Poll on if you would send your (primary) aged dc back to school on 11/5

[THATscurryfungeBITCH]

Would you be happy to send your primary aged dc back to school on 11th May?

Yes - YABU
No - YANBU

Yes
My ds has ASD and ADHD this lockdown is destroying him he needs his routine and neither he nor I am in an at risk group

*keeping them at home (not harm)

Also has everyone seen photos of countries where’s hooks are back? 8 kids per class no break, staggered arrival times. My kids school of 800 would struggle. I think in some ways going back with very severe restrictions and no physical interaction would be harder mentally for the kids than being off

No. Dh is vulnerable. Ds won’t be going back to school until August at the earliest.

Schools not hooks!!!

I would be annoyed as I think it would just 'undo' the good that has been done over the past few weeks and leave us all 'locked down' for the summer holidays instead. But presumably that is what they want to engineer. Lots of small bouts of school followed by periods of lockdown to slowly spread the virus in a 'managed' way so that herd immunity develops gradually and the NHS can cope with the numbers. A vaccine will come too late and they know that. Notably, there was news today that Health England refused an offer from a British company to supply 1 million virus tests a week so I wonder if they prefer the laissez faire spread of the virus by stealth around the community, hoping that most people only get it mildly?

Absolutely not.

While it will undoubtedly still be risky in September, I do feel we will be in a much better place. There won't be a vaccine but they may have had time to find something that helps symptoms. Or at the very least time to get more ventilators/ppe.

My asthma puts me in the shielding group. I have a 4 year old and a 7 year old with autism. I can't possibly shield from them so we all have to.

My 12 weeks wouldn't even be up by then, and while I understand why the economy is important I will not be putting it in front of my own health and risking my dc becoming orphaned.

The government is going to have different priorities than me, so I'm not ignoring experts, I'm understanding that simple truth. They will not be thinking of my family and dc over eveyone else and that is fine. Because that's my job.

As we haven’t reached the peak yet, way too soon to say when it would be safe to reopen schools properly.

Yes - clearly the only real exit strategy is that we all get it over an extended period and rely on the idea that we'll have sufficient immunity. We can't stay indoors for 18 months so better to allow a controlled spread.

A parent who has a 10% chance of dying if they get the virus may be very reluctant to send a kid to school who could then bring it back home. And I doubt it would do much for the child if they realised they carried the virus into the house and so killed their mother

So yes, currently I think it's not as simple as all children should be sent back no matter what the circumstance

What do people think about nursery age dc?

Surely for the vast majority, it’s going to be a question of whether they need their children to be a nursery for them to work, as they will still need to put food on the table.
Mine doesn’t go to nursery as I am at home, but if I needed to go to work then he would be going to nursery.

No my ds2 has severe autism and learning disabilities and goes to a special needs school.all the children have complex disabilities I just don't see how they could keep them safe when most children wouldn't be able to social distance themselves plus there is the school transport he travels on small mini BUS packed with children and just one escort

I live in in Denmark and my stepdaughters (5 & 9) went back yesterday. My baby girl (just 1) starts day care on Monday. Their mum & I both work full time (luckily both able to work from home.)

I'm amazed at how far the school, kindergarten and day care have gone to try and make it as safe as possible.

I can't list everything, but:
Kids are sent home at the first sign of illness (common corona symptom or not.)
All toys that can't be easy washed twice a day have been stored away. All games that involve passing things around (cards etc.) have been stored away.
The classes at the school have all been split in two to maintain distancing. Breaks outside are staggered throughout the day to keep numbers as low as possible.
Additional staff have been hired at the day care and kindergarten, where the kids are also sorted into smaller groups. This is both to be with the kids and to do constant rounds cleaning surfaces etc.
All hands are washed every 90 mins at the least.

All this is with the understanding that the kids cannot realistically maintain distance from each other at all times.

Denmark locked down very early though - the numbers in hospital have fallen steadily for the last two weeks and at the worst point we weren't using even 10% of the respirators available.

It was hard with the baby, but before the lock down, when I was on paternity leave, the highlight of her day would be when I took her to the local mall or anywhere else with lots of people. She loved watching people, she got so happy when they smiled at her or waved. I'm as concerned about the lack of socialisation she's experiencing as I am about the virus, in all honesty.

I do trust the government here, they seem to have gotten it right so far.

My kids are high school, one goes to a sn school, I would send the one that goes to sn school back, she needs routine and she’s starting to regress, it’s Important that she goes back. Eldest is year 11 so it’s unlikely she will go back until she starts 6 form in September.

At some point kids will need to go back, if people are waiting for it to be safe then they are going to be waiting a very long time, it’s going to be at least a year before a vaccine is circulated, do you plan on keeping your kids home until then?

I know children are at a low risk of dying. But more seem to be really ill with it. I have read stories of babies and young children hospitalised. Sure they don't die, but who wants their child to be incredibly ill? Asthma increases the risk which both my kids have.

Covid 19 will be around until an extensive vaccine programme is rolled out, this could be up to 2 years realistically, are people really going to keep their children off of school for that long? If history is anything to go by, the second peak is usually worse, I don't know why September is seen as safer than now.

I said yes but as a pp said it's been reported UK schools won't go back on 11th May when French schools do, more likely after the bank holiday, so 1st June. We need to see what the situation is then.

DS is in Y6 at a middle school, so would they just take years 5 and 6 back and leave 7 and 8 still at home?

It would also be very worrying for me because I have a highly vulnerable elderly DF who isn't getting all his care needs met currently and although three different people have registered him on the highly vulnerable list this hasn't got anywhere yet so I and my DB are having to go into his house (wearing mask and gloves) to do cleaning, throw away out of date food, empty bins etc. Care agency have not been asked by social services to do everything and some things have been directed to 'family' to do and even what the carers should be doing isn't all getting done. I have felt more reassured to step into his house in the past week or so knowing that my family have been carefully social distancing but with a return to school what on earth can I or DB do when we both have kids?

I think it’s just too early. I’d probably send them because my husband would want to and they would want to go but I don’t think I would be that happy about it. A further month maybe yes.

I think as it stands at the moment May 11th is way too early. Early/Mid June, after half term seems the most sensible to me if the plan is to relax the lockdown a bit to encourage a second wave over the summer. I'm shielding so the medical advice I've received at the moment would mean I couldn't send mine back before mid June anyway. After that I don't think I'll magically be less risk but I will follow whatever advice I'm given by the experts.
We'll also have the problem of teachers either shielding or having to self isolate (if that is still the advice) so schools may not even have enough staff to safely open anyway.

it’s going to be at least a year before a vaccine is circulated, do you plan on keeping your kids home until then?

Why is this repeated over and over again as some sort of 'gotcha' on mn?

The answer is yes.

I will keep them home for as long as necessary, if the alternative is them growing up without a mother. I am able to home school them adequately. Dd 7 with autism actually is coming out of her shell a lot more and is doing fantastically. I can keep them home for years if necessary, so I will.

No, my husband is shielding. My older son is desperate to go back, as he loves school, so if I could I would send him, but the health of my family comes first

deffo!!!! secondary and college as well

Why, who has said they’ll go back to school on 11th May? Or even hinted it?
No one as far as I know but happy to be corrected.

Another fucking school thread!!! Aghhhhhh