I think most people accepted that they weren’t going to get a normal summer holiday this year. That’s one reason why I floated the possibility of bringing the school holiday forward to align it roughly with Scotland. Effectively ruling out summer holidays next year as well will be difficult to sell.

 

One other point I meant to make above is that government really must explain their decision. I’m sure most people accept that it is not an easy issue. Whatever they decide, a lot of people will disagree. If they explain their reasoning - with evidence where it exists - then that might reduce the amount of criticism.

I really think we need some remote learning for the next couple of months. Jan, Feb and into March are going to be grim as f*** and we need to be honest that schools are a super spreading environment

We could be all living under a dome soon at this rate, Kent is heading for a Lockdown.

 

I've been doing a lot of Befriending sessions during the day from home, a lot of people are going through Anxiety and depression issues, its really sad how people are coping, going through it myself I must admit talking to other people helps me a bit as well.

Parents not happy about school closures at all.

 

From The Mail. Only part of long article.

 

Pressure has also been growing on Boris Johnson from within his own party to keep all pupils in school at the start the new term - but the PM has sided with SAGE scientists, who are pushing for schools, especially secondary schools to close for all of January, at least, because of the new super-strain of Covid-19, according to Politico.

 

Mr Johnson was reportedly told last week by SAGE, led by Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance, that a stricter lockdown is required because the one in November, where schools remained open, did not keep the 'R' rate below 1, an adviser has claimed. Sage wants all schools, but ideally secondaries, shut for a month while keeping pubs and all non-essential shops closed.

 

But one Tory backbencher told the Telegraph: 'The view of most Tory MPs is that schools do need to stay open. We know that schools being open does increase the R rate. The question is, is that a price we are willing to pay and in my view it should be. Frankly, children don't get harmed so why on earth should we punish them?' Tory MP Robert Halfon, education select committee chairman, said: 'The Government's got to do everything possible not to close schools.' He said school closures risked 'damaging the life chances of our next generation'.

 

Many parents have slammed the standard and frequency of online classes for the millions of children forced to stay at home during 2020, while critics have said that by agreeing to shut schools it will now make it increasingly difficult for No 10 to reopen them again.

 

It will consign millions of students to virtual classes, which experts believe means children, particularly from working class backgrounds, are being set back 'years' because of sub-standard online learning.

 

One mother told the Mail Online: 'I would like to register my disgust and outrage at SAGE wanting to keep schools closer till beyond February. As a mother whose three children have all been detrimentally affected by these lockdowns, I can no longer stay silent.

 

'As a private tutor, I am telling you that online teaching is absolutely devoid of merit. During the last lockdown, a full school day was replaced by what was in effect two hours of online teaching. Teachers never responded to my child’s queries, his homework was rarely marked.

 

'I am currently paying for very expensive maths and science tuition to safeguard his future. Sage are handling this entire pandemic appallingly.

Edited December 29, 20204 yr by CHRIS-TMAS

That Mother in the article sounds like a real Karen 😂

 

I'm sure her tution that she is paying for will be online too 🥴. I get her concerns but online teaching is surely better than nothing at all?? Do these people not care at all about teachers health and welfare also?

The one with 3 children just doesn’t want them to be around for so long and blames anyone who breathes in her direction.

 

I see how they are trying to spin it. Johnson doesn’t WANT a lockdown, it’s the evil SAGE :(((

 

Parents who think that offline education is better than online are selfish and delusional af

That Mother in the article sounds like a real Karen 😂

 

I'm sure her tution that she is paying for will be online too 🥴. I get her concerns but online teaching is surely better than nothing at all?? Do these people not care at all about teachers health and welfare also?

Nope. Many just dump their offspring there every day and check in every couple of years to see if there are any major problems going on at which point it’s usually too late.

I say this is too important an issue for just Sage, the PM or Cabinet so let MP's be given the latest scientific facts, have a quick vote and debate on Thursday and decide. Sorted.

Edited December 29, 20204 yr by CHRIS-TMAS

"let's just have a quick vote. sorted", lol - if only it was just a binary open and shut, either way will land schools and teachers with huge challenges and struggles

 

I guarantee you, from that article, there will be just as many, if not more mothers and fathers who will be very anxious that the schools close soon because otherwise it's ridiculous that they allow a disease to spread. That's some fine cherrypicking there.

 

online working is godawfully overwhelming for teachers as well, tech troubles, worse student feedback, students getting distracted, parents breathing down necks, a million different special queries coming your way as now a direct line to the teacher is opened... Parents should get involved in their child's education, but unfortunately when they do, far too many take an accusatory attitude towards teachers without trying to see things from their point of view.

 

and basically it all comes back to: education is severely underfunded and underappreciated in the UK

No worries, Karen, we will definitely be up for keeping schools open so that you can have a bit of peace but perhaps whilst you’re registering your disgust, maybe you could do the same about the conditions the children have to work in like no social distancing and windows wide open for ventilation in freezing conditions. I mean, all we really want is a safe environment to work in.

 

Seriously the government can’t really have it both ways. You can’t tell people they can’t meet up at Christmas in one breath and then say schools should be fully open in the next. They also need to stop hiding behind the ‘education is important’ rhetoric because that’s not what this is about, they know that the kids’ education is being affected whether they’re in school or not.

 

I wonder if Chris would be able to find and post an article about parents who want schools closed, there’s plenty of them.

That Mother in the article sounds like a real Karen 😂

 

I'm sure her tution that she is paying for will be online too 🥴. I get her concerns but online teaching is surely better than nothing at all?? Do these people not care at all about teachers health and welfare also?

She says she is a private tutor. I assume her subject is not science.

53,000 cases today. We're gonna be in six figures if we open schools in January.

 

While I am really not arsed anymore, if they lock us down again without closing schools then we might as well just go about our daily lives as it's not gonna make any difference..

Still can't fathom how the figures are that high when we've pretty much been in lockdown since November 4th now... obviously that did sod all.

 

And would love to go about our daily lives but everywhere is closed!

@1343964620516700162

 

What?!

Still can't fathom how the figures are that high when we've pretty much been in lockdown since November 4th now... obviously that did sod all.

 

And would love to go about our daily lives but everywhere is closed!

 

Everywhere but, oh right, schools. It would be idiotic for our government to ignore this fact. Closing hospitality hasn’t helped, nor has closing gyms or non essential shops.

 

If we’re not closing schools, we may as well have just had Christmas as normal.

@1343964620516700162

 

What?!

Germany's numbers should be taken with a shovel full of salt. At the heavy encouragement of the Federal Government most business and enterprises have completely shut from 24/12 to 4/1 and that includes local government, so not as many tests are being done or registered at the moment.

Germany's numbers should be taken with a shovel full of salt. At the heavy encouragement of the Federal Government most business and enterprises have completely shut from 24/12 to 4/1 and that includes local government, so not as many tests are being done or registered at the moment.

 

I imagine somewhat similar for all countries listed to be honest — but still, to see 53k cases in the UK has completely blown my mind. So grim.

 

 

Yeah I’d agree with all of that. The numbers in England are so shocking. Even Scotland pulled 1800 today which is ridiculous

@1343964620516700162

 

What?!

 

The UK does the most testing in Europe. Add to that the delayed numbers from NI/Scotland over Christmas. Even so, numbers are rising fast. Hospitals admissions are rising quite quickly still as well.

 

The government really need to annouce new measures this week.

Those numbers aren't surprising. About 80% of the car park of my workplace has been the local Covid test centre for about 3 months now. I often park at work when going for a run so I can do it all off road, today there must have been three times more cars than I've seen there before, really long queue backing up compared to normal.