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.

We get lists of children who have been identified as having tested positive to us daily. On today's list, unsurprisingly, was a child who was hacking up a lung on Friday, but who said they'd been sent in regardless as their LFT was negative. With symptoms she should have been for a PCR, but having Lfts to hand means that people (my student teacher included) think they've tested and can go in despite not following the law (which it still is where I am).

It's the worst it has been in my class. A third of my class out. We are one member of staff from shutting ks2 as we have ALL the local supply already. The staff members out are all on their second or third round of covid. For some the second round has been worse.

And at tonights face to face parents meeting a large percentage of parents are not testing, don't care and think it is nonsense. But they will complain when I am off again. The one parent who won't and who is testing is the parent of an immune compromised child in my class. How they are still sending them in I don't know- it's atotal shitstorm.

For the record i've had it twice now. Half marathon runner before. Now i'm on steroids and have autoimmune issues. As a primary teacher my immune system is FUCKING A and I had 10 years with not a day off pre covid. A child in my class has been left with heart issues post covid- no previous ill health.

People need to stop downplaying this. Just a simple bit of respect - test if you are sniffling and staying off with symptoms would do!

That sounds terrible, Phlebas.

All best wishes, Phlebas. That's just awful

@phlebasconsidered

@phlebasconsidered I get it. i was active and healthy, got Covid before vaccines became available and now my exercise equipment is gathering dust, I have developed POTS (blood vessel issues) and am now medicated and housebound.

This is NOT just a runny nose for many many people.

I just laugh when people say they’re not going to get long term problems. Unless you can read the future?? - you can have no idea .

Speaking at the annual conference of the Local Government Association and 'the Association of Directors of Public Health, Whitty also said those hoping for an “end point” should not expect one, with coronavirus likely to remain a threat to public health for decades.'

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/nhs-under-pressure-from-new-covid-wave-across-england-says-chris-whitty

This is probably why it doesn't make sense to just forget about covid and not care about it anymore.

Best wishes Phlebaconsidered. A horrible situation.

Some schools forced to close in Scotland

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-60822079

I totally support masks, believe the scientific evidence is overwhelming that they work, and wear a ffp2 myself (increasingly in the minority doing so) BUT when it comes to schools I think they're a distraction.

It's too easy to argue against masks because they obviously can impact on learning and also it IS true that if not worn properly (or at all, e.g. under the chin) they are less effective. So many people in this country seem utterly opposed to masks and think it's a dreadful imposition to wear one.

I think there's little point arguing about masks without ventilation and air filtration, both of which make a massive difference to spread of covid and other diseases, both of which would improve attendance, educational attainment, teacher and student health, and basically everything. It's really a win win win.

We need to do the uncontroversial basics first.

What I find really worrying is that whilst schools are suffering AGAIN and having to shut classes AGAIN with this latest wave of covid a mere few months after the last one, that there is no national plan to implement good ventilation and air filtration in schools - when to do so would cost less than a royal boat.

Air filters are not expensive, I've bought one for DDs classroom, I know.

It speaks of an ideological resistance to adequately funding state education that - whatever your view on covid - should really worry all parents who actually want kids who aren't super rich to get an education, rather than just childcare so their parents can work.

There is literally no way that 2 years in to the pandemic anyone will be making young children wear masks. I can’t believe people are still seriously suggesting that.

I can’t believe that 2 years into a pandemic kids are still unable to go to school because the government has put fuck-all money or planning into covid in schools.

Why is ventilation not sorted?

As for people coming on here to have a pop at teachers or say ‘yeah well I’m exposed to covid too, you know’ - I thought you cared about your kids being in school, taught by qualified teachers. That’s currently not happened, where’s the outrage?

Unfortunately it does seem to be the case that a very vocal minority only seem to care about kids being watched so their parents can be working rather than kids being taught.

Maybe they've all Tories with kids in private school? Who knows.

I am rather amazed that not more parents of state school kids are making a fuss about the woeful provision their children are getting. Despite the valiant efforts of teachers to do the right thing in the face of insurmountable obstacles.

There simply isn't enough money being put into state schools, per pupil, to get a decent education for all in general. The pandemic is just the bright flashing red flag that is showing up the problems that existed before the pandemic and have been made worse because of it.

Schools should have opening windows anyway, pandemic or no pandemic.

They need to get ventilation and air filtration sorted quickly. It could have been done by Sept 2021, quite easily, if they'd bothered to try. It wouldn't take long or much money relative to the millions wasted on test and trace, and I really doubt you'd be seeing closures like we are now if it had been done, as all the scientists told them to.

I see no reason to think what has happened in my child's school (closures of year groups) in November, January and again now in March, won't be repeated (with new variants) in May, July and September.

It's ONLY a few months since the January peak of Omicron 1, now we have the same thing happening with Omicron 2 in March. It's clear previous infection doesn't stop teachers (or children) catching it again. I asked DD the other night if it was teachers who'd had it before who were off and the answer was 'yes'.

No one here has any control over that.

Your posts are always accompanied by the sound of a sad trombone in my head.

Interesting tweet here from someone doing supply for the first time in years. The kids are having a lot of cover lessons and aren’t happy.

Even the ones who are in school are adversely affected.

Well, they aren’t said like that I just honestly have no idea why you start so many threads saying the same thing which invite bunfights and teacher bashing.

I'm guessing people start threads on here because it gets people thinking and sometimes has resulted in pretty impressive lobbying and got things changed.

It's made a difference at my school as parents clubbed together to get air filters for some classrooms (the one with the lowest rates of covid and the least disruption to education)

Or we can just throw our hands up and accept the conditions our overlords have decided to impose upon us (the exact opposite of the critical thinking education is supposed to foster).

I thought you cared about your kids being in school, taught by qualified teachers. That’s currently not happened, where’s the outrage?

Perhaps because many parents are actually happy with their kids' teaching? Perhaps covid isn't affecting all schools and/or teachers as badly as described in some of these posts?

Covid hasn't affected my kids school

One outbreak where most kids and teachers off in year group and that's it and that was months ago!

@Lilaclavenders

I thought you cared about your kids being in school, taught by qualified teachers. That’s currently not happened, where’s the outrage?

Perhaps because many parents are actually happy with their kids' teaching? Perhaps covid isn't affecting all schools and/or teachers as badly as described in some of these posts?

How would you know?

Certainly at secondary parents aren’t informed if their kid has a cover teacher and I don’t think parents would be hearing it from the teen who grunts ‘fine’ when asked how their day was.

The problem is that it’s become apparent for some time that while covid does circulate in schools, it doesn’t only circulate in schools. People will still pick it up at concerts, weddings, the pub, church, shopping, gyms and a myriad of other activities.

Therefore, schools can be made ‘safe’, but disruption to education won’t stop. It just won’t. Not unless isolation periods are scrapped, but I’m guessing that’s not what is being argued for here.

I don’t have a solution here. But I don’t really know what is being asked for. Safer schools? OK and when disruption continues, then what?

The cover situation is because so many supply teachers have left, and I don’t blame them.

I also wonder cynically if some HTs don’t try as hard as they could to get supply and then jump on the ‘it’s just impossible to get supply teachers, you know’ bandwagon.

Ultimately we all know what will happen - the government will bribe to get numbers up. The year I trained the government were paying off student loans (£9000) giving a tax free grant (£6000) and a golden hello (£3000) to get teacher numbers up. I daresay they will do something similar if it gets really critical.

@noblegiraffe

Your posts are always accompanied by the sound of a sad trombone in my head.

Interesting tweet here from someone doing supply for the first time in years. The kids are having a lot of cover lessons and aren’t happy.

Even the ones who are in school are adversely affected.

My daughter had cover for half her lessons last week because so many staff are out with Covid. They don't even have a supply teacher. Classes are collapsed and they are given a worksheet to fill in in silence in the hall. Half of the week spent completing worksheets in silence.

@noblegiraffe

I can’t believe that 2 years into a pandemic kids are still unable to go to school because the government has put fuck-all money or planning into covid in schools.

Why is ventilation not sorted?

As for people coming on here to have a pop at teachers or say ‘yeah well I’m exposed to covid too, you know’ - I thought you cared about your kids being in school, taught by qualified teachers. That’s currently not happened, where’s the outrage?

This is what I struggle with too.

Parents of children at my school would have no idea of the staffing issues over the past few months. We've crawled by on skeleton staff with teachers covering lunch duties and amalgamating classes. From the outside all looks normal. On the inside we haven't had a full staff in my year group since Christmas. It's really dragging us all down.

We had 18 staff off today… behaviour was horrific all day as kids running rings around the supply we managed to get, who now will never come back to us after the day they’ve just had. We housed about 15 high profile kids in the isolation room, sick kids who’s parents wouldn’t collect were housed in the library