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.

"All my friends who are teachers and test positive take a week off because they can"

Yet more teachers are lazy and workshy gaslighting. Wilko's get slammed for suggesting staff work with covid but teachers are taking time off because covid is a great excuse.

Government/ department of education guidance is still to isolate until day 5 and you can only return with 2 negative lft on day 5 and 6 at the earliest.

All my friends who are teachers and test positive take a week off because they can
Of course they do. All my friends who are teachers and test positive are knackered from trying to set work when they're ill with covid.

Having been in a house this week where everyone else has had Covid I reckon my constant exposure to it as made me actually immune. I've felt low level crap for a couple of months, just think I'm in a permanent state of chasing it off

I don’t think teachers are lazy at all. I quits teaching cos the demands & amount of work was insane. Teachers are brilliant people. But I also don’t think a lot of them need to be off for 10 days anymore with a milder variant & vaccines. It’s pretty hot in my kids school right now but speaking to several remaining staff (I volunteer a couple times a week), they were all just at a mild cold like stage by day 5 & extremely frustrated they couldn’t get back in.

Once testing goes, it’ll be better. It can be treated like any other illness. Poorly, stay at home. Well enough to work, work.

*quit

Even being off for 5 days is incredibly disruptive. Teachers are not routinely off for 5 days at a time with any illness.

The headteachers in the OP article say that the situation has got worse since mandatory testing was stopped. Fewer people testing means more people with covid in schools = more people catching covid and getting ill with it.

I'm thinking that more people are getting ill with BA2 as well.

@hedgehogger1

Having been in a house this week where everyone else has had Covid I reckon my constant exposure to it as made me actually immune. I've felt low level crap for a couple of months, just think I'm in a permanent state of chasing it off

Just as a warning, from extensive experience, people making that sort of claim invariably go down with covid within a fortnight.

Touch wood quick hedgehogger - 'I think I must be immune...' seem to be famous last words.

I shan't say it but I have had similar thoughts to you. Ds also has never officially had it yet As a teacher and a teenager that's pretty remarkable. Both of us seem to be under the weather all the time but not getting fully ill itms - as if our immune systems are constantly fending something off.

Have the schools that are being hit hard now been hit hard before?

In January/February Covid ripped through our schools even though we'd already had relatively high rates before Omicron. There's very few families left who haven't already had Covid now and cases have stayed pretty low this term. Very very low in fact.

I'm hoping this area is through the worst but who knows with Covid. It seems to be the virus that just keeps on giving.

All the staff off in our school at the moment, are all very ill with it.

We have more off than we've had in the entire pandemic. One in hospital, several off in their 3rd week now. Totally wiping them out.

I'm 28 and I've had covid twice- both times because children in my class have been sent in while their parents/ siblings have it.

The last time was horrific. I'm scared to catch it again- and I'm young, healthy, no underlying conditions. Not to mention that it's been 2 weeks of disruption every time and you're going back to a messy classroom, 2 weeks out of the termly planning and children taken completely out of routine.

I’ve had 13 days off work this academic year because of covid, first me, then my kids then my again.

In ten years, prior to covid, I probably had 2 years an academic year max.

Sorry I meant 2 days.!!’

Covid in our household again for third time!!!!

All my friends who are teachers and test positive take a week off because they can

Or perhaps they're intelligent, considerate people who understand that knowingly taking a contagious virus into a school is a bloody stupid thing to do.

@hedgehogger1

Having been in a house this week where everyone else has had Covid I reckon my constant exposure to it as made me actually immune. I've felt low level crap for a couple of months, just think I'm in a permanent state of chasing it off

I thought that when I didn't get it from DD coughing in my face. I was wrong.

My daughter said she was sitting next to a girl who felt ok but tested positive with Covid and the teacher who was in class had it too but Y11 so everyone's in school and getting on with it!

Have the schools that are being hit hard now been hit hard before?

Yes, our worst period was just before Christmas when we were close to shutting some year groups.
We had a quiet few weeks at the start of the year, then several classes had outbreaks. Last 2 weeks we have seen rising cases again, lots of staff/children getting Covid for 2nd/3rd time. Some classes only get a few cases, one class had half the class positive, the teacher, and then the supply teacher!
It's pretty similar at my DCs school, DCs have both had Covid twice, and there's an outbreak in one of there classes at the moment, 4 parents have messaged today to say their children are positive.
I'm glad neither of my children are in exam years.

I know that the govt have fixed GCSE and A-level results so the impact won't be seen.

Are there any primary school teachers who can say what they are expecting to happen with SATs?

I’m a Y6 teacher. They are going ahead with no mitigations, everything as it was. I’ve had two outbreaks so far in Oct and Jan - the second took most of our staff out.

Thanks Feenie, so the standards aren't being lowered? The expectation is that fewer children will meet the expected standard than 2019?

Nothing has been announced - all supposed to be business as usual .

My Y6s don't do SATs, as we are SEN. Had such a tough week last week, feel like a terrible teacher, I was off with covid a few weeks back, haven't recovered from that yet, students have been going down like dominos and now my TAs are too. Supply was lovely, but no experience in school. I cannot manage my classroom with the staff I am likely to have and no one has anyone to lend me. On top of that some dull ECT stuff is very stressful, and it's assessment week.

I 100% back my staff being off by the way. I still felt awful and was positive on day 10, came straight back as did everyone else I know, it's like the walking dead in my school.

@noblegiraffe

I know that the govt have fixed GCSE and A-level results so the impact won't be seen.

Are there any primary school teachers who can say what they are expecting to happen with SATs?

Year 6 teacher here. I've had 4 Year 6s in in the last week and a half (6 different children, PAN of 15). The rest have been off with Covid.

I already knew we would not have good progress from SATs results given all the lockdowns but hoped that we would at least hit positive progress scores - not so sure now.

The Head doesn't give a shit because there are no league tables.

I give a shit because I'm worried about the impact on their predicted GCSE grades and how that might affect how much focus certain children are given at secondary school.

There are currently 294, 404 new cases of covid daily in the uk right now. A total of current cases of 3, 058, 181. It's been tracked by Kings university via their Covid19 app. Boris gets his way on let it rip, finally.

I was positive until day 10 also, couldn’t have taught anyway, felt awful and was exhausted.