better funded in this regard” might have been a slight hint that I believe in better funding for schools in this regard, but no, apparently. Back under the sofa for me!

It was a general comment, Golden about how we ended up with no mitigation measures in schools, because people were so frightened of acknowledging that there was any issue in schools in case someone closed them, even partly, that they preferred to pretend that there wasn't any issue at all (or spent their time attacking the other sensible measures as unworkable, too expensive, disruptive to education (see masks) etc etc).

I see that one proposal to circumvent the problem of teacher with covid being off sick is that teachers shouldn't have to isolate for ten days shock.The fact that they may be ill is the least of the problems with this idea.

If everyone else in the country has to isolate for ten days with covid except teachers, that would be criminal.

I expect the government would love the idea.

Just popping in to applaud @thecatfromjapan, @borntobequiet and @noblegiraffe for their sterling work. I agree with you all, wholeheartedly.

@HollyDVane

Just popping in to applaud *@thecatfromjapan, @borntobequiet and @noblegiraffe* for their sterling work. I agree with you all, wholeheartedly.

Me too. Great to see so many actually getting the problem.

@HollyDVane

Just popping in to applaud *@thecatfromjapan, @borntobequiet and @noblegiraffe* for their sterling work. I agree with you all, wholeheartedly.

This 👏👏

Keeping schools open no matter what comes at great cost to staff and children. We had 23 staff and 100 children off sick with covid and remained open. No head or deputy or office staff. Year leaders running the school. TAs teaching classes they've never met, on their own with no preparation time. First year uni students with no experience acting as TAs in some classes. 1:1 staff teaching away from their designated children. Classes split. No ppa. Absolute nightmare.

People on this thread outraged at the lack of a covid mitigation strategy in schools may also be interested in the total absence of a coherent and well-planned covid catch-up strategy for children. The disruption from previous school closures/isolations isn’t being caught-up and there is less money planned for the future to catch up after the current disruption.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4423678-The-Tories-STILL-dont-give-a-shit-about-your-kids-or-their-education

[quote Zotter]I have not seen - may have missed it - much coverage on the government failing to offer a mitigation strategy for levels of CoVid in schools. Other countries have done so but not England. A good, short article on this and the repercussions of not doing so.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/education/safety-in-schools-and-covid/[/quote]
It has been at least 10 years since the Department for Education created a plan for anything so this shouldn't be a surprise.

We need to be open to exploring other forms of education other than having kids sat in schools, but people are so addicted to the familiar and are frightened of change. The fiasco of recent homeschooling has only scared people further, yet as a parent of a 16 yr old who has home schooled himself the last three years and just sat his exams, (currently awaiting results,) his education wasnt hindered one iota, and because of his age l was able to continue working as normal outside the home. Older kids do not need to be in schools, the technology is at their fingertips, allow them the responsibility and they will suceed, as most kids do want an education and to go on and do well in life, most have outgrown school by this age. Fear is what is holding us back, we need to put faith over fear, and start to move forward in a positive way.
Then maybe think about utilising the space left by secondary age kids to spread out the younger, and more vulnerable ones.