Should schools close?

I appreciate the consultation and would want any decision to be arrived at after as much consultation as possible.

I want good long term outcomes so keeping schools open or not BOTH need huge extra support and resource at the moment. If school staff are listened to and supported I’m in favour of keeping schools open. If they say not, then support for parents and caregivers is the issue.

I think schools should stay open, both GCs are a lot happier now they’re back. However, DD works in a junior school and with staff having to isolate for periods they’re beginning to struggle.

Callistemon. I also find it hard to decide what I really think but I ultimately yes schools should stay open BUT I absolutely agree about the vaccine.

Should a short 'firebreak' like that in Wales a few weeks ago be extended across the whole country?

Schools still remained open during the firebreak apart from the half-term break
Years 9 and above had an extra week off but were supposed to study at home.

Cases continued to rise in Wales despite the firebreak but may have arrested the speed at which they were rising.

I'm glad I don't have to make the decision but I think, on balance, schools should remain open and all necessary precautions taken. The damage to children, not just from an interruption in traditional education, is beginning to be realised but may go much deeper and further than is being reported at present.

That is why I believe that those who are in key jobs which involve interaction with others, such as teaching, should be amongst those being offered the vaccine first.

No, keep the schools open.My DGC have already missed six months education and it has also affected their mental health in various ways.They have just begun to return to how they were before...it would be a disastrous move to close again.

Secondary schools could shut but only if online learning is well managed and those at risk could continue to attend. Some children thrive on being able to organise their own work whilst others really struggle from loss of contact with their peer group. This has been the case with my older grandchildren.

I bubbled with my daughter and my youngest grandchildren (twins) earlier in the year and did some formal learning everyday whilst my daughter worked. For only and younger children on their own lock down must have been difficult if parents were unable to provide learning support.

The junior school that my grandchildren attend remained open for those at risk and for care workers in the first lockdown. Currently, parents queue with masks at a distance, collect their children rapidly and go. Very few parents are not mask wearers. Primary schools in my opinion should remain open as these years are vital in laying the groundwork for future education. This all in a relatively deprived area in the country. Congratulations to the head and all the teachers who have put these systems in place and also to parents etc. who abide by school policy.

However, government and Dept. Education need to recognise the difficulties that these times bring and should already have made decisions concerning exams in the summer of next year as many young people are already disadvantaged. I’m appalled by their incompetence.

The schools need to be kept open if at all possible. Most pupils have missed at least nine months education, and with primary school children, with the rapid rate of child development, that time cannot easily be replaced.
There may be a case, when the pandemic is at least controllable, for a longer school day and longer school terms, to make up some of the time lost, with a comparable reduction in all the meetings, admin and training that wastes takes up so much of the school timetable now.

Personally I think there was the case for a firebreak closure tacked on to the half term which would have been much less impactful than closing them now. However if the infection/mortality rate keeps rising I am in favour of a full firebreak lock down. Especially as there is a possible solution long term within sight!