Those lovely people at the Daily Mail (Daily Heil) certainly think that we should:
There are one or two problems with this newspaper story. Well, there are dozens but I have to summarise to make this post readable. Let's start with the Mail's lying. The vast majority of teachers are against opening the schools at this time. Nobody thinks its a good idea. Everybody thinks its a terrible idea. The unions are doing merely what you would expect in trying to protect their members. The newspapers here heavily support our Conservative government and have seen their physical sales and advertising revenues collapse during the pandemic, so they are pro easing the lockdown.
As I've said many times, easing the lockdown before you have proper test-trace-isolate procedures puts you at risk of losing control of the virus. France has fewer cases than us and better (well... less inadequate) testing procedures and even they are having problems trying to open up.
Schools are a particular issue too. Even the limited re-opening which the government are bringing in will create massive virus spreading centres. The lower end of Primary school is due to be one of the first back. Yes, these young kids are very low risk in terms of dying but they are very high risk in terms of spreading the disease. I work as a primary school teacher myself and let me tell you that the zero chance of getting children between four and six years of age to social distance effectively. Anyone with any experience of a primary setting thinks that this is nuts, which it is.
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Well, we opened them in September and loads of them have had to lockdown again. Including my school.
We have to re open cos its been so long but ten days into term we got a couple of kids with symptoms and had to lockdown two bubbles. For obvious reasons, parents got no notice and have had to change all their plans for two weeks.
Im reduced to giving work on the school blog and posting funny memes to keep the kids motivated.
SW-User
@Burnley123 I've lost 1/3 of my class. 30 in total across juniors.
My region has a moderately high number of cases and is next to a borough which is a hot spot for the entire region. Social gatherings are banned on top of the 'rule of six' but its ineffective.
The govt are not even close to having this under control and i think we are in for a disruptive year. One parent described it as 'the new normal' and I fear she is right.
SW-User
@Burnley123 😔 it's really shitty. If people weren't so intent on going to the pub then maybe schools would've been ok to open.
@SW-User Very true and the govt is keen to keep pubs and resturaunts open. In busy urban ateas, there is no social distancing.
Im lucky that the parents are mostly professionals and savy on their kids educational needs. I feel kids education will suffer even more in more deprived areas or where parents are EAL because they wont know how to be a sub teacher.
@Burnley123 I went by a local primary school yesterday and what I saw wasn't pretty.
There was no social distancing outside at all - just a line of parents and children crammed against a wall and out onto the street.
I don't see how that's going to help the "class bubbles" when members of the public are trying to squeeze by children and parents as they walk down the street.
They may have been better opening the school yard for dropping children off at school rather than using the main entrance in this case... and, yes the school yard is accessible from the street - unlike at other schools.
