Considering whether schools might close in Janl?

[PigeonLittle]

Trying to create a title so as not to panic anyone!

What are your guesses, will schools close again?

I think it's very likely, for a shortish period. As much to do with lack of staff as controlling spread. If a million people a day are falling sick then teaching / schools will not be the only sector likely to be badly affected by personnel shortages.

@Dghgcotcitc

Teachers will call for it, whether they are successful is anyone’s guess

I have reported this comment for being deliberately goady and totally untrue.

@christmaspop

Surely it's pointless to close schools though? Everyone will claim key worker needs and all the kids will be in anyway.

They need mitigations to help them stay open in a safer way

I don't know if any are strong enough

Although I would be very happy if the government did actually do SOMETHING.

Apparently Sunak is moaning about the cost of the boosters so don't expect any £££ for schools from that tightarse.

@MrsSkylerWhite

Doris86 Case numbers are largely irrelevant. It’s the number of hospitalisations and deaths we need to worry about.

Absolutely this.

Case numbers are important if everyone has to isolate for 10days!! There will be no teachers to teach your children, no carers to care for the vulnerable, no delivery drivers to deliver your food to the shops.

This has the potential to cause chaos, its not just about deaths and hospitalisations

And also do not get me started with the ‘its’ deaths and hospitalisations… not cases’

Anyone who understands the risks knows this is rubbish.

There are long term effects for a significant amount of people. Who are not hospitalised. Probably at least 1 in 10.

Cases mean higher spread - mean people off sick - mean people have their lives disrupted having to isolate - mean virus has a higher chance of mutating - mean essential workers like teachers, doctors are not present - which means less education, less healthcare, less services…

Cases mean death and hospitalisations down the line… sometimes a long way down the line…

Cases mean we just keep getting reinfected again and again…

My colleague and I teach parallel classes and today looked at our schemes of work for the next term and sent stuff off to reprographicsto be copied for the first week back. We put together a while term’s worth of worksheets and thought we would get that in folders so they all had it at home with them if we go off with no notice. That course of action assumes we will at least get a few days at the beginning of January but whether we will or not is anyone’s guess. We also created a new folder and dumped in all our online learning created last year in it so we’ve got each other’s work to work with. We’re ready. We really hope we’ve over thought it, however.

@rrhuth

Yes obviously we all know that *@Doris86*, and hospitalisations are expected to rise. They are up 30% this week in London (where Omicron is most prevalent currently).

All this 'it's milder, I read it on FB' isn't going to stop the number of cases overwhelming the NHS.

Evidence from South Africa shows that an average Omicron patient spends 3 days in hospital, compared to 10 days for a Delta patient. So the number of hospitalisations needs to be put into perspective.

Schools unlikely to close I reckon

Boris has already said schools should not have bubbles so they won’t happen and defo shouldn’t be happening now as that’s not gov instruction

No contact isolation from school given they don’t trace contacts anymore and T&T don’t bother with kids so no contacts should even be asked to test- in our school they don’t get involved at all - no emails no texts no bubbles o forced tests - nothing. Which is great!

I honestly don't think I will cope if they close schools again..it was absolutely hellish. Half the class were in anyway...my dcs mental health really suffered.

source please for number of children admitted Cherryblossomautumn

@rrhuth it’s a particularly English thing I think, not saying other European countries aren’t but on the whole, we are on our own with so many parents saying school at any cost…

… but let’s give them zero mitigations like masks, ventilation, smaller classes…

@lovescats3

source please for number of children admitted Cherryblossomautumn

Not your PA. If you want to go ahead and not do anything to help protect schools you find out that this is NOT true - if you want to allow this to happen.

I think it's very likely, for a shortish period. As much to do with lack of staff as controlling spread. If a million people a day are falling sick then teaching / schools will not be the only sector likely to be badly affected by personnel shortages

A situation like that where a school is forced to close temporarily due to their personal circumstances and open when they are able to again is very different to the govt shutting out all non key worker children altogether regardless of whether their school can cope or not.

The first is unavoidable if a school ends up in that position. The second absolutely should not happen and I doubt it will.

Watapalva you believe what Boris Johnson says?

I am not sure minimising everything automatically = perspective @Doris86

The picture from Denmark is not as encouraging as SA. I accept we do not know, but a kneejerk 'nothing to worry about' is no mor elikely to be right than a kneejerk reaction.

@lovescats3

source please for number of children admitted Cherryblossomautumn

I believe Google works? What is this fad with MN. Demanding links/quotes which are freely available like some uni professor.

[quote CherryBlossomAutumn]@rrhuth it’s a particularly English thing I think, not saying other European countries aren’t but on the whole, we are on our own with so many parents saying school at any cost…

… but let’s give them zero mitigations like masks, ventilation, smaller classes…[/quote]
I can barely talk to other parents at times about this. I am pretty pissed off with the lack of care shown.

No contact isolation from school given they don’t trace contacts anymore and T&T don’t bother with kids so no contacts should even be asked to test- in our school they don’t get involved at all - no emails no texts no bubbles o forced tests - nothing. Which is great!

Classes are not closing at the moment because of 'contacts'.

They are closing because of tens or hundreds of cases.

When the school runs out of healthy adults, or when Public Health closes the school because of the rampant infection, they're closed.

Nothing over-rules a Head's Heath & Safety statutory responsibilities, so if the school is unsafe, it must close by law.

@rrhuth

I am not sure minimising everything automatically = perspective *@Doris86*

The picture from Denmark is not as encouraging as SA. I accept we do not know, but a kneejerk 'nothing to worry about' is no mor elikely to be right than a kneejerk reaction.

It’s not minimising everything, it’s just understanding the full picture and making sure you are comparing like with like.

Hope not ….among all other the other reasons mentioned there are exams in January 🙄 DfE contingency plans anywhere? Hope it’s better than last years car crash of “sit them if you want”

Awful typing but I am beyond tired after this term…..

and making sure you are comparing like with like.

So the huge differences in population age distribution etc between South Africa and the UK is something that you have fully considered before positing information from that country as relevant to the current situation here? 'Comparing like with like' is important, yes, which is why posting headline numbers from South Africa without very detailed caveats is fundamentally misleading.

Nobody in their right mind would want students to have a third year of disrupted education. GCSE years should be in at an absolute minimum, they've had the opportunity to be vaccinated too.

I think it will depend on whether the government can finally pull their finger out when it comes to funding and sourcing ventilation (HEPA air purifiers) and vaccinating children.

Undoubtably if schools do go back, there will have to be actual risk mitigations in place - perhaps bubbles again, and isolating contacts of confirmed cases.

Boris has already said schools should not have bubbles so they won’t happen and defo shouldn’t be happening now as that’s not gov instruction.

@Watapalava you do also understand that the guidance says that local public health will advise schools on what actions to take on the case of outbreaks? Some schools have been advised to move back to bubbles by local public health teams. Or do you just believe anything Boris says? I mean we all know how reliable that is….