Year R and Year 1 back to school

[Justajot]

I know there aren't any details. But if you are a year R or year 1 parent, will you be sending them back?

YANBU - Yes, sending back
YABU - No, staying at home

[KKSlider]

Tell that to the families of the children who have died.

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

Yes in a heartbeat

[lightandshade]

Having had history with Kawasaki, which is most common in 5s and under and now they are saying it's related to COVID !! My children will not be going back at all I was so shocked when he said reception children

[KKSlider]

The risk may be small but it is not zero. Everyone needs to do their own risk analysis and whatever they personally are comfortable with but I know I won't be gambling with the health of my DC.

[TurquoiseDress]

Our DC1 is in Year 1, I'm a key worker & DH will be returning to his place of work imminently. DC2 is in their childcare setting due to me being a KW.

I really can't see DH's employer giving him much leeway if he tells them he can't return to his workplace due to needing to look after our Year 1 child when the schools are back open for them.

If DC1 had a health condition or was unwell etc then it would be a different story

[PurpleDaisies]

there is zero (0, none, no, not at all) risk to children from covid-19. It's not even clear that they can spread it to their parents.

Where’s your scientific evidence for this?

[EveryLifeHasASoundtrack]

Tell that to the families of the children who have died.

Indeed.

I don’t know if some people are just thick or they’re trolls. They need to fuck off.

[Oaktree55]

Definitely not going back. It’s ridiculous. Nothing is under control here. Still little understanding of the disease and possible long term effects on kids health. Also morally feel a responsibility towards staff. They shouldn’t be forced into this.

[ShootsFruitAndLeaves]

Tell that to the families of the children who have died.

According to the stats 1 child in the 1-4 group, 0 in

[ShootsFruitAndLeaves]

The risk may be small but it is not zero.

It's zero for reasonable values of zero. As in reasonable values of zero that don't involve spending the rest of your life in paranoia. If you applied the same standards of risk assessment to everyday life as apply to children and covid-19 , you'd never leave home.

[KKSlider]

Your stats are out of date, a six week old baby died from it this week

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/08/six-week-old-baby-is-englands-youngest-coronavirus-victim

[bluebirdsong]

Need more information before making a decision.
Unbelievable people saying there is no risk to children.

[TheLastSaola]

I'll certainly be sending my DD back.

On the questions about why those year groups - it's because they're development will be being most affected. It's all driven by who gains the most by being in schools.

For yr 6, there is a huge issue around drop off in educational attainment during the transition to senior school - getting them ready for the transition at the end of primary school is phenomenally important.

For years R and 1 - early years education is very important for long term academic attainment, especially for the most vulnerable in society. Good early years educational has a disproportionate impact for the most vulnerable in society - keeping them off school will be opening up huge gaps driven largely by social and economic class.

[newusername2009]

My reception aged child will be going back - interested to see how it is going to work in practice though. Full days? Class split with half morning , half afternoon? Alternate weeks? I guess more detail will follow.

I was surprised reception are to go back first but from my experience I have found my reception child hardest to home school - teaching that age group is a real skill and I don’t possess it!

[Batshitcrazy82]

I think they should be sending secondary school Children back, I have a dd in year
10 who is so worried about how far behind she will be and that she won't pass her GCSE's next year

[HaveAtEm]

I'm a Year 1 teacher...and I've been working in school with key worker children right through (very reduced numbers obviously).

It's been extremely difficult, even with minimum numbers, to socially distance and hand wash etc, and to keep on top of cleaning equipment, making sure the children don't touch each other's whiteboards and swap pencils because 'his is better than mine' 🤦‍♀️. All just normal classroom behaviour of course 🤷‍♀️...in a mixed aged, 'key worker' class of 7 or 8 children, with a TA to support me, in the large space we made in our hall!

I'm TERRIFIED of going back into my tiny classroom, FULL of 'stuff' that 5 year olds find attractive enough to fiddle with, and even fuller of 5 year olds 🤦‍♀️ God love 'em...they are delightful and I love the bones of them..but how can I keep them safe? 😢

Yes, I can (and will!) get rid of as much of the 'stuff' as I can...but to teach effectively, much of it is necessary in an infant classroom...it's all very practical in the infants 🤷‍♀️. We need multi link cubes, counters, little clocks, bead strings, paint, dice, tissue paper and 2D shapes 👍

Let's hope that tomorrow's 50 page document tells us how we are to keep our children safe 💓

[ShootsFruitAndLeaves]

Your stats are out of date, a six week old baby died from it this week

It doesn't change the risk profile. We have about 20,000+ deaths of 80+ year olds but the number of deaths of children that is much smaller than normally die of road accidents. It's not a rational fear.

A small number of children also die from influenza every year. It's not disease of children however.

[JoanieCash]

Whilst there’s emerging connections between Kawasaki and Covid, the overall mortality is in kids is virtually zero (@ShootsFruitAndLeaves). Healthy children also die from flu and other infections each year, but it’s also rare and We don’t keep them off school. There are arguments for keeping them home, but the concern for their own physical health isn’t really one of them (assuming they’ve no underlying health issues). I am concerned if schools try to socially distance kids. That may be more psychologically damaging in longer term.

[CallmeAngelina]

I would suggest caution to all those throwing their hats in the air if they have Rec/Yr1 children. I highly doubt it will be all day every day for those year groups.

[KKSlider]

There was also the University of East Anglia study this week which stated that closing schools was one of the biggest factors in reducing transmission rates (alongside cancelling mass gathering and closing non-essential businesses).

[Straycatstrut]

DS(3) is in Nursery and will go back as soon as I'm given the green light.

I'll feel so sorry for DS(7) though. He absolutely adores school. It'll mean I can home school him better and go out for much longer exercise with him though, which will be good for all of us.

[LettuceP]

Absolutely! DD in reception will be thrilled. No one in our house is high risk and she enjoys school so much, plus I'm doing a pretty crap job at home Ed so I'm relieved for her education.

[Flamingolingo]

We are all struggling so much with my 5yo autistic child at home. He is devastated that he can’t see his teacher (not so fussed about the other kids), and he has a lot of anger. I think for him the benefits are clear and tangible. He will be going back if it’s an option for him.

[GruntBaby]

Assume Reception and Yr 1 chosen because it's near impossible to get any work done whilst they're at home, they're just too young to occupy themselves with workbooks and zooms like my older DC.

I have a Yr 1, but he's highly vulnerable due to a congenital defect, we've been told he's borderline for shielding, and there have been a couple of children on ventilators with his issue. There's no clarity on whether he will be able to return, and how he can be kept safe (he's been hospitalised more times than I can count, with just simple colds, leading to multiple pneumonias, scarring etc). Not sure what to do. Will need to speak to his GP and try to get hold of his specialist. He is going to be devastated if he can't go back yet. Also not sure what work will do. They've been supportive so far, but once the majority of DC are back, what about parents of more vulnerable DC?

[IfNotNowThenWhenever]

The fact that a year 1 teacher is "terrified" terrifies me more, given that, as EatsShoots has pointed out, the risk to small children is basically zero. If you are high risk, or sheilding someone at home-fine, keep them off, but otherwise, imo, those years are the ones that definitely be going back, for all the very valid reasons mentioned.