Just how pathetic is Boris going to be allowed to be?

Oh, be fair trisher. This government only had one policy, 'Get Brexit Done' and they've done that. We're no longer a member of the EU.

Yes lemongrove I do think some people see schools as a convenient form of childcare. Even on GN, it was the first priority for some. I don't know how many posts there have been about "getting children back to school so the economy can restart".

Please note that I wrote "some". In many years of teaching experience in very mixed comprehensives, I came across numerous parents who really didn't care that much about their children's education.

lemongrove if you can post any evidence of a plan to get children back into school I would love to read it. There are a lot of guidelines but nothing practical.
In fact if you can post any policy this government has introduced which has actually worked I'd love to read it.

Albertina you will have to wait for years before Keir Starmer is in a position to do anything.

trisher BJ isn’t ‘getting away’ with anything... there is nothing wrong with the government trying to schools back, albeit in a very cautious way, other countries are doing the same and even Sturgeon ( usually held up as some kind of saint on GN) is now trying to get schools back as soon as possible.They are going to start in August ( their school year is different to ours) instead of September.
With some posters it doesn’t matter what this government does or tries to do as they will never be given credit for anything at all.....reason? They aren’t a Labour government.

Thanks for posting this. I agree wholeheartedly.

Behind all the nonsense coming out of number 10 is your friend and mine......Mr Cummings. He may be keeping a very low profile, but his power is still there.

I find it all very scary,and look to the clear head of Keir Starmer to get us out of this and onto the road to real recovery.

sharon103 I very much doubt that you know every medical fact about those children. My DGS presents as an active outdoorsy child who runs plays and jumps with all the rest and more than most. What you wouldn't know to look at him is that he has what is now termed a "Paediatric wheeze", it will be asthma when he's older, and that he has been hospitalised 3 times with this. I have also taught diabetic children who looked perfectly healthy
Isn't it strange that Boris who is B******things up for everyone can get away with it while teachers are being castigated. Mind not many came on to support him.

Countries from Germany to Vietnam got test and trace right, so why couldn't England?

A large part of the British working class culture devalues education. It's how we keep the working classes down. Teach those who need it most that education is a waste of time. I've heard it ad nauseam in the classroom from working class children who are trapping themselves into a life of either unemployment or manual work because 'I don't need to be able to write essays/do fractions/know where Ulan Bator is'.

Actually, schools use volunteers without DBS (while they're waiting for them to come through usually). The rule is that the individual concerned has to be with a member of staff at all times.

Unless the two schools in the UK I was in that did this were BREAKING the rules. Which I suppose IS possible.

The Chinese don't learn through fear of authority. They are just as able to drop out of school or to disengage if they wish. No one cares if they do. Costs the state less. The attitude to learning is different. They see education as a way out of poverty. And parents see it as shameful if their children aren't active learners.

growstuff

vegansrock Teachers have long been society's favourite punch bag. And then people wonder why countries such as Finland and Singapore, where teachers and education are respected, always perform well in international league tables. It's obvious that schools are for many people just a convenient form of childcare.

A convenient form of childcare? Is that really what you think parents in the UK care about and not for instance ...their education !
I’d like you to go on tv and say that and watch as the nation erupts.
Only Finland Singapore and China care about actual education and grades do they?
As for China, their students will to learn is admirable but the peoples fear of authority has much to do with that.I wouldn’t hold up China as a beacon to the rest of the world!

I agree that teachers are the favourite punchbag for, I would guess, about half the population. It is all very much part of the weird idea that we don't need experts. I have to admit I find it difficult to understand. No matter what you know or how clever you think you are you cannot be an expert in everything. You would have thought some, at least of these arrogant people would have understood from trying to home school one or two children, that there is a lot more to education than they thought.

The government certainly see the schools as creches for workers children but why do parents and grandparents allow that view to continue. I suppose it is, in part, the same old same old. That any area of expertise once mainly "women's work" will always be undervalued - but by women?

Exactly growstuff. In China teachers are revered, 'venerable teacher' and their students are among the best in the world. Hard working. Focused. Dedicated.

vegansrock Teachers have long been society's favourite punch bag. And then people wonder why countries such as Finland and Singapore, where teachers and education are respected, always perform well in international league tables. It's obvious that schools are for many people just a convenient form of childcare.

The obsession with an app to deliver a tracing/contact system is ridiculous. Obviously it's an opportunity for people to make loads of money, but it was never going to work and people have been saying that from the start. Not only are there technological difficulties, but the important issue is that people are contacted quickly and persuaded to self-isolate. This might involve having to be absent from work, not being able to care for family members and all sorts of difficulties. Humans, who actually know their areas, are more likely to be able to persuade people to do that than an anonymous text or phone call. Local authorities have been saying all along that they could mobilise people with experience in that kind of work to be contact tracers, but the government just hasn't been listening.

Meanwhile, we have to wait until transmission rates come down, which means that more of us are having to stay at home if we care about our own health.

This government are so up themselves they thought their Tory mates could launch a world beating app without Apple or Google. Handed them a shedload of cash. ( millions) . Funny it doesn’t work on iPhones. Or androids. Scrapped.

This seems to have descended into a teacher bashing , poor Boris is doing his ickle best thread. Some will never accept that this government have been useless on many levels, and tend to Wish to believe we are world beating at everything ( death rate included). The track n trace fiasco is typical . All these contracts handed out to Tory donors who haven’t a clue. Where have the scientists gone from the daily briefings?

merlotgran

*GagaJo*, Volunteers would not be of any help at the moment. DD is a primary school deputy head and schools are run like a military campaign. Only the year teacher and a TA is allowed in the class room with the children. They have even been re-named 'bubble rooms.'

Safety for children and teachers is paramount.

Friday the school is deep cleaned.

Gagajo you said
How about a bit of that community mindedness so many on here bleat about? Where is THEIR community mindedness.

Support your local school with 2 or 3 hours a week. Because you clearly expect the teachers to report for a 50 or 60 hour week with double shifts.

Yes. Put your money where your mouth is. If this was war, there would be retirees helping out in soup kitchens, acting as air raid wardens. But now retirees can't go into a school for an hour twice a week?

I think Merlotgran has dealt with that question so somebody needs to get their facts right before shooting their mouth off .

Yes I do know the medical history of the families that wouldn't send their children to school Trisha. All healthy. I know them all well. It was the fear they have of the children catching the virus.
I see this evening that another school has closed for two weeks in Surrey. A caterer has the virus.
New Zealand also has a minor outbreak.

That's why people queried why Reception and Y1 were the one of the first groups to go back.

Back to the original OP. I heard a couple of weeks ago a head teacher explaining why schools would have problems with the youngest pupils (don't ask me which year - I'm not a teacher nor a parent) .

She said that it would be very difficult to get them to social distance because (a) they wouldn't understand (b) they are very touchy feely and want to be close to their friends (c) when they wanted to go to the loo they would have to be supervised to make sure they washed their hands and finally, they wouldn't remember what they had been told.

i have paraphrased here but I remember thinking she's absolutely right and thought back to the time when my friends' children and my nieces were 4 or 5. They would have found it impossible to social distance for any length of time.

Schools do not usually have the resources to pay for DBS checks for volunteers.

.....explosion of child abuse.....

Note to self, preview before posting.

It’s impossible for people, retired or otherwise, to simply volunteer to work in schools with children. Safeguarding is the reason. Anyone who wishes to work in school with children needs a DBS check, which is a criminal records check. I don’t imagine that would be too quick to obtain at the moment as it normally takes three weeks or more when everything is operating normally. Additionally the use of buildings outside schools would prove to be extremely problematic in terms of safeguarding children. Other people using the building would be a problem as they would not be DBS checked, and security of the building would be difficult. Perhaps not everyone realises how secure school premises are since Dunblane and since the exposition of child abuse cases. Schools are secure and safe places for children. This is because adult access to school buildings is severely restricted and only known safe persons are allowed to enter or be anywhere near the children.

Apologies then, I must have mixed you up with another poster re the shopping.

Nope Callistemon. We shielded for 3 months and offered to order our neighbour's groceries in with our weekly grocery delivery because he's elderly. We are very community minded. As I said before, I online tutor a girl in the UK, free, because she needs help with English.

Society only works if we all chip in. I'm happy to do my bit.

You're right about the big step. I agonised over it.