General Chat

That was the glory of the 'Sure Start' centres - they picked up on children like the 'feral' ones you mention, Linda.
Started n 1999, and initially controlled by Government, the responsibility was transferred to Local Authorities, still with Government funding, in 2005.

Cuts in general funding from central Government to local authorities in 2011, led to Sure Start centres closing. Further cuts to local authorities in 2017 led to almost total closure. The Tories said "Ministers said they want to refocus the scheme to help the most disadvantaged families" - which was what 'Sure Start' did - but it cost money.

However, "In June 2019, a study conducted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies concluded that Sure Start reduced the numbers of people taken to hospital and saved millions of pounds for the National Health Service. The study found that where Sure Start offered high levels of service in poor neighbourhoods in England, visits to hospital to treat injuries fell among all children of primary school age, and by a third of all 11-year-olds. Access to the programme cut the probability of admission to hospital in the poorest 30% of areas by 19% at the age of 11, while in the richest 30% of areas there was almost no impact. Across all areas, the programme’s effect was equivalent to annually averting 5,500 hospitalisations of 11-year-olds."

My niece works as a reception class teacher in one of the most deprived areas of her city. Amazingly they haven’t had a single confirmed Coronavirus case in her class. That isn't because no children have it, it is because they can’t test them. All they can do is send the child home and ask the parents to get a test done before they send the child back. The majority of their parents either don’t care or don't have the wit to do it, so they just send the children back the next day.
There are two reception classes in the year, but they have had to spilt them up so that two thirds of the children are in one class and the other third in a smaller class. The children in the smaller class can only be described as feral. They arrive at the start of their school career, totally unable to control themselves, they swear, bite, spit, fight, attack the teacher, etc. Some of them aren’t even potty trained. My niece has the huge class of supposedly better children and even in that one she has to clean up children everyday who have soiled themselves

Unless the schools are closed, those children will just continue to infect each other, but if the school is closed, it will take away the only bit of care some of those children ever see

RTR..Child sitting service? Oh really! Yes the parents work while the children are at school but its where the children learn. A child minder isn't quite the same as a teacher is it?

Florence in the hebrides

You posted while I was typing, Rollo.

In reply, my daughter works from home

I wonder whether grandson's year is the 'guinea pig' year?

I agree Florence.

I only have one grandchild at school now and the last Monday before half-term holidays, a child in his class presented with covid. Those in the desks immediately surrounding the child were all sent home for two weeks yet the rest of the children (my grandson sits about three desks away from the sufferer) were not.

To add to the mix, grandson has twin cousins in sixth form and, yes, you guessed it, when one child in their form caught covid the whole of the sixth form was sent home to isolate.

All I can think of is that the sixth form is smaller than the other forms so the pupils intermingle more.

(To add even further, when a child in my nephew's class in a primary school in the same Education Authority caught it, the whole class was sent home for two weeks.)

This seems to me to be an outstanding example of flawed thinking, because the logic of this flies way over my head!

I agree, Florence.
Teachers will become unwell, and children will be squeezed into a classroom with other children.
Children taking it home could pass it on to their parents. If a parent dies because of this, children could be affected for life.
It's also been confirmed that children can catch 'Long Covid', and this could cause health problems that could be with them for a very long time.

A family member said to me over the weekend, whats the point in keeping the schools open as children can and do spread the virus.

I was told that their neighbour who has two children had without realising given the virus to their parents.They had it and didnt know until they became mildly unwell.They had been playing football, visiting their grandparents who live nearby.
Their class had probably passed it on to who knows who.

So whilst I appreciate the need to keep children learning, is keeping the schools open in England doing more harm than good?

Personally I think unless we all go back into a national lockdown, which I know is a last resort, Then I just don't know how locking half the population down will actually do any good.

Florence in the hebrides :-S