Schools closed until February? (part 3)

Ray Donovan

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Norma told a Fianna Fail meeting this evening that it is 1 in 10 schools have had a case.

Norma is lying.

joe40

irishblessing wrote: »

Yep. People are definitely not reading back.

Reading back what?

Jucifer

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Schools account for just 7%* of cases? Yeah that's grand - happy to leave them open.

Jog on.

* 7% are school attendees, who didn't necessarily get it in school so even 7% is probably way too high

Maybe try apply the same logic elsewhere. Where did all the clusters in private houses come from? The walls?

Jinglejangle69

Ray Donovan wrote: »

Norma is lying.

Brave accusation to make.

mvl

joe40 wrote: »

The level of lockdown is our choice. Plenty of European countries are dealing with infection rates as bad or worse.

Romania does online learning for a number of weeks (the economic situation there for students is worse than here); think someone mentioned on this thread Slovakia too (was it last week).

From another point of view, found this article on on world economic forum (- dated april).
[ For those (students) who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.]
- I guess as a parent, this is one of the reasons I would favor hybrid learning for good rather than just for now (in secondary schools). Might take more time to get there though.

FeirmeoirtTed

mvl wrote: »

Romania does online learning for a number of weeks (the economic situation there for students is worse than here); think someone mentioned on this thread Slovakia too (was it last week).

From another point of view, found this article on on world economic forum (- dated april).
[ For those (students) who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.]
- I guess as a parent, this is one of the reasons I would favor hybrid learning for good rather than just for now (in secondary schools). Might take more time to get there though.

I call bull**** on 8 to 10%
And 40 to 60%

MOH

joe40 wrote: »

The level of lockdown is our choice. Plenty of European countries are dealing with infection rates as bad or worse.

But you're comparing our school strategy with the rest of Europe.
While we're going into the highest level of lockdown for everything else with schools open as usual.
The other European countries dealing with infection rates as bad or worse haven't chosen as extreme a lockdown, so the question whether those drastic measures are potentially undermined by keeping schools open isn't relevant.

JP100

JP100 wrote: »

You can dance around the head of a pin all you like but the fact is known outbreaks in schools almost doubled in a week. That is certainly something to take note of rather than your nothing to see here at all, folks, approach.

Cases in the country very near doubled also. That has always been my point, what is happening in school is reflecting what is happening in society.

AlphaDelta1

Received an email from daughters school outlining preparations for learning from home in the "coming difficult weeks".

joe40

MOH wrote: »

But you're comparing our school strategy with the rest of Europe.
While we're going into the highest level of lockdown for everything else with schools open as usual.
The other European countries dealing with infection rates as bad or worse haven't chosen as extreme a lockdown, so the question whether those drastic measures are potentially undermined by keeping schools open isn't relevant.

Our current restrictions are in place to enable our schools to stay open. Online learning or blended learning may work for a very limited time but I don't believe they are viable long term alternatives.

eagle eye

MOH wrote:

But you're comparing our school strategy with the rest of Europe. While we're going into the highest level of lockdown for everything else with schools open as usual. The other European countries dealing with infection rates as bad or worse haven't chosen as extreme a lockdown, so the question whether those drastic measures are potentially undermined by keeping schools open isn't relevant.

We have a crap health service is why we are going into this lockdown. The hospitals will be overrun if we don't. No use comparing us to any other country with a decent health service.

deliege

mvl wrote: »

Romania does online learning for a number of weeks (the economic situation there for students is worse than here); think someone mentioned on this thread Slovakia too (was it last week).

From another point of view, found this article on on world economic forum (- dated april).
[ For those (students) who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.]
- I guess as a parent, this is one of the reasons I would favor hybrid learning for good rather than just for now (in secondary schools). Might take more time to get there though.

Interesting links, thanks.

Anecdotal evidence from my home - we decided to home-school, due to having one kid at higher risk, not getting any support from school though:
* kids are in Sr Infant and 3rd class;
* working mostly from school books (as we had already bought them), plus a few apps;
* Sr Infant one work takes about 1hr/day. Need to be with him full time at least to "pin him to his chair". But in that hour of work per day, so far (less than 2 months) he's gone through half his math book, has read all the reading books (have had to buy more last month already), gone through half the reading activity book, and half the writing book. It's only with Irish that we're not progressing faster than schedule.
* 3rd class takes about 3hrs a day. Not much support needed to be honest. Going a little bit faster than planned too.
* Main "issue" is to find them occupation for the rest of the day that doesn't involved screens. So bought supplies for quite a lot of craft activities, and trying to get them into becoming bookworms (...quite working with the elder).

So maybe my kids are exceptional... but from a strictly educational purpose it's looking like school is a lot of waste of time for them (but I'm not saying they wouldn't have fun / learn more social skills etc ...)

JP100

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Cases in the country very near doubled also. That has always been my point, what is happening in school is reflecting what is happening in society.

Quit being disingenuous. Cases in the country didn't double in the last week. Whereas they did in schools and that's only the 'known'' figure and as most of us know by now, you can take the HSE figures and indeed their shambles of contract tracing with a pinch of salt.

Smacruairi

[quote="deliege;115014103"

So maybe my kids are exceptional... but from a strictly educational purpose it's looking like school is a lot of waste of time for them (but I'm not saying they wouldn't have fun / learn more social skills etc ...)[/quote]

Interesting insights, and fair play to you for attempting home school. I would not say school is a waste of time, more so that when you are catering for 30 diff individuals it does mean things are dragged out more. Sure how many times are you in a meeting with ppl and it takes an hour when you know a quick 5 min email would have done the trick better!

There's also the whole emphasis in schools now on discovery learning - kids are meant to discover knowledge themselves through chat and play etc rather than be told the facts etc. So that they can then organically shift around the curriculum, but to be honest, I'd probs just be as direct as yourself!

But fair play for getting an insight into the job!

deliege

Smacruairi wrote: »

Interesting insights, and fair play to you for attempting home school. I would not say school is a waste of time, more so that when you are catering for 30 diff individuals it does mean things are dragged out more. Sure how many times are you in a meeting with ppl and it takes an hour when you know a quick 5 min email would have done the trick better!

There's also the whole emphasis in schools now on discovery learning - kids are meant to discover knowledge themselves through chat and play etc rather than be told the facts etc. So that they can then organically shift around the curriculum, but to be honest, I'd probs just be as direct as yourself!

But fair play for getting an insight into the job!

Thanks. "Waste of time" is a bit harsh I agree, not the proper way to explain probably, and you're totally right about the meeting analogy.

What I wanted to express is that in my experience so far homeschooling doesn't require so much time as to be impossible (am still working full time from home, though I'm lucky to have very flexible hours and not require much sleep -> catching up at night. I'm planning to go part-time soon though, to do more art & activities with the kiddos).

One thing that I discovered is their interactions during home-school time: the older encouraging / helping the little one (helping me sometimes too with Irish!), laughing at his creativity too, and the younger commenting on his brother's work with admiration / wanting to be able to do the same etc. That's something great that I didn't foresee much but enjoy immensely.

TheValeyard

AlphaDelta1 wrote: »

Received an email from daughters school outlining preparations for learning from home in the "coming difficult weeks".

Its not even the coming weeks we should be preparing for. Its further down the road when flu does its usual job in Jan/Feb. Every year lots of students are out that time of year with colds/flu. Same with staff. A plan needs to be in place, due to the current restrictions about infection and possible covid.

Thats me

TheValeyard wrote: »

Its not even the coming weeks we should be preparing for. Its further down the road when flu does its usual job in Jan/Feb. Every year lots of students are out that time of year with colds/flu. Same with staff. A plan needs to be in place, due to the current restrictions about infection and possible covid.

Most likely there will be no flu this year because of lockdown and social distancing.

vid36

So the situation in Europe so far Czechia all schools online, Poland secondary schools online and possibility of senior classes in primary going online too, Slovakia secondary schools online, Wales secondary schools online, North all schools closed, Italy Campania region all schools closed.
I think that list will grow as we move into November.

lawrencesummers

I’m all for the schools being open.

BUT, that is with the acknowledgement and understanding that the virus is spreading quickly and easily through the education attending population who are essentially not at any more risk from this as they are from other diseases.

If someone has a child that is high risk they should home school them for a while. If granny lives with you then she might need to make other arrangements.

It’s possible that allowing schools to open will allow children to contract the Virus and build antibodies to it. While data is limited currently keeping the schools open could be the best thing to do long term.

mvl

when ppl seem to talk about homeschool for a while: does anyone what is the process to re-enroll back to taught classes after couple of semesters of home schooling ?
e.g. can I make arrangements for homeschooling now, and then re-enroll same year if/when suits ?

lawrencesummers

mvl wrote: »

when ppl seem to talk about homeschool for a while: does anyone what is the process to re-enroll back to taught classes after couple of semesters of home schooling ?
e.g. can I make arrangements for homeschooling now, and then re-enroll same year if/when suits ?

I would imagine you dont unregister. Just tell the school little Johnny won’t be in for a bit because of medical issues.

irishblessing

lawrencesummers wrote: »

I’m all for the schools being open.

BUT, that is with the acknowledgement and understanding that the virus is spreading quickly and easily through the education attending population who are essentially not at any more risk from this as they are from other diseases.

If someone has a child that is high risk they should home school them for a while. If granny lives with you then she might need to make other arrangements.

It’s possible that allowing schools to open will allow children to contract the Virus and build antibodies to it. While data is limited currently keeping the schools open could be the best thing to do long term.

Children can also get very sick with this virus. Studies show that if they need hospital care, they are just as likely to need ICU as an adult-same rate. Children are also susceptible to "long covid" and long term damage to vital organs. This is still being studied on all humans in general.

Children can contract and spread the virus too, and around age 10 "at least as well as adults do." It's not just about their granny (whom you apparently want to ship off on an iceberg?) it's also about their parents they live with. Thousands of children and their family member have underlying conditions as well.

Spreading to family members will also cause spread throughout the workplace. It's also about the limited amount of service our health care sector can provide.

Dr. Fauci said keeping schools open in this situation where we're at the highest levels of restrictions wouldn't be possible. I think one of the worlds leading infectious disease experts knows better.

irishblessing

mvl wrote: »

when ppl seem to talk about homeschool for a while: does anyone what is the process to re-enroll back to taught classes after couple of semesters of home schooling ?
e.g. can I make arrangements for homeschooling now, and then re-enroll same year if/when suits ?

I think you make an application to Tusla. Once you do that you are legally covered. They are backlogged I've heard so will take some time to process your application. I've even heard it could be 9-12 months. Once they have assessed you and your situation only then will they notify the school to remove you from register. The school can't do it. So you may just be able to slot back in anyway.

joe40

irishblessing wrote: »

Children can also get very sick with this virus. Studies show that if they need hospital care, they are just as likely to need ICU as an adult-same rate. Children are also susceptible to "long covid" and long term damage to vital organs. This is still being studied on all humans in general.

Children can contract and spread the virus too, and around age 10 "at least as well as adults do." It's not just about their granny (whom you apparently want to ship off on an iceberg?) it's also about their parents they live with. Thousands of children and their family member have underlying conditions as well.

Spreading to family members will also cause spread throughout the workplace. It's also about the limited amount of service our health care sector can provide.

Dr. Fauci said keeping schools open in this situation where we're at the highest levels of restrictions wouldn't be possible. I think one of the worlds leading infectious disease experts knows better.

Was Dr Fauci talking about the situation in America or in Ireland.
The level of restrictions adopted, is not common to all countries.

deliege

mvl wrote: »

when ppl seem to talk about homeschool for a while: does anyone what is the process to re-enroll back to taught classes after couple of semesters of home schooling ?
e.g. can I make arrangements for homeschooling now, and then re-enroll same year if/when suits ?

We've been advised by school to register for homeschooling with Tusla, which we did - even then we still get absence notifications so far, so it looks like we're still on school lists at least in that respect. Will see with school when we'll be considering re-enrolling / re-sending the kids to school, but it doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon.

Can't understand DES instructions re. not supporting parents who would be in position (and wish) to have their children at home at the moment, cause it would look like a "win-win" situation from the perspective of class numbers...

Lillyfae

Thats me wrote: »

You have taken percentage for specific domain, i've compared this with all cases found countrywide. I agree, this is not perfect comparison because country-wide stats including not only random tests done within population but also tests done on patients with symptoms where percentage is definitely higher by obvious reasons. If we could exclude latter segment difference would be only higher.

If you not agree - provide your, proper, calculation. If not - don't waste time.

Just to demonstrate your mistake, I've taken the numbers from here:

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/ireland?country=~IRL

According to this, there were 675973 tests carried out over the last 8 weeks. Of those tests, 24535 were positive. The positivity rate of those tested was 3.63%.

According to the Irish Times, 12500 tests were carried out over 8 weeks and of those, 352 were positive. A positivity rate of 2.81%.

In order to try to do what you were doing, you would need to find the population of all those working in and attending schools, and possibly their wider contacts, which would be frankly be impossible and completely pointless because amongst the population of Ireland there is probably a large cohort who are at no risk of picking up Covid because they don't come in to contact with anyone who has it, or anyone at all.

Look, I'm not an expert, I'm simply looking at the correct numbers, and comparable numbers. Contact tracing has broken down and this needs to be addressed IMMEDIATELY. But this affects schools no more or less than the rest of society. Those who are vulnerable, such as those high risk children and teachers need to be protected. Classes etc need to be sent home in case of outbreaks for quarantining and so that rooms can be cleaned properly. Checks need to be carried out to ensure adherence to guidelines. But the harms that closing schools or disorganised and unequal "hybrid" "blended" learning will cause far outweigh their benefits.

I'm glad that the mid term break is coming up, so that the Level 5 restrictions have a chance to kick in and so that school staff and children can take a break from it. I know it's incredibly stressful. But after that it should be back to the new normal.

irishblessing

joe40 wrote: »

Was Dr Fauci talking about the situation in America or in Ireland.
The level of restrictions adopted, is not common to all countries.

Ireland. I've already posted the link here, twice I believe. That's what I was referring to earlier when I said you're definitely not reading back...

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/were-in-for-a-difficult-winter-but-dont-give-up-hope-says-dr-anthony-fauci-39608868.html

It might have a paywall for you, I'm sure there's other full articles on his comments if you'd like to search.

MOH

joe40 wrote: »

Our current restrictions are in place to enable our schools to stay open. Online learning or blended learning may work for a very limited time but I don't believe they are viable long term alternatives.

Funny, I would have thought our current restrictions were in place to drastically curb the spread of Covid-19 and avoid overwhelming the health system.

Enabling schools to stay open should not be the focus of restrictions which will destroy businesses and have serious long-term impact on the economy. Not to mention all the other negative of such severe restrictions.

If it's possible to keep them open without undermining the effect of the restrictions, great, but there's no evidence that's the case.

wirelessdude01

MOH wrote: »

Funny, I would have thought our current restrictions were in place to drastically curb the spread of Covid-19 and avoid overwhelming the health system.

Enabling schools to stay open should not be the focus of restrictions which will destroy businesses and have serious long-term impact on the economy. Not to mention all the other negative of such severe restrictions.

If it's possible to keep them open without undermining the effect of the restrictions, great, but there's no evidence that's the case.

Government has stated their core priority is that schools are open. This has been stated and restated numerous times.

meeeeh

irishblessing wrote: »

Ireland. I've already posted the link here, twice I believe. That's what I was referring to earlier when I said you're definitely not reading back...

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/were-in-for-a-difficult-winter-but-dont-give-up-hope-says-dr-anthony-fauci-39608868.html

It might have a paywall for you, I'm sure there's other full articles on his comments if you'd like to search.

I refuse to pay for SIndo but what I can see is that it's difficult to keep schools open when its significant community spread. you can tell us what is significant spread but the countries who are closing schools have much higher incidence rate than Ireland.

That being said I'm pretty sure top American immunologist is not stupid enough to publicly state what another country (Ireland) should do so at best I'm 100% sure you are misrepresenting his statements.

irishblessing

There's an element of truth to both. We need to drastically curb the spread of covid and avoid overwhelming the health system. The government have also stated keeping schools open are a top priority to keep people working.

Well at this point most are either out of work, told to stay home and therefore out of work, or working from home. So why shouldn't we take this opportunity to extend the midterm break and test/hone remote learning for a short period of time. Then keep it established for those who need it who are at risk, needing to quarantine, or in the event of the inevitable class/school closures or future (3rd wave) lockdowns.

blanch152

irishblessing wrote: »

There's an element of truth to both. We need to drastically curb the spread of covid and avoid overwhelming the health system. The government have also stated keeping schools open are a top priority to keep people working.

Well at this point most are either out of work, told to stay home and therefore out of work, or working from home. So why shouldn't we take this opportunity to extend the midterm break and test/hone remote learning for a short period of time. Then keep it established for those who need it who are at risk, needing to quarantine, or in the event of the inevitable class/school closures or future (3rd wave) lockdowns.

We can't manage remote learning for some in a situation where the teacher unions are refusing to allow simulcasting of lessons. Without that, the service to some will not be as good.

Even crowded classrooms could be sorted if the unions allowed the lesson to be broadcast to a classroom next door or elsewhere in the school.

irishblessing

meeeeh wrote: »

I refuse to pay for SIndo but what I can see is that it's difficult to keep schools open when its significant community spread. you can tell us what is significant spread but the countries who are closing schools have much higher incidence rate than Ireland.

That being said I'm pretty sure top American immunologist is not stupid enough to publicly state what another country (Ireland) should do so at best I'm 100% sure you are misrepresenting his statements.

Well you have egg on your face, as per usual.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/were-in-for-a-difficult-winter-but-dont-give-up-hope-says-dr-anthony-fauci-39608868.html

Dr Anthony Fauci, America's leading virus expert, has said schools here should shut if the Government implements Level 5 restrictions due to the "concerning resurgence" of Covid-19.

The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has told the Sunday Independent that when there is significant community spread of coronavirus, it is "difficult" to keep schools open.

Asked how he thought Ireland had responded to the pandemic, he praised Ireland’s response to the virus.

“It really gets down to the point that I am trying to make the enemy is not the public health people who are trying to contain the virus.”

He told host Ryan Tubridy: "Ireland did not get hit as badly (as America), but they got hit badly, you did… and what you did is you put restrictions that were substantial restrictions and you got a base line back down.

"And what your plan is, is that you are going to access where you are and have certain type of guidelines that are appropriate to where you are.

"And if you start to get an uptick, you are going to get restrictions to go to the next level."
"We all want to get the economy back but as I keep saying the best way to get the economy back is to control the virus."

Read More: Dr. Fauci claims European travel to US will be banned for months

He also revealed his own connections to Ireland through his wife Christine Grady, herself a top biologist whose grandparents came from Ireland.

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/fauci-how-he-handles-trump-irish-covid-response

irishblessing

blanch152 wrote: »

We can't manage remote learning for some in a situation where the teacher unions are refusing to allow simulcasting of lessons. Without that, the service to some will not be as good.

Even crowded classrooms could be sorted if the unions allowed the lesson to be broadcast to a classroom next door or elsewhere in the school.

I'm not sure what the teacher unions are refusing to allow- do you have a link to this info?

Secondly, it's very possible to record lessons and then teachers provide additional lesson support and school work task and grading those.

Icyseanfitz

blanch152 wrote: »

We can't manage remote learning for some in a situation where the teacher unions are refusing to allow simulcasting of lessons. Without that, the service to some will not be as good.

Even crowded classrooms could be sorted if the unions allowed the lesson to be broadcast to a classroom next door or elsewhere in the school.

and who supervises the class next door? and where does this new classroom or 20 of them come from?

blanch152

MOH wrote: »

Funny, I would have thought our current restrictions were in place to drastically curb the spread of Covid-19 and avoid overwhelming the health system.

Enabling schools to stay open should not be the focus of restrictions which will destroy businesses and have serious long-term impact on the economy. Not to mention all the other negative of such severe restrictions.

If it's possible to keep them open without undermining the effect of the restrictions, great, but there's no evidence that's the case.

The primary objective should be ensuring hospitals can continue to function.
The next objective should be to ensure that the next generation can be educated.
The third objective should be to ensure that other essential services can function.
The final objective should be to ensure that sufficient economic activity takes place to pay for the first three objectives.

All else, all other businesses don't matter - this is a pandemic.

blanch152

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

and who supervises the class next door? and where does this new classroom or 20 of them come from?

€40m has been provided for extra supervision costs to schools this year.

khalessi

There isn't enough staff

meeeeh

irishblessing wrote: »

Well you have egg on your face, as per usual.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/were-in-for-a-difficult-winter-but-dont-give-up-hope-says-dr-anthony-fauci-39608868.html

Dr Anthony Fauci, America's leading virus expert, has said schools here should shut if the Government implements Level 5 restrictions due to the "concerning resurgence" of Covid-19.

The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has told the Sunday Independent that when there is significant community spread of coronavirus, it is "difficult" to keep schools open.

Asked how he thought Ireland had responded to the pandemic, he praised Ireland’s response to the virus.

“It really gets down to the point that I am trying to make the enemy is not the public health people who are trying to contain the virus.”

He told host Ryan Tubridy: "Ireland did not get hit as badly (as America), but they got hit badly, you did… and what you did is you put restrictions that were substantial restrictions and you got a base line back down.

"And what your plan is, is that you are going to access where you are and have certain type of guidelines that are appropriate to where you are.

"And if you start to get an uptick, you are going to get restrictions to go to the next level."
"We all want to get the economy back but as I keep saying the best way to get the economy back is to control the virus."

Read More: Dr. Fauci claims European travel to US will be banned for months

He also revealed his own connections to Ireland through his wife Christine Grady, herself a top biologist whose grandparents came from Ireland.

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/fauci-how-he-handles-trump-irish-covid-response

Actually could you show me exactly where is the quote that schools should be closed at level 5. I know you posted some journalist's quick interpretation but please show me the actual quote. It's simple, not seeing what you wish to see, just the simple fact.

Icyseanfitz

blanch152 wrote: »

€40m has been provided for extra supervision costs to schools this year.

pure optics, there isn't enough staff to cover the teacher absences as it is, never mind doubling the amount of classes (which 40m would never cover building anyway). The only way to reduce class size is a hybrid/blended approach.

LittleBrick

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

pure optics, there isn't enough staff to cover the teacher absences as it is, never mind doubling the amount of classes (which 40m would never cover building anyway). The only way to reduce class size is a hybrid/blended approach.

This was also only provided at secondary level. No extra supervision for primary. We now come in to supervise our class 15 minutes early every morning (40 hours extra a year) and are getting no additional pay for this.

wirelessdude01

LittleBrick wrote: »

This was also only provided at secondary level. No extra supervision for primary. We now come in to supervise our class 15 minutes early every morning (40 hours extra a year) and are getting no additional pay for this.

Is your school not using the horrible CP hours to cover this like practically every other school in Ireland?

HerrKuehn

Does anyone think it would be a good idea for primary schools, if they need to close for a few weeks, that they just try and make it up at other times? Say take a bit off the xmas holidays/easter/summer? I know with secondary the summer would be difficult due to the exams, but for primary should be no issue.

Icyseanfitz

HerrKuehn wrote: »

Does anyone think it would be a good idea for primary schools, if they need to close for a few weeks, that they just try and make it up at other times? Say take a bit off the xmas holidays/easter/summer? I know with secondary the summer would be difficult due to the exams, but for primary should be no issue.

the department is very very set in its ways with regards holidays and when they fall.

mvl

HerrKuehn wrote: »

Does anyone think it would be a good idea for primary schools, if they need to close for a few weeks, that they just try and make it up at other times? Say take a bit off the xmas holidays/easter/summer? I know with secondary the summer would be difficult due to the exams, but for primary should be no issue.

or can be done next year too - when there is a will, there is a way.

HerrKuehn

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

the department is very very set in its ways with regards holidays and when they fall.

Are they so set in their ways, that say for example there was a global viral pandemic going on, that it would be impossible to change them slightly?

meeeeh

HerrKuehn wrote: »

Does anyone think it would be a good idea for primary schools, if they need to close for a few weeks, that they just try and make it up at other times? Say take a bit off the xmas holidays/easter/summer? I know with secondary the summer would be difficult due to the exams, but for primary should be no issue.

If the numbers keep climbing excessively then secondary schools should be closed first. It is completely last resort and complete collapse of public health that should close primary schools. Secondary school kids are better able to work on their own and they transmit more virus than mostof tge ages in primary schools.

For me making up time wouldn't be an issue but between DOE and Unions it would be a miracle if it happened.

wirelessdude01

HerrKuehn wrote: »

Does anyone think it would be a good idea for primary schools, if they need to close for a few weeks, that they just try and make it up at other times? Say take a bit off the xmas holidays/easter/summer? I know with secondary the summer would be difficult due to the exams, but for primary should be no issue.

But you do know if school buildings are closed that learning just doesn't stop. Yes it won't be something that everyone likes or rates but it is what it is.

Realistically the department probably wouldn't be open to such a suggestion for a variety of reasons, main one which would be money. Schools open outside of traditional time frames mean more money. Govt don't like spending money on education.

irishblessing

meeeeh wrote: »

Actually could you show me exactly where is the quote that schools should be closed at level 5. I know you posted some journalist's quick interpretation but please show me the actual quote. It's simple, not seeing what you wish to see, just the simple fact.

I literally put it in bold for you already. You can't miss it. Simple fact he 100% commented on Ireland, so you're wrong there too.

Icyseanfitz

HerrKuehn wrote: »

Are they so set in their ways, that say for example there was a global viral pandemic going on, that it would be impossible to change them slightly?

as you can see by the reopening "plan" they dont like altering or changing anything as it takes effort and money.