“The Left's hysterical 'confusion' over No 10's plan is utterly transparent

@growstuff I'm inclined to agree, but not my choice to make. It has been amazing to see them settle and develop new skills and become more independent in their learning. They seem happier and look healthier than they have for a long time. We have all learned new things from these difficult times.

Teachers aren't going to be provided with Perspex screens, which apparently are common in supermarkets. They're not even going to be provided with masks, nor are the children.

If they are doing well at home and there is no need for them to be out of the house, I most certainly would not send my own children back to school just yet - until there is effective testing and tracking in place and pupils and staff are provided with some form of PPE.

Exactly Furret. I seriously wonder whether these people have ever met a 5 or 6 year old, never mind 30 of them at the same time.

growstuff I take your point but from what I hear on social media, many are choosing not to send their children back to school yet. Of my grandchildren, two are in reception, one in year six. All are doing very well at home but if I was in their parents' position, I'm not sure what I would do

almostelderly I belong to a number of teacher social media groups. Teachers are most certainly not sitting around doing nothing. Unions advised them not to participate in live online teaching, although some are. All of them are preparing lessons which can be taught remotely, either through recording themselves or providing work packs. They are also doing a lot of "behind the scenes" preparation, assessment and reporting.

I write educational teaching materials and I've been working with teachers to help them out. Usually I charge for my resources, but I've been providing them for free because they are more time-consuming than face to face lessons to prepare.

The Scottish government has not been playing political games.....in fact despite several "journalists" trying to get her to criticise your Bojo.It may have escaped your notice but its not Scotland thats out of step or Wales or NI ..its ENGLAND who want to go their own way ,the devolved governments are concentrating on getting the R figure to a low enough level BEFORE they lift any restrictions .Thank the heavens for some sense in all this madness.There will be a spike ..its inevitable when public transport is crammed again and people not keeping the required distance .If the English government are happy to let people take risks thats HIS choice not ours

GrannyLaine It's not a limited few children. It's almost half of a primary school. If you read the government guidelines, it's stated that children should be in classes no bigger than 15 and that neither pupils nor staff will be provided with PPE.

In many primary schools, the classrooms are too small for even 15 children to keep two metres apart. In any case, the pupils aren't used to working on their own, sitting in the same place all day. There will need to be a considerable amount of re-training of young children, who will not be able to rely on an adult for individual help and encouragement. Many young children will not be able to cope with that.

I've seen videos of pupils in China, where the pupils have their temperature taken and are made to wash their hands and are sprayed with anti-viral spray before being allowed to enter the building. All are wearing face masks. Nothing like that is planned in England.

Not only that, but most primary school teachers are female and some of them will be pregnant or have underlying health conditions themselves. Many will have their own children and Johnson said that they won't be expected to work.

I think MaizieD came up with the sound bite that says it all
Without health there will be no wealth.

Workers are disposable hence they want them back at work. The forces of production are just profit making units for the wealthy.

Those that own the means of production, will be snuggled away in their mansions, extorting the workers to 'kick start' the economy or another such phrase which translated means, get my profits pouring in again.

Anyone that is able to should stay at home. Not indefinitely, but if we come out of lockdown too soon, deaths will just shoot up again.

Dominic Raab seemed confused on Monday morning. I wasn't aware he's embraced left-wing politics.

Good points SueEH. I absolutely agree. We can't continue to live in lockdown forever.

Changing tack a little here whilst sticking with the risk assessment theme. We risk assess - usually automatically - from when we get out of bed in the morning. Usually, for most of us, we get it pretty well right most of the time. But. There comes a point in this whole damned scary scenario beyond which the breakdown of the economy causes more death and deprivation than the actual pandemic from which we're trying to hide. We may be near that point, no-one can predict what will happen in the future. I'm not an expert - I'm currently working one job from home and furloughed from another, but I feel that it is essential that we do get back to work as soon as is possible and safe. I'm not supporting the government - I'm a Labour voter - and think that the Conservative spiel is very confusing at the moment. However, neither am I currently impressed by the Labour. The job of Her Majesty's Opposition is to, er, oppose.... but surely in these times working together would be more productive and inspire more confidence from the public. It can only be baby steps and must be done within strict guidelines, but we cannot let our economy contract much more than it already has.

The vast majority of people if any political persuasion would support measures that made sense and achieved their aims. It's in no one's interest to fail but the fact that this policy has unravelled so quickly points to many flaws.

ANY sort of work is a risk in this climate right now, no matter what it is and I admire anyone going out of their front doors to face the unknown as this is what this virus is.

Good luck with your reading then, and then explain that to your average reception pupil ?

Cut your spite furret, I was a midwife. My daughter is currently doing an incredible job teaching online classes and homeschooling her own three children. Her working day at the moment is often 7.30am till 10pm. True grit.

I am aware of the difficulties facing teachers in primary schools. My grandchildren are 6 and 8 years of age. I also read numerous read numerous articles to reach a 'balanced view'. I am more than aware of the dangers facing our key workers. My daughter in law is the assistant manager of a large health centre in the middle of Haringay. She contracted the virus and was very ill. Luckily she did not have to be hospitalised but went back to work earlier than advised to aid her fellow workers and patients.

Ha, thanks vegansrock fair point
But to be fair, BJ didn't have the advantage of being snuggled in bed with a nice cup of coffee and a laptop.

Well Granny I can top your assumption in spades re family and self in education and medicIne (or does your ‘career in the NHS’ mean a desk job??) so let’s get that out of the way too. All I can say is you certainly don’t sound like any frontline worker in either of those professions or you would have a rather different perspective.

Good girl though for your sympathy with supermarket staff. Full marks there. .

Furret you are making an awful lot of assumptions there. My daughter is a teacher and my entire career was in the NHS, so let's just get that out of the way.
.You may be "an old granny sat at home safe and smugly" but I most certainly am not. People that demand absolute safety aren't being realistic: in real life we manage and minimise risk on a daily basis. Doing that in an intelligent way is what keeps us reasonably safe. I have enormous respect for the thousands of supermarket workers who have endured a great deal in the past couple of months to keep the nation fed. Each and every one that I have met has just got on with it with great humour and dignity.

Unlike you *grannyLaine” BJ couldn’t answer the question.

Teaching unions were NOT advising teachers to ‘not participate in online lessons’ as if they were suggesting they just sit at home and do nothing on full pay. There were safety and other implications so I suggest you read a balanced view.

teachers warned of safety issues

It’s not just the teachers either who understand the unique problems inherent in opening schools, especially to 4-6 year olds, parents are not happy either.

Conditions in Reception and Y1 classes cannot be compared with ‘NHS and other key workers’. Would any of those have to deal with 30 unmasked unsocialised potential carriers, who insist on holding your hand or cuddling each other, all at one time in a limited space?

Love the clarity of Keir Starmer which only highlights the bumbler all the more
The Tory press will soon try to bring him down

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

It will be interesting to see the reaction when the 80 per percent furlough pay is discussed. If this is reduced it will be catastrophic for many people. Teachers are on full pay and some unions were advising them not to participate in online teaching, it was no use apparently, and now some teachers are threatening not to return if primary schools reopen in June. Health and Safety apparently which is understandable but have they not heard of the NHS and other key workers?