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).

There are no supply teachers either.
Today I will be covering a year 6 class. They are not going to be learning anything but we will do fun Christmas activities. I can’t see the lint in us being open. It’s babysitting really at this point.

Measures are so non existent that this is going to rip through.

I'm one of those mythical supply teachers desperately trying to help keep children like the OPs in school and have been to approximately 30 schools since September.

The only measures I've seen in any school have been the useless monitors which flash red and get ignored, open windows which mean some poor kids sitting by them shiver as they do their big write and the mystical covid tape which the GOV still seem to think repels all traces of the virus.

Pink my friend is supply but actually has no teaching training or background or anything at all (degree educated) she's just a crowd control baby sitter.
What education is that?

And why hasn't the gov "recommended" children can wear what they need too to keep warm? Why the hell are they still in school uniform??

@Scrooge89

Touchwood neither of my DCs schools have had to close. There was covid in elder DCs class beginning of school term in Sept identified by parents doing LFTs and two kids were off. Other than that it’s been fine! I do know both schools have restricted ‘outsiders’ coming on site eg no nativity/carols service etc

Our school was like this until October and I felt similar to you re any potential closures. Covid is now running rampant in my DCs school.

The horrible possibility of having to isolate over Christmas aside, it's truly terrifying how fast Covid is sweeping through the school - it started with one case. The staff haven't been immune, I can't imagine how scary it must be for them.

My daughter’s school closed yesterday, fingers crossed the term break is long enough and we can all be back in January.
I appreciate it sucks but they have to do what they have to do.

I agree it's better to be prepared but I don't understand all the "we're already on our knees comments" being a rationale. If many teachers are already isolating (which reflects the situation where I am) then we are managing the emergency right now and I can't see why it would be worse in January. Large numbers of people have already had it this term and sometimes schools have had to close when staff aren't available but the risk of this shouldn't mean a blanket closure of all schools again "just in case we cant get enough teachers". The stakes are too high for the children not to have schools open again.

It's too early to tell.

We need more information on omicron. If it does turn out to be relatively mild and hospitals don't get overwhelmed, then shops and schools can hopefully remain open.

@Imdreamingofapeacefulxmas

Pink my friend is supply but actually has no teaching training or background or anything at all (degree educated) she's just a crowd control baby sitter. What education is that?

It's not education sadly but if its the alternative between the class being closed or staying open you can see why the school have taken it.

They can't do right for doing wrong though unfortunately as I'm sure some parents would complain about the lack of qualifications and others would have complained if they had sent the children home due to lack of staff when someone, albeit unqualified, was available to mind the children.

@Scrooge89

Touchwood neither of my DCs schools have had to close. There was covid in elder DCs class beginning of school term in Sept identified by parents doing LFTs and two kids were off. Other than that it’s been fine! I do know both schools have restricted ‘outsiders’ coming on site eg no nativity/carols service etc

Every school is fine, until suddenly they're not.

It's scary how quickly the situation can change. We went from 2 cases to 50 within the space of several days. If your child's school has been lucky so far, and that's all it is, luck. Then i'd be very worried about it taking hold and causing problems in January.

I’m just praying I get to Friday without picking up Covid in school. Last Christmas it ruined several staff’s Christmas.

If schools have to close because they have too many staff that are ill or waiting out an isolation period, then that is down to individual schools at the time that they are worst affected. Many schools will have already been through the worst of their staff absences this term and managed to get through it. There is no need and no point in closing all schools next term.

@Greentrees2021

I agree it's better to be prepared but I don't understand all the "we're already on our knees comments" being a rationale. If many teachers are already isolating (which reflects the situation where I am) then we are managing the emergency right now and I can't see why it would be worse in January. Large numbers of people have already had it this term and sometimes schools have had to close when staff aren't available but the risk of this shouldn't mean a blanket closure of all schools again "just in case we cant get enough teachers". The stakes are too high for the children not to have schools open again.

I read they predict 1m cases a day (source the guardian). Of course staffing in schools will get worse.

I really don't want to go to blanket closures either. But I also don't want the gov pretending education is normal for children right now.

Roll on lunchtime time tomorrow and can out this term to bed. I’m not even thinking about January. I’ll just make sure I have all my resources with me and my classes have all their books/folders etc. Johnson spent the weekend before Spring term boasting ‘schools are safe’ and 24 hours later we went into lockdown.

Be prepared as the Scouts say!

*put

@LethargicActress

If schools have to close because they have too many staff that are ill or waiting out an isolation period, then that is down to individual schools at the time that they are worst affected. Many schools will have already been through the worst of their staff absences this term and managed to get through it. There is no need and no point in closing all schools next term.

It’s not just teachers who are needed to open schools safely: admin, site staff, first aides, lunch team …

Closing schools is dangerous for lots of children; it exposes them to abuse and neglect at home. Even generally well teens and children with stable and privileged homes suffer during school closure. Better to keep schools open generally, even with less qualified staff, and restrict temporary closures to individual schools.

I’m desperate for schools to stay open.
If they close I’ll have to shut my business for the third time in two years because I’m not a key worker.
At least this time I may qualify for some financial help but didn’t during lockdown 1 or 2 because it was a new start up.
Money worries aside, it’s my mental health that will suffer the most. They just can’t keep doing this.

@BigButtons

There are no supply teachers either. Today I will be covering a year 6 class. They are not going to be learning anything but we will do fun Christmas activities. I can’t see the lint in us being open. It’s babysitting really at this point.

You could well be"babysitting" my Y6 child today. By doing that, you are keeping him, and his classmates, safe and occupied so I can come to work to deal with a school department operating on 50% of staffing. I don't know yet how many supply we will manage to get. I'm on my knees, we haven't had 100% staff attendance since early October. Thank you for occupying my 10yr old.

Schools that close will not have done so trivially. Perhaps if you had to run one, you'd not feel as if closing was some form of personal attack. Unfortunately, even if you comply with the schools demands by testing and be sensible outside of school, there are too many other families who do not want to participate in any of that. So what happens? Covid spreads, teachers get sick, funds for extra staff deplete, schools close. Hopefully, it'll not be for any extended period like the lockdowns.

I'm fully expecting a delayed start to 2022. You'd be bonkers not to.. the media and government are ramping it up to the max. I was one of the parents who sidelined her own working from home to ensure her children did all their schoolwork daily at home, kept the routine ticking over and went for an hours walk daily.. only to be told when I questioned the head why they were going over the same work we'd completed at home that 'not everyone had your standards' this time round I'm going to enjoy flexible living with no school run and zero f*cks will be given to complete any work.

@Whichjab

Do you not see the problem if covid overwhelms the nhs? I read people saying it doesn't matter as kids don't get sick from it, I'm healthy etc. It's not getting covid you need to be scared about. It's having no ambulance when you are in a car crash, no doctor to check your child, no midwife to deliver the baby, no anesthetist, no surgeon, no beds. No cancer care, no cancer referrals, no chance to be given stroke medicine in the golden hour. That's nothing to say of the no police, supermarket workers, bank staff etc that could all be off work at once. Lockdown isn't to stop people getting it, it's to stop everyone getting it at the same time.

Ive never seen a better post

We need to be prepared. Your school has been lucky so far, but so many of our schools have been battered and we've seen first hand the relentlesness of this - my children had 70 and 50 concescutive days each in isolation last autumn. Can you imagine what not even being to leave their house for that long did to their wellbeing?

But no mitigations and a highly transmissable virus left us sitting targets.
I was reading how schooling has bern more or less normal and undisrupted in Italy, which leaves me angry at how this Govt has left schools to fester.

@NewbieAlert who will run them, if staff are sick?

If lots of teacher/ta/staff are ill, school can't function.