UK Lockdown

[Mr Jinx]

I'm expecting the Government to re open the schools after February half term. Otherwise i'd expect many more parents to claim that their child needs to be in school due to being unable to work from home. I plan to send my daughter back to school regardless after half term because i believe enough is enough. She's been off school since a week before Christmas and after half term comes around this will have been nearly 2 months. The social and mental affects of this are just too great for kids IMO.

I could have sent her back to school two weeks ago as our situation entitles us to do so, but i wanted to do the right thing. Hopefully the Government will also do the right thing and re open all schools to all kids after the February half term. Failure to do so would surely see more and more kids returning anyway due to parents becoming increasingly desperate for their kids.

Many parents have been more than fair and more than patient with the shambolic Gavin Williamson and some of us have lost patience. Faith was lost a long time before this.

Not at all fan of Williamson, but to be fair to him a lot of this goes above him.

We'll be doing the same with our youngest who has slight learning difficulties (mild adhd) and we're seeing a real regression since he's started home schooling. He could've gone to school from day one, but, like you, we thought we'd do the right thing and keep him home for a month.

 

[DB9]

Not at all fan of Williamson, but to be fair to him a lot of this goes above him.

We'll be doing the same with our youngest who has slight learning difficulties (mild adhd) and we're seeing a real regression since he's started home schooling. He could've gone to school from day one, but, like you, we thought we'd do the right thing and keep him home for a month.

I feel for any of you on here who have little ones or bigger school age kids. My daughter says her two school age kids are really suffering not going to school and her two year old, Along with my son's two year old have missed those toddler groups which are really important for them interacting with other children, It's not the same via zoom or whatever.

 

[Legohead]

The Government seem to think that so long as kids are getting some sort of home learning then it's ok to keep kids off. They don't seem to understand that kids also need social interaction, mental stimulation and exercise. My kid has gone back to being unable to sleep properly due to being stuck indoors all day. Education is just one of the many important parts of school life.

I read somewhere that kids as young as 10 were being seen at GP surgeries for sleeping problems brought about by the lockdowns. It's really sad to see my kid losing her spark for life in some respects. I dread to think of the parents with multiple children and how they are coping with all this. A serious Government failure has happened with regards schools.

 

[Hants_red]

@Legohead the schools aren't closed, so the government can't re-open them.

 

[Legohead]

@Legohead the schools aren't closed, so the government can't re-open them.

Fair point Hants.

Can't i blame the Government anyway?

 

[Mr Jinx]

The Government seem to think that so long as kids are getting some sort of home learning then it's ok to keep kids off. They don't seem to understand that kids also need social interaction, mental stimulation and exercise. My kid has gone back to being unable to sleep properly due to being stuck indoors all day. Education is just one of the many important parts of school life.

I read somewhere that kids as young as 10 were being seen at GP surgeries for sleeping problems brought about by the lockdowns. It's really sad to see my kid losing her spark for life in some respects. I dread to think of the parents with multiple children and how they are coping with all this. A serious Government failure has happened with regards schools.

Agree with most of this. Situations will vary from family to family. Our kids aren't suffering too much from home schooling. It's mainly the wife that is struggling to organising it all every day. She's up until midnight most nights photocopying, uploading then sorting work onto a online work platform that's barely fit for purpose.

At least our two boys have each other. A lot of our friends have only the one child and some of them were distraught when lockdown III was announced. They won't have had any contact with any other child for 2 months with no end in sight, and 2 months at that age is like a lifetime.

This to me is just one of the many hidden yet devastating costs of Covid that we're quite willing to overlook right now.

Another one, when it comes to schooling at least, is Private schools stealing an absolute march with all this. Right from the get go, they've had full school days of zoom lessons - 9 -3.30 with an hour's break. Compare that to our kids who have one hour a day (and that's only since Jan, they had nothing in Lockdown 1).

 

[manc grecian]

If it's any consolation the kids in school are now being taught using the same videos as those at home so the kids at school don't get an unfair advantage.

 

[Spanks]

It's all very well saying you want your kids back at school, I'd love our monster to be back there as well, but no-one has yet mentioned teachers getting ill. Not all of them are young, fit and likely exempt from covid complications, yet they work in an environment where exposure is extremely high.

They signed themselves up to endless hours of prep and marking for relatively low pay, not potential life changing health complications or death.

Just saying.

 

[DB9]

It's all very well saying you want your kids back at school, I'd love our monster to be back there as well, but no-one has yet mentioned teachers getting ill. Not all of them are young, fit and likely exempt from covid complications, yet they work in an environment where exposure is extremely high.

They signed themselves up to endless hours of prep and marking for relatively low pay, not potential life changing health complications or death.

Just saying.

Teachers and the risks they take have been mentioned quite a few times, You're right that not all are young and fit, If they take the vaccine they are offered (Which should be now IMHO) the risks will be lower for them as well.

 

[Alistair20000]

Given that the Government is so keen to keep schools open (correctly IMHO) I would be looking to prioritise vaccinations for teachers irrespective of age.

I read we have around 500,000 teachers so 2/3 days to vaccinate the lot on present vaccination roll out rates. Add a day for key support staff to be vaccinated.

Older folk at risk can shield for a few extra days.