Why on earth are so few parents signing the petition to reopen schools?

[canary1]

I am disgusted that children are shut of schools currently. The priority seems to be opening non essential shops and football. Our children are being failed. I am wondering why on earth are so few signatures on the petition to reopen schools? We should be matching on Westminster, not taking this! I can see less than 5000 signatures....

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/305525?fbclid=IwAR04Yrc7kx38uURQ5doNMonlw72-od2RoDXUClyrJdmcnpcVZSckqC2eaFs

Half our eligible parents chose not to come back. We called them and encouraged them as we wanted to dispel the myths of strange square circles and sitting at a desk for eyfs etc. The reasons were; want infection rate lower; want track and trace working; dont trust the government and finally not wanting child in different classroom with a TA leading or childs friends not going back.
So you have a core of parents who dont think its safe yet, even with bubble measures. There is also the fact that asking parents of children eligible to attend to sign is making it less safe for those children. We had key worker families ring up so anxious about the increased numbers. They were medical professionals. They said they had been so relaxed at work knowing safe their children were and now they were worried.
Its easy if you are happy with the risks to minimise others feelings.

I don't think forcing school to reopen sooner because of pressure from parents will achieve anything good. I have a faith in school. They must be trying to do the best to deal with this atm. Why now? in few weeks, it will be summer holiday.

[quote MrsTravers]@howyahun

'mine will go back when the private schools think it’s safe to'

Private schools can't go back until the govt says so - they have to follow the same DfE guidance as state schools so they don't go back earlier. So preps and the permitted secondary years are now back but no one else.

[/quote]
That’s not true round here
Our area is one that still has the 11+ exams, held at the start of y6. All y5 are back in school in the private prep schools - not in the state schools though (in fact, our state school doesn’t have r, y1 or y6 in yet either as they are too full of “critical” workers (apparently 40% of the school have one parent doing a “critical” role,,or at least saying they they do...)
So looks like the grammar schools will be full of private pupils next year.

Guzel many parents need their DCs back at school so they can keep their jobs, simple as that. My employer ( large Financial organization) has been outstanding in its support of everyone through this period, but bottom line is that they are paying a salary and expect something for it.

People I know with young children are getting up at 4.30am to work so they can then support their DCs when they are up. Do you think that is long term sustainable- and by long term I mean past the end of this term?

My DS is 14 I can't tutor him in his subjects and have little time - yes I know I should also be getting up at 430 am - to get to grips with secondary subjects that I studied over 35 years ago.

I agree that kids need to go back but i also understand why they are not, the government would not keep schools shut for little reason, they obviously think it could encourage a second wave of cv cases, as children will obviously carry viruses to their parents and family friends, i seen a member of school staff not social distancing when out, many people now just are not social distancing. I also think that summer holidays need to happen as normal to give children parents and teachers a break.. or at least a month if not 6 weeks just for everyone to relax destress ..and start with a fresh outlook in september, there has been alot of pressure for everyone in the last 3 months

I don’t agree so I won’t be signing.
It’s more a question if childcare than education.

I genuinely wasnt being sarcastic. What will change that mean people will feel it is safe to go back?

"So looks like the grammar schools will be full of private pupils next year."

I don't think it's true. I believe state school won't teach just for 11+ particularly. Or do they? I think those who get good results in state school do that anyway, regardless of schoolwork.

The reality is that a lot of parents are driving the current gridlocked situation with children returning. They don’t want them to return. We have a situation at work with a couple of parents currently being allowed to remain (happily) furloughed due to children being at home. These same parents have had the option to return their children to school, and therefore return to work. I guess you don’t have to be a genius to see why they’ve refused. Maybe it should be compulsory to send children back or I’m afraid this situation is only going to get worse.

I understand what sacrifices and hardships many parents are going through to educate their children whilst working, rookiemere as I’m doing so myself.
It was my choice to have children and ultimately their education (as well as their well-being, health, etc...) is my responsibility.
As I said, I think it would have been more sensible to open up places to the pupils whose parents most need them to attend, rather than random year groups imposed externally. It would help more families that way.

I am in Scotland and we have been told that schools and colleges will be back in August/September.

My dad struggles with his mental health and being off college and out of routine for all these weeks has severely affected him. To the point where he doesn't leave his room except for meals. He has been out of the real world for so long I don't know if he will ever be able to cope when things do start re-opening and life starts to go back to normal. He is not the only one. A lot of his peers as well as younger family members have also struggled. Children need school and stability and a little bit of normality.

Normally each class of 30 has a teacher and a TA. So out of that 30 you can have 2 bubbles of 15 with one member of teaching staff; a teacher or a TA

So you expect TAs being paid a pittance to become full time teachers? No thanks.

At this stage in the year, there isn’t much point in bringing all children back to school full time. To do that, we’d have to completely abandon social distancing, which I wouldn’t mind personally, but plenty of others will have reason to be concerned about it. You can’t tell us school staff that it’s not safe to go round the supermarket without queuing to maintain distancing, and then send us into overcrowded schools.

*DS not dad. Why is there no edit button

Most schools don't have a full-time TA with each class. TA provision was one of the things that was hugely cut due to funding issues. We have almost no full-time TAs in our school, except those who provide 1-1 support.

@OntheWaves40

Because parents wouldn’t have an excuse for not working.

I have worked 5 days a week and don’t plan to sign. Many parents are homeschooling and cworking

My DS is 14 I can't tutor him in his subjects and have little time - yes I know I should also be getting up at 430 am - to get to grips with secondary subjects that I studied over 35 years ago.

And about this...
As a foster carer I suddenly need to help with catch up and homework for every single academic and vocational subject under the sun, at a moment’s notice. There are so many excellent resources out there - mainly free and lots very cheap - that “getting to grips” with the subject as a carer is not at all necessary. It is about supplying the child with the best resources for each subject, a calm place to work, consistent expectations and helping them build a schedule. Not going out and mastering Mandarin to help them revise or technology to help them with their coursework.

I can concur that a TA per class is increasingly a rare thing. We only have TAs in the mornings (apart from EYFS) and not one per class. There are SEN TAs but they have a very specific role supporting a child. They might be highly specislised in working with children with a specific condition but are paid a pittance and its a hugely different thing to say 'now lead a bubble of 15 day in day out"

It's not a tiny tiny chunk of their lives. If they have no school March - September that's 6 months. A big part of a 7 year old's life. Huge.

They won’t have missed 6 months of school though. You can take 2 weeks of Easter holidays, a week of half term and 6 weeks of summer holiday out of that.

The petition is poorly worded, both the title and the blurb.

As a PP said, schools are open. They needed more persuasive language/constructive arguments in the blurb to get people to sign.

I desperately want my 12 and 14 year olds to go back to school but it was announced yesterday that where we live is one of 10 Covid hot spots in the country and cases at the local hospital have gone up so at the moment, it's just not safe. It's not safe because people are not listening to Government guidance and doing what the hell they like and parents are letting their kids go and hang around in large groups at the parks instead of at home doing their school work.
At the moment, as angry as I am with the Government for many things, I am most angry at people who do not listen and are spreading this virus and keeping my children out of education for even longer.

@MsSlightyConfused so that staff member stays with the class all day? What about toileting? What if a child has an accident or wets them self? Or throws up? What about children who need 1:1 support to learn or to keep behaviour under control? How do we choose which half of the school get taught by a teacher and which get taught by a TA? will parents be happy with that?

[quote MsSlightyConfused]@DomDoesWotHeWants but they don’t need twice the staff.

Normally each class of 30 has a teacher and a TA. So out of that 30 you can have 2 bubbles of 15 with one member of teaching staff; a teacher or a TA.

Granted space is an issue[/quote]
Teachers are only allowed one bubble each. Two members of staff per bubble.

So they do need twice the staff.

I’ve already signed.

I’m beyond frustrated with this. If I don’t get back to work in September my life is about to go to pot.

More and more studies are showing that children are not the super spreaders they were accused off. In fact your probably safer working in a school than in an office. This virus has very little impact on children.

The government need to pull their finger out and get prepared for a full return in September. If children need to be sheilded then they need adequate work prepared to do at home. If teachers need to be sheilded then they should stay at home. If there is a shortage of teachers with a school then the school needs to teach larger lessons in school gym or something suitable.

We can’t expect millions of families to lose their homes and lives for the minority. It’s madness. We’ve stayed in for months to help the vulnerable but it’s too much now to expect us to lose everything.

The overwhelming majority of people - 80% out of 65 MILLION will be totally fine.

The stats are showing a continuous steady decline down. Week on week average infection/death rates are now the same since March. We’re past the worst of this.

Why aren't I signing the petition?

Because I don't believe there's a magic wand to make all the problems with opening schools go away. What this - and the paediatricians letter - is effectively demanding, is abandon all social distancing and all precautions, and go back to pre Covid normal. Which would be lovely for everyone.

Why do we have the precautions at the moment again?

Oh yes. There's a pandemic.

@DomDoesWotHeWants I don’t understand - why two members of staff per bubble??

Our school had two members of staff per class, so now have one member of staff per bubble.