Am I the only one who wants to stay in person teaching?

[Rachellow]

Obviously I'm aware those with health issues may be rightfully concerned but I'm quite disappointed with the NEU stance demanding all schools to be closed especially primary. I'm really concerned about the attainment gap of my class and after parent teacher interviews it's evident lots of the families couldn't really cope with home schooling and it really shows in behaviour and attainment who could and couldn't access home schooling. Some of my students' only internet access is 1 phone between 4 siblings and school is the only real calm space they're getting positive attention/vaguely healthy hot meals.
On another note there's 1000s of teachers in their 20s/30s living in tiny house shares who don't have the space to do live lessons or even video them. If all of my flat stay homeworking I'll have to teach in my tiny bedroom or my literal hallway whilst dealing with overloaded wifi.

Well we are instructed to be 2m away. Some of my classes are 32 kids. They are squashed. Their desks start 2m from mine. There is a line they are not allowed to cross.

I have a line. They cross it all the time to ask me to go to the toilet/get a tissue/hand me something I really don't need. They have to cross the line between coming into the room and sitting down, and to reach the bin. I cross the line to deal with discipline or to offer (very limited at the moment) support. I wear a mask for that, they don't. They all cross the line again to leave, and then we are all inches apart in the corridor together, although with masks on.
I wish I could have shields, I don't think they would stop the virus in the air but would enforce distancing more.

Is that primary? I am secondary and there is no crossing! I enter the room after the corridors are empty. Always a few mins late. They know to read while I set up. I don't offer help. They have to ask verbally or bring their book to a table I can see from 2m away.

No, secondary. If I entered the room after the class was in I'd be picking crap off the floor and possibly a few bodies You have a very different environment.

Is this private DipSwim?
You have well behaved kids ( that’s a good thing by the way, not being sarky)

Mine are pretty good but they have to cross the line to get to their desks!

And my front row is no way 2 metres away.

No it's not private but it is grammar and I am new to this school so have a chance to make a strict first impression! To be honest I'm sure I could have managed it in my last school too. Though maybe only after a good few year's experience. Believe me, I have had my share of nightmare classes too! But SLT should really support you with that. Sorry some of you feel so unsafe. Not meaning to sound patronising. It is not fair to feel like that at work.

I don't have nightmare classes though, I just have ordinary mixed ability classes in a comprehensive school. It's never deemed wise to leave pupils alone in the class room, as you are responsible for them even if you aren't there (unless travelling from a room far away) I try now to teach from the front as much as I can but there's no way to make the front me an entirely pupil-free zone as the rooms weren't designed with enough space for that.

That's a good point about leaving them unattended. It's inevitable at the momwnt as teachers move and students stay still. It's a massive site.

Ah, well that will reduce a lot of the "box invasion" we are talking about. Pupils move, we stay in our room (if lucky enough to have our own). Sounds like a good idea.

We have students staying in rooms and us moving. I thought it would be a nightmare for behaviour but actually it's been OK. I'm surprised at how different different schools are. We've been mandatory masks from the start. Fogging any rooms if they are used by different year groups. Teacher can't move from the front of the class. Kids eat outside or in own classrooms. I hate it but we haven't had any Covid cases yet.

You have fogging machines??

I'd prefer to be in school than be at home.

BUT, I want the power of excluding children who don't follow the risk assessment stuff, I want to have much smaller classes, I want no expectation of staff gatherings/meetings, I want parents in the playground to actually follow the rules too, I want testing on demand
Same here.
I want schools to be open, but open in a way that places the health and safety of children and staff first.

I wish people would realise that this is what we ALL want : apart from the rogue teacher who occasionally pops up to corona deny, we just all want to do the job we were trained for. But more safely.

As the op I probably need to recognise my fairly privileged position as I'm in primary and I have the space to put them 1m apart and my HT is very on it about masks, social distancing, constant cleaning etc. All our meetings are over teams. We were tier 2 before lockdown and have had one class self isolating.
It's tough though tbh and is so limiting to my teaching. I feel like I'm in a Victorian classroom not a KS1 class. I have to move half the class if I ever want to use the smartboard because they're so far apart they can't see it. I can't really do groupwork unless I take them out to the playground. Also I still haven't really met a lot of staff because we're in such a tight wee bubble.

@Piggywaspushed

Mine are pretty good but they have to cross the line to get to their desks!

And my front row is no way 2 metres away.

Same

We have a fogging machine as well. We have to be off site by 5.30 as that is when premises start using it a few days a week. It is like a horror movie scene as fog sweeps around the buildings

Wow.

That is a private school isn't it?

Not that my DH's school has one (to my knowledge!)

Our state school has one but it only gets used routinely in the gym/changing rooms.

My DH’s state comp has a fogger for every classroom. They worked out it would very quickly be cheaper than buying wipes etc to clean desks between lessons so invested in the summer.

It’s probably just coincidence but thus far their cases have remained very low (well, they’ve had 1).

Fogging machine sounds impressive! I’m primary so most of the time it’s just my class I have contact with (zero social distancing though, I’m still using the carpet for input and they’re still in table groups). We take it in turns to use the dining hall and computer rooms. Sometimes we end up with classes passing in the corridor or on the stairs which is annoying. And staff all use the staff room anyway so any germs could get passed between us and then passed on. I try not to think too much about it and just make sure I have my windows open and make sure they sanitise their hands a few times a day.