OT. Schools...normality and Coronavirus.

[ramAnag]

How about the idea of asking former teachers to come back into service to deal with the need for numbers due to halving of class sizes? Obviously being paid the difference between working pay and pension (if there is one)

Are you just on a wind up or what?
a) There’s certainly a very considerable difference between my ‘working pay and pension’.
b) Most former teachers are in the ‘at risk’ age group.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Are you just on a wind up or what?
a) There’s certainly a very considerable difference between my ‘working pay and pension’.
b) Most former teachers are in the ‘at risk’ age group.

You spotted me 😂

[Trickytreesreds]

You spotted me ��

Light the blue touch paper, stand well back

[ramAnag]

Putting some factual flesh on the bones of what will be happening...I’ve just had a lengthy conversation with a Y6 teacher who will be returning to school on June 1st.
She’s pleased to be doing so as it’s the beginning of a ‘return to normality’.
Their are just under sixty Y6 pupils in the school and all the families were contacted last week to advise of their intentions re attendance.
To date just six have answered...yes, definitely.
13 have said...no, thanks...a number of whom are Asian and have elderly vulnerable relatives in the household.
The rest, helpfully, haven’t answered yet.
Despite Swales’ obviously well researched reassurances, the teachers will be equipped with a full face visor each and masks will be available for pupils to wear.
There are two Y6 teachers and while one is teaching those pupils who are present, the other will be providing an online teaching facility for the absentees for which money has been made available to facilitate.

Interesting times!

[swaledale]

Putting some factual flesh on the bones of what will be happening...I’ve just had a lengthy conversation with a Y6 teacher who will be returning to school on June 1st.
She’s pleased to be doing so as it’s the beginning of a ‘return to normality’.
Their are just under sixty Y6 pupils in the school and all the families were contacted last week to advise of their intentions re attendance.
To date just six have answered...yes, definitely.
13 have said...no, thanks...a number of whom are Asian and have elderly vulnerable relatives in the household.
The rest, helpfully, haven’t answered yet.
Despite Swales’ obviously well researched reassurances, the teachers will be equipped with a full face visor each and masks will be available for pupils to wear.
There are two Y6 teachers and while one is teaching those pupils who are present, the other will be providing an online teaching facility for the absentees for which money has been made available to facilitate.

Interesting times!

Oh love the sarcasm! But hey read the plethora of medical advice on how the virus is transmitted, the infection rate among children etc etc. Not my views or opinion, its the evidence thats available, but I understand that your concerned about a risk that "might be there" its just a shame youand a great many other people ignore the real ones that are there everyday, because tens of thousands of people would not be badly injured or suffer death very year!

You obviously didn't read the bit where I said many of the steps taken re PPE are more about reassurance than the actual effectiveness of the action! Oh and of course corporate back covering, as should something occur, which wasn't necessarily connected to the lack of PPE or protective measures but it will be claimed that it was.

If I had a £1 for every measure or action regarding a risk that I've had to take to either look as if I'm doing something or to cover my back legally, even though in actual fact either the risk was non existent or so unlikely to happen that the measures taken were not really required I would be a millionaire.

And if I had another £1 for every time the people who had asked for these actions, then disregarded them or stopped using the PPE or whatever after a while, I'd make another half million! But thats human beings for you.

[ramAnag]

Wow...exhausted just reading all that at this time of the morning.

I refer you back to post #219. All I’ve actually advocated is that the return of schools is introduced on a regional rather than national basis and that those involved are equipped with necessary PPE, and guess what...that appears to be what is happening.

As for risk assessment and caution. The two are not mutually exclusive and with many years of experience of school leadership and having been involved in approaching forty residential school trips (usually as either the leader or the senior staff member) covering such activities as rock climbing, abseiling, cycling, hill walking and foreign travel, I think I know a thing or two about risk assessment. Not just learned on a course either.

There are times, Swale, when you undoubtedly know more than me about the topic in hand. The same is true of others...GP on financial advice, mista on running a business, Adi on guitarists and guitars, MA’s European insights etc. I’m not sure what makes you an authority on Covid-19, but as far as school based risk assessment is concerned, I suspect I have a greater understanding than you.

[swaledale]

Wow...exhausted just reading all that at this time of the morning.

I refer you back to post #219. All I’ve actually advocated is that the return of schools is introduced on a regional rather than national basis and that those involved are equipped with necessary PPE, and guess what...that appears to be what is happening.

As for risk assessment and caution. The two are not mutually exclusive and with many years of experience of school leadership and having been involved in approaching forty residential school trips (usually as either the leader or the senior staff member) covering such activities as rock climbing, abseiling, cycling, hill walking and foreign travel, I think I know a thing or two about risk assessment. Not just learned on a course either.

There are times, Swale, when you undoubtedly know more than me about the topic in hand. The same is true of others...GP on financial advice, mista on running a business, Adi on guitarists and guitars, MA’s European insights etc. I’m not sure what makes you an authority on Covid-19, but as far as school based risk assessment is concerned, I suspect I have a greater understanding than you.

Well first I read about it and look at the statistics, we are panicking about something that is akin to flu and that kills many thousands of people every year. You actually seem to udnerstand very little about the virus, so not sure how you can accurately assess the risk to teachers.

Your ignoring the fact that 1) Children aren't greatly affected and to date the evidence suggests that they aren't spreaders either.

Teachers are in a better position than millions of other workers who are in contact with many hundreds of other people and different people from different places at that every day, Teachers are in contact with the same children from the same place every day.

You also seemed to think that it was difficult somehow to mitigate the risks, yet in Denmark they ahve had schools opened for over 4 weeks and seem to be managing just fine, so all the palava is just that - like everyone else, Teachers need to get back to work .

I'm sure you are familiar with risk assessments, thats actually not the same as judging or assessing a risk, thats using a tick list to look at known risks and mitigating them. Judging risk, is about understanding a risk and knowing the statistical chance of it happening, which is why I mentioned driving, most people don't perceive it as a risk which you amply demonstrated by querying it and then saying the only risk was from other idiots.

Mm, so mechanical failure,a burst tyre, an error of judgement on your part, a seconds lapse of concentration by you or somebody else, an unexpected event, i.e.Now going further animal running into the road, weather conditions etc. can all lead to unintended consequences.

Your risk averse because thats clear in your posts, thats fine everyone has different levels of risk they can cope with, but the problem we ahve here is that the cure and the hysteria is actually going to result in more people dying.

[MadAmster]

Well first I read about it and look at the statistics, we are panicking about something that is akin to flu and that kills many thousands of people every year. You actually seem to understand very little about the virus, so not sure how you can accurately assess the risk to teachers.

Some of the symptoms are indeed flu like but that's where the camparison ends, really. The number of flu patients who end up in the ICU is small. Here in the Netherlands we had about 1900 COVID patients in ICU. Before COVID there were 950 ICU beds in the country and about 50% were in use at any one time. The excess was for eventual pandemics or other health crises...... they are looking at what the "standard excess" should be, going forward.

Further, the average stay in the ICU was, pre COVID, 3 to 4 days. The vast majority of COVID patients are there 3 to4 weeks and some have been there longer.

Doctors are learning more about the virus and its effects through their daily experience with it. They have learnt that CV-19 attacks the lungs leaving permanent damage......... FLU DOESN'T

They have learnt that CV-19 causes thrombosis for about half of the CV-19 patients in the ICU and that leads to renal failure, heart problems, lung problems............... FLU DOESN'T

So, although there are some similarities between Flu and CV-19, they are most definitely not the same.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Tricky on, erm, no I give up.

[Trickytreesreds]

Tricky on, erm, no I give up.

Right wing extremism and terrorism?