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.

@Eyedropeyeflop "I care. Both my children have GCSEs this year.
I care about the chaos and disruption they've had, they're currently having, the threat of Covid during GCSE weeks (5 weeks).
They've both had Covid, I've had Covid, this isn't just caring about illness, it's the constant worry, stress and strain on schools."

This is me. My DS has his GCSEs this year and I'm very worried about both the run up to these (staff absences, year closures, him testing positive) and what will happen if kids get positive tests before an exam. Is there going to be any provision for kids in that situation?

Feel so sorry for their year; huge focus on them doing their exams (which I do understand) but so stressful after 2 years of very erratic schooling, even with accommodations to the exam.

what will happen if kids get positive tests before an exam. Is there going to be any provision for kids in that situation?

Headteachers have been pushing the govt for answers on this. They are basically assuming that a kid with covid won't miss all the papers for a subject and so their grade will be estimated from the ones that they do sit. TAGs will only be used if exams are cancelled nationally.

@Watapalava

Our head said we won’t be changing anything.

@Watapalava

All this will reduce next week as schools get the new guidance which means they wont advise isolation with covid. Many isolations are not because staff are unwell and the gov have confirmed that the advice to isolate ends on 31st march - as such new guidance to school will be issued. Teacher and kids wont be expected to stay off anymore. People shouldn't be testing now anyway.

This is not what I've seen in my school. Many staff are ill for 10 days or more. When they return they are still affected in different ways. The confusion that pp mentioned has affected people I work with. We've been putting it down to workload but itcould be some post viral symptoms. I think even the government realise it's not going to suddenly no longer be a problem.

People shouldn't be testing now anyway.

And yet cases are rising, which means people are testing. What is prompting them to test? Is it because they're not well?

Many isolations are not because staff are unwell

Says who? In our school every single staff member who has had it has been too ill to get out of bed? In a normal year, we barely have any staff off sick because it's such a hassle setting work that most teachers just try to come in if they can.

The more kids who come in with Covid, the more staff who are likely to be off sick. Just had an email from my DCs school explaining they are having to collapse classes because of the number of staff off with symptomatic Covid.

I know a good idea. Offer school staff a booster NOW. Because we are tripling up classes today and it's pointless (year 8 drama + year 11 chemistry + year 9 history).
Staff are SICK. V sick in some cases. One in hospital as can't breathe v well.
I'm sure I've said this once or twice over the past 2 years, but if you want schools open and functioning then keep the staff well.

Re exams - schools and colleges require in some cases very large numbers of external invigilators to run public exams, which are highly regulated. If I were the exams officer in a big school or college, especially one with a high number of students requiring special arrangements, I’d already be concerned about possible Covid-related problems.

I had my booster over 4 months ago so presume that's seriously waning now. Tbh I'd rather not have another one as I have had increasingly horrible reactions to each dose - this is very rare btw to anyone worrying about vaccines and it seems to be the polar opposite to everyone I know in real life's experience. Perhaps boosters should be made available to teachers and frontline healthcare staff who want them now to prepare for that given the idea of further closures or restrictions on education and healthcare are so keenly opposed?

We had our biggest wave yet at our school in January despite lots having had delta in December and many staff and tons of kids (2/3 of classes in some cases) were off ill. Many of the staff hadn't had their boosters yet at that point but I'd had mine due to being in group 6 and it was relatively fresh and I didn't catch it despite being in endless close contact to infected people - we did have masks then though I think (the last two years are beginning to roll into one).

Numbers seem to be picking up again - just rumbling away between 10 and 20 kids a day on the covid register currently but in Feb and early March that had been down to a handful. Whether it's another wave or just the reality of a combination of dwindling immunity, people sending in kids who are infected and no mitigations at all that some schools on here are experiencing now I suppose it's coming our way too.

At one point in January one of my year 7 classes had only 9 students in. I made a comment about how they were the lucky ones not to catch it and they said no, they were just the ones who all had it over Christmas already.

What can look like waves that are variant based may just be the mexican wave effect of it going round and round the arena.

To be fair, we have a mix of people really affected by it and being ill and others who have v mild symptoms and would otherwise be in school.
At the moment we in Wales still have to legally isolate. But I can see how a lot of staff would go to work when positive if they only have mild symptoms

@DrMadelineMaxwell

To be fair, we have a mix of people really affected by it and being ill and others who have v mild symptoms and would otherwise be in school. At the moment we in Wales still have to legally isolate. But I can see how a lot of staff would go to work when positive if they only have mild symptoms

But isn't that only going to create more disruption. Teacher, not too poorly but COVID positive and in school....

More staff infected, more kids infected. More staff and kids missing school, some kids ill, some kids disrupted because there are no staff.

I have colleagues and pupils really sick after testing positive for the third time.

@Watapalava, no, this will not "reduce next week."
As others have pointed out, people are not fit to teach with this variant. If there are no restrictions on schools, then there will be worse disruption, not less.
Many schools are taking their own initiative and advising staff and students to stay away whilst they have a positive result. They know, even if you don't, that that is the best way to minimise lost learning for the majority.

This will not end next week. This new variant is harsh, teachers ar edit with high viral loads because they work with large, unvaccinated populations.

I’ve never been this I’ll, I’ve forced myself to wake up for an hour, read the news then I’ll be going back to bed. I’m young and I don’t have underlying health conditions. I can’t hear properly and I can’t focus/I get dizzy. My 25 year old phase colleague is in the same position, she too is healthy with no underlying health conditions. The result? Who knows when those children will be taught by an actual teacher.

Teachers are getting very, very sick. That’s not going away. Not testing and just crossing fingers is just making it worse as it’s spreading and evolving again.

Flu it is not, if you are so confident, pop into a primary school near you. Over 1 in 10 staff off.

What new variant? I can’t see anything on the BBC.

I've just heard that a local secondary school teacher with no underlying health problems has been admitted to hospital with Covid. Not good news for them or their GCSE and A level classes unfortunately.

Ds's school went to hybrid learning so there is one year group at home learning every day. Loads of teachers off with covid.

@Auvergnewater

What new variant? I can’t see anything on the BBC.

New variant: Covid ba2.

If the cabinet granted boosters to teachers as a priority they would have to admit that schools are spreading covid. This has never been their narrative even though it's plain to see.

Just let stress levels rise with teachers coping with more colleagues' absence, setting home learning, losing staff for interventions for cover, doing more duties as bubbles return, trying desperately to 'catch up' 🙄 the children who have missed big chunks of learning, all at different points, implement new interventions for these children, manage the huge emotional and mental health fallout.

Junior and secondary teachers, good luck with the current ks1 cohort. I teach in a leafy middle class area and we are swamped with EHCP need level children with astonishingly poor speech and language, social, emotional and behavioural skills. Infant school teaching is really really hard at the moment.

The current year 1 for example, joined year R with very limited experience of preschool or early years classes/ sessions like music classes, baby sensory etc. Even the wealthier families. Many had never been to a birthday party. Little experience of taking turns, listening to an adult or their peers, dealing with friendships. The death of the sure start centres had already left a huge gap in provision for parents who would have attended a stay and play session (non means tested, all welcome) but would have declined an invitation only event targeted at 'in need' families for fear of being monitored. Messages about the importance of reading daily to babies, talking to them, nursery rhymes, ditching the dummy early on etc were not imparted.

Hence a mini generation of increasingly non verbal or significantly language starved, sometimes incontinent, anxious, emotionally needy children who aren't ready to hold a pen and form letters because of lack of muscle tone and upper body strength, unable to talk in proper sentences, reliant on dummies or sucking at water bottles for comfort, such poor social skills that they just share at other children and don't initiate play or talk. Only interested in ipads or computers, no attempt at mark making when they started in year R.

Not all children are in this category (or spectrum) but the vast drain on the very limited resources of time, adults and money that we have in school, coupled with the resistance by SLT to change our early years and KS1 curriculum (as a previously high attaining school) to meet their needs means a HUGE increase in workload for teachers. The support staff quite rightly go home after their contracted (shockingly badly paid) hours and teachers have yet more meetings to discuss yet more paperwork for yet more interventions, yet more meetings with parents who are completely unable to deal with their own children's behaviour, yet more planning to resource lessons for children who can't access the curriculum etc etc. CAHMS are beyond useless. Good luck trying to get an EHCP for a child with obvious needs.

The strain on teaching staff is enormous and then PPA is taken away, 1-1 TAs are redeployed to teach whole classes, no supply staff are available. No coverage in the media of the current crisis in teaching.

Many parents only care that their child is in school and not at home. No idea of the pressures or appreciation of the reality. I don't want school closures but I do wish the government would listen to teachers, treat them better and the public would appreciate us too.

Funny how this new variant is making school staff so unwell when most others are fine

Almoat all people I know who’ve caught it are fine

Everyone I know tells same story

This is a milder variant not worse

Coincidently are these rises due to no pcr as no one has to prove covid now do we? I’m guessing many are not genuine absences -

Perhaps teachers have just decided en masse to pretend to be sick then @Watapalava. The alternative, that covid is rife in schools, with no mitigations and that that could be making staff unwell is clearly batshit.

@Watapalava the majority of people I know who've had it have been really poorly. All vaxxed. Not all teachers.

There are always shirkers in al workplaces

Teachers have had a shot couple of years

A week off sick without having to prove anything would not be an unusual response

There are people who do this in all workplaces

So it’s not out the realms to suggest it’s happening in schools too

@Watapalava

There are always shirkers in al workplaces

Teachers have had a shot couple of years

A week off sick without having to prove anything would not be an unusual response

There are people who do this in all workplaces

So it’s not out the realms to suggest it’s happening in schools too

Which shows just how far removed from the reality of being a teacher you are ....