Coronavirus ROI/NI number 4

[eggandonion]

I don't believe it, would it ever go away!

They kept saying the same thing last year, that exams would go ahead, until they didn't.

Agreed. This year's exam students had a disrupted year last year already.

I think it's time we got of exams anyway.

Does anyone else think it could be until September? Is there anyway for parents who want to pull out of the school system to get funding or maybe in the future to fund themselves. I and quite a few other parents (I have a teaching qualification and others I know have degrees and masters etc in a variety of core subjects) are considering a mix of online and once allowed face to face teaching ourselves as it’s too difficult to keep dealing with this yo-yo education and it was 6 months in total last year as at least in the UK there were schools open in June/ July, potentially 7 months of an education void would be too long tbh.

@HaHaVeryBunny I totally agree with you. And if we end up following the UK approach of waiting more than the recommended time to give the 2nd dose of the vaccine I'll be really pissed off. I'd far rather most vunerable in society are fully vaccinated than more people are half-vaccinated. It makes no sense to me!

As for how long schools schools will really be closed, I guess they just can't say for now how long this lockdown will actually have to go on for. Personally I can't see how they'll 'let' us have St. Patrick's Day and to open up before that and then lock down again would be awful so I feel we'll be in lockdown until after Paddy's Day but that could be my pessimistic mind at work.

Boris was asked yesterday if the schools would return before the summer & he couldn't answer... I wouldn't be surprised if it is September at this stage... Last march they said 2 weeks max... The situation is away worse now

Tbh even I’d they”half” vaccinate people but get more people done that is way better than nothing as those people are likely to get a much milder version of covid IF they still contract it. Therefore not overwhelming our fragile hospital system.

www.rte.ie/news/2021/0106/1188012-schools-leaving-cert-education/?fbclid=IwAR0l5vPUa63l-E3UTfWlLcdhAXul7ofEQiW6_oOt4gR7TtYyi-s44MVSAC0

The Cabinet has agreed to close schools from next Monday, due to rising Covid-19 infections, but Leaving Cert students will be allowed to attend three days a week.

RTÉ News understands that Minister for Education Norma Foley had argued for the option of allowing Leaving Certificate students to continue to attend for three days weekly.

It is understood that the Department of Education has been working on the logistics of how this will work in practical terms.

It means that Leaving Certificate students return to school on Monday, while others remain at home.

Oh ffs. So does that mean that schools need to rejig their entire timetable around the LC kids? What's the point of 3 days in? I could understand 5 days in, I could understand all remote...this just seems like a halfway house for the sake of it.

Seems like a logistical nightmare.

Good grief! How is that going to be feasible? It's a half-arsed compromise.

Also I notice that they're closing schools until the 31st and reviewing on the 30th. The 30th is a Saturday. So what Norma, you're going to announce what's happening on the Saturday - at best, could even be Sunday with this shower - and then expect schools to work through the weekend jumping through whatever the new hoops will be?

My three kids did leaving cert maths, Irish and English. They also all did French. I think their school now permits German as an alternative.
One did Geography, Economics and Business Studies, one did German (as well as French), Biology and History. One did Geography, Physics and DCG. The permutations are endless, their principal is a whizz at timetables - but poor man! DCG projects have to be in soon I remember that crisis.

The mind boggles.

I'm glad we don't have a LC student here. One of mine was in JC last year and I've another one in JC this year, also likely to be cancelled.

It's a shame for the junior certers who have worked hard - my next door neighbour's dd is quiet and serious, and she'd have taken it seriously. The other side have a leaving cert dd. It's stressful enough doing it at the best of times, poor kids. And no 18ths and debs to distract them.
Plus more complex for teachers trying to run two systems.

Yes. Those teachers who have LC classes are still expected to teach their other classes remotely. And that's not even acknowledging the health and safety aspect of this plan.

Jesus the cases are high today 7,836. I thought they would be down on yesterday.

I know I heard that 1000 of those are due to the backlog.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

Yes. Those teachers who have LC classes are still expected to teach their other classes remotely. And that's not even acknowledging the health and safety aspect of this plan.

I have no idea how this is going to work. I asked my boss if we could teach remotely from our classrooms, to be told "no". I don't know how we are going to teach LC students in school and the others from our homes!

... I mean following our normal timetables, where you could have a lesson of 6th years, followed immediately after by 1st, 3rd, etc. Timetables haven't been adapted in the past.

Most teachers teach more than one subject, which adds complexity, plus guidance counsellor work must be hard just now. I love the idea of the students in school, but it seems totally unsafe as well as a logistical nightmare.

3 days going back to school is not going to work and numbers increasing every day.

I think the government have done the 3 day week so when the unions kick up about it, school will be cancelled therefore the government will blame the unions/ teachers on the LC students not going back. So unsafe at the moment.

I have a LC daughter who missed 3 months of schooling last year due to the pandemic. The teachers who did sent home work were few and far between. It was a disgrace.

And now they want them to do a normal leaving cert. What Ireland is Norma Foley living in? The government did not seek advice from NPHET on the students returning to a 3 day. Was there a risk assessment done? Did the look at the logistics of children going back, what about cleaners, canteen staff, the school bus etc...
Also are the teachers going to do online with the 1-5th years. Unrealistic.

If they go back, I don't think it will be for too long.

Exactly, tazzy73. There are still a lot of people involved in running a school. I can't imagine NPHET being happy about it. As usual, Norma isn't going to figure it out. 'The schools will work it all out'. It might be very short-lived.