Close the schools!

GrannyGravy no I'm not joking.
My grandchildren age 2 & 3 (I suppose quite OLD toddlers) begged to try on (play with) my mask and I had to quickly remove it from them. I gave each of them a disposable one and their Mum and I watched them carefully but saw no danger of either of them suffocating.
They also ask for hugs which we have had to deny, though I do find it difficult to stay 6ft away from them, even in the garden, but they do partly understand the rules even if they don't understand how serious they are.
Anyway, now with the new stricter 'rules' we aren't going to be seeing them at all as we've been thrown from tier 2 to tier 4 (!)

Michael Rosen
@MichaelRosenYes
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16m
Dear Dominic
We're going to keep some of the schools open some of the time,some of the schools not open some of the time,all the schools partially open and partially closed with some schools half-open and other schools half closed.Gove is handling it.
Scholasticus elasticus
Boris

'By the way, some children actually prefer to work at home and are achieving better than they would in school.'
I agree growstuff. I found this with some of my students (some of course can't cope with it.)

'As soon as toddlers can understand they should start wearing masks and stop running around touching each other and strangers.'
But this is what toddlers do ExD. My grandson will wear a mask, but he is unusual. And I am not sure he would do it if it was hot weather. I think he thinks it is something to keep him warm, like a hat or a scarf.

“toddlers in masks” are you joking ExD

I've said all along, schools are hotbeds of infection for the simple reason that the kids aren't obeying the simple rules of space, face and hands. As soon as toddlers can understand they should start wearing masks and stop running around touching each other and strangers.
Unpopular, but if schools had stayed closed for longer we'd have been nearer re-opening them now.

Well, it looks as though the start of term will be delayed for most pupils.

University students won't be back on campus until late January or February. My son spent the Christmas break in Newcastle rather than coming home, so I hope he's not climbing the walls by then and isn't fretting too much about how much it's costing him.

GrannyRose15

The likeliest answer I can find to my question is 26. And none of them caught it from a child they were teaching. For this we are ruining the futures of 11 million children. Will someone please put some perspective into this issue!

We're ruining the lives of children who are scared about catching an infection, which might kill a member of their family. They can make up missed work, but they can't bring people back to life.

If you really want schools back to normal, they have to stay closed now, so they can continue without constant disruption in the future. The government needs to get its act together and provide the promised laptops and use the extra (alleged) funding for mentoring those who find it difficult to engage.

By the way, some children actually prefer to work at home and are achieving better than they would in school.

Hard lockdown now!!! At least 10 days! Put the foot on the brakes!!!

GrannyRose15

I love the elderly. And I don't want my elderly friends and relatives to die anymore than anyone else does. Nor do I want them to be imprisoned in care homes without visitors. Nor do I want the economy wrecked and millions of people unemployed. That will cause deaths too. I simply think there is a better way of tackling this situation.

Yes, there is a better way. Lock down hard NOW and get the situation under control.

How many people in the NHS, transport, food preparation, distribution or utilities industries have to work with 30 other people (150 in the case of secondary school staff) in a room 8 x 8 m2, often poorly ventilated, for six hours, without PPE? Can you answer that Retiredwell?

If you read all the latest research about Covid-19 transmission, the greatest risk is in indoor, poorly ventilated spaces with inadequate social distancing and without masks (ie most classrooms).

The government commissioned a report and teachers (and especially teaching assistants) are considered to be at the same level of risk as care workers and frontline social workers.

Roswell - I am in total agreement with you im an "older" teaching assistant in fact oldest member of staff in our Primary school. Im based in reception class. I like you am dreading returning. I know families have been mixing. The school has 35 different languages spoken. We translate all our news letters etc however many still struggle to understand the rules. Its also cultural for these families to live in larger extended families. I fear that school workers will be thrown under the bus this January. I hope not but let's see what awaits and what death rate the government will accept before doing something.

This crisis is now deepening sharply once again and it may well be that infection rates will we'll exceed that witnessed at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.

All who live in Britain have a role to play in maintaining a functioning nation while, hopefully, the vaccination program starts to get a grip on the infection rate.

Essential workers such as those in the NHS, Transport, food preparation and distribution and the utilities have had to attend their places of work throughout the crisis with all the high risk of infection that has brought.

Teachers cannot be any different, they are part of the core infrastructure of Britain and should it be decided by government that schools should remain open then they must accept that with all the attendant risks in the same manner as other essential workers have done.

Only the government has all the data and experts to hand that enables them to take the decisions necessary, and in that, there is no other option but to accept those decisions whatever anyone own views may be.

All we are doing is limping along from one crisis to another.
It's blatantly obvious to most people that teens are spreading the virus, and I think that chopping and changing isn't helping anyone; least of all pupils.

One minute they're in school, the next they're out, then half the school are home, then nobody is sure on who goes back and when.

Throw childcare, or lack of, into the mix and it's worse, I think, than a definite lockdown.

I love the elderly. And I don't want my elderly friends and relatives to die anymore than anyone else does. Nor do I want them to be imprisoned in care homes without visitors. Nor do I want the economy wrecked and millions of people unemployed. That will cause deaths too. I simply think there is a better way of tackling this situation.

I've noticed from comments you've made previously that you don't think much of the lives of the elderly.

Maybe you should encourage people to play on motorways or cross railway lines. They don't all die.

I hope you'll wear a mask and avoid contact with the pupils and anybody else.

growstuff

It's not the teachers and teachers who are catching it who are the issue. It's the fact that pupils are infecting each other and then taking it home to their families.

Quite honestly, the fact that you don't appear to know much doesn't tell me anything at all.

Maybe you'd volunteer to sit in a room about 8 x 8 metres with 30 others for six hours and no protective clothing at all.

PS. There aren't 11 million children in the UK.

PPS. As you think Covid-19 is only supposedly deadly, maybe you'd like to have a look at a few dead bodies. Are they only supposedly dead?

growstuff

There are 8,890,357 in compulsory schooling this year. Add the under fives and the 11 million is an underestimate.

And yes I would volunteer to teach, I have volunteered to teach, and from January I will be teaching.

As for my "supposedly" what I meant was that not everyone dies from it and indeed not a great proportion of those affected die from it. What we have to remember is that people die. Sad though it is it is a fact of life.

The older pupils are yes. As I said, no cases at all in either setting we use

Are pupils wearing masks? They're the ones who are transmitting infection and taking it back to their families and communities.

Teachers in my children’s school and nursery have all been wearing masks, nursery is 75% of time outdoors anyway. Many supermarket workers don’t seem to be wearing masks and spend all day touching things that other people have touched. As I said there have been zero cases in the settings we use and yet are subject to a blanket closure in Scotland. It’s I’ll thought out and at great cost.

GagaJo

It isn't just about how many teachers have died though, is it? It is about the risk, the fear. Teachers aren't soldiers. They didn't sign up to risk their lives. As I said, there will be a retention and recruitment crisis if we don't have a bit more care and concern for teachers now.

It's not even just about the teachers, teaching assistants and other school staff.

The fact is that children are vectors for infection and it would appear that they are even more so with the new variant.

What's happening is that pupils are merrily transmitting infection to each other, sometimes asymptomatically and usually without sever symptoms. They then pass it on to siblings and, crucially, to other family members, who pass it on to others. The family members or the others could be more vulnerable and some of them are dying or are suffering long-term symptoms.

Vaccination might protect the more vulnerable teachers, but it won't stop the cycle of transmission. The only way to do that is to keep pupils away from each other, which is impossible in the vast majority of classrooms.

Backedintoacorner

I’m pretty sure people working in Asda didn’t sign up to risk their lives either but some things are essential and children’s education is one of them

People working in Asda can wear a mask. Many schools don’t allow teachers to,wear a mask. People working In Asda don’t spend up to an hour at a time in one room with 30 other people and then go on to be with another 30 in a different room and so on throughout the day (I’m talking about secondary schools here) supermarket workers contact is with many people but for a brief amount if time.
(I’m not knocking those who work in supermarkets but it is not the same)

Sweetness1

I work teaching in a secondary school. I think children’s welfare and education is paramount, so schools should remain open. We stick to covid rules and bubbles of children are sent home when needed. Keeping children in school is the most important thing.

For a start, you don't "work teaching". You're a teaching assistant.

Sweetness1

I work teaching in a secondary school. I think children’s welfare and education is paramount, so schools should remain open. We stick to covid rules and bubbles of children are sent home when needed. Keeping children in school is the most important thing.

How do you keep pupils two metres apart in well-ventilated spaces? I don't believe you.

Keeping people alive is the main thing.

I work teaching in a secondary school. I think children’s welfare and education is paramount, so schools should remain open. We stick to covid rules and bubbles of children are sent home when needed. Keeping children in school is the most important thing.