Will you send your DC to school if they're open for keyworkers only?

[BlowDryRat]

Hopefully this won't happen but if it does (probably with hours' notice like last Jan )...

DH and I both qualified as keyworkers (medical supplies) for all the previous lockdowns. We could WFH though so kept the DC at home so they weren't taking up spaces really needed by others and to minimise the risk to the school staff. The DC got on with it but both struggled socially and DD in particular fell very behind academically.

Now that everyone who wants a vaccine has had at least 2, if there's another partial school closure I'll be prioritising my DC and sending them in.

What are you planning to do?

So many kids attended at my kids schools last time it was hardly a lockdown.
They enforced a all or nothing rule which made sense for bubbles but meant those only needing a couple of days took a full time slot.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

Schools won’t ‘shut’ as the government don’t care about teachers’ health in the slightest and omicron data (so far) looks like it will be manageable for hospitals. But if they do go down that route, it will be an act of absolute desperation to stop the health service from collapsing. If that is on the cards, they will limit school places to the bare minimum: both parents working; both parents NHS, I would suspect. All the ‘not that essential worker children’ will be turned away with one fell swoop of a pen. It isn’t hard to do and once it is legal, you have no right to send in your children. Remember, some countries never provided key worker children with in school places - it is not a ‘given’ if the situation is bad enough.

‘Accepting’ a week off school due to staff absences is your biggest problem. You are optimistic if you think disruptions will last only a week though.

If only mitigationary measures had been put into place in schools! Magic tape turned out to be pretty limited, didn’t it?

Due to his SENs DS1 is eligible for a place in school. He now has a long history of not engaging in "home learning". School have ingored correspondence from his consultant that states that his autism prevents him from learning at home. Plus the complexities of the dyslexia and dyspraxia. At 11, I still have to remind him which way round the letters in his name go.

This all has a knock-on effect on DS2 and damages DS2's mental health in every lockdown. Living with a stressed autistic sibling makes DS2 vulnerable.

What do I actually do? Because the message that school has been sending for two years has clearly been that education matters except when it doesn't.

All I am asking is for my children to be educated.

So do I make the point of taking them to school and not accepting that they are second rate citizens or accept the unauthorised absences?

Of course tape on the floor is ridiculous, but given that my weekly food shop included glue sticks, pencils, pens and rulers years ago to keep my lessons viable (even before austerity) holding out for HEPA filters was never going to go anywhere, and that's a battle I stand zero chance of winning, even less than battling to teach my child the subjunctive.

I am desperately hoping that all this is a moot point.

"If that is on the cards, they will limit school places to the bare minimum: both parents working; both parents NHS, I would suspect"

That criteria would lose at a lot of NHS staff as they are frequently the lower earner in a couple often working part time. Many will be working additional shifts during the pandemic but won't do it if it means their partner cannot work.

Do we really think the Government is going to force all schools to close in January

There's evidence that cases might peak soon.

I’ll be keeping him home away from the bullying.

Yes.
This has to stop, at what point are we going to just live with it? It's not going away any time soon

If that is on the cards, they will limit school places to the bare minimum: both parents working; both parents NHS, I would suspect

In this scenario, who ensures we still have food, heating, light, gas supply, policing, rubbish collection, postal services, banking services, public transport, a functioning court system, prison services and social care?

@bookworm14

If that is on the cards, they will limit school places to the bare minimum: both parents working; both parents NHS, I would suspect

In this scenario, who ensures we still have food, heating, light, gas supply, policing, rubbish collection, postal services, banking services, public transport, a functioning court system, prison services and social care?

Emergency planning - just as schools and local authorities have instigated, to manage services when all of their staff are ill.

Schools cannot safely look after children without staff. There will be closures.

@Blubells

Do we really think the Government is going to force all schools to close in January

There's evidence that cases might peak soon.

I don't think there will be a blanket closure but there will probably be staff shortages.

* I* don't think there will be a blanket closure but there will probably be staff shortages.

The reduction in isolation time from 10 to 7 days should help!

@bookworm14

If that is on the cards, they will limit school places to the bare minimum: both parents working; both parents NHS, I would suspect

In this scenario, who ensures we still have food, heating, light, gas supply, policing, rubbish collection, postal services, banking services, public transport, a functioning court system, prison services and social care?

Yep. Life will be jolly hard for us all if it gets to that point. I would imagine they’d sort out some form of supervision for NHS staff children as their expertise would be needed in a scenario with increased hospitalisation. We’d have to get by - and it would be unpleasant. I don’t think schools will close this time though. Who knows what will happen with other Covid mutations? It would be a good time to address it.

@Blubells

* I* don't think there will be a blanket closure but there will probably be staff shortages.

The reduction in isolation time from 10 to 7 days should help!

If people aren’t ill. Only about ten of my colleagues (out of approximately fifty who had Covid) have felt back to normal after ten days of isolation. Two ended up in hospital. Several others have been off since October (with Covid complications). Many have done half days and we have ended up covering their lessons and combining classes. Before you tell me at least we’ve all had it and we’ll have herd immunity, some have had it three times. We are in a Covid hot spot since September - other schools in the area closed to certain year groups. I think we got a preview of what will be happening elsewhere in January and it isn’t pleasant.

The reduction in isolation time if well AND asymptomatic AND LFT negative for 2 days AND not coming into contact with anyone vulnerable MAY help.

I don't know anyone, of those staff who have been off with Covid, who satisfied all of those conditions.....

@BogRollBOGOF
I honestly think you will be fine this time as the government are very reluctant to close schools and cases are seemingly not resulting in hospitalisations. If schools do have to close, there’s very little we can do. That’s partly why those who don’t really need to send in their children should think very carefully about their choices.

im a key worker. i sent dd in on the other lockdowns and will again .although i am in retail pharmacy chain our company had said we are all key workers and we are expected to take the place

@bustopherponsonbyjones

Sadly hospitalisations in london are rising sharply. They have been quite steady with delta but sharp rise happening now

If people aren’t ill. Only about ten of my colleagues (out of approximately fifty who had Covid) have felt back to normal after ten days of isolation. Two ended up in hospital. Several others have been off since October (with Covid complications). Many have done half days and we have ended up covering their lessons and combining classes. Before you tell me at least we’ve all had it and we’ll have herd immunity, some have had it three times. We are in a Covid hot spot since September - other schools in the area closed to certain year groups. I think we got a preview of what will be happening elsewhere in January and it isn’t pleasant.

That’s unusual. There was a big outbreak at my work (not a school) in October - apart from one person no one needed more than 3 days off work, all were back working from home after that and were fully recovered within the week. The one who was really poorly with it needed a full week off.

@RobinPenguins

If people aren’t ill. Only about ten of my colleagues (out of approximately fifty who had Covid) have felt back to normal after ten days of isolation. Two ended up in hospital. Several others have been off since October (with Covid complications). Many have done half days and we have ended up covering their lessons and combining classes. Before you tell me at least we’ve all had it and we’ll have herd immunity, some have had it three times. We are in a Covid hot spot since September - other schools in the area closed to certain year groups. I think we got a preview of what will be happening elsewhere in January and it isn’t pleasant.

That’s unusual. There was a big outbreak at my work (not a school) in October - apart from one person no one needed more than 3 days off work, all were back working from home after that and were fully recovered within the week. The one who was really poorly with it needed a full week off.

Same here. Factory worker, probably about 40 of us have had Covid now, me included. Only 2 people have needed longer than the 10 days off. Not fit healthy people either, a lot of these are men in their 40s and 50s who drink and smoke heavily.

In fact I only know 2 people IRL who have had complications from Covid and ended up in hospital, both unvaccinated. Mumsnet seems to be rife with them though.

@RobinPenguins

If people aren’t ill. Only about ten of my colleagues (out of approximately fifty who had Covid) have felt back to normal after ten days of isolation. Two ended up in hospital. Several others have been off since October (with Covid complications). Many have done half days and we have ended up covering their lessons and combining classes. Before you tell me at least we’ve all had it and we’ll have herd immunity, some have had it three times. We are in a Covid hot spot since September - other schools in the area closed to certain year groups. I think we got a preview of what will be happening elsewhere in January and it isn’t pleasant.

That’s unusual. There was a big outbreak at my work (not a school) in October - apart from one person no one needed more than 3 days off work, all were back working from home after that and were fully recovered within the week. The one who was really poorly with it needed a full week off.

NOT a school. There’s your clue. Some of office working friends still don’t know anyone who has had Covid. It’s a bloody joke.

NOT a school. There’s your clue. Some of office working friends still don’t know anyone who has had Covid. It’s a bloody joke.

But I’m talking about my office where a large group of people had covid. There’s nothing intrinsically different about the bodies of teachers vs non teachers.

If you’ll only accept schools as valid comparisons, DH is a secondary deputy head, I have just asked him and they have had no teachers who have had to take more than the 10 day isolation period off (albeit some may have been off sick before a holiday so doesn’t know for sure if that they would otherwise have been off for longer.) But no long covid, no one that’s been off for months, certainly no one who has caught it 3 times.

It's also worth pointing out the physicality of teaching. It's not possible to 'ease back in' through working from home (and in fact the vast majority of sick teachers, if not actually unconscious, are required to set cover work when ill, so technically are working anyway).

A teacher is either 'in' (6 hours per day, mostly on their feet, juggling the needs of 20-35 pupils, plus then marking and planning and pastoral care), or 'out'. Being able to sit down, take a break or two, get an extra drink, maybe work at a lower level for a few days - no. It's either zero or 100 miles an hour, no half measures.

🤷‍♀️ Believe me or don’t believe me. You are the ones worrying about schools closing again. Perhaps your workplaces are safer as you and your colleagues are vaccinated and boosted whilst teachers work with mostly unvaccinated people? Lucky you working in safer environments but what a shame the impact of not putting measures into place in schools impacts your poor children.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

🤷‍♀️ Believe me or don’t believe me. You are the ones worrying about schools closing again. Perhaps your workplaces are safer as you and your colleagues are vaccinated and boosted whilst teachers work with mostly unvaccinated people? Lucky you working in safer environments but what a shame the impact of not putting measures into place in schools impacts your poor children.

I'm not in an office, my workplace has had loads of Covid cases, just no one that has been seriously ill with it. It just seems like a disproportionate amount of teachers are being hospitalized and very ill according to mumsnet compared to other workplaces that also have a lot of Covid cases.

Believe me or don’t believe me.

You’re right, I don’t 🤷🏻‍♀️ And actually I’m no longer particularly worried about school closures because this government is very directed by public opinion and it’s really clear that public opinion has swung so far against blanket school closures that it won’t happen again. Thank fuck.