Schools closed until March/April? (part 4) Mod warning in OP 22/01

DSN · 04-02-2021 03:32PM

insullation wrote: »

Its the parents that need the week off from homeschooling as much as the kids at this stage. It just means less in class time for the children and to be with their friends. Just that the consensus seem to be that everybody prefers to be in class including teachers which I agree with. So why not minimise the home schooling and maximise the in class. Taking a week off in May is not much good when all the parents are working and chances are the children may still not be able to mix freely with there friends

Certainly don't particularly wish for a week off in Feb when we can do or see feck all. But I know they kids (& assume teachers) are looking forward to it & guess its a break from homeschooling.
Our primary just shut for 2 days, secondary a week & creche / ecce not open anyway.
I sincerely hope we can socialize more freely by may/jun when the over 70s & vunerable vaccinated!! But that's another thread.

DSN · 04-02-2021 03:35PM

DSN wrote: »

Certainly don't particularly wish for a week off in Feb when we can do or see feck all. But I know they kids (& assume teachers) are looking forward to it & guess its a break from homeschooling.
Our primary just shut for 2 days, secondary a week & creche / ecce not open anyway.
I sincerely hope we can socialize more freely by may/jun when the over 70s & vunerable vaccinated!! But that's another thread.

PS on snow days well, I think wfm/school from home means no official snow days lol.
My primary only does about 2 hrs a day + 4 zooms a week (which is plenty IMO am happy with that for her). So as I said to her plenty of time for both if the snow comes

TTLF · 04-02-2021 04:44PM

yeah not sure about you guys, but if it snows well in Dublin from this possibly event you won't be seeing me attend school for atleast the Tuesday or something.

It's really a need to have some fun for once. :pac::D

Ray Donovan · 04-02-2021 04:49PM

If there’s substantial snowfall in my school’s area next week the only thing I will ask my students to upload to Google Classroom is pictures of them playing in it.

downthemiddle · 04-02-2021 05:11PM

BTownB wrote: »

With schooling being done online, there will be no snow days surely?

If you are a parent good luck with online schooling next week. You'll need it if we get the snow that's predicted. It has been a difficult time for everyone. Let the children, parents (and teachers) have a little fun. Everyone needs a lift.

JDD · 04-02-2021 05:14PM

The fact is that the more people mix, the more the virus spreads and the more people who are at risk will be infected.

Look I don't disagree with this as a fact. I don't wish to blame this family at all for their circumstances, but clearly the father was high risk, hence why they were being very careful. They had decided to take a calculated risk in sending their child to school, when the option was there to keep them at home. Now, obviously, that's a more difficult call to make when schools are open then when the decision is taken out of your hands, but they weighed their options and took a calculated risk that their children would not catch it in school, and unfortunately for them, that risk did not pay off.

The Kent strain wasn't identified until December, so I don't think you could blame UK authorities for keeping schools open before the Kent strain was identified.

As for what do we do now? Well, yes, we need to make some careful decisions about how we open up as an economy and as a society during the period between infections reducing to a manageable level and all over-65s and vulnerable people being offered a vaccine (June-ish?). There are two schools of thought here - open very slowly, like we did last May, and only open schools at the very end of that process. That essentially means not opening schools again until September.

Or, stick to the plan that schools are the last to close and the first to open, because of their importance to the education and mental wellbeing of children, and their importance to an efficiently running economy and health system. And accept that 1million children circulating in school every day will increase infection numbers, but won't increase them to a point where hospitalisations will be overwhelming.

It's a risk. Every which way there is a risk to someone. I guess the health advisors and the government have all the information and modelling we don't have and will weigh up these risks. I don't know what the right answer is to be honest. But I know that I will probably have to attend my GP and ask for anti-depressants if the schools don't open again until September, as I simply will not be able to cope with working full time and being a full time mother at the same time for that period.

Deeec · 04-02-2021 05:14PM

downthemiddle wrote: »

If you are a parent good luck with online schooling next week. You'll need it if we get the snow that's predicted. It has been a difficult time for everyone. Let the children, parents (and teachers) have a little fun. Everyone needs a lift.

100% agree. Under normal circumstances schools would close anyway if we get the snow that is predicted. Its old fashioned healthy fun and we all should enjoy it!

SusanC10 · 04-02-2021 06:21PM

Very happy with remote learning here. Both Primary and Secondary schools doing really well. We don't feel either child is behind in any way.
Both independent students so only need minimal assistance mostly in a technical rather than academic way.
We are in a good routine.

But we wouldn't in normal times have a lot of screen time in our house. So, I am finding that the kids are tired from spending a lot of time on the laptops every day.

Looking forward to a week long Midterm so that they can get a break from the routine and the screens. There will be limited amounts of tv/devices over the break.
Hoping for snow next week and if it does snow properly, then the bare minimum of school work will be done in this house.

Worst part for the kids is that they miss their friends and their activities/sports.

We had decided a long time ago that either both children would go to school in-person when they were open or neither would go. One child alone would not be put in the position of being the only person leaving our house and mixing with others with the potential to bring the virus home.

I do wish that there was the opportunity when schools are open during this Pandemic, for Parents to keep their children at home should they wish to do so and be facilitated with remote learning as is possible for our family and friends in the US.

helpful · 04-02-2021 08:20PM

SusanC10 wrote: »

Very happy with remote learning here. Both Primary and Secondary schools doing really well. We don't feel either child is behind in any way.
Both independent students so only need minimal assistance mostly in a technical rather than academic way.
We are in a good routine.

But we wouldn't in normal times have a lot of screen time in our house. So, I am finding that the kids are tired from spending a lot of time on the laptops every day.

Looking forward to a week long Midterm so that they can get a break from the routine and the screens. There will be limited amounts of tv/devices over the break.
Hoping for snow next week and if it does snow properly, then the bare minimum of school work will be done in this house.

Worst part for the kids is that they miss their friends and their activities/sports.

We had decided a long time ago that either both children would go to school in-person when they were open or neither would go. One child alone would not be put in the position of being the only person leaving our house and mixing with others with the potential to bring the virus home.

I do wish that there was the opportunity when schools are open during this Pandemic, for Parents to keep their children at home should they wish to do so and be facilitated with remote learning as is possible for our family and friends in the US.

That would be an ideal solution as that way class sizes would also be smaller. I’m just not sure how it would work? Would we need extra teachers or would the class just be zoomed live?

jimmytwotimes 2013 · 04-02-2021 08:23PM

SusanC10, nice to have a poster on the parent side with your sense of perspective.

Such a pity so many pile on here to derail things, thread could have been of value.

Your kids are lucky to have you.

Eoinbmw · 04-02-2021 08:46PM

My 2nd year daughter is doing fine she is a head down type anyway!
My 4th class daughter is doing ok struggling a bit with maths always has and now more than ever!
Online learning for her is difficult as she does not have the one to one teacher time to learn concepts and have things explained and demonstrated to her!
My special school 13 year old son is having an awfull time really upset for most of the day!
Its difficult to get out with him with weather and having to make sure the other 2 are doing their school work along with work!
To be honest Ive no problem with my 2nd year daughter remaining at home for another few weeks!
Im not so sure about my 4th class daughter she could do with getting back to school in some form!
My son it goes without saying his life is completely turned upside down he has no concept of what is going on and just wants to get out of the home environment!
I actually feel lately like he is beginning to take a dislike to me and his mother which is not ideal!
Anyway its easy to knock parents on an internet forum!
All we are looking for is the best for our children that is our judgment and responsibility!

Deeec · 04-02-2021 08:55PM

SusanC I'm so envious of you. - it sounds like you as a family have a great system going.

In our house this week I'm really struggling to juggle home schooling my 2 girls, looking after my 3 year old son and doing my job. I'm getting up at 5 every morning to work before the kids get up. I spend the morning homeschooling them and back to working in the afternoon or night time. Husband is doing the housework when he comes home from work. I don't feel I'm doing a good job at anything being honest. We're all exhausted. However I wouldn't like to see the kids go back to school yet - at least they are safe at home.

SusanC10 · 05-02-2021 12:01AM

Deeec wrote: »

SusanC I'm so envious of you. - it sounds like you as a family have a great system going.

In our house this week I'm really struggling to juggle home schooling my 2 girls, looking after my 3 year old son and doing my job. I'm getting up at 5 every morning to work before the kids get up. I spend the morning homeschooling them and back to working in the afternoon or night time. Husband is doing the housework when he comes home from work. I don't feel I'm doing a good job at anything being honest. We're all exhausted. However I wouldn't like to see the kids go back to school yet - at least they are safe at home.

I am a SAHM which obviously makes things easier from a Homeschool pov. Also our Kids are older. I am not sure if things would work as smoothly if our kids were younger.
But everyone struggles with something and what I struggle with is always being "on duty" for want of a better way of putting it. There is no "me time" for me.
I am first up in the morning and last to bed every night. My husband has a very busy and high stress job albeit now from our home office. I facilitate that by doing everything else. I am tired.
Everybody is just doing the best they can.

khalessi · 05-02-2021 12:08AM

Just reading this and it is a good example of ****ing stupid the DES is.

This is a yearly occurance of how hours are allocated for children with addtional educational needs.

It would be funny if it were not true. Imagine having your job depend on whether your school could find an extra 2 minutes from another school
The ClusterF*ck Games is right

https://twitter.com/CatrionaGolden/status/1357432387676893193

Millem · 05-02-2021 08:09AM

Something I read yesterday made me think mainstream will not be opening up any time soon unless the cases come down.

From what I read high risk school staff working from home is only for a certain period for staff in special schools/primary special classes. Staff with childcare issues can apply for PUP or parental leave/unpaid leave in single days while Montesorri/schools are closed.

It is not being extended to mainstream.
In my own school we would have a number of staff in the high risk category and I was thinking there is no way we could manage reopening with all groups. I am sure we are not unique. We couldn’t get subs pre covid. So I can see why it wouldn’t get extended to us. It’s easier to keep school closed.

A few weeks ago MM had mentioned reopening when we reach covid figures in October/November....are we looking at 200-500? My idea for mainstream primary schools on 8th March or 15th seems unlikely if what I read (high risk only for special ed) is correct. The case numbers are very stubborn stuck at around 1000ish.

wirelessdude01 · 05-02-2021 09:12AM

Millem wrote: »

Something I read yesterday made me think mainstream will not be opening up any time soon unless the cases come down.

From what I read high risk school staff working from home is only for a certain period for staff in special schools/primary special classes. Staff with childcare issues can apply for PUP or parental leave/unpaid leave in single days while Montesorri/schools are closed.

It is not being extended to mainstream.
In my own school we would have a number of staff in the high risk category and I was thinking there is no way we could manage reopening with all groups. I am sure we are not unique. We couldn’t get subs pre covid. So I can see why it wouldn’t get extended to us. It’s easier to keep school closed.

A few weeks ago MM had mentioned reopening when we reach covid figures in October/November....are we looking at 200-500? My idea for mainstream primary schools on 8th March or 15th seems unlikely if what I read (high risk only for special ed) is correct. The case numbers are very stubborn stuck at around 1000ish.

I always have to have a date to aim for and at the moment it's March the 8th. From Christmas it was February 22nd. After midterm I'll probably have to amend again but hopefully not.

lulublue22 · 05-02-2021 09:19AM

Millem wrote: »

Something I read yesterday made me think mainstream will not be opening up any time soon unless the cases come down.

From what I read high risk school staff working from home is only for a certain period for staff in special schools/primary special classes. Staff with childcare issues can apply for PUP or parental leave/unpaid leave in single days while Montesorri/schools are closed.

It is not being extended to mainstream.
In my own school we would have a number of staff in the high risk category and I was thinking there is no way we could manage reopening with all groups. I am sure we are not unique. We couldn’t get subs pre covid. So I can see why it wouldn’t get extended to us. It’s easier to keep school closed.

A few weeks ago MM had mentioned reopening when we reach covid figures in October/November....are we looking at 200-500? My idea for mainstream primary schools on 8th March or 15th seems unlikely if what I read (high risk only for special ed) is correct. The case numbers are very stubborn stuck at around 1000ish.

It is clear in the guidance re special schools that any leave is for the interim phased reopening period and there is no guarantee that said leave will be continued on after that period. This is stipulated through out the explanation of leave categories.
Could you link to the ability to go on pup - I have not come across that in the docs. Unpaid leave and unpaid parental leave yrs. I would be interested to see the info re pup.

ETA - this makes me think schools will be back possibly in March or at the latest after Easter.

tks

Millem · 05-02-2021 09:38AM

lulublue22 wrote: »

It is clear in the guidance re special schools that any leave is for the interim phased reopening period and there is no guarantee that said leave will be continued on after that period. This is stipulated through out the explanation of leave categories.
Could you link to the ability to go on pup - I have not come across that in the docs. Unpaid leave and unpaid parental leave yrs. I would be interested to see the info re pup.

ETA - this makes me think schools will be back possibly in March or at the latest after Easter.

tks

The DEASP confirmed PUP to me a good few weeks ago. The rules of PUP according to the correspondence I have received is you must first engage with your employer and avail of leave of available eg parental leave etc.

The closing date (at the time) for PUP was 31st March. After this you must apply for job seekers which I presume you wouldn’t qualify for if you had a contract . The Easter holidays is 26th March.

Forsa apparently informed their members of PUP according to voice for teachers.

lulublue22 · 05-02-2021 09:44AM

Millem wrote: »

The DEASP confirmed PUP to me a good few weeks ago. The rules of PUP according to the correspondence I have received is you must first engage with your employer and avail of leave of available eg parental leave etc.

The closing date (at the time) for PUP was 31st March. After this you must apply for job seekers which I presume you wouldn’t qualify for if you had a contract . The Easter holidays is 26th March.

Forsa apparently informed their members of PUP according to voice for teachers.

Interesting there is absolutely no mention if teachers having the ability to avail of pup in the guidelines issued by the dep on Weds night nor has INTO made reference to it.

ETA - I wonder are you effectively making yourself unemployed to avail of PUP. In that case unpaid leave and Parental leave are the way to go.

khalessi · 05-02-2021 09:47AM

lulublue22 wrote: »

Interesting there is absolutely no mention if teachers having the ability to avail of pup in the guidelines issued by the dep on Weds night nor has INTO made reference to it.

I saw something mentioned a few days ago that Public servants cant avail of PUP

With the talk of high risk teachers have they expanded the criteria? Just prior to this I have only heard VHR referenced and now I am hearing HR,

PoolDude · 05-02-2021 09:50AM

Some of these teachers will correctly need to stay away from class and potentially be on PUP or sick leave if they catch the virus.

There health is the priority but it does again highlight the inequity of doing state exams. Students partially through course work without their teacher, as another poster said an inability to get subs pre Covid exacerbated during it and even with a change further impact on their learning. Leave will happen in a normal year but not at these level or with such levels of distribution for the students in very inequitable ways. Another factor in deciding what mechanism is used to transfer students to the next stage, particularly college or the workforce

lulublue22 · 05-02-2021 09:50AM

khalessi wrote: »

I saw something mentioned a few days ago that Public servants cant avail of PUP

With the talk of high risk teachers have they expanded the criteria? Just prior to this I have only heard VHR referenced and now I am hearing HR,

They have removed the reference to very high risk it is now high risk , pregnant teachers and those over 60. The first two need to go through medmark. There is some confusion on the way to apply if you are over 60. It looks like it’s through the BOM. Unpaid leave and parental leave are options also and the notice period has been wavered.

Millem · 05-02-2021 09:52AM

lulublue22 wrote: »

Interesting there is absolutely no mention if teachers having the ability to avail of pup in the guidelines issued by the dep on Weds night nor has INTO made reference to it.

ETA - I wonder are you effectively making yourself unemployed to avail of PUP. In that case unpaid leave and Parental leave are the way to go.

I PM’d you the correspondence.
I emailed INTO at the time to inform their members.

mloc123 · 05-02-2021 09:55AM

Millem wrote: »

A few weeks ago MM had mentioned reopening when we reach covid figures in October/November....are we looking at 200-500? My idea for mainstream primary schools on 8th March or 15th seems unlikely if what I read (high risk only for special ed) is correct. The case numbers are very stubborn stuck at around 1000ish.

NPHET model that cases are halving every 10-12 days. So by end of feb we should be in the 2-300 range.

Responder XY · 05-02-2021 09:59AM

mloc123 wrote: »

NPHET model that cases are halving every 10-12 days. So by end of feb we should be in the 2-300 range.

Cases seeming to have stuck just above 1000 is probably a result of starting to test close contacts again. To be honest I'm surprised that we didn't actually see a jump in reported/detected cases which to me suggests the improvement in incidence is continuing to improve at a reasonable pace.

lulublue22 · 05-02-2021 09:59AM

Millem wrote: »

I PM’s you the correspondence.
I emailed INTO at the time to inform their members.

Tks for that - didn’t hear anything from INTO re same. ðŸ€ª

mloc123 · 05-02-2021 10:01AM

Responder XY wrote: »

Cases seeming to have stuck just above 1000 is probably a result of starting to test close contacts again. To be honest I'm surprised that we didn't actually see a jump in reported/detected cases which to me suggests the improvement in incidence is continuing to improve at a reasonable pace.

Yeah, iirc Nolan said that numbers were expected to jump 10% daily after close contact testing resumed. So we will probably see up to a week of what looks like leveling out before drop continues.

Millem · 05-02-2021 10:05AM

lulublue22 wrote: »

Tks for that - didn’t hear anything from INTO re same. ðŸ€ª

INTO didn’t even bother replying to me!!

wirelessdude01 · 05-02-2021 10:17AM

The Wordress wrote: »

I rang INTO on Monday and I am still waiting for them to ring me back!

I am 5 weeks pregnant so I need guidance on what to do next.

I know I can work from home during the 'phased' reopening. I am assuming this will be up to Easter. Who knows!

Think I read somewhere that it applies if you are more than 26weeks pregnant. Mot sure where I saw that though.

Millem · 05-02-2021 10:37AM

The Wordress wrote: »

Oh really :eek:

I just assumed it was at any stage of pregnancy.

I would have thought you would be at biggest risk in early trimester.

I had intended to go back to work after Easter as would feel a bit more confident out of first trimester.

I was kicked in the stomach by a pupil before Christmas so don't want to take any chances.

I was pregnant last year and tbh I defo wouldn’t fancy getting it in the later stages....I could barely waddle etc as it was!!

A few weeks ago I read that anyone pregnant hse worker over 35 years old should work from home (regardless of trimester). 35 years old geriatric you know yourself “advanced maternal age” lol ðŸ˜†

Schools closed until March/April? (part 4) **Mod warning in OP 22/01**

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Schools closed until March/April? (part 4) Mod warning in OP 22/01