Covid-19 - School closures and partial school closures

Simbindi said:
My daughter's school had planned ahead, but this was on expectation they were to provide a service for normal school hours only, for a maximum of 10% of the school roll (any more and the closure of the school isn't going to help stop the virus spreading) and for most staff to be able to work from home, delivering lessons online. They were well prepared if things had gone as they had expected them to go, with all staff having filled in forms specifying health problems and caring responsibilities etc.
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This is what I mean about issues with advice and lines of communication. The schools and teachers could have been better informed.

I have a relative who is a teacher, works hard and sometimes out of hours doing prep work. However she is very used to a structured environment.

Most emergency of key workers don't have such structure. A nurse or police officer doesn't walk out the door because their shift is over and pandemonium still reigns.

Delivery drivers will be expected to do the hours necessary to keep things moving and may work several extra hours with little notice.

I supported businesses and while I had set hours, I was also expected to do what was necessary should an emergency occur. So not unheard of to leave home at 7am, but a client has a crisis and it's 2 or 3am before you get back home.

There's a whole army of workers quietly beavering away behind the scenes, keeping people safe and the country running who have to do extra hours as and when necessary. Whoever provides support to them or childcare has to factor that in when the usual childcare isn't available.

Additionally, these are emergency times, so schools can't and shouldn't be expected to be teaching off the curriculum. You'll possibly have kids of different ages and from different school classes or different schools etc. The priority is literally childcare and not education. It can't & won't be the Rolls Royce of childcare either. How can it be when teaching and childcare are different professions?


Jonathan Edwards said:
I was thinking a bit more about the school policy. The policy of allowing children of essential workers to go to school looks to me to be a disaster. Presumably within a week or two ALL these children will be infected, with the result that ALMOST ALL key workers, as parents, will also be infected. This is the opposite of what we need. My idea would be that if one parent is not a key worker they should do the childcare. If both are key workers they should alternate, not just for their own sake but to preserve a body of key workers for the next month.
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I think you're right here, especially with lack of testing. Do we have enough staff to allow for that is the other thing.
 
Invisible Woman said:
A nurse or police officer doesn't walk out the door because their shift is over and pandemonium still reigns.
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Neither do teachers. My daughter works most evenings and half of the weekend, plus much of the school holidays. A couple of years ago she had to stop teaching for 2 terms and take a normal job, just to recover her mental and physical health before returning to teach in another school.

Teachers still need to provide online learning for all children during this long (indefinite) school closure - all children and young people will need some structure throughout this time, particularly the most disadvantaged ones whose parents won't provide it for them. Planning and assessing lessons takes far more time than the actual delivery of them, and putting together online lessons will be even more time consuming than classroom ones.

Teachers face violence on a weekly basis in many schools, they are used to working in challenging, stressful environments, even at the cost of their own welfare.

https://www.theguardian.com/educati...rs-experience-violence-from-pupils-every-week

It's not about providing 'Rolls Royce' childcare, it's about providing a safe environment for these children and young people during this time, as I discussed in my previous post. A major issue is that if too many kids are going into school (and for extended hours) this sends a very contradictory message to both kids and parents about the need for social distancing. It's important to understand the diversity of parents and difference between school catchment areas here, it is not reasonable to expect the same parental attitudes in deprived areas as may be seen in more middle class ones.
 
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Simbindi said:
Neither do teachers. My daughter works most evenings and half of the weekend.
They still need to provide online learning for all children during this long term school closure.

Teachers face violence on a weekly basis in many schools:

https://www.theguardian.com/educati...rs-experience-violence-from-pupils-every-week
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I'm not trying to do a them and us; one side has it worse than the other here @Simbindi. Nor I am saying teachers don't work hard at a tough job. All front line workers & people dealing with the public face violence at times. It's not acceptable wherever it occurs and I've had it happen to me too.

My point is many key workers work long and unpredictable hours at the best of times. They may discover just as they are about to go home that they can't. In an instant. Even though they may have already worked through their shift without any breaks. They can't take their work home with them either. If they are to have support that has to be factored in, whoever provides that support. Note I'm not saying schools should be providing that support either.

That's it. I dont intend to post further on the subject of schools.
 
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Jonathan Edwards said:
There are people around who understand the epidemic clearly - Costello, Pollock and others. They are still being shut out of the discussion. But I don't see health care workers, and in particular physicians, tolerating any sort of loosening until case number are down by tenfold at least. We will muddle along doing just enough to get nowhere for three more months and hopefully it will then become clear that 'the virus cannot be eradicated' is nonsense and even if it true the strategy has to be to attempt it.
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My daughter just told me that NHS workers had written to the government stating they shouldn't even be thinking of reopening schools until there are low case numbers, contact tracing etc. The full letter is printed at the end of this TES article:

https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-nhs-workers-call-keep-teachers-safe
 
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This post was copied and replies moved from Coronavirus - worldwide spread and control
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This is the England government guidance issued to schools, educational settings (18 and under), early years and childcare providers:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

If I was still working in schools as a Learning Support Assistant, I would be handing in my notice. The kids I was working with coughed and sneezed over me all day - I was constantly getting viral infections (unlike many PWME I am very prone to getting viral and bacterial infections).

My daughter brought over my shopping this afternoon after being in school with 12 kids. She commented to stay well away from her as none of the kids had been able to keep the 2 metre rule or stop themselves from coughing or speaking when close to her (these are primarily the well children of key workers who do not have any 'special needs'). My daughter has a reputation as a very strict teacher, so this wasn't a problem with her classroom behaviour management - the kids just can't adapt their behaviour for the duration of whole hour lessons and during their 'free time'.
 
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Simbindi said:
This is the England government guidance issued to schools, educational settings (18 and under), early years and childcare providers:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

If I was still working in schools as a Learning Support Assistant, I would be handing in my notice. The kids I was working with coughed and sneezed over me all day - I was constantly getting viral infections (unlike many PWME I am very prone to getting viral and bacterial infections).

My daughter brought over my shopping this afternoon after being in school with 12 kids. She commented to stay well away from her as none of the kids had been able to keep the 2 metre rule or stop themselves from coughing or speaking when close to her (these are primarily the well children of key workers who do not have any 'special needs'). My daughter has a reputation as a very strict teacher, so this wasn't a problem with her classroom behaviour management - the kids just can't adapt their behaviour for the duration of whole hour lessons and during their 'free time'.
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Covid-19 - School closures and partial school closures
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It doesn't seem right to impose social distancing on children who are at the stage of development when they are learning to interact. They talk about adults becoming wary of going outside after this experience and you wonder if 5 year olds who are taught to be afraid of standing near anyone will suffer the effects for years. Older children can understand that this is an unusual situation and already have experience of social interactions and physical play.

Keeping young children within the family where they can be children until it is safe for their normal behaviour just feels better to me, at least for as long as possible. To send them back to school first is all wrong.
 
Mithriel said:
They talk about adults becoming wary of going outside after this experience and you wonder if 5 year olds who are taught to be afraid of standing near anyone will suffer the effects for years.
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Maybe they will benefit from understanding the reality of the situation later in life.
Children had to endure blackout and bunkers in the blitz.
When I was at school no child moved out of their chair or anywhere else without permission. I don't think it did any harm. It taught us to respect other people's space.
 
Our daughter is a single mum with asthma, one child at nursery and the other at infant school. She - and we - are very uncomfortable at the thought of returning to school. If our daughter goes sick then who looks after the children?
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
Maybe they will benefit from understanding the reality of the situation later in life.
Children had to endure blackout and bunkers in the blitz.
When I was at school no child moved out of their chair or anywhere else without permission. I don't think it did any harm. It taught us to respect other people's space.
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I was taught by nuns I understand discipline :) What I am thinking about is a fear of physical contact.
 
Oh my fucking word. The UK government is planning to fine parents who don't send their kids back to school in September. I.e. fine them for refusing to risk their families' lives.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53221741

They will never get away with this. There'll be a huge outcry, surely, and they'll be forced to u-turn.

Also, I don't know what Keir Starmer is playing at, supporting the reopening of schools - "Had there been work on this from the day the schools closed down, I genuinely think we could have had all our children back in school by now" - is he mad?! Fuck off!
 
The Florida Department of Health accidentally released a report on COVID-19 outbreaks at schools across the state — from daycare centers to colleges — and found that nearly 900 students and staffers had tested positive during a two-week period in August as schools had just begun or readied to reopen.

State officials published the six-page draft online on Monday, but then quickly wiped it away a day later. The Herald obtained a copy before it disappeared.

Florida International University infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Mary Jo Trepka said the detailed data was one of the most valuable reports the DOH has produced because it assesses how the virus is affecting the state’s children as they return to the classroom.

“It’s very good that they are starting to report this now and then going forward as schools start to reopen ... to see what happens as they reopen in terms of the numbers going up or not going up, hopefully,” said Trepka. “This is going to be really important for each county to be closely monitoring these numbers to see the impact of schools’ reopening.”

But because someone tested positive, it doesn’t mean the school was the source of infection: “It just means that the sick person was in one of those institutions; it doesn’t mean that they acquired it there.”
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https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article245241965.html
 
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