To ask why you are not taking your kids back to school

[daisydukes7576]

Not trying to start an argument here just genuinely curious to know your reasons?

I'm not talking about those that have children with underlying health conditions.

And I will repeat, this isn't to start an argument I am just genuinely wandering if I've missed something/other reasons people aren't sending their kids to school if and when they have the opportunity to?

And if you aren't, when are you planning to as it's could be a while before there's a vaccine?

[babybythesea]

I’ve just got up having gone to bed because I feel really bad. If someone who has no choice but to send their kids in reads what I wrote they may panic hugely. Or key workers who have had their kids in all along might feel awful.
If it is anything like my school, we are planning to be outside as much as possible, precisely to avoid the sitting at desks debacle.
The teachers will bust a gut to make it fun. I’m hoping my own two will have fun.

My major beef is this pretending it’s about education. Which means we will have to answer to the parents whose children have ‘only’ completed the packs they could have done at home anyway. Who think they are sending their children back to a high quality education. If the gvt were honest and said ‘It’s childcare’ we wouldnt even have to have the rigmarole about desks. We didn’t in the last week before lock down. We spent a week with the kids having a great time, coming up with all sorts of fun stuff to do. Music, art, bug hunts... we didn’t really even pretend it was about teaching although obviously they learnt things. We didn’t do times tables or phonics. We didn’t write any maths questions down.
This is the way it will have been all through for key workers kids.
What changes on June 1st is the expectation, because the gvt insist on talking about education. If they were honest that it is childcare, then it would help people decide. They are setting teachers up to fail with that.
For children who have been in school all through, it has been talked about as childcare. The focus on keeping them happy. They will have had some help with the packs sent home but there hasn’t been the expectation that they will be getting normal schooling. Now, we will have parents who do expect normal schooling. Schools will have more children in, hence the increased measures.

The more kids that are in, the harder it becomes. Harder for them to move around without coming into close contact. Harder to track which toys need cleaning. So there will be a lot more sitting down trying to learn.

And watch the posts go up on here. “My child has done nothing other than the maths worksheet which I could have done at home. What are the teachers doing exactly?”

[ArthurMorgan]

babybythesea

Thank you so much for your brutal honesty. Those are the exact reason why I'm not sending my dd (5) back to school yet, she's been going to nursery and school since she was 2 but she still has to be taken from me every single morning and is in floods of tears at the thought of school, but all I've got from my sil (sons in the same class and is going back to school.. And she's supposed to be a close friend) is borderline ridicule about how I'm being silly because it "won't be that bad" and "they're still their teachers, the won't really be separating them" etc.

So thank you for making me 100% certain that I'm doing the right thing.

And I wish you good luck teaching /looking after little ones in that environment

[CuppaZa]

Mine is in a special needs school with vulnerable kids that will not be opening, and has been very vocal at the potential ramifications of kids going back

[GreenTulips]

babybythesea

You have said anything 90% of parents haven’t thought of already. We’ve had similar communication from school.

We need clear guidance for the future.

DD Y12 is uncertain about year 13, some kids are dropping out or retaking year 12 so that impacts year 11’s
Some want to change courses. Another year 11 impact.
Some year 13 won’t go to university this September because either they aren’t open or doing online only or courses need practical lessons and placements. I doubt overseas students will want to travel to the U.K. - this impacts next years intake. 2 year groups scrambling for places.

It’s all such a mess.

Add in year 10’s I have those as well, what will happen to their GCSEs they can’t do practicals lessons, only the really self motivated will complete work there’s texts they don’t understand without discussion, or collaboration. No teacher input or feed back.

This isn’t teacher bashing, this is the current reality of an unknown situation.

Teachers won’t be happy either. They’re planning lessons they can deliver. They can’t see where there’s gaps or the need to cover X Y or Z.

As I said we all need guidance.

[purpleme12]

But presumably it's different at each school?
I've heard other teachers saying it will be teaching and not just childcare

[Willyoujustbequiet]

Our government is an international laughing stock. They've been behind/wrong on everything.

I think doing the opposite of what they say is the safest bet.

[PickUpAPickUpAPenguin]

Some bubbles will be headed by a TA who supervises the work that a teacher has set. I think this is why it's never going to be education- the teacher has to plan for 2 bubbles as well as kids at home.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I’ve just got up having gone to bed because I feel really bad. If someone who has no choice but to send their kids in reads what I wrote they may panic hugely. Or key workers who have had their kids in all along might feel awful.

@babybythesea you are clearly a great TA. Worrying about kids, worrying about their parents. Don't lose sleep! I'm a key worker. We know better than anyone how we all compromise to get through this. Thanks for all you do.

[BooseysMom]

@babybythesea.. your post made me cry! It reminded me of the time i ieft DS (who was 4) with a new holiday club. We walked in and the whole room was full of big kids squabbling. He hates loud noise and it was horrendous! No one there his age and no one there to welcome him. I immediately went to a carer and explained the issue. I watched DS visibly take a deep breath and saw him find the courage in himself to be left there. I could see he was trying so hard but was really really scared. I had to go to work but God i would have given anything to remove him from that place. He was so brave and i felt so proud of him for plucking up the courage to be left there. We both got through that day but he never went back to that setting. I lost £100 but i just knew it wasn't right.
He's a couple of years older now and would prob be ok if he went back to school on 1st June but i never forgot that day and i feel for any reception kids who are like DS and just want reassurance and a cuddle when they're back but can't get those things. It just feels wrong.

[Watchagotcha]

Not in the UK, schools here have reopened in a limited way. Ours (9 and 12) haven’t gone back because...

It’ll be crap for them and nothing like school. We’ve been told it’s basic childcare for working parents, not pedagogical.

We both are able to WFH and I’m part time. DH is a teacher, I’m well educated and confident in my ability to “teach” them both. They’ve taken fine to homeschooling (As long as the teachers keep sending work) and we have a nice routine. We have more devices than people, plus printers etc.

Here, we have been “deconfined” and are allowed to meet up in small groups outside and at home. Ds12yr has been out to meet friends / go to their houses twice, and that’s a big relief.

Ds9 doesn’t want to go back. He will when it’s require, but tbh he’s happy pottering at home.

DS12 is keen to go back at the second “opening” early June. We will see. His opinion changes depending on which of his friends are / aren’t going back!

[Home42]

Because my household contains vulnerable and shielding people.

[Aurorie11]

No plans to send my yr 4 child back I’ve never taken either DC out of school reasons are:-
Me and DH are key workers who can work from home
School doesn’t have space to make classes of 15, so by not sending mine it helps on space
No wraparound care/ staggered times will make it a nightmare logistically, as have work calls between 9 and 4 most of the time everyday
Eldest is yr7, no talk of that year going back so having to home school anyway
Both are doing school work reasonably at home.

If both were going back, with wraparound for youngest at normal times they would go - it’s a logistics thing

[Porridgeoat]

I work in a care home and my elderly clients could catch covid19 via my twins attendance at school. In addition the cleaner will only be doing touch points once a day in school despite movement of the whole school group within shared areas of the school

[Wallywobbles]

Because :

school is an hour away.

I've finished (Uni teacher) until September. DH is not back to work on a regular basis. So no one driving that way daily.

No after school homework club currently available, so timings not working for anyone.

Because the kids can get the work done in less time at home.

Because the kids don't want to.

Because the weather is good and we are all enjoying it.

[geojojo]

I've decided not to send my 4 year old back to preschool because the measures they have described as taking sound like the environment will be very different to before. My ds is very sensitive and I worry about how this would unsettle him. I fully intend to send him to his new school in September though so I really hope things are slightly more normal by that time.

[babybythesea]

Purpleme yes, it might well be different at other schools.
Somewhere hidden in my waffle I did say you need to check with your school.
If the vast majority of your kids go back, then you have a stronger chance that the school will be teaching. At least Y6.
Year 1 and Reception - the teaching will look very different because we don’t teach them normally by sitting them at a desk and asking them to listen. It’s normally done through play, lots of free flow and 10 minute bursts of work in a small group alongside a teacher. Just can’t do that now.
In our school, we only have a handful returning. Which is good- we measured one classroom yesterday and have worked out we can fit 8, 10 at a push but not the 15 that the gvt have decreed. I don’t know where we will put them all if they do come back, while still maintaining social distancing...
But at the moment, all out teachers have to continue to write the packs for home learning that the children at home need. They have to be photocopied and delivered around the area to those who have no printer. They have to have the online catch up sessions with those who need targeted intervention but who are not at school. They need to phone those children we are concerned about, who don’t fit the category vulnerable but who nonetheless are maybe not in ideal situations.
They can’t do all that, and be in the classroom planning and teaching. And as one of our bubbles contains a Y1 and a Y6, we are limited as to what we can teach anyway. Hence, we won’t even try, we’ll just help them with the home packs.
But other schools may be able to do it differently, so check.
What won’t be different is the lack of resources in early years.

[crikeycrumbsblimey]

Is this what journalists count as research these days?

[papiermaches]

Because I don't see the point of sending them in to that super weird setting for the sake of a month or so before the summer holidays. I can't teach them as much as they'll learn there I reckon.
I'm more concerned that they get to socialise in someway with their friends outside of school before September.

[IHateCoronavirus]

The first thing I was taught whilst teacher training was “the value of a child’s school experience is 80% socail and 20% content”.
Only now we are removing the socail and reducing the content. So it might be worth asking what actually is the value then?
Based on the plans I have seen drawn up for my school I will not be sending my own children back.

[BatleyTownswomensGuild]

Tbh, DS might go back, still undecided.

Leaning towards no at the moment because none of the plans I've seen account for SEND kids. DS is autistic, has real issues with focus and attention and has poor motor skills so can't hold a pen. He generally needs close, consistent 1:2:1 support to be able to access the curriculum. I can't see how that can be delivered with the current plans.

Also, the Government has told schools they need to do regular deep cleans but has made absolutely no money available to do this. Most schools are on their uppers financially anyway due to chronic underfunding so I can't see how they can afford to take the hit from their budgets....

[papiermaches]

Another one who doesn't trust a government who's kids all go to private schools that are providing round the clock online schooling and won't be re-opening til September.
I don't want my children to be guinea pigs in this 'let's see what' happens plan. I don't think they need to go - there'll be so little proper learning and teacher I know have also said it'll be more like enhanced child care than a proper school day and quite frankly I can have arse their education myself at home...

[Teateaandmoretea]

I've heard other teachers saying it will be teaching and not just childcare

^^that's what we've been told by the school.

[MaryBerrysBomberJacket]

Mine aren't going back as I do not believe it is the time to open schools. I'm lucky as mine are teens but as a teacher; no way. When I am in school they need to get the bus and I'm not happy with them on a bus, even wearing a mask surrounded by others who I know will not wear one. In their school (like mine) I don't see how it cna be made safe unless there is compulsary mask wearing, no movement between classrooms and very small groups. All the harping on abut Denmark and how we are following them; we really, really aren't, in terms of death rate, infection rate, progression in degreasing both death and infection rate, testing. And then, our education system and schools are nothing alike, so no comparison can be made.

I'm not happy about returning to work and we are still working on how to fit them all in; our classrooms are small and cannot distance more than 7 or 8 students in a room with an adult. We don't have hte toilet faciltiies to wash and distance. we cannot safely feed them and have concluded that they will not do full days to remove the need for feeding them.Not to mention the constant changing of guidance for primary and compelte lack of it for secondary.

This is a shitshow, like the care home situation and the NHS situation and I am not exposing my kids to it. If I turn up to work and am not happy with the safety measures (as we will probably only find out the day ebfore we are told to return) I won't. To be blunt I'll even walk from teacing at this point having seen the vitriol in the media.

[aliceinsunderland44]

Because my dc age group isn't being called back. But if it were I wouldn't send him.

The phased return means he wouldn't be likely to go back full time. The restrictions would be upsetting and confusing. I have a high risk dp. And because they would be breaking up again in a month for the summer holidays I really believe the learning opportunities are limited and not worth the risk of infection.

I am going to be working from home for the foreseeable future so just don't see the point in sending him back. If I were under pressure to return to work it might be different but I'd still feel very unsettled about it.

[Pleasenodont]

I’m currently 7 months pregnant so there’s no way my DC would be stepping foot back inside a school anytime soon, the risk to me and the baby is just too huge right now.

I’m also a teacher so I’m homeschooling them quite well, they aren’t falling behind so don’t need to be in school right now.