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.

Dh has had two full weeks off so far. He’s testing negative at the moment but it’s looking unlikely he will be well enough to go in and teach next week.

I had a child sent in positive week before last. His mum was positive, they knew he was, but sent him in anyway. Two days later he started being actually ill, and was then off for 11 full days properly ill.

That is going to be happening more regularly now too, so that's nice.

I know people want to claim masks don’t work and mask mandates were pointless, but in the weeks since they removed masks from schools in Scotland, at my daughter’s school that was really hot on masks, she has been pinged as a low contact 5 times as kids in her class have covid. She hadn’t had a single ping since she started high school last August.

Sure, it could be coincidence or there may be some other reason, but it’s bloody annoying.

My DS is year 13. No GCSEs. Loads of missed schooling over the pandemic. On top of lockdown he has 3 lots of 2 week isolation (not positive himself) and for the last month has never had his full cohort of teachers in. Half his year off positive.
All they will get it a less harsh grade boundary. It's ludicrous.

My own Year 11 class are nowhere near ready for their exams. It makes
Me sad and angry at the same time.

Personally I’d like to see more common sense protections in schools to keep DC and staff safe..

A rota system so that social distancing can be implemented in classrooms- I see no reason why DC cannot be in school 1 or 2 days a week with online learning the rest of the week.

N95 masks from age 5 as many US states have done with no issues.

Reintroduction of bubbles so that whole classes are sent home and kept safe when there’s a positive test.

Air filtration units in every classroom.

Simple, common sense measures to keep people safe and protect leading.

RIP my thread at those suggestions.

The government suggested solution to massive teacher absence was amalgamating classes, putting them in the hall supervised by the janitor etc.

As a short term one-off fix maybe, but surely that's not going to be the solution going forward? Educationally it's total shit.

We've got a massive outbreak right now in the large rural primary where I work. Loads of teachers and TAs off ill and also children. Trying to find enough people to put one adult in each classroom has been a real struggle. Also trying to be able to provide for children with EHCPs who have 1:1s has been very hard. I've been covering in year groups I would never normally be in. One of the year 2 classes this week was down to 12 healthy children and other classes not far behind. All the much-needed intervention and nuture groups have been cancelled for two weeks as there's just no one available to do them. Deputy head is very ill with Covid, who knows when he'll be back. Local secondary has just sent year 9 home for remote learning as they don't have enough staff for safeguarding. But it's all OK because Covid's over now...

Trying to find enough people to put one adult in each classroom has been a real struggle. Also trying to be able to provide for children with EHCPs who have 1:1s has been very hard.

And this makes schools dangerous - physically dangerous in some cases. Yet so long as they are open, all is 'fine'. November and December 2020 was dangerous in my school.

I’m a supply teacher who had to call in sick on Friday as I have it again (had it just before Christmas). You know things are bad when the supply are phoning in sick.

I’ve had it recently and so have about 5 staff members. The thing is none of us were really ill at all, in fact in the past I’ve gone into work feeling much rougher with various coughs and colds. We all still had to stay off for days although there was basically nothing wrong with us. I know it’s anecdotal but most people I know who have had it recently haven’t been ill at all with it.

And the answer to this is ????

And the answer to this is ????
No answer, just saying that we had staff shortages, even though people weren’t ill as such due to having to stay off.

I think all of not most schools still have isolation for covid.

The same way they have isolation for chicken pox and d and v - which is also public health guidance.

"And the answer to this is ????"

Depends who you ask.

Answer 1)
Air filters for classrooms and vaccinating kids. Continue to provide free lft to schools until the end of the academic year.

Answer 2)

Treat it like a cold and flu so who cares. After all schools have routinely had significant fractions of staff and classes off whenever a bug goes round

@rwalker

And the answer to this is ????

Pretty sure that the answer isn’t the current approach which is to ignore it completely as an issue.

Is this going to be a recurring problem now?

If symptoms are lessened by vaccination, should we be vaccinating teachers regularly as well as the vulnerable? This would reduce absence due to genuine illness (which is why many schools offer their staff a free flu jab).

Worth pointing out that the govt have still done fuck-all about improving ventilation in schools. This could mitigate against the spread of other illnesses too.

It still having a big impact. We are finding people feel ill with it. Not necessarily 10 days of ill, but a good 4 days worth then being very tired after.

No answers, but it would be good at a national level to acknowledge the impact is ongoing and adjust education in the medium term to reflect this - eg a sustained period of smaller class sizes - or 4 year uni courses with year 1 funded for a few cohorts that might have gaps.

Schools are overcrowded and (as a teacher) the outcomes academically, emotionally and socially would be hugely, hugely improved by reducing class sizes. Really reducing them, like 15 in a class on a permanent basis. Children would thrive. Teachers would be able to teach instead of achieving little less than crowd control under some of the current conditions re: behaviour. But no.

It seems everywhere at the moment. Not sure what the answer is, but surely doing fuck all is not it.

@rwalker Read theconversation.com/eight-changes-the-world-needs-to-make-to-live-with-covid-177678 from Professor Christina Pagel, then start demanding that the people accountable do these things.

I'm a teacher offering supply on my days off. I only work with 2 schools and I have had work offered everyday for the last 2 weeks. I now have covid 🙄

@robocracker

I'm a teacher offering supply on my days off. I only work with 2 schools and I have had work offered everyday for the last 2 weeks. I now have covid 🙄

For the second time.

I think it is expected that the current wave is about to peak/will start to decline soon. Apparently Denmark had the same variant and had a similar wave.

Let's hope cases fall soon again

Which is all well and good, however we were told that January would be the tough month for staffing schools with an army of retired teachers being called up to support them (lol). We were also told before that that delta would burn out and everything would be lovely by Christmas.

It's now March. Perhaps 'This wave will hopefully subside soon and then everything will be fine' is NOT a great way to manage ongoing disruption to education? Maybe we need an actual plan?

The problem we've had this last week is teachers being unwell, testing positive on pcr, but not being able to "test to release" on days 5 and 6 because there aren't any lfts anywhere to be had.

At present, the school policy is that these staff must wait the full 10 days before coming back (I know that's not the law any more, but it's our school policy). I imagine this will have to change after 1st April when there won't be any free lfts or pcrs? Do you think most schools will move to just "stay home if you're poorly"?