2/ Due to transmission in schools spreading into communities it was essential for schools to be included in the lockdown in order to protect NHS and save lives.
3/ A National Education Task Group involving all stake holders should be set up to look at the following points
4/ September to December schools were put in an impossible situation, inadequate support and flexibility means transmission couldn't be prevented.
All the warnings came true and pre lockdown the level of outbreaks and isolations was severely disruption education
5/ It was a mistake to have all children back at the start of term.
Decision to expand definition of keyworker and vulnerable children risk transmission continuing in schools
6/ When schools do increase student numbers they must be made safer than they were last term.
The measures for this are in the urgent report for safer schools, blended will be safer and less disruptive than December conditions
7/ LFT testing to find asymptomatic cases for isolation is sensible
Using LFT as a replacement for isolation isnt
8/ We do need to consider mental health, the past year has caused trauma for many due to a wide range of issues.
Rapid suppression of the virus is vital so students can participate in activities that support well being in and out of school.
Suggests remote group work could aid
9/ Ensuring students have the right support to transition to the next step in life is important for mental health.
Education losses needs long term planning to address. Lack of devices and Internet is deeping inequality while government fails to provide these
10/
11/ Suggesting for supporting transition
12/ Conclusion
School were contributing to transmission, IT support is a priority, too many students currently in schools. Additional measures needed in place before return to prevent more disruption
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2/ This is why they are scrapping the vaccine second dose, to get up to that 15m as fast as possible, of course there's also panic about rising rates but if they were that concerned about cutting transmission they wouldn't be planning 30 kids in classrooms without mask next week
3/ While a logical argument can be made about giving as many people the first dose as possible, it seems the move has alarmed many in the medical and scientific community.
It is a sudden change of strategy, first to suggest it was Tony Blair and that was met with derision.
So the November national lockdown didn't work, cases and deaths have risen dramatically, why do they think these Tiers and secondary going back a week or two late in January is going to do a better job of getting cases down and keeping them down?
So what will be the difference between mid January and mid December besides replacing isolation in schools with unreliable LFTs?
Why did @GavinWilliamson claim primaries will continue to get regular testing?
Why did @BorisJohnson and @GavinWilliamson claim transmission isnt happening in schools with their comments about household mixing and community infections and then claim testing would cut transmission chains.
They just made out there wasn't transmission chains in schools
1/ Oh @halfon4harlowMP this interview is a shocker for selective quoting, and it appears you haven't read or understand what SAGE have said about school and students
2/ "Transmission is low" You're quoting the PHE report on infectiousness of children, this line has done a lot of work in UK media and also in other countries but its a misquote
The report said they had "low confidence" in this statement, see for yourself
3/ Report did say they had high confidence schools returning would have significant impact on RO, they said the reports findings of low transmission could only be applied to schools during lockdown with limited student numbers and shouldn't be applied to September opening