Keeping schools open is stupid

[WiredIncorrectly]

My son is off school during this lockdown. Keeping schools open is a stupid idea while COVID rates are high.

If everybody is locked down, and they stick to lockdown, the cases will be enclosed in the household. But, when you send your child to school to mix with others they're going to either pass it on, or contract it.

Why not lock the kids down too, when the numbers change then open schools and see how the numbers are affected. They're doing the damned thing backwards which will no doubt cost more lives.

Oh, and don't reopen pubs, clubs, bars or restaurants until last! They're bloody breeding grounds. Balls to your alcohol tax money you greedy fat cats. Health comes before profits you ugly buffoon (Boris).

The Tory party are literally like babies in a nursery trying to stack their ABCs.

Blanket wide 1 month lockdown. Get the numbers right down. If it needs 2 months, so be it. When the numbers are down slowly reintroduce society and make changes to lifestyles.

I've had enough now. The solution really is that simple. I was always taught the best ideas are the simplest. I had the KISS principle drummed into me (keep it simple stupid). It works every time. But when you put all these babies in their playpen they fight, and throw giant lego blocks at each other. Keir Starmer is about the only grown up among the bunch.

Don't even go on Twitter. The trolls are running about "A lockdown is not needed". Daft idiots, seriously. At first I thought all of this was a joke, I even pondered the idea of a global conspiracy. But, we have a seriously effing problem on our hands and all people can do is attack Keir Starmer. What he said in Parliment was bang on.

[ankietyjoe]

The big difference between schools and other establishments is that they can (and are) tightly controlled in terms of movement and contact. It's a calculated risk, and has shown to be relatively low risk.

In an ideal world yes, kids would probably be kept away from even this much contact, but my 12 year old who absolutely despises school said he was rather be in school than stay at home during another lockdown.

His best friend had a confirmed case in their school and the school was on top of it in an instant, no further infections recorded since (over a month now).

It's a balancing act, and it's the fVcking dumbass grown ups that really need to be told what to do. Because 'freedom' etc.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thing is they did that for months before and it's all back to square one. Until people act more responsibly we are stuck unless we have herd immunity to deaden it or a vaccine.

Until then, because people want do what they should, we are stuck with temporary fixes that only slow rather than stop it.

I do find it strange with unis though. Just how much of that is equipment needed for? Surely a lot could be done remotely?

[NoraB]

I have to put a different spin on this I'm afraid because my child is autistic and attends a specialist school. My son (and the other children's) mental health is at risk if he doesn't attend - especially when we are expected to become specialist teachers at home - which in our case ended in numerous meltdowns because my son needs to keep home and school separate. He has PDA traits as well, so maybe you can imagine?

My son's class only has 6 kids in it and the entire school (2 campuses for the 70 pupils) has been placed into bubbles with social distancing in place, masks, and staggered break times etc. All after school clubs have suspended. Their temps are taken before they're allowed on school transport. We, and the other parents, are satisfied that everything that can be done, is being done.

I understand your feelings WIC, but a blanket 'keep your kids at home' isn't that simple for everybody in the UK. School is just school to most kids, but it isn't for kids like my son. It's a lifeline for him and for us.

[pulisa]

I can just imagine the horrors of trying to "home school" your autistic child..I would have lasted 5 seconds..if that!! Home is home and school is school and never the twain shall meet...

School used to be a lifeline for me too..I could do with it now for my 2!

[NoraB]

I can just imagine the horrors of trying to "home school" your autistic child..I would have lasted 5 seconds..if that!! Home is home and school is school and never the twain shall meet...

School used to be a lifeline for me too..I could do with it now for my 2!

One day in to home-schooling and he was arse up in the air in his anxiety pose. He does this sort of downward dog pose - it's useful though because it's obvious when he's stressed now, unlike little me who outwardly looked 'normal' when all hell was breaking loose inside...

Mainstream school almost did for us both, (it got very nasty) but specialist school saved his mental health. It took me a long time to stop having panic attacks every time the phone went.

[Lencoboy]

I have to put a different spin on this I'm afraid because my child is autistic and attends a specialist school. My son (and the other children's) mental health is at risk if he doesn't attend - especially when we are expected to become specialist teachers at home - which in our case ended in numerous meltdowns because my son needs to keep home and school separate. He has PDA traits as well, so maybe you can imagine?

My son's class only has 6 kids in it and the entire school (2 campuses for the 70 pupils) has been placed into bubbles with social distancing in place, masks, and staggered break times etc. All after school clubs have suspended. Their temps are taken before they're allowed on school transport. We, and the other parents, are satisfied that everything that can be done, is being done.

I understand your feelings WIC, but a blanket 'keep your kids at home' isn't that simple for everybody in the UK. School is just school to most kids, but it isn't for kids like my son. It's a lifeline for him and for us.

You've hit the nail on the head there Nora.

School can be a lot more to many kids than simply education, even those with non-learning disabilities, in particular those with not-so-good family backgrounds.

Of course it can also be hell to some kids, especially in a badly-run school for various reasons which I won't elaborate on here.

As far as Covid-related school closures are concerned, they should ultimately be pursued on a case-by-case basis rather than a collective shutdown of all schools nationwide.

It obviously made sense to shut nearly everything down during the original lockdown back in the spring as back then there were a lot of unknowns about Covid, unlike now where there is generally more and better knowledge of it, even though in the meantime there's still more work to be done.

As far as I'm concerned, this second national lockdown (in England) is essentially 'lockdown-lite', compared to the first one, especially in view of those who are against it.

[WiredIncorrectly]

I didn't consider some children rely on their care. My son was recently diagnosed with ADHD and home schooling him is a task.

I do home schooling a bit different with him now. He has his computer next to mine and I teach him math through Roblox Studio. It's a professional game engine believe it or not. I did trigonometry earlier to detect where a projectile will land in his game. Kids understand it so much more easily when they're putting what they're learning into practice. At least for my son. Tomorrow we're doing low poly 3D rendering with Blender to create game assets outside of Roblox Studio and import them in.

He has his own website. I can't list it due to his age, but he writes articles related to Roblox game development to help other people.

If schools do ever shut down, there are ways to teach kids in a different way. I've had to learn and figure out how he learns best and apply it to what he enjoys; which is game development and programming.

But I follow the sentiments of others that at the moment this whole situation is a shambles.

My youngest brother is still at University. He can learn remotely but he decides to go in. He can't deal with lockdown and I can only guess that others feel the same way. My other younger brother studies Law via Open University so he's ok. The police officer brother ... oh boy. I genuinely feel sorry for what he has to go through at the moment.

I just feel like things will be hard during a blanket wide lockdown, but it's required (obviously exception being children who receive special care and other exceptions I've not considered). The alternative is what Terry said. The nation together we'll will ever act responsibly, that's why there are laws and ultimately why we are still in this situation.

At the moment there's no evidence of herd immunity, and no vaccine.

Maybe I'm caught up in the "emergency" hysteria spread by the media. People keep telling me I've been caught in the fear trap. Whatever that means.

[venusbluejeans]

Now the title of this thread is one I completely disagree with and one I can argue about forever

Working at a school I have seen exactly the reasons why I disagree......

Since the pandemic Schools are the cleanest they have ever been, they are cleaned daily and many high traffic areas are cleaned several times a day.... you could eat your food directly off the tables (I wouldn't advise it though as there is a pandemic going on and besides you may stain the tables )

Children know exactly what is expected of them, to be honest most are better at remembering things than the adults lol

Now the important bit....

The mental health of quite a few children has been severely inpaired, they have lost a lot of social skills during the last lockdown which has in turn hit their confidence majorly...

SEN children in main stream education have already had their normal routine thrown into chaos. Children with one to one assistants have lost valuable skills which were learnt with the help of the one to ones.... concentration skills and intergration into the mainstream classroom have diminished as well as educational skills and much more.... they have now started to gain those skills back again being back in the classroom environment, for that to be disturbed again would be a hugely damaging to their wellbeing in my opinion.

The older children lost a lot of classroom time, I know they were taught at home as well as parents could but they are not teachers, we cannot expect them to teach children 100% of the things they need to prepare them for secondary school.... I mean who knows how to do long division as an adult?? Yep, I don't and haven't had to use it since school. but it is something in the curriculum. any more time off and they will fall even further behind. ..... This isn't dissing the parents schooling the children at home, they did an amazing job!

[WiredIncorrectly]

Emmz we got an email telling us one of the kitchen staff had COVID and no more food will be served this week. Instead they gave out Asda vouchers. But for that 1 day children ate the food she cooked. I know kids are not at risk but its cases like this that scare me.

His school is in this list: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/bla...cases-19110756

One of the schools down the road are on a 2 week circuit breaker and is also in that list. Am I silly for keeping him off school?

There's 15 cases at Dudley Colledge. It's going to come crashing down I can feel it in my gut.

As an aside my son got into a fight at school. He threw a concker at his friend and accidentally hit the bully. It was filmed and shared online etc and the crowd of people in the playground was in no "bubble". The entire playground in a circle around them, 50+ people. I think my sons school isn't acting responsibly; hence the cases. Police were able to remove the video btw ... I found that good in my sons case, but freaky how fast it was removed from social media sources.