National Lockdown to be announced next week?

My daughter works in a school, 1 on 1 with challenging children, she wants to carry on, it gives her and her two children many benefits.

Maddy one if you re-read my earlier post you will see that there was no mention of the closing of schools.
I was just pointing out that in my opinion it was not a piece of cake as you had said.My point was to say that the efforts of those in this field should applauded as they were for medical staff, and not talked down.
I am sure that all staff are doing their very best for their pupils, trying to keep their buildings open with staff absent through illness or quarantine. ( a local school had to close before half term as so many pupils and staff had the virus.)It is not easy.

growstuff

Ellianne If you cared about them that much, you wouldn't be forcing them into unsafe environments. Most classrooms are unsafe, which is why most schools in the country have been affected in some way by infections.

So the naval base where my son trains recruits is unsafe too and has cases. Do you suggest we partly close them too and have online assault course training and virtual 3 day field exercises?
Of course risk assessments have been made, and f course changes have been implemented, but these people aren't saying we should close all military camps to protect themselves and their families from the virus. Like schools, it just shouldn't happen, or we will inevitably need protecting from something far greater in the long term.

Callistemon

^It's for the safety of the teachers, not just for elderly people.^
Let's shut the hospitals too, for the safety of all medical staff.

Schools will make necessary risk assessments.

GP surgeries have been partially shut and treating the majority of patients remotely, either by phone or video. The staff onsite have been wearing PPE and there are few patients in the building. Schools can't do that.

Ellianne If you cared about them that much, you wouldn't be forcing them into unsafe environments. Most classrooms are unsafe, which is why most schools in the country have been affected in some way by infections.

Callistemon

^It's for the safety of the teachers, not just for elderly people.^
Let's shut the hospitals too, for the safety of all medical staff.

Schools will make necessary risk assessments.

Unfortunately, classrooms can't be made bigger and better ventilated.

Suggested part closures are for the benefit of the pupils and their families.

I think maddyone has expressed it well across the generations and the social divide.
When I was a teacher I was dedicated to my pupils and would put their every need first. Many of these pupils are now medics, teachers, in the armed forces. Others may be working in shops, emptying bins, driving lorries, I really couldn't care less what job they are doing. Importantly they are giving back to society and running the country for us who went before. Im sorry, but if any of the teachers I know were to choose the closure of schools rather than in turn giving my grandchildren the best education possible, whatever the cost, I might feel pretty peeved and disappointed in them.

It's for the safety of the teachers, not just for elderly people.
Let's shut the hospitals too, for the safety of all medical staff.

Schools will make necessary risk assessments.

Excellent post, maddyone.

It's for the safety of the teachers, not just for elderly people.

maddyone My daughter and husband are secondary school teachers and therefore on the front line. They agree with the teachers' union that schools should be closed.

That was for westendgirl as well.

As an ex teacher Sparklefizz I know the stresses and challenges of teaching as least as well as, and probably more than most people. I am also married to an exteacher and we have nieces who are teachers now. Undoubtedly the challenges are greater under the Covid19 situation than ever before, and the other challenges are still there, and in many cases they are magnified. And schools have risen to the challenge as I fully expected they would, because the one thing I know about teachers is that they are totally dedicated to their pupils. However, many Gransnetters have argued consistently for the total closure of schools. Gransnetters by definition, are older people, and older people are disproportionately affected by Coronavirus, and therefore it is down to older people to take measures, wherever possible, to limit their exposure to the possibility of catching Covid19. In the main, they can do this, because in the main older people are retired, and those who are still working must consider their situation, and if it is possible for them to continue working, taking all reasonable precautions, then they should do so. But to demand, as I have often seen on Gransnet, that all schools are closed, in other words, to trash the life chances of children in order to protect themselves, is in my opinion, utterly selfish.

An example would be my eight year old grandson. He is not deprived in any sense in the way that I described yesterday. He has two parents, he lives in a beautiful house in a semi rural area. His family own a second home. He has enough to eat, and an endless supply of toys and amusements. There’s a very large garden for him to play in. He attends an excellent independent school. So what’s the problem. Well, he is an only child, therefore for almost four months this Spring, this child never laid eyes on another child. For that matter, apart from the strangers he saw on his daily walks, he never saw another adult. He was effectively confined in a very comfortable prison. He received excellent zoom lessons every day and we FaceTimed him regularly. He didn’t see his grandparents or cousins, even over the garden wall, like our other grandchildren did, because he lives a forty minute drive from us, and travel was not allowed. Unlike Dominic Cummings, his father, as a barrister, felt he absolutely could not break the law. How healthy for our (in all other senses, very privileged) grandson, was this situation? How much worse for the only child who is confined to a high rise flat, with a depressed parent, who has neither the ability nor the inclination to help this child to learn, or exercise? Or even to feed this child regularly?

This is why schools must remain open. It’s for the mental health, and emotional development of all our children, and older people cannot expect to be prioritised over the next generation, who need be raised to be resilient, strong, healthy, and educated, for the sake of everyone.

crissy

You wouldn't want schools open if your daughter is a teacher!!! She's been working her socks off all through this madness and is exhausted. She has a 4 year old child and husband is key worker.

Well done to her and to all teachers.

However, if key workers had just refused to work and said that it was far too dangerous society would collapse.

How would you feel if you or a member of your family needed to go to hospital and the hospital was shut because the staff said it was too dangerous to work?

We have teachers and medical staff in the family. The teachers wanted to get back into the classroom and worried about the welfare of their pupils.

No masks were worn during the time of Hong Kong 'flu. No lockdowns and little news of its presence yet it killed thousands of a population at the time which was far less than we have now ?
Again, I was working nights on a medical ward at the time without a mask and distinctly remember cases of lung problems and helping drain excess fluid from those who were struggling to breathe. No panic, no hysterical news bulletins.

Hong Kong 'flu was by far the worst virus we saw in 1968. It killed 80,000 people in the UK alone. A higher number than Asian 'flu and so far, worse than the present virus.
Then there was the SARS and MERS to which no deaths were linked.
Asian 'flu saw 33,000 deaths in the UK.

Maddyone You are obviously proud of your daughter and rightly so , but I don't think working in a school is a piece of cake ,especially at the moment.
Older pupils are going down with the virus, staff also,leading to staff absence. My grandson has had to have 2 tests already and is now in quarantine. He has , of course set work for all his groups. It must be a nightmare for those in charge.Please don't belittle their efforts. It is a different work area, but surely of value.

maddyone

^You will never get a break from the virus unless absolutely everything shuts down including schools. ^

Absolutely everything?
Shops? Supermarkets? GP surgeries? A and E?
I could go on but you get my point. You can never close absolutely everything down.

maddyone It was my comment you quoted, and obviously I didn't mean it to be taken to the nth degree which wouldn't make sense as the country would collapse.

Princesspickles

We are moving house on the 13th from Wales to England ?

I'm also moving from England to Scotland on the 13th.

dentistis will still be working missA

Yes, childcare is still allowed.
www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november

Following the November lockdown announcement, are we looking after our grandchildren now or not? Anyone know?

Too late the deed is done. Good luck from Thursday everybody !

Thank you Ellianne. As you say, absolutely written from my heart. I feel so strongly about our children and their future.

You will never get a break from the virus unless absolutely everything shuts down including schools.

Absolutely everything?
Shops? Supermarkets? GP surgeries? A and E?
I could go on but you get my point. You can never close absolutely everything down.