Close the schools!

Bbbface I can understand you as my dd is single parent,2 boys 14 yrs 6 yrs.

She has lost her post she had at the hospital due to not having childminder to take to school (she starts at 8am)

They have now offered her another post 9-4 she is desperate to stay in work she loves her job.

But still no childminders, plus 6yr old is having a terrible time being in and out of school. He has been sent home twice.
The elder one, yes he can more or less look after himself.

Whilst many want schools to close, who is going to look after the children whilst people have! to go to work or loose their job ,

I am a gran/not retired/still working.

I've no idea what the solution is, as one solution doesn't suit all. Its a nightmare all round.

PS. No vaccine has been trialled on under-16s. It would be a massive waste of money to vaccinate those least likely to suffer severe symptoms.

It will be weeks before the elderly and most vulnerable can be vaccinated. We need action from the first week of January - not in three or four months.

GrannyRose15

Closing schools damages children. We cannot continue to sacrifice our children to add a few more years to the lives of the old.

But that's not how it's working out.

Children in many parts of the country have already had disrupted education. Parents are having to change plans at short notice. Now is the time for damage limitation.

IMO exam classes should be prioritised. I would have them in school on a rota system, with well-planned remote learning for the times when they're not in school.

Other year groups would need to stay at home where possible, with the school possibly open for those without internet/computer facilities at home and the children of key workers. They would do the same work as other pupils.

Teachers are generally more skilled at delivering remote learning now than they were in March, when they were thrown in the deep end.

Schools aren't a childminding service. However, I recognise there would be problems for some families. The issue is that there are problems NOW and families would be in a better position to sort out domestic arrangements if they could plan, rather than being given just a few hours' notice.

The government needs to step in with providing the promised laptops to those without them and financial assistance for parents who genuinely can't work because they have childcare responsibilities. It also needs to think carefully how it spends the money earmarked for "catch up". Personally, I'd spend it on pastoral mentoring for those who aren't engaging and leave the educational planning to the teachers, who know their pupils best.

It's a flawed argument to have secondary schools carrying on as normal because this age group have been responsible for spreading the virus more than others, with the knock-on effect on the economy.

Stamp on the source of infection and the economy can get back to some kind of normality sooner.

Shizam

Lockdowns don’t seem to work, though. We are in a worse state than before. Economy, NHS etc struggling. I wonder if opposite strategy might be better. Vaccinate all the youngish people first, get them back into full work, education. Olders stay at home til they can vaccinate us. Economy kickstarted, young people educated. Just a thought!

Interesting thought.

Closing schools damages children. We cannot continue to sacrifice our children to add a few more years to the lives of the old.

We have secondary school aged grandchbildren living with us and DH is CEV. We try not to worry too much but it is difficult. I desperately hope the schools close and hope that does not seem too selfish. We felt so safe during the first lockdown when they learnt remotely though it was difficult for us with our lack of technological knowledge.

I work in a large secondary school. We keep the students in bubbles and send whole year groups home when there are confirmed positive cases.
However, 75% of our students are bussed in, in mixed year groups!
Many also have siblings in other year groups.
Make of this what you will.
Ps. The adults have to wear masks on campus. Students do not. Social distancing is rarely observed.

The lockdown started too late and was finished too early.

The "r" number is crucial. This is the average number of people infected by someone with the virus.

It was explained to us all in March. An "r" number above one means that the virus will spread.

It should have been obvious that after the lockdown, any relaxation of the rules would lead to an increase in rhe "r" value,

It should therefore have been obvious that -

1 There should not have been any relaxation in the rules until the "r" number was no more than 0.5

2 The relaxation in the rules should have been gradual - one step at a time - not schools, shops, pubs, restaurants, shops, and gyms all opening at once.

Anyone with an ounce of nous could have seen that, but not this utterly useless Vote Leave government.

That would mean about 20 million people would not leave their homes for at least the next year.

What good would vaccinating youngish people do?

Lockdowns don’t seem to work, though. We are in a worse state than before. Economy, NHS etc struggling. I wonder if opposite strategy might be better. Vaccinate all the youngish people first, get them back into full work, education. Olders stay at home til they can vaccinate us. Economy kickstarted, young people educated. Just a thought!

The UK is not bankrupt. A country which issues its own sovereign currency can never be bankrupt.

I mostly agree with you, Flakesdayout, although in relation to the airports, we are more a danger TO others rather than from them.

I am currently in Tier 2 until Boxing day and I am pleased to have the resrictions. I agree the schools should be closed and masks should be mandatory for all ages. I watch the children coming home from our local secondary school with no masks and no social distancing. The rare time I have been shopping children have been running around with no regard for others whether vulnerable or not. I have now had my text and email to say I should now Shield until 16th January, so as I have been told I will do just that and stay at home. I also think all our airports should be closed. We must do something drastic to stop this damn virus.

I’m hardly suggesting teachers should be sacrificial lambs... there have been zero cases in either the school or nursery we use, not one, yet they have to shut. School aged kids yes, but nursery aged? Impossible and unsafe.

Not everyone CAN work from home. Not every home has a computer and internet access, or a parent who is capable of home schooling.

I do feel desperately sorry for teaching staff though, they have been just left to get on with it, and think, at the very least, they should be vaccinated urgently.

FSM-free school meals. Sorry.

Luckygirl I’m only disputing something in your second paragraph. A large primary school where I am a governor, with a lot of FSM children, applied for 97 computers for families who at most only had a phone to share between 2-3 children. They were offered 14, which eventually turned out to be 3.

I was all for the schools to open in September, however I am now undecided.

It is difficult if not impossible to homeschool children whilst working from home.

Oh my goodness, "the days of bashing each other with our bags, sharing snacks, hugging and snogging," let alone wearing each others clothes and borrowing each others pens (while chewing on the ends!) Youths, teenagers!

1. I do not think the country would go bankrupt if we had a total lockdown. Many would work from home; and we would make the work adjustments that we did last time. A lot of businesses are saying just get on and lockdown - at least we know where we are and can plan. It is the on-off situation that is wreaking havoc - they buy in stock thinking they can sell it, and then they are locked down. They plan for activities in the real world, then they find these stopped - they could have put in online alternatives if they had known.

2. I do not think that closing schools is the end of the world - some very effective online teaching has been happening. All these children are in the same boat - there will be a cohort who will be behind in their education; but they are all in it together - when it comes to competing for jobs, the playing field will be level. Yes - I know that some disadvantaged children will miss out, but - to my amazement - the government has stumped up cash to help these children keep up and special measures could be started for them. The problem is it takes time for these measures to be planned and activated; but the senior teachers do not know what they are planning for, because there is no clarity.

3. Either we want to stop this pandemic in its tracks or we don't. All this tickling round the edges, last minute decisions and hivering and havering means that people make sacrifices to no purpose because the measures are half cock and the virus just marches on. And the measures lack clarity - if there was one clear message then people could just bite the bullet and get on with it.

4. The longer the government dithers about the longer the pandemic will continue and more people die.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

It is not up to teachers to close schools. My daughter is a teacher in a secondary school, and mum to 3. If school closes she still has to go in to teach key workers and vulnerable children. However her own children have to be taken care of by other staff in their primary school. She also has to give lessons on line and do marking. So don't let people call all teachers lazy.

As a parent in Scotland where the decision has been taken to close all early years and school settings (except childminders) I am devastated. Do I neglect my 3year old or lose my job? It’s a horrendous position to put working parents into just because they dithered for way too long over closing pubs

Sparklefizz... I think the country is verging on bankruptcy already.... not long now..