Face covering in primary schools

[jenkel]

Just getting an idea on what people’s view is of wearing face coverings in primary school. I work in a primary school as a msa, no official guidance from the school on what to do, I choose to wear a mask as I’m getting close to the children and obviously helping them with their meals and dealing with injuries, less and less staff in the school are wearing face coverings. I know there are a few staff who would be classed as vulnerable, they are still wearing masks. I am a bit of a rule follower and quite frankly I would do anything to get out of this current situation quicker. What are other primary school staff doing and if you are a parent what is your expectation of the staff within the school. The children seem absolutely fine with the situation and are not seemingly fazed by it at all.

My school has asked for staff to wear masks in heavy traffic areas. Corridors at lunch/break, collecting the children from lunch/break, home time...

Vulnerable staff were offered visors as well.

We have been wearing them all day, social distancing is impossible in our rooms.

I wear a visor to teach French and my colleagues wear visors for teaching phonics. This allows children to see our faces when pronouncing sounds.

As a parent, I'm happy for teachers and staff to do and require whatever makes them more comfortable. Staff at my dcs' schools wear masks for drop off and collection. Parents wear masks on the road to the school and whilst on school property.

I'm in France and we've been wearing masks in schools since may last year. Over 6
year olds have been wearing them since November.

I'm a TA.

We've been asked to wear masks at drop-off/pick-up times when we're near parents. We also have to wear them in communal areas unless eating.

We also wear them if we need to come into contact with children from other classes, eg lunchtime duties. We don't wear them in our own classrooms but try not to get too close to the other adults in our classroom.

As a parent I'm happy to go along with whatever policy the school decides to implement. I do my bit by wearing a mask at pick-up time, keeping my distance from other parents in the playground, and avoid speaking directly to the staff (unless they approach me to tell/ask me something). What they do inside the building is entirely up to them/the HT.

The visors might work for a few mins but aren't effective really for longer period as the virus is air bourne. Unless you keep your distance

There should be something in your school RA.
The guidance is to wear a mask in situations where social distancing between adults is not possible.

Everyone adult entering our schools wears a mask and all staff moving around the school.

Government advice

Where I live everyone wears them all day long, including children aged 9 and over.

I come from Spain and it’s mandatory for children over 6yo there, has been the case anywhere outside your own house since last August. Everyone is coping fine.

All adults wear masks in communal areas. Adult visitors wear masks. Some children wear masks in the classrooms. Adults can't wear them in classrooms due to children with hearing losses.

Because some people said children were being "muzzled" if they wear masks, they're not mandatory in England. Nice to know children can cope in other countries just our kids who are too precious then

In countries where the vaccine is still a long way from being rolled out then yes. In others, no. What is the point of us all being vaccinated if we still have to wear masks????? We should be moving away from these rather than suggesting them for more places.

At ds's school parents are required to wear masks at pick up/drop off, but that is it. The staff in ds's class tried wearing masks when cases were high, but it didn't work with the children in the class (who all have complex needs). Ds has been shielding, but is back in after Easter,
he would not be able to wear a mask.

We’ve been told to wear them in to the lunch hall to collect our lunch. There is then no where to put it while you sit and eat your lunch so they get put on the table. Bleugh.

We have also been directed to wear them when we go outside to dismiss the children, where the parents are all well over 2m away from us (usually more like 5 or 10 metres). Outdoor transmission has been shown to be low, and we’ve been in a classroom with these kids unmasked all day, so this is particularly bizarre.

We did none of this back in December! The lower the rates fall, the more we are told to wear masks.

It’s amazing that masks in primary seem the norm on the continent now yet cases are still v high.

@Arrowheart

In countries where the vaccine is still a long way from being rolled out then yes. In others, no. What is the point of us all being vaccinated if we still have to wear masks????? We should be moving away from these rather than suggesting them for more places.

The UK started vaccinating in December, and seeing the effects of it in Jan/Feb. Masks weren’t compulsory in schools even before that, when cases were soaring high. So your comparison with other countries isn’t valid.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

It’s amazing that masks in primary seem the norm on the continent now yet cases are still v high.

Depends what you call high. They’re still a long way off UK’s peaks. The death rate is still half that of UK’s with the exception of a handful of countries. And outbreaks in schools have been basically unheard of, in places were all children and staff have been masked since last August. Very rarely is a bubble sent home or having to isolate, because transmission in school is fairly low compared to other age groups.

Our local Primaries ask staff to wear masks if they can’t SD from the pupils, so if they are sitting with a group/individual pupil rather than standing at the front of the class in their 2m ‘safe zone’.

Children are used to masks now

@modgepodge

We’ve been told to wear them in to the lunch hall to collect our lunch. There is then no where to put it while you sit and eat your lunch so they get put on the table. Bleugh.

We have also been directed to wear them when we go outside to dismiss the children, where the parents are all well over 2m away from us (usually more like 5 or 10 metres). Outdoor transmission has been shown to be low, and we’ve been in a classroom with these kids unmasked all day, so this is particularly bizarre.

We did none of this back in December! The lower the rates fall, the more we are told to wear masks.

That seems very unhygienic to put them down on a table. When we were asked to start wearing masks, we were told that they should be put into a clean plastic bag when not worn and that we should sanitise our hands before putting them in and after taking them off. I think that male members of staff tend to keep them in their pockets. Women's clothes seem to have fewer pockets so most if us have started wearing bumbags or runner's pouches. I keep my mask and a mini hand sanitiser in mine.

Our latest risk assessment says that members of staff will wear masks (unless exempt) in communal areas (eg corridors, staffroom) unless eating and at the beginning and end of the day when we are in contact with parents.