Masks all day in school

[ihearttc]

Furious just about sums up how I feel at the moment. Just had an email from DS1’s school (he is going into Y11) saying they will be required to wear masks all day long in school from the minute they get inside the school gates to when they leave. They are allowed to take them off to eat lunch but will need to be put back on immediately. Before I fire off an email to the school, just wondered how I stand legally with refusing to give permission for him to wear one all day long? It’s completely against the DofE guidance which states corridors and transitions only.
We live rurally and are in a very very low Covid area for what’s its worth, no where near areas on local lockdown.

I thought that the guidance had changed and that it is up to headteachers to decide when and where they are worn.
Any word on whether staff have to wear them?

It is up to the head teachers but I thought it was still the expectation that they only need to wear them for corridors and transitions.

And yes staff as well. That’s going to be fun for them trying to do GCSE Spanish with a face mask on.

What does your DS feel about it? And what is your actual objection (assuming that exceptions are made for those with genuine reasons not to wear a mask)?

Ours wear them in corridors and communal areas but not the classroom. First day of wearing them was today

It's not going to be great for anyone.
Blame the government not the school.
The government had made no attempt to make schools covid safe.
Social distancing is impossible.
School staff are scared.

He has no actual reason not to wear one. I just think it is completely unnecessary for actual teaching time and will actually cause more problems with them constantly fiddling with them and touching their faces etc. No issue with wearing them during transitions around the school etc but I think its completely overkill for while they are trying to catch up with missing 6 months of their GCSE’s.

And for what it’s worth, I’m a TA who has been in school throughout with young children who clearly aren’t capable of social distancing. I get that’s it’s hard work trying to do the right thing to get students back but this is not the right thing to do.

What are your reasons for objecting to this? Not that I think it's a good idea, necessarily, but make sure you've thought them through clearly before firing off an email!

Unfortunately, I think it's up to each Head to decide the policy for their school so you may not make much headway.

Why has he missed 6 months? Hasn't he done any work at home?
If masks mean kids can get back into schools and protect both themselves and their teachers then bring them on.

I guess it also depends on why. They might be over cautious because of students who might be more at risk as an example. I’m not saying it’s ideal but before sending off a furious style email why not ask the reasoning behind and what you understand to be the case ie masks in corridors etc. That will give you a better idea.

@ihearttc

He has no actual reason not to wear one. I just think it is completely unnecessary for actual teaching time and will actually cause more problems with them constantly fiddling with them and touching their faces etc. No issue with wearing them during transitions around the school etc but I think its completely overkill for while they are trying to catch up with missing 6 months of their GCSE’s.

Six months? They've been out since just before the Easter holiday. They've missed about twelve-thirteen weeks of teaching.

I completely agree OP. If my dc school try to enforce this, I honestly think I'll consider pulling him out. He absolutely hates wearing a mask and we both end up with headaches if we have to wear them for any length of time. I had one on for 45 mins yesterday and had a migraine for 8 hours afterwards.

Six months? They've been out since just before the Easter holiday. They've missed about twelve-thirteen weeks of teaching.

Have they ? Schools have been providing teaching remotely for the gcse years haven't they ? Mine was having online lessons all day except the last three weeks when the year tens were in school

Kids as young as 5 in many other countries are wearing them with no issues. He will be fine. There is utter hysteria in this country over mask wearing. I wish my Head was so forward thinking, because after tomorrow, my family is going to be in close daily contact with over 5,000 teenagers and staff, (2 secondary teachers and three kids at 3 different secondary schools.) Added to that, cases in Scotland are rapidly rising, 2 weeks after schools returned.

Classrooms are more crowded than corridors.
So why in corridors and not classrooms?
We need to protect the community.
It's a bloody nightmare and it's going to be very chaotic.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross
His school have been useless tbh. He has done loads of work off his own back but school only set work over lockdown that they had already done so no new content. They shut the 20th March and they don’t go back until the end of next week (12th March). No summer work was set at all so yes it is basically 6 months.
He went back for 1 hour to see his form tutor in June and that was it. No zoom, no teams or anything.

He hasn't missed 6 months of GCSE work, even if the school were rubbish at providing work they haven't missed 6 months.

Not many schools set summer work, so he hasn't missed 6 months of work.

@topofthewardrobe
His school set revision work of stuff they had already learnt but absolutely no remote teaching at all. The mask wearing all day is just the last straw tbh.

Meh, where I live even kindergarten students wear masks, and there are about 20 new cases in the whole country.

It's not the big staggering thing some people have made it out to be.

The revision work is down to the fact that the Government suspended the National Curriculum so in effect schools would not be teaching new stuff. However, some schools ignored this and carried on teaching the curriculum.

@ihearttc

He has no actual reason not to wear one. I just think it is completely unnecessary for actual teaching time and will actually cause more problems with them constantly fiddling with them and touching their faces etc. No issue with wearing them during transitions around the school etc but I think its completely overkill for while they are trying to catch up with missing 6 months of their GCSE’s.

Let's break it down.

They haven't missed 6 months.

The actual number of weeks missed was 15.

They also should have had some input during this time and at least directions for study and some face to face time the last 5-6 weeks of term.

Secondary it's HTs discretion.

Please don't start firing off an angry email to a HT because the government decided to send out guidance they'd been asking for for 3 months on a Friday evening bank holiday weekend.

No one is clear if risks. Over 12's have to wear masks at all times in shops, museums etc when they are moving.

HT are erring on side of caution following the same within schools.

You probably would too if you had a document alongside the guidance - which also states absolutely NO funding will be provided for Covid measures - that if there is any Covid death of staff or even pupil your school will be investigated by HSE for liability.

The only people who think this is a good idea are those who haven't had to wear a mask for an extended period of time tbh.

Clearly it’s just me then! Think it’s just the last straw of the school being exceptionally useless in their handling of the whole thing.