Schools still a covid shitshow

[noblegiraffe]

"Schools have been forced to send year groups home this week because of "rapidly rising" Covid rates among staff and an inability to find supply teachers, it has emerged.

The removal of the need for Covid testing among staff and pupils was making the situation worse, with some schools now experiencing their worst absence levels of the pandemic, a headteachers' leader told Tes.

Heads warn that some schools are having to send year groups home on a rota or combine class groups in an attempt to protect exam year groups from more disruption."

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/covid-schools-absence-send-year-groups-home-cases-spike

Some will claim that getting rid of testing would improve the situation, but clearly a situation where lots of teachers are getting ill and requiring a few days off school to recover, regardless of isolation rules, is not 'getting back to normal'.

The teachers that I know who have had covid recently would have required a few days off school despite it being 'mild' even without isolation guidance, even though teachers are well-known for dosing on Lemsip and turning up to school regardless of illness because setting cover work is worse.

Still, the covid catch-up effort has basically fizzled out, and it's looking like zero effort will be made by the government to support children in recovering their education from the impact of absences and lack of teachers.

Exams start in a couple of months for kids who are having an extremely disruptive time. The government has fixed the exam grades so that they will come out with better results than the 2019 cohort, this will basically cover up the impact on educational standards. How this will play out down the line at uni/college/sixth form is anyone's guess.

“Dozens”

An army?

Supply teachers have been treated badly for at least twenty years now. Unsurprisingly, a lot moved onto other careers in the lockdowns.

Does anyone actually blame them?

No one could have predicted its failure. Literally no one. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4424971-There-is-no-army-of-volunteers-waiting-to-be-called-to-keep-schools-open

I did like this comment from the schoolsweek article "Premier Teachers received interest from more than 20 ex-teachers. But none ended up working in schools, with the prevalence of Covid among the main reasons."

🤦‍♀️

@Eyedropeyeflop

Laughing at the suggestion I don’t know any people who work in education or healthcare (when I technically work in both lol) 😂😂

Okaayyy then.

Education was a shit show long before covid, as was healthcare. No need for the hysteria anymore though within schools.

And yes it really is true I can’t think of a single person who does actually care as much as you lot.

How do you 'technically work in both'? Interested in that particular 'technicality'.

Please don't use the word 'hysteria'. Anyone in healthcare ought to know how demeaningly gendered that is.

More than 20? So, 21 then.

(and headmaster)

Private school?

Loads of teachers off with it at my son's school in London he has supply teachers and cover lessons but is sitting GCSEs this summer - very worrying

@noblegiraffe ah but there's Geoff and Margaret 😊😊. We have now collapsed classes and teaching 60+ at once again. All of one department off and in total about 15% of teachers have covid. Some v v ill. We all feel it's just a matter of time.

"Are you then wanting schools to be places staff are less likely to get covid, ergo not have to be off with it Giraffe?"

I think the one surveys show fairly clearly that teaching and education staff are at higher risk if catching covid than healthcare and care at present.

Bit shit if you, the kids you teach and family members are cev though. Most people on education have hot used to the idea of catching covid over and over again and see it happening to the kids we teach but whereas previously people were all over the idea of how damaging it is for their learning and mental health to have disrupted schooling people don't seem to care about that anymore either

The problem is that assumes it’s only transmitted in schools, and it isn’t. I’m not for a second denying that it does get spread in schools, but am I going to shut myself away in case I have to isolate and affect kids’ education? Honestly? No.

No one has suggested that you should.

@Auvergnewater you might have your kids home again v soon. Lots of schools rapidly running out of staff. Weird how this wasn't happening when they wore masks.

emails home today warning parents of impending school closures in particular year groups if any more staff go off. We have management off. Many kids. So many staff members. Some year groups have no 1-2-1 staff left. It's a right mess. Worse than it's ever been.

@noblegiraffe

No one has suggested that you should.

I get that @noblegiraffe but the view being put forward here is that a lot of disruption is being caused by staff having covid. Unless staff restrict their activities out of school, that’s going to happen.

Auvergnewater

Ah yes the

Unless staff restrict their activities out of school, that’s going to happen.

Whilst ignoring that teachers get covid in school, the lack of critical thinking is astounding.

"Unless staff restrict their activities out of school, that’s going to happen."

Er no! We've been round this nonsense numerous times before. Teachers should be able to live their lives outside school in exactly the same way as everyone else. What we SHOULD be able to expect is that reasonable protections are in place for us in our places of work.

Unless staff restrict their activities out of school, that’s going to happen

Probably the daftest comment so far. What outside activities should they restrict that are more likely to result in them catching Covid than being in crowded environments with many potentially infected people and zero mitigations, as they are in school?
I’m sure most teachers have already curtailed their clubbing and swinging sessions in the interests of education. Though I understand many swinging groups require a negative test to take part at present.

slaps forehead in dismay...

But I agree in part with PP. I do think it is a little bit ironic that the same teachers who are very vocal about complaining their workplaces are unsafe then chose to meet up for Christmas meals / socials in restaurants and pubs out of school hours at a time omicron was rife in our area. Ditto the HCP who went out for their Xmas night out and then 15 out of 30 came down with Covid by the Monday, more followed.

Though I understand many swinging groups require a negative test to take part at present
It's important to take precautions.

We're talking about there being a critical shortage of teachers, I'm not sure that telling them that they have to become shut-ins before they can expect health and safety measures to be implemented in their workplace is the way forward.

Deja Vu on steroids on here…

"Teachers are catching covid in schools at a high rate causing staffing issues"

"Tell them they can't go to Nando's"

Next there will be suggestions that seats should be removed from staffrooms and that buffets should be banned.

Unless staff restrict their activities out of school, that’s going to happen

Even ignoring the fact that noone else needs to restrict their activities now, I think the assumption that staff aren't catching it in school is naive at best. And willfully ignorant at worst.

One coughing child, sent in last week with clear symptoms (despite us actually being in a part of the UK that still legally tells us to test and isolate) has wiped out both the 1-2-1 TAs and me, their teacher and the student teacher in my class, all in the same few days. It's far more likely we all caught it in the same classroom than all separately caught it doing whatever we were doing outside of school.