who is sending their child back?

[MamaSapphire]

I have twins due 27 June, so I don't want my daughter socialising with others then coming home to the newborns. Is anyone else not sending their child back. Most mums on the class Whatsapp group are sending theirs back, AIBU?

Mine are there anyway as we are both NHS.

I have one in year 6 and one in year 3.
They are in anyway as I've working throughout as a nurse.
They are 2 of only 4 children in the school though at present. My year 6 daughter is very much looking forward to her friends returning. It is a small school and their is only 15 children in year 6 in total so in happy they are returning.

Mine will be (teens)
They are currently working and volunteering in the community, including carehomes and supermarkets, so this is hardly more 'dangerous'

Yes, I have two senior school children as well and my school run takes me about an hour normally but suspect will only take 40 mins with less traffic.

But my older two are old enough to be left at home on their own if necessary.

Only my youngest DC who is reception could go back at the beginning of June. I'm not sure if we will send him. We've created a lockdown bubble with my parents who live next door. If we send him then that compromises that and we'd have to stop them seeing my parents. Not to mention the tears when he realises his brother doesn't have to go, and my other DC being lonely without his playmate. I am working from home, so having them entertain each other is important. Also, I'm not convinced that much teaching will be happening anyway. The teachers will be too busy trying to deal with hand washing, distancing, staggered breaks and so on.

I don’t know how I would feel if I had children in the year groups set to go back first as I imagine that would feel very much like using them to experiment on. I have ds in year 9 and ds in year 2 and do plan to send them back when school reopens. Ds is in quite a small primary school, only 4 classes in total, they are splitting them all into bubbles of 15 and will not interact with the other bubbles, separate breaks and lunches to limit interactions. There are just under 2000 kids in older ds’s secondary school so I have no idea how they will manage when the time comes

My DD will be going back.

I personally feel the social and educational benefits outweigh the risks. This is likely to be a very mild illness for children, if not asymptomatic. We do not have anyone in the household who is shielding.

The only thing which would change my mind is if the school go totally overboard and make the kids wear PPE all day or something, as I think this would scare her too much.

Mine will be going back. My husband and I are both NHS frontline staff and we are fairly convinced we had the virus back in March. That does make me feel a little more confident about sending mine back to school. My husband and I have had far more exposure to the virus at work than we are likely to get from the kids being at school.
We don't have anyone shielded at home though and I guess I would feel differently if that was the case.
I would be happy if school did maybe shorter school days over fewer days of the week. I think it has to be a very gradual process, certainly not all just going back as normal straight away.

Y12 DD will definitely be going in for a much face to face time with her teachers and classmates as it's allowed. She's finding online learning hard, is losing motivation and missing the company. And the government appears to be saying there's no guarantee a vaccine will be out anytime soon, so I can't see any other way out of this mess except to let everyone catch it.

Mine are 6 and 9. We've just about coped with homeschooling as DH has been furloughed. He'll probably be back at work in June though.
Both my children miss their friends and really need structure to their day. Ds1 will probably be upset that ds2 gets to return first!
We can't just lockdown indefinitely. A vaccine is a long way off yet.

I’m shielded and my dd will be going back, slightly different to most posters as she’s year 12 and doing A level. I’m still not sure how we will make it work but she’s worked so hard to get where she is I don’t want to damage her education more than it has been.

Has anyone looked at that twitter photo at the start of the thread? Is that real?

It is so different to what we’re used to. How do we get the children to do that? We’re not ready to do that.

It’s all very well to say go back to school. We need the actual nitty gritty of how to make it work.

How convenient that the government have said go back to school but not said how and now everyone who wants to go back can blame schools for being obstructive, rather than the government for being useless. Bastards.

My daughter isn't going back and nor are most of her class. It's a small school 150 pupils and with just those 3 yr groups going back that will require a full staff and all 7 classrooms to cater for them and the current key worker / vulnerable children.

Our head sent out an email yesterday asking a simple yes no so they can gauge numbers, my response was that they should be informing parents of measures they are going to put into place to build parents confidence.

We have one gate in / out a proper little bottle neck so they would have to stagger timings. My concern around social distancing is around the drop off / pick up times and parents arriving with siblings in tow.

Going back to school does not mean they will be getting an education and realistically most of the day will be spent hand washing and managing moving around the school in stages for breaks and lunch.

Let's not forget the aim is to get all primary school children back into school for a month before the summer holidays, that's 4 more year groups in a school that has no more room. That would mean reduced days or mornings / afternoons.

Going back to school will not be normal half the class will be missing and they will not be allowed to mix with that half of their class. Teachers are scared not only for themselves but for our children.

The R has increased in other countries who's children have returned to school and their R was lower than ours.

My child is already mixing with children from other households as I am a childminder currently open to key worker families. I think it would be too risky to then mix with the other children at school. I am not currently taking my mindees out and would not be able to safely do a school run and ensure social distancing.

My decision is to protect my family, our school family and the families that use my services. Until the school can tell us what they are doing it will be a firm no.

I work in my Dd school and I am pregnant, shes not in the year groups that are supposed to be going back I dont think ill have much choice

Me! My DD will be going back the very second they open the school gates.

It's a yes from me. I have an autistic year 6. I'm.concerned about transition. It would have been hard enough without cv. If he doesnt go back in some form I'll have a school refuser come september.

I also have a year 10 who is getting on fine at home, so I'd have no problem with him staying at home.

Yes mine will be going back when they open. I'll understand if they don't because the numbers are not far enough down but that's it - it would be very achievable at their school to have smaller classes but would have to be part time once all years back.

You're not being unreasonable not to send your children back, but I will absolutely send mine back. I also expect them to receive some kind of education when they are there, albeit in a different form for a while.

I’m curious to know how many parents want to keep their kids home until ‘satisfactory’ measures are in place at schools and how many think they won’t send them back until a vaccine is available (regardless of how long that is).

My 3.5 year old will be going back. The risk to her mental health is greater than the risk of covid19 at the moment. She is struggling a lot.

@Rowantree2020 for me it's about knowing the measures in place extra hand washing stations, the logistics of drop offs and pick ups. How the school will work with full capacity and social distancing as no doubt schooling will have to be part time.

Doesn’t really matter what other people decide. Do what you feel is right for your family.

Absolutely 100% going back

If school is open, my dc will be there.

If DH's furlough ends before schools reopen to their year groups they will have to be there anywhere as I am a keyworker and have checked and had it confirmed they can attend.

Most parents I am in touch with say their dc will return. None of us are as thick as some people like to make out and we are all aware it will be very different from before. But we agree the benefits of return outweigh the risks for most; those in vulnerable groups of course will need to look at things differently.

I think the risk is creating a 2nd wave, not individually to my DC or me. DH will be back out at work (I'm always wfh) and if infection rates soar then we could get it from anywhere. The benefits to my DC of being able to play with some of their friends without social distancing and to me of being able to work without interuption even if just for a few weeks outweigh the risks at the moment.

But it will depend on children still being largely unaffected. I also don't know whether it will happen. Halve class sizes but use TAs and lunch rooms? My school has 3 classes per year, 1 TA per year and nowhere near enough rooms.