My sons school have shut the class

[Sadless]

My son has been home since Tuesday because they have shut the class apparently its spread around that class and its more of a staffing issue. I didn't think they would or could do that now.

He's still testing negative

Sal

Well aren't you a peach.

I'm assuming you've never been too ill to work in your life, or that you would have happily accepted a fine for sickness?

Yes we're paying for tests. Why wouldn't you? I do them before seeing my vulnerable parents, and if anyone in the family feels really ill because we'd rather know what it is.

The guidance is still to stay home its just not law
Also some people are ill with it so cannot go in

Presumably they just don't have the staff to cover the class.

At present there is virtually no supply cover to be had, teachers and TAs, in many parts of the country. We've never had issues getting supply before but these last few weeks there has been very little and this week none at all.

Whilst people can ignore that they have covid, many work places are still following government guidance which is to isolate for a few days, and not to come into work. Also, whilst we keep being told it isn't bad, for many adults it still leaves them feeling unwell for a couple of days or so, so still unable to come in even if they were allowed.

What a ridiculous comment.
Schools have very limited budgets, if you were to fine them that would come out of next year's staffing budget, so the problem of lack of staff would get worse.
How did you think the school would be able to pay a fine? Who do you think would suffer if schools' funds are reduced even further?

What the heck are you on about bullying me for an honest question? Get off your horse and go and bully somebody else. BULLY!!!!

So you are going to pay for Covid tests forever? For all your family? Every time someone feels poorly or you see your parents even if you feel OK?

That's going to add up fairly quickly isn't it?

... Yes? Or at least until my parents are comfortable seeing us without them. We only see them every few weeks because they don't live very close. And yes, if one of us has a fever and seems generally Covidy, we'll test. Not for every cold, obvs, but in my experience Covid is far worse than just a cold.

I am fortunate that we can afford to test, and I completely understand that many can't. But if we can, we will.

Are the children going to teach themselves?

My daughter works at McDonald's and unless your ill as in bed she's expected in. Her work friend just came back from Budapest and tested positive she in work.
So it's not really surprising its spreading alot quicker now when people who don't suffer are acting as normal.

Sal

I suppose staffing issue is even worse if it’s a special school. They will need more staff and people should be specifically trained for medical issues e.g epilepsy.

Schools are struggling and it's often not like pre-covid times - TAs covering classes, even medical officers, supply when can get it, some off longer as too ill etc. That's before it's as rife as now.

There are 4.2 million active cases in the uk and 339265 new cases per day, according to the Zoe research.

I tested positive last Tuesday. Today was the first day I returned to school to teach. Too ill and I've been left unable to stand and walk properly. I only managed today as I had classes where I could sit and teach, plus a walking stick for extra support. McDonald's policy is why covid is spreading.

I was too ill to do my WFH job for around 10 days when I had COVID last month. Can't even imagine how much harder something active like teaching would be.

And I'm in my 30s, no underlying conditions etc. Unfortunately a lot of people are getting COVID right now, and "mildly" ill can still be something that knocks you out for a week +, you just don't need hospital treatment. Unfrotunately I think it's starting to impact lots of sectors..

Hope your son is back in school soon.

🤣 It is 1 in 30 people nationally. Seems unlikely none are in your area.

Jeez.
Special school, so likely to have medically fragile children (like my son) and you think the teachers should come in knowingly covid positive (or ill with any other disease). Thank god they are staying home when they know they are ill. Wouldn't want a teacher working with my son who had been throwing up in the last 48hrs either.

Talking about throwing up, I'm actually surprised that my younger sons, mainstream, class was still open by lunchtime yesterday and that's nothing to do with covid (except that 2years worth of "social distancing" has lowered natural.immunity to other illnesses). 21 out of 32 children off with a sickness bug by the end of yesterday. Was only 9 off at the start of the day and they were dropping like flies through sports day.

i suspect staff are particularly poorly so laid up in bed. Also ratios are very difficult at the moment so it’s possibly unsafe to keep the whole school open

We would have had to close yesr groups if year 11 and 13 hadn't already left. Staff are off for at leaat 5 days and the average ( I ran a report yesterday) is 8.5 days. Staff are ill. Too ill to work plus we follow the tovernemrn guidance of 5 days isolation. I am still not 100% as demonstrated by sports day on Saturday, y weeks after covid for the 4th time.

We had a virus run through the school a few weeks ago. No idea if it was covid as testing optional, but at one point we had seven adults for seven classes, including supply teachers. Fine, but we had no adult for our child with severe medical needs, so had to choose between closing a class or being able to have him in school.

The teacher shortage is getting alarming even without covid….

I had it last week and no way I could have taught.
Besides anything else I had such a sore throat I couldn't speak days 1-3 then the second half of the week I was very light headed every time I stood up so I had to stay in bed.
Very unreasonable of you to assume everyone should and can carry on working because the govt say it's ok.

My son's special school staff are not allowed in school if they test positive. Some of the children are CV and they have residential and looked after children so it would create major staffing problems if it spread all over the school.