ADs picnic in the park with Twinkle the Tortoise

[ISaySteadyOn]

Thought it was my turn to start a thread.

Fuck fuck fuck. Dd's bubble has burst. Arghhhh!

[quote TheOrchidKiller]@BogRollBOGOF
A dressing up day on day 1 - that would be the last straw for me!

Finally got the kids to a dental check up yesterday, a year late. It was exciting to be going somewhere that was neither work nor a supermarket. And also sad that I was excited about someone else's dental appointment.[/quote]
I did my usual blag of boys in their usual t-shirts and applying the theme. It's amazing how often it works for Lego and Minecraft

Sympathies to all whose DC's bubble burst. I am sorry take your pick.

and for those with burst bubbles. So frustrating for you and your kids too.

Trust I hear you on the holidays stuff. We've had our spring holiday cancelled already postponed from last year and now the company is shilly-shallying about giving us our money back.

On top of that I've had to decline a potentially interesting (not to mention lucrative) freelance work project because of a conflict of interest. First bite of work in months and I can't do it on a technicality. Grr.

Where's the fucking wine...

@ISaySteadyOn Is this any help to you? www.educationotherwise.org/community-portal/

@SirSamuelVimes

Fuck fuck fuck. Dd's bubble has burst. Arghhhh!

This is going well then. As cross as I am that I'm now in my house until the 23rd march I feel so, so bad for the kids in DS's class who've only had 4 days in school since December. DS is over the moon that we can just stay here. I'm climbing the walls thinking about it.

Was it a staff member or a child at your school @SirSamuelVimes? It was staff at ours. Mad really as they've been doing the routine tests for months and nothing has shown up until now.

@LadyCounterblast

and for those with burst bubbles. So frustrating for you and your kids too.

Trust I hear you on the holidays stuff. We've had our spring holiday cancelled already postponed from last year and now the company is shilly-shallying about giving us our money back.

On top of that I've had to decline a potentially interesting (not to mention lucrative) freelance work project because of a conflict of interest. First bite of work in months and I can't do it on a technicality. Grr.

Where's the fucking wine...

So bloody frustrating! I just complained that I'd booked it days ago and they relented and let me cancel for free. However it doesn't solve the issue that I won't pay £££ for a caravan at the coast. Equally I don't want to not go anywhere. We have a long weekend in June booked. I darent book abroad because of quarantine. Going to book for next year soon though I think.

Also school have just messaged saying kitchens closed from tomorrow and all next week. Were not feeding your children unless they're on free school meals, but not universal free school meals.

Thanks for the notice guys!

@TrustTheGeneGenie. That is so annoying. I can’t believe the prices for next year. We were going to stop taking DD out of school for holidays but having seen the price hikes we might defer that another year.

[quote Worldgonecrazy]@TrustTheGeneGenie. That is so annoying. I can’t believe the prices for next year. We were going to stop taking DD out of school for holidays but having seen the price hikes we might defer that another year.[/quote]
The prices this year are just insane. You could go abroad for the same price but I just darent book it!

It's the weather for me. I don't want to pay short of a grand to spend 4 nights in a wet campsite.

I am going to take ds out for a holiday next year because we will likely get married in term time so will holiday close after. I'll just pay the fine. I don't see realistically how anyone can complain after this shit show. What's a week compared to a year.

I keep thinking about withdrawing consent to lateral flow testing for DS because it seems such a farce. But I'm kind of curious as to how it will pan out.

I'm not blaming school at all, they are only doing what they have been asked.

Why all the testing going on in school? It's taking all week to get through each student twice. DS said they have lessons as normal & they get taken out for 10 minutes to do the tests individually, then sent back to lessons. Must be a pain for the teachers.

It's Thursday, & still no instructions about home testing, or supplies of kits have been issued.

Why did they just not do one test at school last week & show them all a video of how to do it, then send them off to do the rest at home? Instead of all this faffing about & disruption.

They are secondary age. They have quite possibly done more complex science experiments than a lateral flow test before now. If they don't trust the kids to do it accurately, I'm sure most parents could do it for them - most parents have managed to get foul liquid antibiotics down a wriggly toddler with earache at some time or other, I'm sure we can stick a stick up a 17 year old's nose & read a result off another stick.

Orchid I'm also thinking of not continuing with the tests for secondary DC. I'm letting them do the 3 on school then maybe not carrying on. I'm conflicted as I really want schools to stay open but not sure of the benefit of so much testing.

@bakingcupcakes not been told. A list of suspects has been drawn up and investigations (via class WhatsApp!) have begun but no answer yet. School haven't told us.

Poor DD. She's had three and a half days of school since Dec 18th.

Ours is a TA - we 'know' (much discussion on our school whats app too ) because she's the only one who moves between bubbles and both bubbles she's in have gone at the same time. School have stated it's a single case in their emails so it can't be a coincidence.

I actually think school are doing too much mixing of bubbles. The head still teaches in every class every week. I was thinking the other day that if the head gets covid she could take out the whole school!

Of all the government and LA screw-ups and embarrassments over the last year and they are legion I think the situation around schools and education especially has been an absolute fooking disgrace.

None of the government (nor indeed SAGE) have even the faintest idea what it's like to be a parent, or educate a child. At least on anything less than a quarter-mill a year. They're so out of touch.

Ugh, that’s rubbish about burst bubbles. When it happened at our school before Christmas it was a lunch lady who was “patient zero” so it took out the whole school as everyone eats in the hall, except for a couple of teachers who ate in the staff room.

I thought the chances of DS testing positive for the first 2 tests were small - he hasn't been anywhere! And I thought that if he got a positive I'd get him a PCR to check. If that came back positive we would, of course, isolate.

But the decision to not allow negative PCRs to over-ride positive LFs done in school has thrown me a bit. It's nuts, because once they start doing home tests a negative PCR can over-ride the LF test, & everyone can carry on as normal.

Refusing to accept the negative PCR result is also not what happens in other workplaces. Also, at work, if someone has symptoms their contacts at work don't have to isolate unless they get a positive result.

I don't get why schools are different.

In that scenario I don't fancy having to negotiate a pass for DS back into school. I have form for questioning a couple of things in the past, which didn't go down well.

I suspect the delay in doing tests at home is a problem with rolling out the testing programme & getting supplies of kits out, than any hidden agenda. Although they have had since Christmas to work it out, couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery....

@LadyCounterblast
But it's easy to educate any child. You send them off to school at 4, teach them to front an adverbial & recite Shakespeare, off they pop to (preferably a Russell Group) uni at 18, job done! If a child doesn't fit into that system it is obviously their mother's fault for not making them do it. And any mental health issues the snowflake might have must be down to too much screen time.

(Still smarting from comments like that, from when my eldest child was let down by the system. Me, I was obviously sat on my arse, doing nothing to help).

So sorry to hear about burst bubbles and lost holidays. It is miserable, utterly miserable. Having looked at the prices for UK hudays and nearly passed out as a result, I am resigned to going nowhere for a while but... We live in London so I am hoping we can make the most of a whole load of stuff opening up again soon and go to some shows, have fun days put in town etc.
DS has to dress up as a fucking scientist for school tomorrow. I just want to scream that unless working in a lab, scientists wear normal bloody clothes. Jeans and hoody it is.

@TooManyPlatesInMotion
what, you mean you don't have a lab coat & test tubes at home for this scenario?!

Just stick a notice round DS's neck saying, "Next slide, please." Or give him a handful of herbs - one of them's bound to be SAGE.

falls about. Love it!

@TheOrchidKiller love it! I am inspired now!

Just stick a notice round DS's neck saying, "Next slide, please."

Oh please do this

We just had an email saying the home tests are voluntary so considering maybe whether to continue or not after the school ones finish.

they seem to send some home and you get them to do it and log on online with the results. Feeling mixed as well about whether to do them or not

[quote 110APiccadilly]@ISaySteadyOn Is this any help to you? www.educationotherwise.org/community-portal/[/quote]
Thanks, I've had a look. No luck so far but it is a place to start!

@bakingcupcakes

Ours is a TA - we 'know' (much discussion on our school whats app too ) because she's the only one who moves between bubbles and both bubbles she's in have gone at the same time. School have stated it's a single case in their emails so it can't be a coincidence.

I actually think school are doing too much mixing of bubbles. The head still teaches in every class every week. I was thinking the other day that if the head gets covid she could take out the whole school!

At one of the local primary schools, the head teacher DID take out most of the school. Can't remember when it was, last year sometime, but she went round most of the classrooms giving a chat about how well they were doing, keep doing what you're doing, very proud of you all etc etc. That ended well, didn't it?