opening schools

I believe all schools should re-open, as soon as possible. Already some school hubs provide for some children who are vulnerable or whose parents are key workers. Opening all schools as hubs would allow a carefully planned transition period that could take account of individual schools, pupils and families.

Why the contribution is important

With the closure of schools, children are missing out on education, social interaction with their peers , and many parents cannot return to work even if it is safe to do so. The hubs that are open may not be easy for children or parents to get to, also a strange environment with unknown staff might be daunting for some children.

by MarTh on May 09, 2020 at 06:46PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 3.0
Based on: 14 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Lorraine10 May 09, 2020 at 19:10

    Totally disagree, schools should not reopen as soon as possible and should only reopen when safe to do so. What is the point of isolating for the children to all go back and become carriers and infect us that way. Italy made that mistake, we should be learning from other’s mistakes not become lemmings. Social interaction can be carried out by apps or by phone. It is far more important to get the numbers right down before children return, after all what’s more important for them, playing with their friends or having no mummy or daddy because they brought it back to the home... Hubs for front line workers and vulnerable are absolutely fine as minimal numbers is minimal risk. The larger classroom sizes will not be able to social distance and certainly not in corridors.

  • Posted by JulieAnn2020 May 09, 2020 at 19:29

    Agree with Lorraine10 Schools should not reopen until safe to do so!

  • Posted by FlufflyClouds3 May 09, 2020 at 19:41

    No, I'm sorry, but this is just naive and irresponsible. There is a very VERY good reason why they're not open. Are you seriously suggesting using children as a control group?? Because that's how it's coming across, though I realise you didn't mean it that way. You have to look beyond your own personal convenience. Maybe connect and bond with the kids a wee bit? If schools opened the health service would crumble with the huge uptick in infections. Kids pick it up from other kids and even if they don't come down with it, they spend 2 weeks spreading it to everyone who breathes the same air as them. Let's use our heads here.

  • Posted by Aham25 May 09, 2020 at 19:52

    No it is unsafe for schools to currently open in any form at the moment. We can not use schools as childcare so people can work....teachers are not child minders we are there to educate. At this current moment children, families and staff health is more important than anything. Children will catch up but we need to get the figures down and then after the summer stagger a return. Things can not automatically go back to the way they were and it is a very naive way of thinking if people think they will just all be pushing children into school gates again....it will not happen like that for a long time.

  • Posted by WryGob May 09, 2020 at 20:52

    I completely agree with this idea, my basis being that there is no evidence that school closures will significantly reduce the death rate, but there is on the contrary lots of evidence that depriving our kids of their education will create serious and lasting social and health impacts - particularly for disadvantages kids. There is only one comprehensive study that I'm aware of that has looked at this recently - see https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30105-X/fulltext and they concluded the same. The Government's (UCL) model indicated perhaps a 2-4% reduction in deaths through school closures, but the afore-mentioned study suggests previous models have been completely unreliable. All of the research I have seen has suggested (mostly based on a very small data set) that school closures MAY be effective only when they are pre-emptive rather than reactive, the latter being the case in Scotland as we knew the virus was established in the community to some extent before the schools were closed.

  • Posted by SBremner May 10, 2020 at 00:00

    Schools could open on a non compulsory basis with only small groups in at a time. All children should be offered some schooling before the summer holidays unless it is considered too dangerous to do so.

  • Posted by SBremner May 10, 2020 at 00:01

    Schools could open on a non compulsory basis with only small groups in at a time. All children should be offered some schooling before the summer holidays unless it is considered too dangerous to do so.

  • Posted by emwpaisley May 10, 2020 at 00:43

    Yes they should reopen and quickly! Anyone who thinks social interaction can be done remotely is fooling themselves . Parents and educators have spent years recommending limited screen time and here people are now recommending an increase in screen time as a social interaction!

  • Posted by NorahCatherine May 10, 2020 at 08:17

    Whilst I agree that reopening schools would be a positive for the mental health of many pupils , we have got to consider the fact that schools have many adults and children who are at risk if they come into contact with the virus. Also pupils may carry the virus home to parents/Carers/grandparents who would potentially be harmed. Staff working in schools would need to be provided with appropriate PPE..... which given that nhs staff were not given adequate protection it seems unlikely that would happen soon.

  • Posted by Bornattherighttime May 10, 2020 at 08:25

    Very differing opinions here. Im going to guess those inconvenienced by home schooling want schools open and those who work in schools dont. Staff and families esp grandpa's are are the ones who suffer if schools go back. If they dont go back for a while, parents income is the biggest problem. Pupils will learn if they want to or if parents make them, the work is there. Showbie, show my home work, edmodo, and email. All schools are doing it. So personal priorities will drive your view. If you are open minded -how would practical subjects function? How would you deal with challenging pupils spitting, fighting, coughing, kissing? They all happen every day in every school (oh and you cant send them home or separate them as councils dont allow that - inclusion policy) how would you prepare for the 300 primary parents collecting their little ones?

  • Posted by JanS20025 May 10, 2020 at 14:04

    Schools should reopen ASAP. The death rates for U20s is minuscule. Children’s mental health and risks from social deprivation (abuse etc) during lockdown, far outweighs the perceived COVID risk sold to the public by the media.

  • Posted by Nimbus74 May 10, 2020 at 21:02

    Lots of kids are actually getting a pretty good experience of learning at home at the moment; parental engagement will be at unprecedented levels and our Scottish schools seem to be doing a good, if not great, job so far. Our teachers are, on the whole, brilliant, passionate and organised - and when used properly Google Classroom (or its Microsoft equivalent) delivers well. My kids actually work better in the home environment than at school, where noisy classrooms can affect their ability to concentrate, so I'm in no rush to send them back, especially if no vaccine or simple cure is available. Teachers are not magically immune and grandparents are valuable; social distancing in schools is a joke (trust me, I'm a student teacher) - half a day in P1 will tell you that. I admit the attainment gap will widen hugely over this time, and that children in precarious situations have to be catered for but there will be other solutions than rushing all children back in.
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