Should schools close?

there...not their predictive text

Yes, schools should remain open. 4 months is not a mere blip, it's a devastating amount of time in a young life. All staff should be in an early category for the vaccine. Heads should have total autonmy to run their schools doing what works best for them, while conforming to a covid secure ethos.

52bright

Good point mbmb, who has asked for gransnet comments?

Maybe by asking for simple comments, rather than a discussion, it cuts out all the nasty personal disagreements.

Ellianne

52bright

Good point mbmb, who has asked for gransnet comments?

Maybe by asking for simple comments, rather than a discussion, it cuts out all the nasty personal disagreements.

Oh FGS why oh why oh why did you have to post that? You talk about nasty personal disagreements, I’m fed up with provocative snide GFery

You can't get away from the fact that the R rate went up just after schools and uni's reopened.
Places of learning have GOT to stay open its true, do you think precautions were a bit lax perhaps? I see no changes at our local primary - just a weekly 'lesson' on how to wash hands, according to the kids I ask.
What's the cut-off age for wearing masks, no one seems able to tell me? Our GCs would love to wear some of the quirky masks around, or so they tell me.

ExD

You can't get away from the fact that the R rate went up just after schools and uni's reopened.
Places of learning have GOT to stay open its true, do you think precautions were a bit lax perhaps? I see no changes at our local primary - just a weekly 'lesson' on how to wash hands, according to the kids I ask.
What's the cut-off age for wearing masks, no one seems able to tell me? Our GCs would love to wear some of the quirky masks around, or so they tell me.

If a mask is mandatory eg a shop, children from 11 upwards have to wear them. My two dgc (10 and 6) always wear them in situations where 11+ have to. I think it makes them feel grownup and responsible and I’m very proud of them.

mbmb

LaraGransnet Could you please tell me who it is that has asked for gransnetters' comments.

Probably the DM.

It would be preferable if the article did not mention our usernames Lara.

I believe the schools colleges and unis must be kept open
Online learning is nothing like the same as being in a classroom and what about families with lots of children or with no internet (my friend lives where there is absolutely no internet)
tanith I totally agree I have seen my grandkids (educationally clever) having a tough time

Just to add to my very firm comment and opinion that schools, etc MUST remain open. I do think that more should be done to protect staff.
I would like ALL schools to have ability to do weekly tests on all staff members, at the school, so that any adult testing positive can be isolated very quickly. Think these tests should be provided by the government and not charged either to the schools or the education departments.

More money (a lot more) to be allocated to all schools to enable them to bring in more Covide safe precautions.

Should a vaccine become available then teachers and school support staff should be amongst the top priority of people to be offered it.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I don't think anything should have been closed. Viruses come and go in the history of the human race and have to be lived with....or died from, as the case may be.

As a past OU student I confirm that online learning is quite different to face to face tuition. As others have said you need a reliable internet connection and websites that are easy to negotiate. Using online libraries is OK but if they are ‘down’ study is impossible. To make this suitable for secondary pupils would be a work of art. For primary school they are much better in school.

The government (us the tax payer) should provide sufficient resources to help our wonderful teachers in this difficult time.

Schools and colleges should stay open but in my daughter's college,where she teaches the virus is rife. There is no social distancing in the staff room and she has had to isolate as a member of staff sitting next to her fell ill with Covid.
I feel that more needs to be done to help teachers keep safe ( the students are socially distanced in the classrooms but not corridors)
She wants to carry on teaching in person but feels like a lamb to the slaughter sometimes.

It’s heartening to see just how many Gransnetters understand the need for schools to remain open, as far as it is humanly possible. As Ellianne correctly said,

......4 months is not a mere blip, it’s a devastating amount of time in a young life.....

There is another thread going which is discussing the OFSTED report on how much children have regressed during lockdown. Children have regressed because their world was turned upside down without warning. School stopped, nurseries closed, parents worked from home and tried to home school their children at the same time, which is almost impossible, key worker children were flung abruptly into a changed situation, and some poor little ones had to abruptly start nursery without any proper preparation, in fact my grandson was one such child. The regression that many children have suffered is a direct result of the children’s distress and anxiety which they were unable to articulate. For older children, online learning simply does not cut the mustard, and often key worker children were deprived of proper education, not because the teachers weren’t working, but because classes were suddenly comprised of children of different ages and at different stages of learning, and they were frequently taught by a teacher who was not their own teacher who knew them well.

Children are already paying for the lockdown with regression of their development and learning, and a lack of normal progression of their social and emotional development. Many children have suffered high levels of anxiety, as the OFSTED report shows. My own grandson has regressed in his behaviour as he won’t eat now unless his parents feed him, and although newly toilet trained, has started to have regular ‘poo’ accidents, but only when he is at nursery. As the child of key workers, his world was abruptly turned upside down in March. I have advised his worried mother, my daughter, to not worry, and just feed him, coupled with extra love. And that the nursery staff will be used to this, so not to worry.

The best solution for all concerned would be to vaccinate all staff in educational establishments first (and those in medical establishments including care homes.) These staff should be at the front of the queue. It would enable schools and colleges to return to relative normality, although obviously children would need to isolate sometimes. I cannot understand the thinking by government that these staff in schools and medical establishments have to wait for a vaccine.

Yes I do agree that schools should remain open, and in fact I wish they had never been closed in the first place.

Untold harm has been done to countless children, in particular those who live in homes with inadequate parenting.

Educating the next generation is vital, virus or no virus, and as a few others have said, we have faced pandemics in the past, most recently in 1968 with no lockdown whatsoever.

The fallout from this year’s panic reaction will be felt for decades.

Having said that I do sympathise with the government, faced as they were with the prophets of doom and their dire predictions.

JenniferEccles, 'panic reaction'? How can anybody believe that, with 50,000 dead? I think it was too little, far too late.

As a retired teacher, I'm puzzled by comments about all the harm done to children - due to schools being closed.

I agree that school can be very important to those with far from ideal home lives but we're not magicians.

Think about it, even during term time children spend just a quarter of weekdays at school. There are thirteen weeks holiday - so the vast majority of time is outside school.

How do you know if the 'damage' is due to no school (rather than stressed parents, lack of exercise and activities etc.)?

I believe it's easy to assign far too much importance to formal education. Children grow and develop anyway, whatever you do.

JE. “
The fallout from this year’s panic reaction will be felt for decades.”
Can I ask what you mean by panic reaction? Are you suggesting there should have been no lockdowns? No masks perhaps ?I am genuinely interested.
.....

AGAA4

Schools and colleges should stay open but in my daughter's college,where she teaches the virus is rife. There is no social distancing in the staff room and she has had to isolate as a member of staff sitting next to her fell ill with Covid.
I feel that more needs to be done to help teachers keep safe ( the students are socially distanced in the classrooms but not corridors)
She wants to carry on teaching in person but feels like a lamb to the slaughter sometimes.

How are pupils socially distanced in classrooms? Secondary school classes usually have 30 pupils and the average classroom is about 60 sq metres. Teachers are supposed to be two metres away from pupils at all times. They can't possibly be safely socially distanced, especially as ventilation is often poor.

It's interesting that the vast majority of photos in the media don't show full classrooms. They show half a dozen or so pupils sitting individually at tables, which is not the reality. I wonder why that is , when there are plenty of stock photos showing proper classrooms.

maddyone You don't seem to understand that the current vaccination doesn't actually stop transmission. Its objective is to save the lives of those most clinically vulnerable. It will make no difference in classrooms.

Children are now more likely to be bringing the infection into a household than adults. I think schools should be kept open but we need to be clear about what that might mean.

JenniferEccles

Yes I do agree that schools should remain open, and in fact I wish they had never been closed in the first place.

Untold harm has been done to countless children, in particular those who live in homes with inadequate parenting.

Educating the next generation is vital, virus or no virus, and as a few others have said, we have faced pandemics in the past, most recently in 1968 with no lockdown whatsoever.

The fallout from this year’s panic reaction will be felt for decades.

Having said that I do sympathise with the government, faced as they were with the prophets of doom and their dire predictions.

I'm glad to see that you would be in favour of the government addressing inequalities, particularly amongst children, which existed long before anybody was ever infected with Covid. It will cost money of course.

I believe it's easy to assign far too much importance to formal education. Children grow and develop anyway, whatever you do.

It is not just the formal education Hetty58.
As a retired teacher, I'm puzzled by comments about all the harm done to children - due to schools being closed.

As a retired teacher I thought you would realise that it is not just the formal education that children are missing. They are missing the social interaction with their peer groups, the sporting activities and, for some of the more vulnerable, a safe space and an adult other than family who may be the first to realise that something is wrong with their wellbeing. Not to mention, of course, a regular nourishing meal.

I’ve never been a teacher and it’s many years since I went in to a secondary school so my questions are
Do children still face the front at individual desks?
If so, would it be possible for a teacher to be behind a Perspex or glass screen at the front of a class armed with a microphone?
I agree that teachers should be at the front of the vaccine queue with health workers.

Are teachers at more risk than shop assistants for example?

Supermarket workers have been coming in contact with hundreds of people, dating back to the beginning of the pandemic when very few customers wore masks.

I thought it wasn’t necessary to elaborate on why school attendance is so vital for children, apart from the actual teaching, as the social aspect, hot meals, and to just be away from possibly a hostile home environment are all important.

Of course the traditionally Left-leaning unions were always going to make life difficult for a Conservative government.