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.

Problem is giraffe I don’t think there’s any way of getting to the point that we can say covid won’t be passed on in schools.

And even if you could there’s no way of guaranteeing it won’t be passed on in other settings. I’m not locking myself away weekends and holidays in case I get it and have to isolate and I don’t know anybody else who is either tbh.

The problem for a LONG time was getting people to accept at all that covid was being passed on in schools.

Now that everyone agrees that it is, and that it isn't going away, and it is causing massive problems to children's education, what are we going to do about it?

Handwringing that nothing works isn't going to help those kids left without a qualified teacher for weeks on end in their exam years.

Efforts to lessen spread? Vaccinating teachers as priority? Some sort of massive genuine push to increase teacher supply?

And a few £ thrown at schools to hire non-existent tutors to help the kids 'catch up' isn't working. So, more permanent teaching assistants? increased specialist provision? Smaller class sizes (need more teachers first).

We had emails at the start of the week saying lots of teachers and students where off so to keep testing with any symptoms. DD1 tested positive the Tuesday night & me the Friday.

Got another email on Friday to say that people had been sending children in with symptoms. Spoke to another mother & she said in the middle of the week any sign of any illness they were sending children home and telling them not to go back to school till the Monday.

What are they going to do when tests are no longer free? Can't expect parents to keep buying them when some of the symptoms are symptoms of other things. DD1s symptom was sneezing occasionally.

I think I've not caught it for three reasons:

• luck
• ventilation because I always have my windows open, in all weather, anyway
• 5 vaccinations

I have 14 periods a week in which I teach students doing external exams in the summer. If I am off sick, I'm not easy to cover.

What are they going to do when tests are no longer free?

Schools are supposed to be provided with them to hand out in the event of an outbreak, but what counts as an outbreak and how you'll know you've got one when people can't test is anyone's guess.

So people will still get sick, disrupting education and it will be a total mystery as to why.

@noblegiraffe we haven't had a single pack of tests given from school from the start of the pandemic.

Just told to LFT & if not PCR and proof.

Are you primary, frenchie? Secondary were supposed to be handing them out so kids could test twice weekly (my school gave up because the kids were not using them and now we have a billion tests stockpiled in the hall).

@noblegiraffe yes my two are are primary school & the school nursery.

You could possibly try to increase the number of teachers but I think retention is the main problem (and has been for a long time.) I also suspect that by the time we get to a point that potential new candidates are ready to take on their first teaching job covid won’t be such an issue - maybe it will, but it’s already way, way down in terms of newsworthy items.

I think the new plans when free tests are scrapped involve schools, including primaries being given some to hand out in case of an outbreak.

Primaries weren't given them for the kids before, which is why you won't have had them so far.

From returning in January to the February half term had been horrendous staffing wise in our school. I work in nursery and we had no children off but 4 staff affected from the 6 usually.

I was off due to surgery when we returned and Covid has struck the lower school and for the first time nursery. Lots of very unwell children and in a few cases chickenpox on top. Last week when I returned lots of the staff were cheering that so many were returning. Hoping it settles now.

it’s already way, way down in terms of newsworthy items.

And yet in terms of disruption to education, it's way, way up there.

Don't mistake whether something is on the news or not for whether it is important.

I don’t think I am. I’m just saying that I think we will get to a point where we’ll no longer have to isolate and it will become no more or less disruptive than ‘ordinary’ illness.

Which is a ridiculous claim.

Teachers are becoming more ill with covid than they are with other 'ordinary' illnesses, and more regularly than it was hoped covid would affect people.

The idea that everyone with covid is isolating at home perfectly fine is one put out by people with either no wide contact with reality, or an agenda.

@noblegiraffe people aren't isolating though. It's no longer the law so if they are feeling fine, they are going out.

Ah right, I did wonder. I've been ok getting them if needed but I've just been to order more and apparently they are unavailable.

"Now that everyone agrees that it is, and that it isn't going away, and it is causing massive problems to children's education, what are we going to do about it?"

Nothing apparently. Ironic that all last year when kids were missing school due to bubbles it was allegedly causing a tsunami of mental health and suicides and permanently damaging their futures.

Now covid is still disrupting their education and school life but no one seems to care enough to do anything about it.

@noblegiraffe

Which is a ridiculous claim.

Teachers are becoming more ill with covid than they are with other 'ordinary' illnesses, and more regularly than it was hoped covid would affect people.

The idea that everyone with covid is isolating at home perfectly fine is one put out by people with either no wide contact with reality, or an agenda.

This is absolutely true. I've worked as a teacher for 20 years. The only other times I can remember this number if teachers being out is after the ski trip brought back norovirus and that was a couple of weeks. This has been going on for months.

This is damaging kids education and financially draining schools as they pay sick pay plus cover. Teachers still in school are losing their prep time as there's not enough cover teachers.

As a supply teacher (also part time contract) I am perfectly able to get a GCSE class to cover some valuable content in any subject BUT theres no substitute for a subject specialist AND there's a culture in our schools that cover lessons don't count. The cover work I have been set is often shocking because the teacher is assuming that the kids won't do anything for someone else.

If anything covid has further highlighted other issues in schools.....underfunded, understaffed, underpaid management working 70-80 hours a week. I'm about to text my head on a Sunday as I have covid and I know she needs to be onto the agency first to have a chance of getting cover for me. She spends her weekends juggling timetables atm.

This is damaging kids education and financially draining schools as they pay sick pay plus cover. Teachers still in school are losing their prep time as there's not enough cover teachers.
Yes. I have additional non contact time for my whole school roles. Of those 4 periods, I lost 3 to cover last week. That meant that I couldn't meet a new member of staff to do their induction, or a student who needs a bit of help because she's been off. The marking etc can move into my evenings but the face to face stuff can't.
But because schools are open, everything is okay 🤷‍♀️

And no-one seems to care about the vulnerable children anymore, if their regular teacher can’t be there picking up any signs that might point to an issue. All the ‘what about the vulnerable children’ posters seem to have disappeared into the woodwork even if there are still vulnerable children, whose lives are still crap even when school is open. But that’s okay because the teachers can look after them, along with everything else teachers have to do.

@gluteustothemaximus

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.

Doesn't surprise me to be honest. School staff work incredibly hard. It wouldn't surprise me if the virus knocks them out for longer, as their minds and bodies have probably had enough anyway.

Have you got your blinds fixed yet Noble?

The other thing about 'people aren't getting that ill with covid now, it's going to be like any other ordinary illness' that is being missed is that we are all currently brimful of vaccine after a massive booster push over xmas unlike other ordinary illnesses.

So what's the plan for when the vaccines wear off and people start getting even more ill than currently?

I work in primary and there are definitely no tests available now. We have used up all of the last lot we were sent and we couldn't order any new.

I'll also add that since coming back from covid, the remaining staff at school who have been trying to desperately cover all the gaps, including the headteacher being off so no support with discipline, and having to do lunchtime duty, are absolutely shattered and on their knees, and are now going off with stress and exhaustion.

It's a knock on effect.

The answer is to invest way more money and staff into schools. It would help the retention issue massively.

Managing a large class of 31 with staffing disruptions so often no TAs, losing your prep time and breaks, and dealing with the ever increasing bad behaviour and emotional difficulties, is driving even more teachers out.

Our school is really struggling financially from all this, so we might even have to combine classes and make them bigger, or at least mixing more year groups.
So more teachers will leave.

I'll repeat, everything has a knock on effect.

I didn’t think people were testing anymore, we haven’t. If unwell stay at home until you feel better- like you would with any other illness.