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).

I just wish it was statutory for all children to have live learning

My dd 15 couldn’t cope with it. It gave her horrific anxiety. We’ve had to pay for counselling, and she still isn’t over it now. I would prefer them to get tasks to do.

Long CoVid should be considered too.

Long Covid Statistics in children:

77,000 children, aged 2-16, now living with LongCovid in the UK.

This has increased by +8,000 from last month. (Dec 21)

2-11 : 23,000
12-16: 54,000

Of which 14,000 have suffered for more than a year.

HaaaaaveyoumetTed
Exactly my point. You wouldn’t leave a10 year old…hence you take the time off because no option. But won’t be forced to prove to employer that this is the case.
For clarity, I’m not sure what age you can be ok leaving them but my 12 year old can cook a meal competently and is 100% happy to be left. Senior school age. Walks around streets on his own to get bus etc. Doesn’t feel worried about what might go wrong as has sense of proportion and knows how to get help quickly if needed…..

I just wish it was statutory for all children to have live learning

Live learning only suits a small minority of people who can never see the many reasons why it doesn't work.

We need to be prepared for everything. I don’t want us to close, but the fact is we’re being hit hard with staff sickness.
Remember last March when we closed suddenly and everyone was sort of floating about not sure what they were supposed to be doing? We can’t have that happening again. We need plans for every possible outcome.

Of course others have it worse than teachers. But there is not another job out there that I can think of where they have 30 unvaccinated people in a room - secondary can teach 100s of students a day unvaccinated. We don’t get to wear PPE. We don’t get to start at a distance from them, we don’t get to take their temperatures before they enter the room.

No teacher I know wants schools to close. None of them want to work online. What they want is better protection. The fact you can’t see that shows your complete ignorance.

watching news this evening in London 10% of firemen are off due to covid (& a high number of transport workers)
That is just one example of why it is a growing problem
So really it is not unexpected & awful though it is for dc & education I think the fire service is actually a more worry trend

Live learning would not have bern doable for a lot of children at my school. Their siblings in the local secondary school had to be logged on for registration at 9am. Many families don't have 1 laptop/ tablet, let alone multiple devices for live learning. At least with pre recorded, they could use it when it suited them.

Statutory live learning is divisive. The number of the children in my class that accessed the reorded and set work on google classrooms on random days at random times as and when they could access a device was very telling. As was the number who couldn't get online at all.

We specifically decided not to do live learning because it would disadvantage some compared to others.

Add on parents interfering and talking across any live sessions we did occasionally run, actually speaking to (and on one occasion insulting) a different child, highlighted certain practical issues that were best avoided.

And - most of all - for every day I was in a classroom with the essential worker's children, it was not possible for me to be doing anything live online.

My own DD and niece got very stressed at the thought of having to access the sessions in live time following their normal timetable that their high school ran. To the point of needing Camhs involvement due to how their dip in mental health presented itself.

Live learning is not the be all and end all.

I just wish it was statutory for all children to have live learning

Oh god no. DS did not get on with it and it's difficult to facilitate when both laptops are needed for work.

@DrMadelineMaxwell
Believe me I wouldn’t be interfering in the lesson, I would be working. The fact is that many people couldn’t get on with their jobs because they had to spend intensive time doing the type of work with a child that they couldn’t be left do to. At the cost of sounding trite I wouldn’t have minded if the teaching had been doing some singing or playing games or having their video switched off for nervous children whilst they watched a teacher reading. Our local scout group did brilliant zoom fun for big groups of children. I know it isn’t as efficient as other forms of teaching, and I know it can’t suit every single type of learner but it would have made my children happy and it would have meant I could get some work done whilst my husband was out for hours and hours on end.
The laptop/wifi issue - my husband did several news stories about this, but in the last lockdown children without laptop access or WiFi were invited in to school as vulnerable children at our primary so I assumed that was across the board but maybe not? Hopefully that will be the same if we go in to lockdown again?

it would have made my children happy and it would have meant I could get some work done

Well that's more important than actually being educational and accessible to the whole class isn't it?

At my school in Victoria, all students had their own laptops and after the first lockdown, DET told us to ease off too much live teaching as the screen time was detrimental.

In fact for subjects with a four or more periods, we were advised to name one as catch-up time, where no work could be set. It would be up on the lesson plan for the day, in advance so parents and students would know what was going on.

@Xenia aren't you that poster who is a lawyer? The one who went to private school and sent all her children to private school? Where class sizes are probably 15 children or so...in state we teach classes up to 32. This obviously has a large impact on outcomes. One teacher to 40+ children is not going to improve outcomes. I would also argue it's not particularly safe as you only have one pair of eyes.

I really dislike the tone of your post. Your comments on statutory sick pay for teachers implied we are having longer off than necessary, but all we are doing is following the law, like everybody else.

Making teachers sick pay worse isn't going to help. What would help though would be improving other sectors sick pay so people can afford to isolate!

I'm sad reading the tone of a lot of these posts. I don't know any teachers who want to do remote learning. In person is best, no question. Asking for the government to care about reducing covid in schools is not the same as wanting to close schools. Unfortunately some people have picked up on anti teacher rhetoric in the media and ran with it.

I believe it will be the inevitable consequence of the government being too worried about their own popularity to listen to scientific advice, impose stricter restrictions or spoil anyone's Christmas socialising.
I realise a popular refrain on MN is that 'I won't comply' - but you can't have it both ways. You can't mix socially, have the hospitality industry untouched, and expect hospitals to cope.

Spottyphonecase24
I hear what you’re saying and I honestly don’t know why every child is not temperature checked before entry to school. This happens to my nieces/nephews in another country.
If I was a teacher, I might feel more comfortable with this, plus windows open and teacher wearing a visor. You are right.
100% it’s not ideal at all but nor is computer based learning. One of my children (primary age) was expected to mark own work and learn from ridiculous lengthy written instructions that were badly thought out. There was a huge disconnect in many schools on the part of teachers in terms of the expectation of what kids could attain online. With the exact same live input from a teacher, the child will learn less online than in the classroom. However, teachers treated young kids like university students in my experience. It was a massive car crash the first term.

Ffs it's just not ok is it?!
Totally with you op.
It's not fair on the kids.
And No, I STILL can't do my job as well as that of two bloody teacher's.
The fact is we are all going to get it this time anyway.
Totally reckless closing schools. This government are so reprehensible. It's really fucking galling! 😤😤😤😤🤬🤬🤬

At the cost of sounding trite I wouldn’t have minded if the teaching had been doing some singing or playing games or having their video switched off for nervous children whilst they watched a teacher reading

There's something called YouTube you can use for that. When I was teaching last year, we prioritised getting video content out that was accessible for children at absolutely any time that it suited their family. My own daughter watched YouTube all day while I taught key workers, and I went through the work with her in the evening, She was 6. Was it great? No, it was shit. But the content was there and it was picked up. Live sessions weren't. When they came back to school, there was less of a gap, and by the end of the year, same proportion at ARE as in a normal year. You need to distinguish holding activities from learning, and fit the learning ones in around your job.

@Noworneverever

Are you asking why they are making sure they are prepared? Seems sensible to me. Surely it's better than being unprepared for potential announcements?

I work in a school and agree the whole situation is an ongoing nightmare. However all schools have been asked to prepare for the a potential covid outbreak and ensure that remote learning plans are in place.

And what about those of us who are key workers who HAVE to go to work?
What happens to our kids if they close schools.?

I don’t have the set up at home for home learning. Yes I could leave my kids alone at home - but I wouldn’t want to leave them alone, together they would fight, probably go out and wander the street. Or watch the tv eat everything, in fact do absolutely anything else except school work
No way is my adhd child able to be unsupervised for long
I’m very worried

@Heatherjayne1972

And what about those of us who are key workers who HAVE to go to work? What happens to our kids if they close schools.? I don’t have the set up at home for home learning. Yes I could leave my kids alone at home - but I wouldn’t want to leave them alone, together they would fight, probably go out and wander the street. Or watch the tv eat everything, in fact do absolutely anything else except school work No way is my adhd child able to be unsupervised for long I’m very worried

Well wouldn't they just go to school? If you are a kw then they have a place?

@Panacotta

Ffs it's just not ok is it?! Totally with you op. It's not fair on the kids. And No, I STILL can't do my job as well as that of two bloody teacher's. The fact is we are all going to get it this time anyway. Totally reckless closing schools. This government are so reprehensible. It's really fucking galling! 😤😤😤😤🤬🤬🤬

Write to your MP and tell them!

The last lockdown my DS’s primary school was given access to 3, yes 3 laptops/tablets for kids to take home. His school is in a deprived area as well. It’s not acceptable to expect kids to learn with no resources at home and then they have their free school meals taken off them as well.

"If you are a kw then they have a place?"

It depends on the circumstances of the closure. If it's staff illness, then it's by no means certain that KW provision will be on the same terms as last year.

If you had any idea how many mental health and safeguarding issues schools have had to deal with since the last lockdown ended, you'd realise that the absolute last thing schools want to do is close.
Sadly, a lack of government and DfE action - always too little, too late, has put us in this situation. Mask wearing in corridors only for a start was the wrong way around - it's the classrooms where they need to be wearing masks! Surely that's not rocket science! Schools should also be LFD testing on-site 3 x per week. 15 minutes out of a lesson 3 x per week would have alleviated a lot of these problems. Don't blame the schools and the teachers - we're collateral damage and going way above and beyond - you need to vent at the government and the DfE.

@CallmeHendricksGingleBells

"If you are a kw then they have a place?"

It depends on the circumstances of the closure. If it's staff illness, then it's by no means certain that KW provision will be on the same terms as last year.

Oh yes I was only thinking from the perspective of blanket closures.

This will of course also be a problem for teachers who are parents, and that will have a knock on effect for their own school's ability to open. All a bit of a mess really. But don't worry, there's going to be a huge amount of retired teachers coming to do supply, so no school will need to close for safety/ratio reasons! 🙄