Schools closed until February? (part 3)

wirelessdude01

Ohh the aul online bashers will be out in force this evening.

combat14

the kelt wrote: »

School holidays extended to jan 11th,

nothing officially announced yet but looking like it

would be reckless insanity to open at this stage

wirelessdude01

TTLF wrote: »

so is school "closed" as in extra holidays or are we switching to zoom

Seems to be closed closed with days to be made up later. That's what the INTO had suggested.

eviltwin

C__MC wrote: »

Monday week
Brace yourself for an evening of teacher bashing

Is that confirmed?

khalessi

C__MC wrote: »

Monday week
Brace yourself for an evening of teacher bashing

Just report everyone of them and dont reply, if it occurs

Acosta

Surely from now until the end of the school year so far as second level is concerned, 5th and 6th year should be prioritised? Or at least until the levels are very low again.

wirelessdude01

eviltwin wrote: »

Is that confirmed?

Will be by Mehole later.

jrosen

It makes more sense to have a couple of days post xmas holidays than pre. Im not surprised and its definitely the right decision. With the mixing and total disregard for guidance going on right now hopefully people will start locking down and limiting their contacts now.

bazermc

eviltwin wrote: »

Is that confirmed?

Is what confirmed? The teacher bashing or schools being closed?

Tippex

Acosta wrote: »

Surely from now until the end of the school year so far as second level is concerned, 5th and 6th year should be prioritised? Or at least until the levels are very low again.

My son is really worried now for his leaving. They lost so much time during 5th year he is really concerned what will happen now for the leaving. He has a DCG project that he will lose time on as he can only do the Solidworks piece in school.

Obviously, his health and safety are more important but he is still worried.

Blondini

C__MC wrote: »

Monday week
Brace yourself for an evening of teacher bashing

Bring 'em on.

They're usually not very bright or original, and are easily confused.

Beasty

Blondini wrote: »

Bring 'em on.

They're usually not very bright or original, and are easily confused.

Threadbanned

wirelessdude01

Tippex wrote: »

My son is really worried now for his leaving. They lost so much time during 5th year he is really concerned what will happen now for the leaving. He has a DCG project that he will lose time on as he can only do the Solidworks piece in school.

Obviously, his health and safety are more important but he is still worried.

Everyone in the same boat so he isn't at any loss. Tell him to relax as nothing he can do.

kippy

Looks like they will be closed till the 11th at least and I'd suspect a week or so of remote/distance learning after that depending on numbers. Although they might prioritise certain classes/years.
It looks like sense has prevailed at least.
The amount of community transmission and the increasing numbers would have made schools extremely high risk locations.

Hopefully the numbers go down over the next 10-14 days and a return to full time schooling can be had, however it is looking like we will break 2000 cases a day by this weekend!

MerlinSouthDub

Acosta wrote: »

Surely from now until the end of the school year so far as second level is concerned, 5th and 6th year should be prioritised? Or at least until the levels are very low again.

I would have thought that the older the students are, the easier it is to teach them remotely. Universities have been operating on a remote basis for most of the year.

kippy

Tippex wrote: »

My son is really worried now for his leaving. They lost so much time during 5th year he is really concerned what will happen now for the leaving. He has a DCG project that he will lose time on as he can only do the Solidworks piece in school.

Obviously, his health and safety are more important but he is still worried.

Tell him to control the controllabales. A good attitude to have and useful in the real world more than school.

Tippex

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Everyone in the same boat so he isn't at any loss. Tell him to relax as nothing he can do.

in fairness to him, he is pretty laid back but the whole DCG thing gets him he is putting so much pressure on himself on it. He has already decided he wants to take a year or 2 out as he has no idea what he wants to do. Luckily he can work with me and see how things go from there as a fallback.

BonsaiKitten

Tippex wrote: »

in fairness to him, he is pretty laid back but the whole DCG thing gets him he is putting so much pressure on himself on it. He has already decided he wants to take a year or 2 out as he has no idea what he wants to do. Luckily he can work with me and see how things go from there as a fallback.

Poor kid, the LC is stressful enough under normal circumstances. The 2021 class have had it worse than 2020 imo.

If the suggestion of schools closing until the 11th is true, I think it's a good idea. Very surprised to hear it as the Govt have been hell-bent on having us in no matter what.

Stateofyou

jrosen wrote: »

It makes more sense to have a couple of days post xmas holidays than pre. Im not surprised and its definitely the right decision. With the mixing and total disregard for guidance going on right now hopefully people will start locking down and limiting their contacts now.

True, but if I think about it from the perspective of the students/families who tested positive or identified as a close contact in the final week/days leading up to Christmas and had it ruined (not to mention principals still having to do contract tracing) only to have the schools closing now seems a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

ShineOn7

They're extending the school Christmas holidays by 3 days only

What utter nonsense

They're saying "yes, Schools aren't safe in the current situation. But! We're going to re-open them very soon anyway"

Unless they grow some backbone this week and extend those 3 days

kippy

BonsaiKitten wrote: »

Poor kid, the LC is stressful enough under normal circumstances. The 2021 class have had it worse than 2020 imo.

If the suggestion of schools closing until the 11th is true, I think it's a good idea. Very surprised to hear it as the Govt have been hell-bent on having us in no matter what.

You can see why the government have been eager to keep schools open. However with numbers up on 1700 todays and rising signifcantly, testing and contact tracing are under major stress and it would be extremely foolish to throw a million people into close contact environments when it can be avoided.

kippy

ShineOn7 wrote: »

They're extending the school Christmas holidays by 3 days only

What utter nonsense

They're saying "yes, Schools aren't safe in the current situation. But! We're going to re-open them very soon anyway"

Unless they grow some backbone this week and extend those 3 days

Im not sure why you'd think that the extension of 3 days is the end of the amendments to school opening.
The decisions will be based on case numbers and profiles. If the numbers don't stabilise, further changes will be made to the Schools opening profiles.

Tippex

BonsaiKitten wrote: »

Poor kid, the LC is stressful enough under normal circumstances. The 2021 class have had it worse than 2020 imo.

If the suggestion of schools closing until the 11th is true, I think it's a good idea. Very surprised to hear it as the Govt have been hell-bent on having us in no matter what.

We have brought him up to understand that the LC is just one step and that it does not define you. The real world is very very different from what happens in school.

He has it a hell of a lot easier than a huge number of other kids so it's all about perspective which he is normally good at but the DCG thing has just gnawed at him since he started.

Sinead Mc1

Wish the government could provide us with clear guidance when it comes to childcare.
Should the schools and creches close both my husband and I are without childcare.
He is essential, in construction, and I'm in the public sector, in a call centre.
I'm working from home, but there is no flexibility with hours. We both have 9 to 5 jobs.
Honestly so upset to be facing into this again. I know it's for the greater good but no boss is going to tell you it's ok to not come to work, and I technically work for the government!
Your just left to figure it out.

kippy

Stateofyou wrote: »

True, but if I think about it from the perspective of the students/families who tested positive or identified as a close contact in the final week/days leading up to Christmas and had it ruined (not to mention principals still having to do contract tracing) only to have the schools closing now seems a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

Look, timing is a bitch in any of this.......you can apply the what if's to many people in many areas of life that were in the wrong place at the wrong time - literally.

Tippex

kippy wrote: »

Im not sure why you'd think that the extension of 3 days is the end of the amendments to school opening.
The decisions will be based on case numbers and profiles. If the numbers don't stabilise, further changes will be made to the Schools opening profiles.

Honestly, now that they have made the decision I would be personally surprised if the schools reopen before feb.

C__MC

With mocks on horizon and project work also, schools need clarity IMO

TTLF

Tippex wrote: »

My son is really worried now for his leaving. They lost so much time during 5th year he is really concerned what will happen now for the leaving. He has a DCG project that he will lose time on as he can only do the Solidworks piece in school.

Obviously, his health and safety are more important but he is still worried.

Like your son, I was in the same boat. My mother told me there really isn't anything I can do about it, and that they aren't "out to get me" and they'll make changes.

I am also worried though, can't do my Geog field study now since it was supposed to take place on the 7th. Just wouldn't have enough time to re-book and do the tour and the writeup while juggling 6 other subjects and revising for the main exam.

This is going to be a painful few months.

kippy

Sinead Mc1 wrote: »

Wish the government could provide us with clear guidance when it comes to childcare.
Should the schools and creches close both my husband and I are without childcare.
He is essential, in construction, and I'm in the public sector, in a call centre.
I'm working from home, but there is no flexibility with hours. We both have 9 to 5 jobs.
Honestly so upset to be facing into this again. I know it's for the greater good but no boss is going to tell you it's ok to not come to work, and I technically work for the government!
Your just left it figure it out.

There may be some detail on this in the coming hours - whats being reported so far are just leaks.
I'd expect childcare for essential workers MAY not be impacted - currently they are only talking about extending school holidays - no mention of childcare but as I said that will come.

kippy

C__MC wrote: »

With mocks on horizon and project work also, schools need clarity IMO

Clarity in a global pandemic, as we've seen, is difficult to achieve.
Any decisions made in this area will be based around case numbers and case profiles - which are difficult to predict.