can someone please explain this to me (covid related)

[inpontypandyallday]

Random one but my DD starts school in September and we've been told that the children won't be allowed to bring bookbags in from home but they will be allowed to bring in lunch bags and water bottles. Apparently bookbags aren't allowed due to the covid risk.

Genuinely - why? Surely if a bookbag has got covid on it then chances are the child whose home it came from has also got covid?! And how is it any different to bringing a water bottle or lunch bag from home?

I don't care particularly one way or the other but it doesn't seem to make sense to me.

The only sensible answer I can think here is that they are trying to limit the amount of "stuff" brought in by children on a daily basis, as it makes absolutely no sense otherwise!

I'd imagine it's more to do with the actual books rather than the book bags - communal items being transferred between homes.

But my point still stands- if a book has got covid on it then surely at least one of the children has too?

I suppose if a book and bag come into the class along with a child that has CV, the book and bag get touched by lots of people, whereas the child does not. The lunch bag will only be touched by the owner.

And obviously people are supposed to be distant from each other anyway.

There's a logic shortage, OP.

It's just about reducing the amount of stuff they bring with them - but obviously done things are essential. My DDs nursery for example now don't allow comforters or water bottles, but of course we still provide a change of clothes.

Yez. Though the child can return after 10? Days but their stuff could still be contagious even after they are not possibly.
Also i guess it's possible it's a different family member ill.
And may be to limit stuff brought in.

Not sure yet if we are allowed bags.
Have to take
Pencil case
Water
Lunch?

Or maybe it's that bags are slung around and very rarely washed.boxes and bottles cqn be rinsed.

And obviously people are supposed to be distant from each other anyway.

Reception children will not be SD and nor will the teachers from the children.

At ours, they asked that we use plastic lunch boxes so they could wipe them all over. They supplied water notes kept at the setting. For DD's school she has got to take her own bottle but I think they leave it at school so once it is sanitised it is lower risk. She can take a book bag in. She's only in reception so no need for a pencil case etc anyway.

I know at my DDs school the usual routine was for all kids to put their book bags in a box at the start of the day and retrieve them again at the end of the day. They all look exactly the same, I'd imagine there's lots of rummaging around so many hands on many bags.

For drinks and lunchboxes, they'll all be easily identifiable by each kid, and probably only touched by the owner. Perhaps that's the theory?

I don't think they'll be sending books back and forth for the time-being either, so they're probably just not needed at the moment.

It seems a bit sad for books to not be going back and forth, particularly for children who don't have many books of their own at home.

But they will all be taking coats in and hanging them on pegs above and below and side by side each other. There is no logic to any of this bollocks.

Greenglassteacup

Quite!

I believe it may be less about taking covid into school but more about bringing it home. At our school the children put their lunchbox under their chair, which they get out at lunch and theredore no one else touches it. But the book bags go in a communal box, ta opens all bags, reads notes etc, puts a book in that family b had last night etc, then teacher might pop a note back to family c, so then the bag goes home having been touched by 3 or 4 people

If they don't have anything to eat or drink for the whole school day then they would not feel very well. Especially at four years old.

If they don't bring a reading book to school and back home again then this can be overcome. They can read a different book at home for example.

So one is more important than the other.

We are letting reading books go home @inpontypandyallday. The only difference being rather than the children going to the books in a central location to pick them we are choosing them and then will quarantine them before they go back. Too many children have no books at home especially those disadvantaged who have already fallen behind. I think we may be allowing book bags and water bottles tho, just with the bare essentials. It's all to limit the number of things moving around.

We cant really stop lunchboxes coming in, we don't have the capacity for 100% school dinners, plus only the children actually touch their own boxes. Having said all that a lot of the rules make no sense in relation to others, it's all a bit ridiculous.

It's to create less 'touching points'. The children will/should be washing their hands when they come into school and again before they leave school in the afternoon. If they had a 'Covid germ' in them then it would be washed away before coming out and holding their adults hand.
The less stuff they have to carry the better and as a PP said, lunch boxes are more important to carry than book bags.
Some schools as asking for disposable lunch bags only.

But why would book bags spread covid when groceries don't ?

I think it’s to do with space. Our school made the push for no bags last year (pre-COVID). They are making a big deal of it again this year too.

Yet on any given day, dc has to bring in water bottle, lunch probably (as I don’t think they are offering hot school dinners), reading folder and other home learning folder, and then a change of clothes for PE/forest school (they have to wear these but bring in a change on these days, not to be left in school) plus wellies. Somehow all without a bag.