Are you taking your children out of school next week?

[RosieLemonade]

I’m a teacher so I have to keep going but I’m tempted to pull DD out of nursery so even if my bubble pops she can still do Christmas activities with her dad and the family members in our Christmas bubble. Just wondering what other people are thinking.

But if your child has to self isolate for 10 days, that means they can't go anywhere or meet anyone

Tier 3 here, so not much going anywhere or meeting anyone going on anyway. And we’re just having Christmas at home with the 5 of us anyway.
My children have missed 17 weeks of school already this year. They will be in school whenever they are permitted to be.

Mine were staying home from now but as the isolation period has been reduced, they can go in Monday and Tuesday.

I'll keep them home the rest of the week

We just received notification of a bubble bursting today and the school are quoting 14 days isolation still.

It’s not our bubble but I’m seriously considering removing DD. It’s the 7th case in her primary school and although they do their best to stop the spread the cases in our area generally are on the rise.

My two have been at home since last Tues as the heating system was broken and the school doesn't think it'll be fixed by Mon so they've taken the decision to close the school again this Mon and Tues. Not sure if I'll be sending them in for the last couple of days tbh

My DD1 will be off but doing teams learning - there have been several cases of Covid at her school so they have given us this option.
My DS and DD2 will both be going in. They have no Covid cases at their schools and so are expected to attend.
I have more chance of bringing it into the household as I work in a hospital that is rife with Covid, it would be my luck to catch it as I have xmas day off this year 🙄

Yes. I'm a teacher so have to go in but my if I have to isolate at least my dc won't have to stay at home. Most of their friends are as well which makes it easier as they wouldn't want to miss out on fun with their friends.
It's such a hard and personal decision

@Britsy

I don't understand, what's happening next week?

@Britsy The reason for keeping them out of school next week is to try and avoid contact with a positive case within the school environment. If a class bubble bursts next week the isolation period will extend into the 5 day ‘rule reprieve’, so any chance of seeing family inside will be lost due to a period of isolation.

By taking children out early you reduce the risk of them coming into contact with a positive person and increase your chance of being able to see family over Christmas.

Well, I want to but neither of my kids are keen! So probably not.

From an entirely selfish point of view, I have loads to get ready before Christmas and need to do more Christmas shopping...it really helps me if they're in school

Yes, all 3 do finished on Friday.

*Dc

I’ve decided to keep her off.

Not a chance. I'll never take DS out of school unless forced.

We're not seeing anyone over Christmas anyway.

Mine are staying in.
Local cases in catchment are low. With a rolling rate of 83/100,000, we'd be unlucky to get caught out at this point.
We haven't got many plans.

No way. I'm not taking another week off school off my children especially a week that will be filled with fun and Christmas activities so they can have a roast with their grandparents.

No, as I have to work, as does DH, though from home. However, if I didn’t work, I still would as we’re not planning on seeing anyone vulnerable to COVID-19 over Christmas; my parents are only just 60 and very healthy. If I did intend to see anyone high risk over Christmas though, we’d definitely give it serious consideration and can see why many parents will do this.

Mine are going in.
We're in tier 3 and don't anticipate doing anything or seeing anyone over the holidays, because errr... infection risk.
I find it so weird that people are prepared to risk seeing elderly relatives or other vulnerable family members or friends. My elderly neighbour, who hasn't been out or had visitors for months, contracted the virus most likely from a door step delivery a few weeks ago, and has spent the last 10 days in hospital. Such a slim chance of transmission!
I'm not really worried about myself as am fit and healthy, but will do anything in my power not to put anyone else at risk.

I wish I could hold my nerve and keep her going in but she’s missed out on so much this year that I can’t bear the thought of her missing out on the few festive activities we have booked in for the following week.

I should add we aren’t seeing anyone vulnerable it’s just the idea of 10 days inside without any thing special over Christmas.

@RosieLemonade

I wish I could hold my nerve and keep her going in but she’s missed out on so much this year that I can’t bear the thought of her missing out on the few festive activities we have booked in for the following week.

That’s exactly why mine are going in. They’ve missed so much school this year that I can’t bear the thought of them missing more, especially when they’re so looking forward to the Christmas lunch/class party/their ‘enterprise day’ when they sell Christmas crafts they’ve made, the chocolate raffle and finishing up their current project.

Yes. I've pulled my Y10 and Y8 out for the last 4 days. Mental health wise tbh. My eldest has aspergers and has had a stint of isolation already, and really struggled. Going out for walks is how he handles his meltdowns and prevents them. I couldn't risk him not being able to do that for the entire 2 weeks off school. With no lessons or structure it would be awful. They both did fantastically over lockdown, and have Google classroom work sorted etc. I emailed their school Thursday evening so they spoke to teachers on Friday.

I'm a teacher in a different school. Not sure what situation is with our school, we already have 2.5 year groups out. So I'll be mainly teaching online, but from my classroom. And can socially distance at work with a mask.

For me, it was a decision that was right for us. They've never been pulled out of school before. Never had a term time holiday. Did every piece of work over lockdown. Barely even have a sick day, the youngest has had 100% attendance for 6/8 of his school years. But this is what will work for us here. So they're off school.

Primary teacher here in tier 3 area. I’m taking my own primary aged kids out from Tuesday. I’m part-time so will also finish on Wednesday. My kids won’t miss much in their last few days. They were just going to be doing Christmas crafts, watching a Christmas film and having a toy day. My husband is clinically vulnerable and we want to have as worry free Christmas as possible after a horrible term.

Our school did all of the Christmas "fun" days last week but I'd consider sending them if they hadn't. The kids here won't miss out by having a fantastic few days with their grandparents

Nope. Mine will be in. We’re having Christmas at home anyway as I have to work over Christmas so can’t take advantage of the ‘special rules’ even if my parents were comfortable having us there. We’ll all be back in lockdown after Christmas anyway with everyone going crazy visiting relatives just because it’s Christmas.

No, it hadn’t occurred to me at all. But they will be having more fun at school this week with their Christmas activities and all their friends than they will stuck at home for next fortnight, quite frankly. Apart from Christmas Day stuff there will be zero going on during the holidays, and only a brief hello from one grandparent. All we’ll be doing is going for walks, bike rides and playing board games, so not very exciting.

No Covid cases in this area at all anyway, so the chances of bubble bursting is very low in any case.