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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Will you be sending your child on 'June 1st'

553 replies

Emcont · 03/05/2020 09:53

I've done this in AIBU for the voting feature. IF (and a big IF) schools go back on June 1st, will you be sending yours?

YABU - NO

YANBU - YES

OP posts:
DecadentDeity · 04/05/2020 08:59

How much normal risk does covid represent?

AStarSoBright · 04/05/2020 09:38

@Bluntness100 I can assure you there's no 'holiday' here.

Willyoujustbequiet · 04/05/2020 09:38

No.

I won't risk their safety and I certainly don't trust either this government or the idiots who breach social distancing. Will deregister If it comes to that.

Vintagevixen · 04/05/2020 09:48

Absolutely I will. Can't live life scared of everything and home schooling is an absolute disaster, I am not a natural teacher.

Iwalkinmyclothing · 04/05/2020 09:57

DS1 is year 6. Right now, he is having awful trouble sleeping. He is anxious and easily provoked to tears. His mental health is worryingly poor. He misses his friends. He misses his routine. He wants to be taught by his teacher. He loves school, he values it immensely. He desperately wants some semblance of a life back. I will definitely send him if there is an opportunity. DS3 is reception and I am less convinced they will be going back any time soon but again, yes, I would definitely send him if we could.

I am in work anyway, with all the risks that brings, so it's not like we are a household not already having regular contact with the outside world.

cantory · 04/05/2020 09:58

There won't be much education happening anyway. I won't be the only one not sending my kids back. I suspect classrooms will be like the week before schools closed with in some classrooms a lot of kids off. The kids who are in will be a mixture of very unsettled and happy to see friends and just wanting to chat.
I suspect it will be mainly childcare while the teachers focus on the few kids who really do need their help.

September is a long time away. By then we will know if the vaccine currently being tested works and when people will be vaccinated. I suspect it will be medics and carers first then vulnerable people. I would also expect by September for there to be a lot more data around how much kids do spread the virus plus evidence i.e. experiments on the impact of sending kids back to school on deaths.

I have always taken the approach that I am not deciding how long I am keeping my kids off at the moment. When I took them out a week before schools closed down I had decided it was for a week to see whether rates of death were going to climb in this country, and they did. You don't have to decide now when they go back. If deaths are low in September where we live I might be happy to send them back in September

FrippEnos · 04/05/2020 10:09

cantory
There won't be much education happening anyway.

that depends on quite a few factors.
If I have a class of pupils I will be teaching them fully, especially if it is year 10 or 12.

cantory · 04/05/2020 10:11

I suspect though a lot of parents will be like me and not send their kids in. So you may have a lot of pupils missing.

Chillipeanuts · 04/05/2020 10:13

PleasantVille

“........... or are you some kind of political bot that I've heard starts threads to gauge or sway public opinion?“

My thought exactly (but better put 😁)

cantory · 04/05/2020 10:21

Yes there is quite a few around at the moment.

ScorpionQueen · 04/05/2020 10:26

Teachers need to realise that it is either a June start or we lose the summer holidays - that is what it comes down to.
There is a pandemic. Schools were shut as part of a national drive to slow the spread. School staff are still working at school and home. It's not a holiday for any of us. We are not choosing to stay shut or when to open. I think some of you are forgetting what this is all about in the rush to get your kids back to school.
Flowers Daffodil Flowers

Delta1 · 04/05/2020 10:27

@cantory you seem really invested in making everyone see things your way. I completely disagree with pretty much everything you've said re schools. Education will most certainly be happening when schools return and there'll be a lot of caching up going on. Your choice entirely if you don't want your children involved in that but stop the desperate attempts to sway opinion! It will be what it will be. BoJo won't be asking you.

Delta1 · 04/05/2020 10:28

And not just on this thread.

Poetryinaction · 04/05/2020 10:34

Teachers have already given up their Easter holiday. And May half term will be working too.

Rosebel · 04/05/2020 10:36

Teachers have already said they are not working in the summer. Would you go in to work for free?

RickOShay · 04/05/2020 10:39

@ScorpionQueen and @Poetryinaction
Exactly.

nolongersurprised · 04/05/2020 10:44

There won't be much education happening anyway. I won't be the only one not sending my kids back.

My children are in a private school in Australia. My young two have been at school throughout as we have been working - would be classed as essential workers in the U.K. Unlike the state schools who have been insisting some children shouldn’t be in at our school anyone who wants to send their children in can. About 1/4 of children in the year 3-6 cohort is there and 1/3 in the younger primary group. They are still just doing their distance learning tasks, but at school. Next week some year groups will be allowed back and the teaching will be face-to-face, it won’t be child care. All going well the other children will be back a few weeks’ later.

I suppose Australia and NZ are worth watching to see what happens with the numbers when schools re open, although our numbers are so low and the cases are well-tracked.

Everyone I’ve talked to is ready for their children to go back.

EducatingArti · 04/05/2020 12:11

But the actual numbers of Covid19 cases in Australia and NZ are orders of magnitude lower than here in UK so the R value is much much lower and .uch less risk of transmitting the virus, especially if you have a decent test and trace system working.
Personally I think we need to know that our test and trace system is up and working really well before schools reopen.

FourTeaFallOut · 04/05/2020 12:14

Comparing the quality of education which will be available over the next few months between the UK and that in NZ and Aus, is just ridiculous.

ChrissieKeller61 · 04/05/2020 12:22

Especially given my kids arrived back to the uk from australia 2 years behind having gone 2 years ahead and yes I know that wasn’t just the schools fault but even so ... it’s comparing apples with pears

nolongersurprised · 04/05/2020 12:26

But the actual numbers of Covid19 cases in Australia and NZ are orders of magnitude lower than here in UK so the R value is much much lower and .uch less risk of transmitting the virus, especially if you have a decent test and trace system working.

True. But the governments worked for it - they shut down early in both countries, borders are closed internationally and also state borders and the testing has been thorough. Residents coming back in are in strict, supervised quarantine. Each new positive test can be accounted for. The app hasn’t been that well received here though, they were hoping for 10 million and i only about a 1/3 of that have downloaded.

EducatingArti · 04/05/2020 12:33

Indeed, that is why it will be much easier to approximate to something like a normal school day/lesson in Aus and NZ than here in UK.

nolongersurprised · 04/05/2020 12:34

Comparing the quality of education which will be available over the next few months between the UK and that in NZ and Aus, is just ridiculous.

So you are agreeing with a PP that when schools in the U.K. do open, there won’t be much in the way of teaching?

cantory · 04/05/2020 12:35

If we were in a country had dealt with this properly, I would not be against sending my kids back. This is not about a magical month when things get better, it is about looking at the cases and what the government is doing.
So New Zealand has tested all over 60s for covid 19 and given them a medical kit to stay safe. Our government has had over 60s working with covid 19 patients with no tests and inadequate PPE.
There is really no comparison.

cantory · 04/05/2020 12:41

@Delta1 I am posting my opinions like everyone else. This is a chat board. That is what people do.
Yes I will not be sending my kids back to school and I have said that anyone who has a choice to and has a vulnerable family member or child should be cautious.
If you want to send your children go ahead, no one is stopping you.
How old are your kids by the way? Do you even have any or is this theoretical for you?