Forum Topic

Who will look after the Teacher's children

when she goes back to work at school?She's been working the whole time anyway sending out work to all the children in her class and marking it.Wouldn't it be better to support them and help them to support the children whose parents are not communicating with them?Dad has to work to support them and grandparents are not allowed to visit and are still expected to stay at home.Also how will they travel?  They don't/won't all go to the same schools.

Philippa Bond ● 2368d26 Comments

What puzzles me about the concern over reopening schools is that they were the among the last places to be closed down because they were thought to be relatively safe. You'd think, therefore, that they could be among the first places to open up again.

Peter Evans ● 2368d

Wouldn't it be better to support them and help them to support the children whose parents are not communicating with them?Please could you be more specific. Who should support the teachers and how could the teachers support children of parents who won't communicate with them?It is certainly true that teachers have worked very hard throughout the lockdown but please not all teachers are women and the concept of 'Dad has to work to support them' is somewhat out of date

Jane Carter ● 2368d

This question raised on todays briefing and the answer given was As essential workers teachers children can get school or nursery similar to all other essential workers.

Andy Pike ● 2368d

So, little kids are far less likely to get the virus and if they did it would be very mild.  I'm sure we all agree that is wonderful.  But little kids can be carriers, so what happens when they go home to see their family, will it then get passed on to the adults at home?  Nobody seems to be talking about this.

Bunny Payne ● 2368d

Bunny, I think they are talking about this. This is a serious concern of teachers. If children pass the virus on to their parents, the parents in turn can pass it on to others. Teachers are not refusing to go back to schools; they just want proper precautions to be put in place and enough time to do this.

Jane Carter ● 2368d

Exactly Jane.  The shared childcare is not available. There is nobody available to do the pickup from school.  There is no creche or nursery for the toddler. This family has a mum and a dad.  They can't be the only ones in this position.  There is or was a whole backup operation needed for the teacher teaching which is not now there.  The organising of their classes and reducing the number of children in a room at a time is OK they can do that.Some parents are very responsive and are working well with the teachers but I hear that there are parents that don't - so teachers don't know what is or isn't happening.

Philippa Bond ● 2368d

Children have been getting a virus, with their hands and tongue. One 14yr old has died. About 40 cases, seems to be S.E area.

Barbara Stevens ● 2368d

It's a form of Toxic Shock and children have been put on Life Support. This is in connection with Covid 19, on Google.

Barbara Stevens ● 2368d

I've been reading about it, Kawasaki syndrome I think it's called.  It's connected to the virus but nobody really knows how.However, the chances are really tiny, don't know the stats but it's about 1M=1 so highly unlikely.  But if I was a parent to a small child, I would be concerned.  More dangerous are these Anti-Vaxxers who've been demonstrating..... bloody idiots!!

Bunny Payne ● 2367d

Yes, you are right Barbara.  It isn't right to say that children are not affected by this.  Children also tend to be big carriers of viruses.  Unless everybody is constantly tested we are not going to know.  The tests aren't perfect and you can test negative one day and then positive a few days later.  Also it seems that some people are immune to the virus and some asymptomatic.  It does seem that that people who have a lot of close contact with the virus are more likely to get it eg the nurses and carers in care homes who lean over and speak closely to people they are looking after.  Hence the desperate need for PPE.  Small children won't understand 2m social distancing and are unlikely to have clean hands although they probably pay more attention to a teacher than their parents!

Philippa Bond ● 2367d

Perhaps then a reasonable compromise would be to open schools to year 6 who need to prepare for secondary school and say goodbye to their friends. They are capable of understanding the need for social/physical distancing. I can't really see the argument for admitting five and six year olds who, as you say won't be able to maintain distancing. Also as teachers have pointed out, young children will not be able to use most of the equipment they are used to - no wooden, plastic or soft toys, no sand etc. Anyway what's the hurry? Children in other countries don't start school till 6 anyway.

Jane Carter ● 2367d

The hurry Jane is disadvantaged children need a safe haven and education.  Many in cities maybe from struggling single working families who have not had the luxury of furlough income.. Schools have been operating for key workers anyway so many must have procedures in place.

Robert Wheeler ● 2367d

Yes agree but systems are already in place for disadvantaged children to attend school which includes children in reception and year one. I gather that that the problem has been than the take up has been quite low.

Jane Carter ● 2367d

Many children from poorer backgrounds won’t be on a social register and will be disadvantaged from the loss of education.  Their parents won’t be bothered to send them to school in the first place and many single parents  have no child care apart from school.  A double whammy.  The schools will still have procedures in place for key worker children anyway.

Robert Wheeler ● 2367d

The schools are already open for vulnerable children as well as those of key workers.https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/16/england-plans-to-send-the-wrong-children-back-to-school-at-the-wrong-time?

Philippa Bond ● 2367d

Everyone is aware schools are open for vulnerable children l am talking about the millions of children who are socially disadvantaged who the only way out of their situation is education.  These children are not on any register.  Schools should fully reopen for the benefit of all our society.

Robert Wheeler ● 2367d

If we're serious about preventing a second wave then there's no way schools should be going back before September (apart from for the kids already there)Italy and Spain are both weeks ahead of us in terms of reducing infection and they have already said no school till September.Our son (11) is in the year group that should be starting again on 1st June and we've already decided that its not happening. Granted we're very lucky in that the school has been running lessons via Google classroom etc so for him other than missing his friends the experience hasnt been too bad.

Matt Palmer ● 2367d

Parents are split on this. My daughter and son in law both have busy full time jobs and they’re both working from home. With a very lively 6 1/2 year old boy. They’ve established some sort of routine but it has been far from straightforward. They would love his school to reopen. BUT.  The unknown factor is the reinfection rate. Could he pick the virus up at school and bring it home with him?  He was always picking something up if only yet another cough or cold and schools are basically virus factories at the best of times. It’s an awful dilemma and absent some miracle cure it seems to be a gradual approach is the only way back to normality. With concerted efforts at making social distancing work with young kids. This probably means smaller class sizes which is all very well on paper but can schools adapt using current buildings and at current staffing levels?No easy answers here.

Jonathan Callaway ● 2367d

Hi Matt.  At least you and Clare have made a decision on this and not faffing on about it, but can I question your logic? Why do you think sending your son back to school in September will prevent a second spike?  Won't it just happen in the Autumn instead of during June/July?  Genuine question.

Sue Hammond ● 2366d

Hi Sue, interesting question!It would seem to me that the spread needs to be slowed as much as possible before things like schools are re-opened, much like Spain and Italy are doing. I would hope that come September we will have better testing capacity and we will have a proper contact tracing system in place. Those two methods seem to be the only way that countries have successfully (so far) kept outbreaks under control and at the moment we have neither, so how can we open schools if we can't be more confident about who and where etc?If we dont have those improved systems in place by Sept then i agree, we may just be waiting longer for the second wave :(

Matt Palmer ● 2366d

Thankyou Matt. xx

Sue Hammond ● 2366d

As Jonathan says, it is an awful dilemma for parents. That's why a phased return would seem more sensible than all children going back in September when,  even if there is better testing and tracing, this is likely to be overstretched. As you say, Matt, without improved systems in place we may just be delaying a second spike.

Jane Carter ● 2366d

Thankfully my lads grown up so I dont have this dilemma and it would be a real problem so wouldnt presume to be in a position to have a view for others. I am interested though in Italy and Spain back to school. It's been said all along we were a couple of weeks behind them so isnt June 1st about right for us? Or do they have greater availability of tests etc.

Andy Pike ● 2366d

My daughter lives in Spain and is at university there, they are ever so slightly easing the lock down but no schools etc until September.I dont know how they are doing on contact tracing but in terms of testing they are way ahead of us.Tests per millionSpain: 65,000Uk: 38,000

Matt Palmer ● 2366d

Ah, got it. Thanks Matt

Andy Pike ● 2366d

When the school explained our options it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to us anyway. He could either1) carry on at home with a nearly full online curriculum via google classroom, which is basically the classes run by the normal teachers he has, two way video interactivity etc.2) go in, be stuck in one classroom for the whole day where one teacher runs all the different subjects. Max 10 kids in each room, might not be his usual friends, social distancing etc. highly supervised play time to make sure no breaking of rules etc.I can completely see that if your situation is different to ours or the school cant offer the above options then you might have difficult choices to make.

Matt Palmer ● 2366d