I wish we had a like button for Binners post at the top of the previous page. gave me a good laugh

, it has been a sore one just seeing the folk kicking the crap out of my profession without understanding the reality of what schools have been like. It is really nice to see folk supporting us.

I think the vast majority of (thinking) people have understood and supported how hard it has been, and how well many schools have done in incredibly hard circumstances.

My hope is that actions by teachers and schools now will force the government to take the strong and decisive action needed. My fear is that the Tories will want revenge for you all showing them up.

apologies if already said in the thread, but the doc I linked to earlier contains these snippets re how kids might not often become seriously ill, but are very effective at passing it on…..

I can’t say I am even slightly surprised. I mean it’s not like I (and a bazillion other parents across the planet) didn’t suddenly start getting colds, coughs, stomach bugs, flu, and other assorted mild health issues when we had kids go into nursery and school, after years of being disease free.

Frankly I’m amazed the turd shower in power have been attempting to maintain any credibility to the “they’re immune to it!” line for this long.

not sure on that susceptibility point – I’ll have to look at the doc properly but I don’t understand why that would be the case unless it’s about %’s – if they are more likely to get it outside the home (like schools!!) then they are proportionally less likely to get it at home as the sum has to be 100%. But absolute numbers may still be high in both.

tojv – I think what it suggests is:

Mum <-> Dad transmission is more likely than Parent –> Child – but that’s not a huge surprise:

1. Mum and Dad usually share the same bed, and are intimate.
2. Adults who get sick are more likely to be symptomatic, thus aware and keen to distance and protect the kids.
3. Adults who are sick are likely to be relatively self-sufficient, i.e. they aren’t going to be cared for by children under 16.

In contrast, children who get sick are more likely to get the attention/care of a parent thus increasing the risk of Child –> Parent transmission.

plus they’re stuffed in a petrie dish diligently distancing in the classroom for 30 hours a week

1. Mum and Dad usually share the same bed, and are intimate.

Not once kids are on the scene…..

apologies if already said in the thread, but the doc I linked to earlier contains these snippets re how kids might not often become seriously ill, but are very effective at passing it on…..

I mentioned this on a vilage facebook group and got a lot of hate.
Maybe using the phrase plague rats WAS a bit over the top.

MASKS, MASKS, MASKS!!!!

If we must have the schools open (and I don’t think we should – we live in Rushmoor, with the highest infection rate in the country and the primary schools are still open) why on earth can’t we have the children and staff wearing masks in class??? Lots of other countries do it, it doesn’t affect the economy, doesn’t affect the childrens mental health, to me its a total no-brainer………….

Kids have been wearing masks here in Bavaria since they returned to school last year. They seem to just accept it and get on with it without too much drama.

Although there’s currently debate about whether the kids should return at the end of the week and it’s looking unlikely they won’t.

On the face of it, Kids, especially under 11s aren’t getting sick from Covid, and don’t easily spread it.

No, it’s been proven that people under 17 are much more likely to spread the virus.

Are Teachers getting Covid at a higher rate than the rest of the public? They don’t seem to be locally at least.

Yes, in my place of work anyway.

I can’t help but think that this has come about because of the Public Sector pay freeze and Teachers not being put into the Phase 1 vaccine role-out rather than their occupation being anymore risky than any other.

No, this is about health and safety.

Kids have been wearing masks here in Bavaria

As they have in lots of other countries, really can’t see why we in the UK can’t bring this in…………

the risk to teachers is no more than any other person in any other proffession

Kids have been wearing masks here in Bavaria

As they have in lots of other countries, really can’t see why we in the UK can’t bring this in…………

Because the Daily Mail/Kirsty Alsopp/Julia Hartley-Brewer/Desmond Swayne axis of libertarian stupidity would go into nicker-wetting meltdown and compare it to fascism, and Boris won’t do anything to upset this lot as they’re all his core support.

And if more people die, well they’ll probably be old, poor, northern, lefties or all of the above, so who cares?

the risk to teachers is no more than any other person in any other proffession

It clearly isn’t, how is someone who works from home every day at the same risk as someone who stands in a small stuffy room with 30 kids?

the risk to teachers is no more than any other person in any other proffession

What is open to debate is A – whether they need be exposed to that risk, and B – in the middle of a global pandemic, need the government facilitate the spread of the disease by insisting schools stay open.

the risk to teachers is no more than any other person in any other proffession

Congratulations. Truly the most mind-bendingly stupid statement you could possibly make. Take a bow.

You are Kirsty Alsopp and I claim my artisan handcrafted respirator

Our school just announced at lunchtime (in-service day today) that the kids can’t come back tomorrow as too many teachers have called in.

No great surprise and I support them, but feel this should have come from government last week – not last minute from the school.

Kids have been wearing masks here in Bavaria

As they have in lots of other countries, really can’t see why we in the UK can’t bring this in…………

tbf it’s just England. Wales, Scotland and NI got all this sorted in various ways weeks ago and must also be looking on in disbelief as England is still pissing about with this.

No great surprise and I support them, but feel this should have come from government last week – not last minute from the school.

Absolutely this. None of it has been hard to foresee, but the government has seemed committed to doing the littlest action as late has possible.

As they have in lots of other countries, really can’t see why we in the UK can’t bring this in…………

Mask wearing at my lads college since October. Only teacher to test positive so far started the September term with it. No other teachers have had it since, though kids running around 3-5 positives a week.

the risk to teachers is no more than any other person in any other proffession

What a load of twaddle!

the risk to teachers is no more than any other person in any other proffession

Congratulations. Truly the most mind-bendingly stupid statement you could possibly make. Take a bow.

You are Kirsty Alsopp and I claim my artisan handcrafted respirator

What a load of twaddle!

I fully agree with both of you 100 %

However, I was not quoting the great Kirsty Allslopp , but our magnificent leader Boris Johnson , on the Lunchtime news ….today.
After rewinding it on the Iplayer to check he had indeed said such a thing , I realised that I had , alas got the words wrong and so his actual quote, verbatim was…..

“the risk to teachers is no greater than it is to any body else in any other line of work”

And this ladies and gentlemen is what we are dealing with..

#edited after evidence of sarcasm detected…

Our glorious leader? That figures

I should have known really

The level of willful stupidity is absolutely off the scale

I was going to add that it’s difficult to imagine how anyone could make such a statement with a straight face, but he doesn’t even do that, does he? There’s always that trace of a smirk on his stupid, fat, gurning mug

Just had the email from our lad’s (yr3) school to say closed for the week from tomorrow. (Today was an insect day.) Nothing like having time to plan. The school has my full support though. A decision which should have been made last week.

I was going to add that it’s difficult to imagine how anyone could make such a statement with a straight face, but he doesn’t even do that, does he? There’s always that trace of a smirk on his stupid, fat, gurning mug

His PR man obviously told him to wear his mask at all times when spouting shite so we couldnt see the smirk on his face. Quite why he had to touch elbows with the hospital staff was beyond me. Absolutely no need for it . The prick clearly hasn’t learnt a thing

Kids have been wearing masks here in Bavaria

tbf it’s just England. Wales, Scotland and NI got all this sorted in various ways weeks ago and must also be looking on in disbelief as England is still pissing about with this.

Not that easy to implement given the stories I’ve heard from friends’ kids. Teachers not enforcing masks, older/cooler kids refusing to wear them, other kids opting not to wear them because the aforementioned kids take the pi55 out of them, and so on.

Not that easy to implement given the stories I’ve heard from friends’ kids.

It’s all anecdotal but the teachers I know in France haven’t had many problems getting the kids to wear masks, and the French don’t like being told what to do…………

Because the Daily Mail/Kirsty Alsopp/Julia Hartley-Brewer/Desmond Swayne axis of libertarian stupidity would go into nicker-wetting meltdown

I don’t read the Mail so I haven’t seen that, is making children wear masks in class worse than making them wear masks in shops?? I guess if you’re a Mail reader it could be, christ – those people…………..

This is what science and logic is up against

Don’t let primary school aged children drive you anywhere. And don’t catch broken bones off them either.

That is relatively accurate though. It doesn’t cause issues for most children.
The issue that they are wilfully ignoring is that when infected they can pass it on nicely to those who could be affected by it.

an opinion plus an internet connection can be a dangerous thing.

TiRed – any advice on what stitching I should employ for home made cushion covers?

That is relatively accurate though. It doesn’t cause issues for most children.
The issue that they are wilfully ignoring is that when infected they can pass it on nicely to those who could be affected by it.

Indeed. I haven’t been following whatever drama Kirsty Allsop is brewing, but she’s not wrong in that tweet posted up there. Of course there are a few caveats – the main one being that the risk of covid is potentially preventable with action whereas the other risks she mentions are mostly not modifiable.

People who are concerned about children’s welfare are probably overestimating the impact of the disease on children. E.g. We don’t stop driving cars / act on pollution because single figures of poor kids die of bad asthma each year. We don’t ban trampolines etc. Maybe we should, but that’s a different argument. The point is that the scale of the problem in children is extremely small.

Teachers have been treated badly by successive governments and I would usually support their plight completely. They have been successful in getting their current message recognised but I’m not convinced it stands up to scrutiny. E.g. I don’t see why teachers should be seen as higher risk than bus drivers or checkout workers etc considering the number of human interactions these professions have. I haven’t seen any data on the proportion of teachers who have fallen ill vs other professions – this would be interesting.

The big issue with schools is that of course, children can spread the disease. That’s why closing schools could be part of another national lockdown.

TLDR: I am in favour of another proper lockdown, which I think is inevitable. I just don’t see why teachers are more deserving of sympathy than the other professions with people-facing roles.

thankfully my daughters school has just confirmed they will not reopen till at least mid Jan

TLDR: I am in favour of another proper lockdown, which I think is inevitable. I just don’t see why teachers are more deserving of sympathy than the other professions with people-facing roles.

I don’t particularly think they’re asking for it, but the debate around schools is curiously focused on the danger of Covid to children, which ignores the very real issues of schools as a transmission vector and the (arguably unnecessary) risk to school staff – on the back of that, you’ve got elements of the media trying to turn it into another Lazy Lefty Teachers story, and the government changing its mind on covid/school policy approximately every five minutes (which means that teachers can’t plan, or have to keep amending plans,on top of their normal workload which is already massively expanded by having to cater for both classroom and remote learning, and of course that they might get sick and die or kill relatives). Note, of course, that Ofsted inspectors are not currently inspecting schools because it’s too dangerous, but all school staff are otherwise expected to lump it.

I think people are going to have to learn about relative safety. There’s no such thing as a Covid-safe place, any more than there is a crash-resistant car or trip-proof playground.

We need to, as a society, decide what risks we are comfortable with to maintain our way of life. Which is difficult because the average person doesn’t understand probability.

TLDR: I am in favour of another proper lockdown, which I think is inevitable. I just don’t see why teachers are more deserving of sympathy than the other professions with people-facing roles.

My wife is a SENCo in a large secondary School.
They have had literally no PPE since this whole thing kicked off last year, are working with teenagers who struggle with/don’t care about hygiene or social distancing, and have been given conflicting/confusing advice from the Government since day 01.
An example being they’ve been told to keep all internal doors open within the school to keep air flowing/adequate ventilation – The local fire brigade gave them 30mins to reverse this when they did a building safety inspection before Christmas..
She generally finds out what is going on from the news before they are told at work..
They are all genuinely sh*t scared of contracting COVID at work and dying.

Next week they are supposed to be supervising kids doing their own COVID tests twice a week, and working on the assumption that the results of these tests are accurate.
As she said when we were discussing this a few days ago – anyone who thinks teenagers will successfully carry out swab tests on themselves obviously haven’t seen them trying to glue a worksheet into an exercise book.

Whereas the employees in McDonalds seem to have all the PPE they need and are hidden behind a Perspex screen.

Teachers have been thrown under the bus by that c*nt Williamson.

I think people are going to have to learn about relative safety. There’s no such thing as a Covid-safe place, any more than there is a crash-resistant car or trip-resistant playground.

Well, without children or staff in, schools are pretty safe… 😉 It’s not like alternatives are impossible, even if the current government may choose not to consider them.

Teachers have been thrown under the bus by that c*nt Williamson.

Seems like a fairly accurate if slightly restrained assessment. Were they going to get any PPE to carry out testing on school premises, I wonder?