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Child Item

How will schools be able to go back in September?

shoppergal

Just wondering if anyone can give any insight into how schools could safely re-open in September?

Everyone I'm talking to is saying they won't be back until September but in my head I'm wondering how they'll re-open even in September? The virus will still be there with a vaccine still months away at that stage.

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Treppen

LuasSimon wrote: »

If it was up to teachers the schools would never reopen!!

What are you rambling on about, If it was up to most workers they'd never work again! Why do you think the lotto is so popular?

History Queen

LuasSimon wrote: »

If it was up to teachers the schools would never reopen!!

Proof?

Murple

pc7 wrote: »

If there was a will they could bring 5 kids back in the morning, 5 in the afternoon over the week to just touch base with the children. It’s absolutely rotten that they’ll be out for 6 months.

And I can imagine the complaints then -‘my DD is the only one of her friends in that group, she’s with children she never plays with, the school should have sorted things better’,
‘my DS was so upset when he got in and found his little buddies were on their way home when he was going in for the afternoon session, the school should have done better’,
‘he was heartbroken when the teacher told them to stay in their places and not to touch any of the toys, the teacher was out of line’,
‘she was in 5 minutes and another child coughed and now she’s afraid she’s going to get sick, the teacher should have stopped it from happening’ etc etc.
There would be very little benefit to bringing in a group of 5 as younger children wouldn’t grasp the idea of not seeing their whole class and older children likely wouldn’t want to go in unless it was to meet up with their own particular friends. Of course, there’s nothing stopping parents arranging similar sized meet ups of the children over the summer or at weekends.

Treppen

pc7 wrote: »

Why would I contact joe? This is a discussion board, I’m discussing my opinion on how this has been handled. I have felt very let down for my child by the response by their school and teachers so it is to do with them. One email a week, that’s it! So they could have done more, I feel there is/was no will. Again I feel the government could have said today get the kids back in small groups for even a once off to reacquaint them with the school.

Dunno what your gripe is, I get a suggested list of work for my kids once a week. I sit down and go through it with them as much as I can. That'll do them. Then I suppliment with mathletics and Duolingo.
Ya I know some primary schools are doing zoom but that's just a shot in the dark really. School looks great but it's mostly optics in my opinion. Very little research as to its benefits. Also there's the slight assumption that teachers can jump from class contact into running and progressing the same curriculum through a zoom class, with zero training or provision of IT equipment... And assume they have no childcare arrangements themselves.

I've seen kids come from schools abroad and catch up pretty quick once they put their minds to it, so don't worry too much about falling behind.

"...kids back in small groups for even a once off to reacquaint them with the school."

Leaving aside the risk involved of doing it now what's the real benefit, what exactly does 'reacquaint' mean? They know where the classrooms are, they probably know some of the teachers, probably remember their class mates.

I think you're worrying too much over nothing. Kids will jump right in in September and be grand.

iamwhoiam

Parents will have to take responsibility too . Temp checks before school , teach hand hygiene over and over . Give the kids a pack with hand sanitizer a small towel and toilet paper every day . Thankfully most parents I know and in the area would be happy to do that .

Hopefully all adults, parents , teachers , minders , SNAs etc will pull together and help the children deal with it . The children need us to be united and putting the kids first

scooby77

pc7 wrote: »

I don’t see why they can’t bring them
Back for the final week or two now In June now that they’ve made a decision

Yeah, we'd love to bring at least 6th class back for a while. Feel most sorry for them

Treppen

scooby77 wrote: »

Yeah, we'd love to bring at least 6th class back for a while. Feel most sorry for them

Sure they can do something in September. Make it more cathartic

pc7

Treppen wrote: »

Dunno what your gripe is, I get a suggested list of work for my kids once a week. I sit down and go through it with them as much as I can. That'll do them. .

My child is only in junior infants so it’s not so much the work I’m talking about, it’s that they had only settled in and were out with no contact. I think one email a week is piss poor being honest when they are out on full pay. Zoom teaching probably wouldn’t work For that age, but an assembly or a little message would have been nice. When I asked about a video message the teacher sent a photo And my child was made up, kept asking to see it. Thankfully they get the same teacher again next year. I think kids have been bottom of this list during on this in the eyes of the government.

delly

Well I know I'm going against the grain of the majority here, but as the parent of an at risk child, this approach is my worst nightmare. The update acknowledged the at risk group with a few throw away lines of having targeted support, but based on this approach, any return to school looks unlikely.

pc7

Sorry to hear that Delly that really sucks, they’ve had months now to come up with plans. Hope your little one is ok.

delly

pc7 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that Delly that really sucks, they’ve had months now to come up with plans. Hope your little one is ok.

Cheers! Ironically the last 3 months have probably been the clearest we've been healthwise in the last few years, I know others who are saying the same in support groups.

Yeah, there's a few months to go until the return, so just hope that something considered will be put in place. The announcement today reminds me of the taxi law when it comes to child seats, in the fact that they are exempt. Essentially saying that it's not practically possible to put in place, therefore we'll just let the regulations say it's okay. It doesn't stop the risk for the child though.

mirrorwall14

pc7 wrote: »

My child is only in junior infants so it’s not so much the work I’m talking about, it’s that they had only settled in and were out with no contact. I think one email a week is piss poor being honest when they are out on full pay. Zoom teaching probably wouldn’t work For that age, but an assembly or a little message would have been nice. When I asked about a video message the teacher sent a photo And my child was made up, kept asking to see it. Thankfully they get the same teacher again next year. I think kids have been bottom of this list during on this in the eyes of the government.

It’s funny because I’m the exact opposite, the amount of stuff we are getting from the junior infants teacher is insane. I can’t get near most of it. Weekly email of plan, daily emails with the days work, videos/links/padlet/YouTube to keep track of via class dojo. She must be wrecked. I’m wrecked lol

BonsaiKitten

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Parents will have to take responsibility too . Temp checks before school , teach hand hygiene over and over . Give the kids a pack with hand sanitizer a small towel and toilet paper every day . Thankfully most parents I know and in the area would be happy to do that .

Hopefully all adults, parents , teachers , minders , SNAs etc will pull together and help the children deal with it . The children need us to be united and putting the kids first

Many parents are responsible but every school has the few that will dope a child up with Calpol and send them in, then avoid school phone calls for the entire day. I don't know what can be done to stop those people.

iamwhoiam

BonsaiKitten wrote: »

Many parents are responsible but every school has the few that will dope a child up with Calpol and send them in, then avoid school phone calls for the entire day. I don't know what can be done to stop those people.

Probably nothing . I dont mean to be negative but you will never change that kind of person . Hopefully the majority can be responsible and carry the irresponsible

ldy4mxonucwsq6

BonsaiKitten wrote: »

Many parents are responsible but every school has the few that will dope a child up with Calpol and send them in, then avoid school phone calls for the entire day. I don't know what can be done to stop those people.

Those people are a disgrace, how they can do that to their own children when poorly never mind the consequences for everyone else who then catches it.

One of the benefits of schools being closed is that not one of us in our house have been sick since February and we regularly run the gauntlet of coughs, colds, vomiting bugs etc etc.

I don't know what could be done to stop those type of people, first it could be tricky to prove but a strict health procedure for all schools will need to be drawn up before anyone goes back. With actual consequences, be that mandatory isolation periods or fines for breaching rules, I don't know just some sort of deterrent.

jrosen

I was in communication with my sons year head today. I certainly got the impression we are looking at blended learning come September. So much so I contacted my employer to give notice for September that if schools return on a blended basis I will be reducing my hours.

I do think schools need to be strict with sick kids however as a working parent who zero family support I know the pressures working parents face. Its going to be worse imo as right now, companies are playing ball, the expectations of staff are lower due to covid.

wirelessdude01

Zahir Bitter Cellist wrote: »

Those people are a disgrace, how they can do that to their own children when poorly never mind the consequences for everyone else who then catches it.

One of the benefits of schools being closed is that not one of us in our house have been sick since February and we regularly run the gauntlet of coughs, colds, vomiting bugs etc etc.

I don't know what could be done to stop those type of people, first it could be tricky to prove but a strict health procedure for all schools will need to be drawn up before anyone goes back. With actual consequences, be that mandatory isolation periods or fines for breaching rules, I don't know just some sort of deterrent.

Who will impose these fines? I know full well that the type of parent who would do this won't pay the fine anyway. Also they won't answer the phone when the school number comes up.

I had a child puke all over the place one day,said they had been sick before they came in but that mammy had given them a tablet and told them that they would be fine at school. Didn't answer repeated phone calls from the school. Granny had to be rang then. Granny dumped mammy in it when she came to collect the poor child. Said straight out that mammy wasn't working that day. Found out through a different parent later in the week that the mammy in question had been sat at the hairdresser and looked at her phone and put it away. The parent that said it to me was in the chair beside her!!!!!!

timmy_mallet

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Parents will have to take responsibility too . Temp checks before school , teach hand hygiene over and over . Give the kids a pack with hand sanitizer a small towel and toilet paper every day . Thankfully most parents I know and in the area would be happy to do that .

Hopefully all adults, parents , teachers , minders , SNAs etc will pull together and help the children deal with it . The children need us to be united and putting the kids first

Many parents would barely send their child to school with a washed face and a clean pair of undercrackers, no chance any of the above would have enough uptake to be useful.

khalessi

Have to say disappointing announcement but not unexpected. They have basically said sort it out yourselves, sure it will be grand. They want July provision going ahead without social distancing yet 10 TDS cannot be in the Dail together for longer than 2 hours.

This quote from Shakespeare in Love can be adapted to the plan for reopening

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre school reopening business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?

Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Hugh Fennyman: How?

Philip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.

marilynrr

Zahir Bitter Cellist wrote: »

One of the benefits of schools being closed is that not one of us in our house have been sick since February and we regularly run the gauntlet of coughs, colds, vomiting bugs etc etc.

I read an article yesterday which said that exposure to some forms of the common cold in the past may offer people immunity to coronavirus or may mean they might only get a milder form of it!

That doesn't mean that i'm saying to send sick kids to school! but the fact that we get exposed to these things a lot and fight them off and retain some immunity means that they tend to be just nuisance illnesses to us rather than life threatening!

beggars_bush

It's a typical DES document

Let's put it all back on each school board to decide

JRant

khalessi wrote: »

Have to say disappointing announcement but not unexpected. They have basically said sort it out yourselves, sure it will be grand. They want July provision going ahead without social distancing yet 10 TDS cannot be in the Dail together for longer than 2 hours.

This quote from Shakespeare in Love can be adapted to the plan for reopening

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre school reopening business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?

Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Hugh Fennyman: How?

Philip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.

The Dail rules are a disgrace so I wouldn't be using that as a barometer for how we should proceed.

The restrictions are being lifted at an accelerated pace, social distancing is becoming less and less prevalent, look at the mass gatherings the past few weeks and Penny's today, yet the numbers are still dropping and are now at negligible levels. The Dept need to come out now and just tell teachers and parents that schools will be opening as normal come the new year.

ldy4mxonucwsq6

marilynrr wrote: »

I read an article yesterday which said that exposure to some forms of the common cold in the past may offer people immunity to coronavirus or may mean they might only get a milder form of it!

That doesn't mean that i'm saying to send sick kids to school! but the fact that we get exposed to these things a lot and fight them off and retain some immunity means that they tend to be just nuisance illnesses to us rather than life threatening!

Actually, I was only thinking about this the other day.

With the level of strict cleaning, hand sanitising etc our immune systems will be in for quite an awakening once things revert to normal after months and months of not a germ in sight.

I'm bracing myself anyway

iamwhoiam

timmy_mallet wrote: »

Many parents would barely send their child to school with a washed face and a clean pair of undercrackers, no chance any of the above would have enough uptake to be useful.

Thankfully not in my area .

Leftwaffe

The document is a disgrace to be honest. But nothing unusual there.

Benimar

Having had time to think about this, I think the document is just a cynical exercise to pass the blame to teachers.

FG are making it clear that schools won’t return to normal unless Social Distancing is removed completely. A partial return to schools won’t play well with parents, so pressure comes on teachers to agree to go against health advice and go back with no SD in place. It’s happening already.

If they say yes then schools open fully and FG look great, if they don’t teachers and unions are going to be deemed to be the reason schools aren’t back.

I’m not a teacher before anyone accuses me of being one, but this is just cynical by FG. Not one ounce of creativity in that document.

History Queen

Benimar wrote: »

Having had time to think about this, I think the document is just a cynical exercise to pass the blame to teachers.

FG are making it clear that schools won’t return to normal unless Social Distancing is removed completely. A partial return to schools won’t play well with parents, so pressure comes on teachers to agree to go against health advice and go back with no SD in place. It’s happening already.

If they say yes then schools open fully and FG look great, if they don’t teachers and unions are going to be deemed to be the reason schools aren’t back.

I’m not a teacher before anyone accuses me of being one, but this is just cynical by FG. Not one ounce of creativity in that document.

I think that is a pretty accurate assessment of the situation. If it is safe enough to return without social distancing fair enough, but if it isn't, they've set teachers and schools up for failure and blame.

Was speaking to a friend of mine last night who has a 17 year old daughter with CF going in to 6th year in September. She read the documemt and said she is very fearful of what will happen in September. Her parting words were "if it's a choice between physical health and education it is a no-brainer in our house, physical health has to come first". Under her circumstances I can't blame her. I admit I don't have the answers but I haven't seen the department even attempt to come up with any... my takeaway from the document was "this is really hard, no one wants social distancing as it impacts too much so we're going to close our eyes cross our fingers and hope for the best ".

the corpo

I think the Dept are also looking to pit the public against NEPHIT.

"We'd *love* to open the schools of course, but our hands are tied, silly NEPHIT and their silly rules. I know, I know! But it's not *our* fault..."

The minister outlined how impossible an idea it is for the schools to do staggered openings etc, but I know our school has done huge work planning for whatever the Department was going to announce, and while difficult, they could have coped or attempted to cope with most options.

I think it's also pretty terrible that the schools had to blindly plan for all contingencies as they were/are getting such little information from the Department.

Insidious

I just watched the news from last night… I am so annoyed!
After all the sacrifices… all the deaths.. not seeing family or friends for months in an effort to suppress Covid 19… The Government are just going to send all the children back to school in September.
As far as I can tell it’s to hell with social distancing…
If this is the case why did you not run the state exams.. What’s the difference..
Now education is more important than lives.. I honestly don’t know what to say.
To all the healthcare workers and frontline staff in our hospitals this is shameful if it comes about.. They will drive us back in to the center of a new outbreak just as the Flu season starts..

This may be the start of a new Government. I won’t forget and If they follow through on this… I’ll see them in the next election with the memory of the consequences of their decisions.
They made mistakes at the start with Cheltenham and visiting Nursing homes but they were learning in a difficult situation.
This will be different. This will be a decision with the full knowledge of what happened before.
Apologies.. I needed to have a rant.. Am I wrong? I guess I could be but damn I’m annoyed just now!

Boggles

Jesus, the only hope is a new government is formed next week and someone is put in charge who doesn't plan for pandemics using personal "feelings".