Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

There is a thread to talk about whom you are ignoring, there is no need to announce.

Why bother with a mask

If you don’t want to bother because it’s the right thing to do then you could bother for selfish reasons

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/11/24/covid-19-controversial-trial-may-actually-show-that-masks-protect-the-wearer/

Just spent some time marvelling at a twitter thread where the author was proudly shouting about stumbling across evidence that only 403 people have died of Covid in Scotland during the whole pandemic.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRustler83/­status/1411996035287863298

That gives me an error, 'access to the requested resource is forbidden'.

But evidently not the joke. :)

At least quote my whole post.

It was upset/anger that others don't wear masks and giving the feeling/attitude of why bother if others are not.

EDIT: Or go for super arse status and buy this exemption card from amazon.

.

Definitely an increase of non-mask wearers today, I think people are checking out of restrictions already

I think vaccination coverage is never likely to exceed 90-95%+ and the closer we get to that final figure the slower the total grind up will be.

We need to consider that missing percentage with current vaccine effectiveness. It will always be a big number and semi locking down indefinitely isn't an answer.

I think masks v no masks is fairly unimportant in the big picture.

Data predicts 2m UK summer Covid cases with 10m isolating

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2021/jul/05/chris-whitty-says-keeping-covid-restrictions-will-only-delay-next-wave-video

As a teacher, I can say that… pupils’ experience has varied hugely. Many pupils in the independent sector (where laptops are often mandatory) have literally not missed a lesson, and (albeit via a screen) have had virtually the same amount of live teacher time as they’d have had in a ‘normal’ situation. Now there are many reasons why remote learning really doesn’t work for some young people, but nonetheless many students in this environment have experienced little hindrance to their education.

In some state schools (please note I said ‘some’, not ‘all’) students had long periods of a few worksheets being posted home every fortnight and little if anything marked. My daughter’s primary school fell into this category.

These are necessarily sweeping and broad brush comments, doubtless with many exceptions, but like so much stuff under Covid, those with money have had it better.

Only going to small number of shops, I've noticed reduced sanitising stations near trolleys and baskets. Where there were multiple sanitiser stations with both hand sanitiser and spray or wipes now seems to one not near the entrance.

What do you think about what to do next - are 'catch up' approaches needed or even constructive? If so what should they be trying to catch up on? I have a completely uninformed gut position, and feel ideas like extending the term or school day or repeating years are counterproductive, but happy to hear from someone with a view based in reality.

Cut out a lot of the exam based bollocks and get back on track with some kind of "focused learning" schtick that gets the kids a decent range of usable knowledge without such an emphasis on testing, then keep that forevs. Doubt it'll happen as again it benefits testy schools aiming at top unis which usually means a bit of money in the area or private.

The problem is there isn’t any 1 approach because there isn’t any 1 shortfall. Students who’ve had a positive remote learning experience, with engaged parents, who aren’t within 12 months of GCSE or AL probably need little help and will likely catch up to where they ‘should’ have been within a term. Those at the other end of the spectrum almost certainly need some sort of targeted intervention if they are to have the key skills in place at all.

In terms of intervention, extending the school day won’t go down well with either teachers or pupils. I can say for 1 if I had to do it, I’d be asking SLT which bits of my current marking, prep or admin they were ok with not happening. It’s also worth noting that with teachers doing the job of the exam boards this year, those who have been teaching live over lockdown have worked unprecedented hours this year for no extra money and are approaching burnout. As for the pupils, engagement in lower ability groups typically drops after lunch anyway; by 5pm, say, I think little would be going in. The most unmotivated are likely to be actively disruptive by this point, especially if sports clubs etc get problematised. Good teaching can address that to a degree but it’s very tough indeed to make trigonometry or the Plantagenets more engaging than football practice or hanging out by the chippy.

Opt in holiday sessions (say 2-3 mornings a week) possibly have some merit, though like most clinics they tend to attract the worried well or the middle class kids. Scaling down exam content definitely helped this summer and will probably need to happen again next academic year. The very able, motivated and well-supported will probably find a way anyway.

Probably the most common problem we’re seeing is weaknesses in extended writing, especially grammar. Few students read for pleasure and writing and comprehension skills in many students have noticeably fallen over the course of the lockdowns. This can, to a degree, be addressed through cross-curriculum activities (more long written answers in Science, for example), but some work at home, with carefully targeted resources, will be needed for some.

Many of the problems are also societal and Covid has exacerbated them but not caused them.

That’s probably enough rambling from me!

I give you an A* for this post.

Just as I hope every state school teacher gave all of their pupils as TAGs.

Lol.

There will be blood on the walls when the TAGs come out. There’s another area where the system is totally loaded in favour of the independent sector.

I think my kid would've been a lot better off if her eyes didn't fuck up about 2 years ago meaning she's struggled to read, which she used to do basically all the time. Managed to help a bit with big letters on a tablet but obviously that's a lot less flowing than more than 20 words on a page. Getting the eyes fixed has obviously been delayed massively. She could've probably read the Harry Potter series an extra 7 times since lockdown started.

My daughter had a mock exam this week that featured a question on a text that they haven't been taught because they ran out of time to be taught it as they were so behind the syllabus due to remote learning earlier in the year, so either not marking them on topics they haven't been taught or teaching them the topics they have missed seems like a good place to begin for me.

I work remotely from my office and live about 200 miles away from all my colleagues. The majority of them had their children in full time education since last summer, where as where I am in the midlands, my daughter was at home for months so was a very different experience. I don't see how the GCSE's next year can not be adjusted yet again to take this in to account.

The majority of them had their children in full time education since last summer, where as where I am in the midlands, my daughter was at home for months so was a very different experience

Saw something like this where one parent was a key worker. Some schools actually taught, while others just had the pupils in a few rooms with supervision but no actual teaching.

I don't see how the GCSE's next year can not be adjusted yet again to take this in to account.

I wonder how this could be done so to be fair.
Seeing first hand what one department in one school did, the system used last year was abused for better number for the teacher.

Very few wearing a mask properly, if at all.

You been saying this on a regular basis, give it a rest.

I had dinner on Monday evening with someone who got a positive test this morning, most likely from an exposure last Saturday. Test booked, but from what I’ve understood the probability of a false negative is too high to stop isolating even if it’s negative?

I think if you are contacted by track and trace by phone or the app, as a close contact of someone subsequently found positive, and having seen them within 2-days prior to their symptoms starting (or their + test), that current rules would be 10-days isolation for you regardless of any test result you have.
In fact, you would not strictly be eligible for a test unless you got symptoms.
That depends on your app having pinged your friend’s, or them having given your name as a close contact. I suppose if you don’t get a call then you have no legal compulsion to self isolate, but maybe a moral one?
Edit to say : sorry to hear that, I hope your friend recovers quickly

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/

Should have said, I’m in the Netherlands. So getting a test hasn’t been a problem. Haven’t heard from contact tracing but my question was mainly on what’s right and not what’s required. What makes it worse is that I’m staying at my dad’s whose wife has only had her first jab. Current plan is isolating in the guest room regardless of today’s result and getting a second test 5 days after exposure, which is in line with local guidelines.

Making my question not as much of a question anymore, it took me a while to find the guidelines.

Sorry! I was making assumptions that you were in the UK.