It would be good if the government allowed testing in primary schools too. We have no social distancing, no PPE ( unless dealing with a child showing symptoms), tables are wiped down with antibacterial (not antiviral) disinfectant. Hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser is encouraged as are class bubbles. We also have staggered start and finish times. However, most primary schools in my local authority area were closed or partially closed before we broke up for the holidays.
We are now in tier 4 so Christmas is essentially cancelled here. I am willing to bet, that we will be expected to return to work under the same circumstances as before. This even though we apparently have the easier caught variant of Covid in our area. Just a by the by fact, our council leader in the town where I work asked to close schools 3 days early before the break due to increasing infections. This request was declined even though a large number of schools, primary and secondary were already closed due to Covid. Also all secondary school children were told to be tested before the break and to test again before returning to school.
The government is saying that children from the of 10 are the carriers of the virus. I work in year 6 primary (10-11 year olds). I do wear an FFP2 face mask, which is not on my out of date risk assessment. However, after chatting with my husband about the risks I face at work, I have decided to resign from a job I love and have been doing for nearly 20 years. This makes me sad and even a bit angry as I feel the pupils and staff of primary schools are being badly let down by government. Extra measures put in place are not sufficient and fall far below standards of any other indoor working environment. Some precautions, PPE for example, are actively discouraged. Judging by the fact we are running out of essential supplies eg. pens, they probably are not being properly funded either.
