Schools closing early

[Trichford]

What are your thoughts on what was spoken about albeit briefly on Friday about possibly closing schools on the 18th and returning on the 11th?
They said it's going to be discussed further this week.
I wonder if they go ahead it will be complete closure or blended learning for the extra days 🤔

Radio said councils were meeting today. Some councils have no skin in the pre-Christmas game as that's when they finish anyway.

As a parent who isn't a teacher, it makes me so, so sad to hear teachers think that parents who don't want schools to close or move to part time view them as babysitters . (Sorry, awful sentence there!) Not at all. Having tried 4 months of home learning, I would think the vast majority of parents are totally in awe of teachers. I realise I am a truly shit teacher (i kind of always assumed I would be, but always nice to have it confirmed by one's own progeny...) and it is vital for my child that he has a non- shit teacher. And that he is in an environment with his peers that enables and encourages learning - even if that is making Christmas decorations and watching the muppets. They are still learning, discussing, interacting with people not in his nuclear family, practising motor skills, learning from random stuff the teacher is chatting about while they are busy... It's not childcare to me, it's education, and it is really, really important.

There is of course a separate issue in that if schools are closed, and parents need to work, childcare is very difficult to find. Or even impossible with some of the current restrictions - regardless of the cost. But that's not saying that school is the solution to that problem. Childcare is valuable and school based education is valuable - but when one of those is removed without an alternative being available, yes, working parents (and I would include teachers there of course) do start struggling.

I agree @NotAnActualSheep. I don’t think parents do view school as childcare.

But it’s a fact that people do work while their children are in school, and have their lives and budgets set up for that.

And I think the SG has handled it all very badly, including putting the onus on schools, although that has worked out very well for DS and me. Must be hard work though.

And remote learning doesn’t work for us- I’m a terrible teacher and he’s a terrible pupil for me, though very good in school.

I am so grateful to all the teachers who’ve made his transition to s1 do good and taught him loads of stuff! Very impressed

I agree @NotAnActualSheep, I’d rather schools didn’t close. Both my children have additional support needs and the routine and consistency of school helps them enormously, especially in terms of their emotional regulation. They need predictability and a pattern to their weeks or they get very dysregulated. My kids school isn’t a place of childcare and their teachers aren’t babysitters, they’re an integral part of a team helping my children to grow and learn and cope with life. It’s so disappointing to see teachers dismiss their own role in children’s lives by referring to themselves as babysitters, if I want a babysitter I’d go and get one, my children need trained professionals who know them and care for them. Their teachers and school staff are such people.

Totally agree with NotAnActualSheep, no say are teachers just babysitters! And I thought you should have been included in the £500 thank you payment/bribe. I’m sorry it is so hard, so much of this since March has been absolutely all over the place and it should be obvious to everyone that teachers are dealing with working conditions they never signed up for. I hope local councils adjust their dates so there’s time to be safer meeting family, it’s the least they can do really.

Yip, I very much object to the opinion that parents who want schools kept open regard them as childcare. Over the last few weeks I have watched my child really flourish at school. He comes bounding out full of enthusiasm for what he has done that day. He never showed that during learning at home. I want schools to remain open for their scheduled times because I want the best for my child.
I’m so grateful for the hard work the teachers are putting in.

Nobody who's tried to homeschool sees schools as mere childcare but people have lives set up for two working parents and kids in school.

Society encourages that set up. Even with preschool their is a conflict between child care and education.

I wanted schools to stay open but not for childcare although I do think the SG would have had a riot on their hands if they had gone ahead at such short notice.

But it's not just teachers who have to work right up until Christmas and as such are exposed to Covid, I'm in an office with over 100 members of the public coming in each day and working up to and including Christmas Eve. There's shop workers, public transport workers etc too.

It's a shit situation for everyone really

School isn’t just about childcare you’re right but it is not hard to understand why some families view it as such when your entitlement to benefits can be sanctioned should you not be working once your child is of school age 🤷‍♀️

Be prepared for a phone call on Christmas Eve or day that will put your dc into self isolation. By shutting two days early that would be every unlikely to happen (as the contact tracing goes back two days before the positive test). It wouldn't mean your dc might not need to isolate, but you would find out about it while sitting down to Christmas dinner with your gran and cousins two hours from home.
It's lovely to read that people appreciate what school staff do. In January we may have the choice between a controlled home learning for an extra few days, and random closures when pupils or staff are isolating due to increased levels of the virus (which the government expect to happen post Christmas: that's not just my idea!)

For whatever reason, teachers never get the appreciation or respect from the public that NHS workers, shop workers (currently) and many others get. A lot of people still view it as 9 to 3 and all those holidays.
Of course the reality is far from that.
Even now when we complain about conditions - which are complete shit I may add- we get "But you still take all your holidays even when you sat at home doing nothing during the lockdown"

Unfortunately you can't argue with ignorance

I am always on standby in case any of my DC need collected from nursery or school because of illness, so definitely don't see teachers as childcare. I am very aware they are there to be educated (something I am not qualified to do).

For whatever reason, teachers never get the appreciation or respect from the public that NHS workers, shop workers (currently) and many others get.

That can be says for so many professions tbh, I’m a social worker - never get a mention unless something’s gone wrong. The NHS have been particularly deified during the pandemic for obvious reasons but most folk I know in the public sector working with vulnerable people have done so throughout in very challenging circumstances. In fairness I knew when I joined the profession - I have no expectation of appreciation or respect outside of my colleagues. Teachers aren’t alone in feeling devalued.

@Mistressiggi you are exactly right. The main rationale for early close is about the contact tracing.

Even a single case in a school can mean 30 people isolating. Apparently school staff won’t be supporting the contact tracing over the break. Which means it will fall to central teams who don’t have direct knowledge of how schools operate. I assume the government are just accepting the risk that close contacts will be missed.

I'm not particularly stressed 🤷‍♀️ I'm angry. In fact I'm livid.

On a separate note, every single social media thing I read re schools closing/blending learning etc has a barrage of "what are working parents supposed to do"?! Childcare is even mentioned in that shite the SG put out this week re schools and Christmas..

Working mother of 3 here with a shift working key worker DH by the way.

I assume the government are just accepting the risk that close contacts will be missed I wouldn't assume. I'm still half expecting an announcement on homeschooling, especially teir 3 and 4 areas and high schools in particular. Sorry to be such a doom and gloom monger but I just can't see them accepting the risk.

@Bikingbear some sophistry along the lines of but schools are open! Just for remote learning??

Fair enough peonies - and I think the last minute nature of the proposed closures would have made things worse in terms of childcare, when work rotas/ deadlines would already be in place for working parents for December and January.

I also think the issue is much worse with remote learning - whether full time for the week or so proposed in December/ January, or the remote part of blended learning. If there are "just" closures, working parents can manage to do whatever they can to get by - whether scrabbling for a childminder/ nanny/ family member, or setting the children up with a book/ drawing paper/ electronic device to entertain them while they try to work from home. But if the children are expected to interact with their teacher somehow, at set times, with deadlines and so on, the parent has to be available for at least some of that time - to help with tech, ensure the child is concentrating, ensure they are interacting with what they need to, and go over and help them with whatever "homework" is set. Older children (upper secondary maybe - or possibly motivated younger ones) should be able to do this with minimal help - but primary, even most older primary - would still need very hands on support to get anything out of the learning. This is too much to ask most "childcarers" to do, so it would fall on the parents, alongside their "day-job" (and yes, teachers who are parents too). So of course the issues of attainment gaps, poverty, key-workers and shift-workers and so on become relevant again.

Maybe the SG could arrange for a room where children could go to sit with other children, with an adult or two on hand to help with tech and go over any "offline" questions the children have. I wonder if there's a word for such a set up?! A classroom, maybe

I think this was the main issue with the original proposal of full time "blended learning" for the entire academic year - and why the much reviled "Us For Them" were so successful in the summer before they went bonkers It wasn't an issue of school being viewed as childcare (though of course there is an element of that for many families) but that parents (and lets face it, mostly mothers) would have to put their careers to one side and potentially lose family income for an entire year to act as one-to-one teaching assistants for their children, to support whatever learning method the government felt was appropriate - even if it would be a disaster for their children. It really wasn't sustainable and wasn't what anyone had signed up to, and I think the backlash was justifiable. I honestly don't think the majority of parents were blaming the teachers or schools at all - if anything, it was how the councils were interpreting the government edicts that were problematic, as well as the principles themselves.

Someone asked why are NHS staff held in such high esteem. Rightly or wrongly it's the hero thing.
I fully respect my DSs teachers. I am not a teacher and never will be love the teacher he has this year. Shes absolutely fab. However it's incredibly unlikely I will ever owe my (or his) life to a teacher. But I do owe my life to the Drs, nurses, of the NHS.

[quote WouldBeGood]@Bikingbear some sophistry along the lines of but schools are open! Just for remote learning??[/quote]
That's it exactly

By giving the NHS workers £500 (enough to cover car parking) Nicola has told every other person who worked through "what you did was worthless".

cdtaylornats I don't disagree. The £500 is a pure attempt to buy votes. Plain and simple.

I do note during the swine flu epidemic 10 years ago no bonus money was given to the staff on those wards either.

Agree that the £500 bonus is just an attempt to buy votes. Just like the promise of free breakfast and lunch for all school pupils - no mention of who is going to staff this? Our school has 360 pupils oh wait a moment those lazy teachers could do it

I remember one of their previous election pledges to have infant classes of 18 - now we're up to 30 so that was an empty promise.....Same old, same old

They need to buy some votes to make up for the teacher ones they've lost.

I wonder what will come of this...