The Seventh Republic - the debate rages on but for some it is half term!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff. Baiters and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here only if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

They are saying then when track and trace is robustly in place then we might not need to worry about social distancing in schools.

When you read how other countries are doing this, on an enormous scale, you realise how good that will be.

I fear it's out of control here. It's both still quite rampant and we don't have the facilities yet. September, possibly, I do feel the R will go up over the summer.

Like this head teacher.

Ffs, teachers are used to:

Risk assessing
Data crunching and handling
Key questioning
Getting to the bottom of a problem
Human management
And running a slick show.

Teachers should have been in charge of most of this!

I don't really see the point in wearing a visor on its own- they are designed to be worn with a mask and their main purpose is to protect the mucus membranes around the eyes and provide additional protection from bodily fluids if you are working in close proximity with people.

They don't offer the same protection as masks against droplets or aerosols.

On their own, they may be better than nothing, but only if people act cautiously whilst wearing them- wearing a visor doesn't make it safe to stop social distancing.

They do help you stop touching your face, though.

Personally, I think everyone in schools should be wearing disposable masks, but I know that will never happen.

Yes. I think they are great questions and they have given very sensible answers. Test and trace really seems to be the answer. My problem is that the government will lie about this like the testing for example....

Totally agree with this idea of local data so schools can make up to date decisions.

Loving the students being involved.

Clever Lewis!

The key question!

"Will kids going back to school raise their rate of infections and create a second spike."

True sansa, and the point was made that they can actually spread infection if not regularly cleaned.

Would protect a vulnerable teacher a little from spit, and face touching.

Watching the start again; MM is saying a provisional report from independent sage say it's not safe to reopen yet?

Transport will be an issue if they use empty buildings. Getting children there. Will need busses and taxis etc.

I see the Daily hate has jumped on the review as kids not spreading it in a desperate attempt to make the 1st June.

However reading further down which we know may won't it is said still using that NSW study.

In the largest study of its kind, UCL scientists analysed 6,000 international scientific papers looking into children's susceptibility to infection and severity of illness.
Of them, just 18 were found to be of high enough quality to be considered in their analysis - half of which had not been peer-reviewed (scrutinised by other scientists).

While children appear less likely to catch the virus from others, once they are infected researchers remain uncertain about how likely children are to pass it on.

And

Our findings show children and young people APPEAR 56 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 from infected others.

Actually, if you venture down into the DM comments section (usually only for the hardy among us), it's a bit of an own goal for them, as the majority of people are against the findings.

@NeurotrashWarrior

Actually, yeah, if you are dealing with kids who spit at adults regularly, wearing a visor would probably be a good thing. In all honesty, if a child is known to spit at others, I'd probably want a specific risk assessment on allowing them back in to school.

@RigaBalsam

Our findings show children and young people APPEAR 56 per cent less likely to contract COVID-19 from infected others.

Did they have an explanation for why the ONS data showed similar levels of infections across all age groups?

Dashes in with mug. Been busy and missed thread!

I posted Geoff Barton's ASCL update at the end of the last thread. he doesn't think years 10 and 12 should come in at all until September and that is his advice to school leaders.

Now, it's all coming out from 'Real' SAGE

The Sage group of scientific advisors modelled a range of scenarios for school reopenings, including low-risk options for pupils attending on alternate weeks, before the government settled on a June 1 reopening plan, according to papers published on Friday.
The papers of scientific advice prepared for Sage and its subcommittees also reveal high levels of uncertainty around different scenarios for school reopenings and over the likelihood of transmission of Covid-19 virus by children of different ages.
One of the most recent papers, discussing the effects of increasing school attendance on transmission, concludes: “There is substantial uncertainty, with the relative contribution of school openings being driven also by the relative susceptibility and infectivity of children of different ages compared to adults, as well as the extent to which social distancing is or is not sustained in the wider population.”
Collectively, the scientific advice does little to assuage fears among parents and teachers over the potential risks to reopening schools to reception, year one and year two year groups as soon as 1 June, as pledged by Boris Johnson earlier this month. Yesterday the governments of both Scotland and Northern Ireland announced that schools in those countries would not return until after the summer holidays

The SAGE seems against it!

Honeybadger I hope your meeting goes well.

Did they have an explanation for why the ONS data showed similar levels of infections across all age groups?

Course not.

Let's not get independent and real SAGE muddled. the fact that REAL SAGE presented low risk options which were not accepted is BIG NEWS.

It is! Not much wiggle room at all!

Here's an explanation - children are three times less likely to catch the virus for any given viral load, but three times more likely to shove their fingers up their nose and then in their mouth all the while licking a doorknob (and then a teacher) and so it all evens out.

Report, I think

www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Independent-Sage-Brief-Report-on-Schools.pdf

I loved the woman on the fake sage who said the government need to do more about wellbeing out of school!

Thanks neuro. Went pretty well and it was good to get an update on what’s happening at school. Apparently they wouldn’t have me in even if I was fit for work currently as they’d consider me vulnerable even though the thing that’s wrong with me (don’t want to out myself) isn’t on any list.

They’re looking at 8th of June as the earliest they’d be looking at getting additional staff in (currently just the fit and healthy on rota for vulnerable kids and critical kw) but are waiting to see what if any guidance emerges on yr 10 and 12 provision.