Please don’t misquote me to suggest that you are being censored. This is your site, I’m sure you know how to scroll up and check what I actually said. What is becoming clear is that you and Tom are determined to grind an axe about teachers supposedly refusing to work, when the actual facts re Kilmorie and all schools are as set out by Dave and Fran in their posts above. Like so much on se23.life this is just click-bait. The Daily Mail at least has cartoons.
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I didn’t suggest that I am being censored.
If they’re not refusing to work (and the comms from the school were thus inaccurate), then there’s no problem. What a relief.
… although it looks to me that they’re not going to re-admit any year groups until they have arbitrarily decided it’s “safe”:
Bringing nursery & reception children when they can not social distance, or learn through their normal play stations & activities at school because of risk if contamination.
Seems a bit pointless, apart from the fact they can check certain children’s welfare. Many reception children would of taken a long time to settle in to the routine they would of been accustomed to before lockdown.
It could be very distressing for some children to go back as it will be far from the normal environment they remember & if they are meant to social distance from everyone that won’t happen unless teachers/TA’s scare the life out of them to keep away of from others. Which would not be most teachers/TA’s nature & be a horrible experience for all.
Teachers and TA’s also wouldn’t want to wear protective face covering as suggested in enclosed spaces because they’d feel sorry for the children they want to return. Many reception/ yr1 need a physical or close contact and it would be heartbreaking not to do this, unless you break the rules and put others at risk.
Yr 1 do more academic learning but again a lot is learned through play too. So same reason as above.
Perhaps they should of thought of bringing Yr6, Yr5 & Yr4, these year groups would have more knowledge of the situation and a better understanding of social distancing, and reasons for doing it. (Although would still find it hard) unless constantly told to keep away. Being able to get back to the academic routine they would be used to, would seem more normal for them and teachers/TA’s.
Although still not normal to have to be distanced, & the fear of what has hit the world will be playing hugely on childrens minds, like it was before the lockdown.
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How anyone can read the above and take issue with their clear attempts to be cautious and pragmatic is beyond me.
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Because they are arbitrarily reneging on the government’s schedule (which takes into account the top scientific advice, and factors in the vital, lifesaving outcome of having an economy)
And also because this is evidently influenced by unions (they’re mentioned in the letter) - and the unions rarely act in the national interest.
I work at a school but not as a teacher and this is a point that many people seem to have missed. Schools do not operate with just teachers and pupils but with IT, cleaning, maintenance, technicians, catering, councilors and all sorts of peripatetic staff. My school, which is fee paying and therefore a bit of an exception has over a hundred support staff - many of which will also have to return - myself included. Even with all of our resources opening up in June is a logistical nightmare. Essentially we are asking pupils to go back to school and they will end up doing what they were doing from home anyway because having to teach both in person one minute and online the next is ridiculous. So we are going to teach them online at school.
As an IT guy I am expected to go back and fix machines, mice, keyboards, laptops, touch screens and may other devices that everyone else has been handling and I can’t say I am pleased about that.
All this war talk of returning to the front line leaves me baffled and a little uneasy… Teachers are not soldiers wading into battle and nor am I - we are all just people with jobs who want to do them and want to do them safely and without endangering our families at home and our colleagues at work. I also deplore the politicisation surrounding this…
I’d also like to know where OP get the fact that “all-cause deaths have slipped back below average” - the latest All Cause Mortality Report does not say that.
I wish everyone was so keen to get back to work themselves as they are for me to go back.
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I haven’t seen anything from Kilmorie saying that teachers are refusing to work. Quite the opposite. If you aren’t a parent there perhaps ask Tom to share what he has received from the school. Again, this is a non story.
And re censorship, here’s the bit above where you deliberately misquoted me to suggest that I was trying to censor Tom:
’ "Who’s suggesting censoring any opinions? Aside from @Nick_Wilson_Young, stating which comments are “welcome” and which are “not so cool”.’
What I actually said was:
“Opinions are welcome. Slagging off frontline workers under a pseudonym, not so cool.”
Surely I don’t need to help you to navigate your own site?
This is a ludicrous piece of click-bait in which your comments reveal a determination to believe that the unions are stopping schools opening to all years on 1 June. They aren’t.
Does the government’s advice - which according to all teachers I have spoken to is utterly sub-standard - take into account the huge variation of premises size, capacity, layout, etc that ignores the fact that one size rarely fits all?
Frankly I trust a headteacher and school management team (who intimately know the challenges faced by their particular school) to better understand the risks posed to their children than the flailing government, whose reactions have been slow and fail to inspire any confidence.
I also I have to say, I find this total contempt for unions quite upsetting.
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Let’s see if they open to any year groups on June 1st… and then we’ll decide if this discussion is “click bait”
Fran, you don’t like the government. I get it. And obviously the unions don’t like the government.
But we need to get beyond that and see the bigger picture - the very real problems for real people in the real economy if state-funded schools can arbitrarily decide to close when they please.
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For me, that’s the exact problem. Until schools and nurseries open, I don’t have a choice whether I can go back to work - I simply cannot. And unfortunately also working in technology, my employer thinks I should be perfectly capable of working just at effectively at home - while the school thinks we should be able to home school too.
I think it maybe through this reliance upon schools and their staff that the comparison with other front-line services is made. You’re vital!
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Take thought that while schools are not operating normally, they are still operating and multitasking. Which throws up lots of issues around child protection, staff, learning, planning etc etc. Which is all going on behind the scenes. So while the Heads, management and staff are juggling to do their best currently for all their pupils.
Heads and management are also having to speak with their staff, parents, boroughs and try to put together a safe logistical nightmare for children to return.
Which everyone has their own opinions about and not as many the answers.
Which could change at a minutes notice.
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I think this is the nub of the problem as lot of people in education see it. There is a feeling that we are all being forced to return to work because of the fact that it needs to happen before everyone else can go back to work. There is a feeling that this is political\economic in nature. I don’t say I agree with that but we all know it is a fact that we have to work or most people cant so it colours the debate…
I must say though that all the teachers I know have worked harder than ever over this period and have had to adapt and rewrite entire teaching plans. Personally I haven’t worked as hard as this in years!
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The thing is - there is no safe way for school, or society to reopen. This is a pandemic and the effect on the country will continue to be extraordinary. We must adapt to the unsafe new normal.
It will take extraordinary courage and resolve for our country to emerge from this crisis. And sadly, in order to ultimately save the lives of the many, there will be a cost to the lives of the few. It’s not fair. It’s not safe. But if we don’t think and act holistically, and in the long-term national interest, the outcome will be worse overall.
The unions, given their nature, are the least likely to act in the long term national interest. They’re the worst people to listen to at a time of national crisis. If it were up to them, hundreds of thousands of Brits would still be working in coal mines, digging up stuff that no one wants to buy, and which harms the planet and everyone’s health.
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I don’t hate them, Chris. Some things they have done well. Some things they have done badly. I just refuse to slavishly accept everything they’re doing, because I don’t believe they’re getting everything right, and it’s dangerous to listen to them and only to them.
But now, sufficiently patronised, I’ll step out.
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The only thing I take issue with is that they’ve had insufficient time. They knew they’d reopen one day and commonsense should have told Heads and Governors they’d need to make plans.
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From the start the govt itself has said that the 1 June is the earliest possible date and that on 28th it may decide that the situation doesn’t mean 1 June is a good idea. And even if they say go ahead, Fran and ForestHillNick have set out the practical challenges which are myriad. I’d rather have my kids’ physical and mental health in the hands of sensible teachers than you and Tom.
And where’s your apology for misquoting me to suggest I was censoring Tom? It’s a strange sort of site where you post nonfactual politicised clickbait written under a pseudonym, let the poster comment using a different identity, misquote those you disagree with and don’t apologise, and determinedly grind your own union-hating axe in the face of actual facts about Kilmorie.
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I agree with you - it is political and economic in nature.
The sacrifices made to win WW2 were also politically and economically motivated. Not necessarily a bad thing.
I think we are all working really hard, but thank you for your efforts! Perhaps we need a ‘toot for teachers’ on Tuesday 8pm or something? I really do appreciate the efforts of the school staff.
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That’s an inhumane attitude. Yes some ethic minorities, older people and those with existing health conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart and circulation problems might be more likely to die or have a life limiting outcome than the majority. But that doesn’t make them worthy of any less consideration than fit and healthy children. And the jury is still out on the original poster’s “statistics”. You state them as established facts but your link takes us back to the OP and his assertions, not to a source for any established proven statistics.
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