Schools - why are they doing this?

[Scrooge89]

Why are the media preparing us for school closures? They simply can’t do this to us…

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59673271

Not to my children. My youngest struggled so much at home and was one of the 25% who couldn’t go to school (although I saw how much some people fudged the key worker card I may have to do it).

It's about the number of people who will have to isolate, therefore fucking the economy. Ditch SI

@TheKeatingFive

How on earth would that work?

Time spent shut now is taken out of holidays later in the year.

If schools shut they are still expected to provide remote learning so your proposal just means they will be teaching for longer unpaid and many parents will no doubt complain because they have booked holidays to spend with their children who will now be in school.

@Blubells it took me 6 weeks to get over covid properly. But I was back at work within a week. But I have an easy office job. With some jobs you have to be properly better before you can go back to work, and teaching is one of those jobs.

That's not how employment contracts work.

You think other sectors haven't had their holidays cancelled/postponed/changed due to covid? Seriously?

If schools shut they are still expected to provide remote learning

I'm not saying that.

Forget remote learning, it's absolutely pointless for primary at least.

Close the schools and make up time later.

Close the schools and make up time later

If schools close, they will still be expected to provide childcare for certain groups-teachers will still be working in school. In your scenario, who would provide the teaching through the summer holidays?

If schools close, they will still be expected to provide childcare for certain groups

There isn't actually a need for teachers to provide childcare though. It's a bit of an inefficient use of resources really if they aren't actually teaching.

Close the schools and make up time later.

How do I do that with two children in year 11 and their GCSEs this spring?

How do I do that with two children in year 11 and their GCSEs this spring?

May not apply to secondary, but exam timelines can also be shifted

My point is, very broadly, if we are saying that lockdowns are going to be needed on an ongoing basis and winter is always going to be more of a crunch time for hospitals, then it makes absolutely no sense to have immensely disrupted schooling over the winter and then significant time off during the summer on top of that.

Yes, we need either adequate hospitals ( so appropriate spending and beds per population so we approach the levels of the rest of the developed world) or alteration to typical school year with an expectation of longer time off in winter and shorter summer.
We can’t have this rubbish happening, yet again.

As Omicron spreads exponentially at such a huge rate, it's logical to think that all services will be severely affected and have to close or offer a skeleton service only.

Schools will be just one service in the larger picture. All healthcare whether Covid related or not, ambulance service, transport, fire services, food supplies etc etc will all be adversely affected.

It's a shit show.

Rejig the school year

Time spent shut now is taken out of holidays later in the year

Teachers are not paid for the holidays. If you shut schools for 6 weeks in January/February you will either have to sack all teachers and rehire prior to opening (running the risk many will have secured work elsewhere), or pay them some kind of furlough to retain them. You will then need to pay them for the 6 weeks worked over the summer, plus compensate those who have already booked holidays (a majority I would guess).

I also wonder why you expect teachers and their families to give up their holidays when you know full well that tha majority of parents will moan and moan that their family time has been cut short as a result of the summer school. And then keep their kids off as fits their timetable. And the same teachers will be responsible for the progress of the children, some of whom have attended summer school and some of whom haven’t.

So huge cost for very little gain,

@MadinMarch

As Omicron spreads exponentially at such a huge rate, it's logical to think that all services will be severely affected and have to close or offer a skeleton service only.

Schools will be just one service in the larger picture. All healthcare whether Covid related or not, ambulance service, transport, fire services, food supplies etc etc will all be adversely affected.

It's a shit show.

This is true but it will be during school holidays

The other sectors you mention are key over next two to three weeks

Ditch SI

If we get to the point where we are having to close schools, self isolation will be required more than anything else.

Our school have emailed to say that they’re “pre-empting a lockdown” so are sending workbooks out. I think that they’ve used strong words unnecessarily (I hope).

If we get to the point where we are having to close schools, self isolation will be required more than anything else.

I thought self isolation has jest been scrapped? Contacts do not need to isolate, they can continue working and going to school and take lateral flow tests

Teachers are not paid for the holidays. If you shut schools for 6 weeks in January/February you will either have to sack all teachers and rehire prior to opening (running the risk many will have secured work elsewhere), or pay them some kind of furlough to retain them

Not at all. Time spent in shut down is made up later. The concept isn't that complicated.

See my point above. If we are saying that lockdowns will be deployed when the health service is under pressure, and the health service is always under pressure in winter, and we aren't going to do much about that, then society will have to adjust to that, including education.

So, teachers can have time off work in January/February when everything is in lockdown, but need to work through the summer, on the off chance that some people want to send their kids to school in August?

Close the schools and make up time later

God, someone always comes out with this little gem. Young ones need a decent time off in summer to recharge, and play. And exam timetables can not be shifted. They have to be done by a certain date so there is enough time to be correctly assessed and marked, so that sixth forms, colleges and Universities also have enough time to prepare and offer places ready to start in September. Keeping secondary schools open in January/February is crucial as this is the final push of the GCSE/A Level curriculum before revision and exams start. Kids are already behind as it is.

So, teachers can have time off work in January/February when everything is in lockdown, but need to work through the summer, on the off chance that some people want to send their kids to school in August?

I'm sure two weeks off in the summer could be allocated (in line with other sector norms) with the rest of the time made up across another school holiday periods. Depends how long a closure we're talking now, doesn't it?

My point is not about the details, but the wider societal shifts that need to take place if we're going to normalise lockdowns and school closures. What was acceptable as a short term / emergency measure will not be acceptable as a new normal.

Young ones need a decent time off in summer to recharge, and play.

They also need educating. My sons class are all well behind because 'remote learning' was an absolute shit show for this age group.

@Blubells

If we get to the point where we are having to close schools, self isolation will be required more than anything else.

I thought self isolation has jest been scrapped? Contacts do not need to isolate, they can continue working and going to school and take lateral flow tests

I think PP meant scrap SI if you have covid. If so, I think that will make the situation worse (think scrapping isolation of household contacts has made things worse too). Scrapping SI right now could work if kids and teachers live in a vacuum, don't get ill/hospitalised by covid and buy into the theory that covid never links to organ damage or long covid, despite numerous studies. If only we had a government that hadn't tried to promote herd immunity through natural infection through schools and invested in trying to keep schools open instead.

If your kids are very behind because remote learning was poor or couldn’t be managed, I do hope you’ve emailed your MP to kick off about the government balls-up of catch-up provision.

If schools close again, there’s no provision to mitigate any educational damage, just like the last two times.

The govt have done fuck-all to protect schools from closure and fuck-all to make up for them.

Given the speed that Omicron is going to move, within a week or two I'm not sure there is much bang for your buck with social isolation of the infected in any case. If you are vulnerable to contracting the virus and don't catch from a confirmed case one day - you'll just get it from an unconfirmed case shortly after.

Better to let the vast majority without symptoms and mild symptoms just get on with their day jobs and keep the wheels turning.