Covid - news and views
It's good to hear that members of CT are receiving their vaccinations, good luck to all those yet to have theirs. It seems like a long haul till we get everyone sorted and hear the results of the present vaccines.
I'm leaving this open for non political comments as per the guidelines. Hope you can add your own experiences and thoughts.
My first jab comes up tomorrow, I'm so glad we have research institutions that have got us this far! And I am planning breaks away in the hope of improvements on the horizon.
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We have our second "Oxford" jab on 16th April ,with that in mind and the Lockdown being lifted? We are booked to go away after Easter and returning the day before our second jab
It is possible restrictions permitting? we may have some sort of a meet up with some friends before; probably at our "second home"
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We're just in the next age group down (just under the top end I hasten to add
) so we're hoping to hear soon but, for the present, just keep doing what we've been doing all along, morning, afternoon and evening walks with the dogs, occasionally from one of the nearby villages but mostly from home and as little shopping as possible.But what a difference a year makes! This time last year, almost to the day, we were getting ready for our holiday in South Africa, being told it was nothing to worry about, all be over in 12 weeks, carry on as normal. So we were surprised when they were already doing temperature checks for international and domestic flights over there.
Hopefully we can look forward to travel again in the not too distant future; we have 2 cottage breaks and a trip to Greece all booked well over a year ago and rolled over from 2020 - keeping our fingers crossed now!
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Clearly for the economy things need to open up as soon as possible, but for me, if restrictions are in place until late spring / early summer it wouldn't bother me, more people vaccinated and (hopefully) a much lower number of infections.
The only exception would be to open schools when its safer.
There was an article on the BBC regarding how best to help children catch up on the lost time. A few options mentioned were:
1. repeat the whole year
2. summer schools
3. longer school days
4. more 1 to 1 tuition
Personally, an extra hour on the school day seems the logical choice.
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I had my first Pfizer jab last Thursday with no other side effect than a very sore arm but as that lasted until the following evening only it was well worth it.
Husband is in the next batch because, as I keep telling him, he’s my toy boy being over 4 years younger.
We were optimistic when the vaccines started to roll out and booked a couple of weekends away for the end of March but I suspect they will be cancelled and we will rebook for April. Would be happy just to drive somewhere different for the day, put the kettle on and eat bacon butties but hey ho, it is what it is.
One suggestion for schools that I saw last week was for them to shorten the summer break by 2 weeks and add a week on to both the Autumn half-term and the Christmas break when there was more chance of infections being passed on (colder weather).
Most of the Press emphasis has been on the fact that a study (small and not peer reviewed) indicates the AZ vaccine has little impact on mild to medium disease but surely the important point is that it reduces the chance of serious illness and hospitalisation?
Will be interesting to see what the scientists say at the Briefing later.
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yes saw that but apart from item 1 all that won't (couldn't contractually) be done by the school's own teachers, but by bought in staff I understand (or overtime) which there is a very high budget for.
But yes something needs to be done. I think primaries, as the report suggests, will need it more than secondaries. Imagine how much years 1 and 2 have missed, not just basic academic skills but social interaction skills
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yes same here
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Out of interest regarding schools my daughter, who is a teacher, says that some of the most vulnerable children are getting very good one to one teaching at present. More than they receive in normal times and improvements are being noticed. These are children who are at school and not at home.
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yes my daughter is saying the same too.
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Following from the proposed ideas in Whittakerr's post, here are some interesting (well to me) points,
Regarding repeating a year: And pupils who repeat a year make an average of four months' less academic progress than those at a similar level who continue on to the next school year, research suggests
Extra hours: The extra teaching time could be provided by "civil society instead of teachers", he says
The only idea that appears to work very well is 1:1 tutoring as indicated by Brue's post: One-to-one tuition is seen as a proven method of helping children catch up. Weekly sessions could help a student make three to six months of academic progress, with particularly large gains in literacy and numeracy among primary-school pupils, according to four recent UK studies.
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How about reducing the summer school holiday season from its customary 6 weeks to just 2 or 3? These are unique times in our era so why not use those extra 2/3 weeks for some catch up. Maybe even scrap half terms until next year. Reduce Christmas to just a week etc.
I'm sure there will be objections but I'm looking on the bright side. Lower high season site fees.😂
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The problem with summer schools in that when looking at last year's attendance averaged out nationally it was poor at best.
Also those who did attend were from those whose parent's valued education and probably made sure their children did all there online work anyway, while the disadvantaged pupils who would have really benefitted from them didn't attend. It would appear that it doesn't get to the students who really need it?
They would have to be staffed by paid volunteers which perhaps wouldn't a problem but again there is the problem of making children attend. School holidays for children and staff are legally set out half a year before. In other words the holidays for 2020-21 are already set.
it is probably educationally better to have smaller classes and more 1:1 within a school year to enable catch up.
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It could be a volunteer that gets expenses-I’ve done that👍🏻
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Anyone aged 70 and over living in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland not yet jabbed are asked to call 119 to arrange a jab. NOT Wales who will still be contacted.
I should be in the next group.
OH had his, vunerable, had a card with vaccine details on it. No rate for 2nd jab.
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He’ll be contacted before 3 months I read, maximum efficacy. . .Go Mr B2😊👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻
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The 3 months will also allow a bit of time for testing whether the 2nd vax should be the same brand or whether mix and match is better 👍🏻👍🏻
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Mrs WN drew my attention to something.
From NBC news (she likes to keep abreast of matters over the pond). Apparently there were protestors outside the arena in Tampa Bay, Florida last night where the Super Bowl was being played. The protestors carried banners staring that "Vaccines result in Injury and Death".
There does come a time when free speech is misused to the detriment of the vast majority of a nations populace and this surely is one of those.
We have our very own "free speech, Magna Carta" types over here.
I saw a report over the weekend which stated that as many as 3,500,000 people in the UK are Covid deniers or sceptics. Obviously the figure was extrapolated from a survey but nevertheless it does seem rather a lot.
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OH will have had her 1st jab 5 weeks by tomorrow, and I mine by next Tuesday, but neither of us have a date for our second one although it should be before the end of March. With that in mind, and the prospect of a relaxation of restrictions after Easter we've booked a number of sites for an extended trip.
It was a year ago tomorrow that storm Ciara struck, and we were on a CL at Kings Lynn at the time. We are thankful we are not there at the moment during storm Darcy, as we may well have been, so there's something to be said for the present lockdown!!
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We always have plenty of protective year with us, but perhaps we would have to wear it all at the same time.
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When we booked online we had the option to book our second appointments at the same time, which we did. The only issue with doing it that way is that if the site is busy you might have to make several attempts at making your booking as the site does not "reserve" the dates inputted until you press the confirm button. For us that meant getting two appointments hours apart. However our experience of the first vaccinations last Saturday was that they are willing to let you in together so no delay or waiting around. It might be different if you go to one of the mega centres?
David
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