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

I'm a SAHM. The school is a 3 minute walk. We are a low risk family. We can manage either way.

My main concern is stability for my DCs, especially my 9yo with ASD. Indeterminate blocks in and out of school with little notice of opening and shutting and altered routines would be stressful and damaging. We're just begining to get a settling phase from the anxiety that began brewing around late February/ early March. I haven't heard the word "tummy ache" for a couple of weeks and the meltdowns and hair chewing are easing. I wañt him to maintain his coping levels in a society greater than the three people he lives with, but he masks through school anyway so it's a fine line.

The classrooms are small, so for social distancing, you'd have to split classes on reduced time tables (one class per year, one classroom per class).

I would feel more confident with a return in June/ July where the normal summer holidays will bring the school year to a natural conclusion anyway.

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

Because a lot of posters keep saying (not on this thread) that they won't be happy to until September, which in likliehood will be even more of a risk than over the summer months. It's not a got ya, but a lot of people seem to think that once the curve has been flattened that it's 'gone', which isn't the case. If you have the means to keep them home for years then great, many people don't though.

People talking about keeping their kids at home until there’s a vaccine are ridiculous and I guess generally the parents of young children where this kind of disruption to their education is minimal.
Mine is in high school with exams to sit.

@NewLevelsOfTiredness I think Denmark seem to have done a good job. They lock downed early, so got a good control over this. Their death rates are low. If I lived there I would probably send my kids back. In the UK no. I also do not think it is fair in the UK to school staff.
The view in the UK seems to be, kids will all get it, but most will have it fairly mild, so no big deal. But what about staff?
In England the average age of teachers is 39. Which means a fair number will be older and many will have these common underlying conditions that makes them vulnerable.
I can't find anything on the average age of teaching assistants. Then there are dinner ladies, cleaners and janitors.
And what about all the households these mildly infected kids are returning to? Lots will have parents or other family members with diabetes, asthma, heart issues, high blood pressure, cancer. I don't want any child to have their parent die because schools went back too early.

The level of virus within the country is significantly higher now than before lockdown.

Surely this can't be true or there would be no point in lockdown.

We as mums are going in gut instinct and our own risk assessment, we are in a vulnerable position of having to trust our government literally with our lives. But they are the ones with all the actual data and information so when they say it’s safe to go back it had better be safe

Yes absolutely, I need to work, my kid has ASD and needs to be in school. Also I’m paying for it so the sooner the better for me thanks.

Numerous articles online state "some ministers are pushing for May 11th"

Another fucking school thread!!! Aghhhhhh

And yet you couldn’t move for them on here before they actually closed

It's nursery that I'm desperate for. At least with far more screen time than usual plus a childcare rota my DH and i could just about get out working hours in around the school age DC. the toddler on the other hand.... 🙄 having to look after a 2 year old means there are literally not enough hours in the day to fulfil our commitments and we're both stressed. Even 2 half days a week (as opposed to the 3 full days we usually take) would helps us out so much!!

We're even at the point of kind of hoping for furlough- have taken pay cuts anyway so it wouldn't make a difference to income, it would just bug us the time to make this workable.

If it was optional then No as we have a baby due in August so would like to have that worry out of the way, but I think if the kids go back then it will spread more and increase everyones chancing of picking it up in the local shop so your damned anyway, such a hard situation.

No. My partner is vulnerable and I’m worried not only the kids could get ill but they could make him ill and it would be worse. Besides where we live deaths have apparently increased. And actually, we don’t know the true number of deaths because only those who have died in hospital have been recorded. I’d rather know the more including death rates in care homes before anyone talks about the kids going back to school.

Your vote is currently sitting at 50/50. So that works well if everyone does behave how they voted. Half the class sizes returning, so manageable with only 10-15, max 20 children in a class, space the desks out and easier for teacher to manage. It’s an ideal state school class size.

I'm a TA- I don't want to go back

My school is a tiny old Victorian school, it's over-subscribed with 30 children or more in each class, small classrooms, 3 kids crowded round desks meant for two, very limited outdoor space, limited hand washing facilities (only 2 toilets and 2 sinks shared by 60 children), daily cleaning is minimal due to small budget.

No

Surely this can't be true or there would be no point in lockdown.

It will be true for new infections in the community that aren’t being tested. It has to be, people aren’t having the same amount of social contact which is what spreads the virus. This is what the scientific adviser said last week. If it wasn’t there really would be no point in lockdown!

Why primary school op?

Its primary school that said articles are mentioning

I'd very happily send my 3 year old back to nursery, it would be better for her to be back in a routine.

One of them, yes, he's in a small specialist school. We are hoping for some school sessions this coming week.
The other one, not full time with full classes; she has had a few days respite (the specialist school was closed and it's really hard for her to be home with DS when we are both working) but very small groups. Her school is big/crowded.

I agree @Butternutbrownie
I will keep mine at home as long as it takes. I'm totally happy to home educate until it's much safer, even if that's years.

Thing is would it actually be any riskier sending them now than in March which most of us were happy to do right until the schools closed?

No. Not my secondary school aged child either.

Yes secondary and 6th form

And there is zero evidence this virus is seasonal. If there is a second peak in Autumn, it will be because rules are relaxed and more people are infected.
Nobody is committing to keeping kids away from school for a set time. But when Matt Hancock is saying we may not have even hit the peak in terms of deaths per day, why would this be the time to discuss opening schools? They know how many people are seriously ill in hospital, so unlike us he will know that we are not yet on the downward trend.
It makes sense to base opening schools on actual evidence of risk. This just seems knee jerk.

I personally think it either makes sense to send kids back soon (in an on/off pattern), or keep them home for years (until vaccine is found, which is unlikely to be soon). sending them in september is probably the worst, as winter care in the nhs is diabolical anyway.
so i would prefer to send mine in in 2 weeks compared toseptember!