Would you send your dc back to school in September if there was no social distancing?

[wakeupitsabeautifulmorning]

I worry about how much longer dc are going to be expected to learn at home considering a lot of them aren't. However, if they're going to have to socially distance I can't really see a way forward.
YABU = No I wouldn't send them without social distancing
YANBU = Yes I would

[MinesAPintOfTea]

@cantkeepawayforever

If you would send children in without any social distancing, are you also happy for supermarkets, bars, restaurants, gyms, swimming pools, offices, factories etc to also open up entirely as normal without social distancing?

If your argument is that you want social distancing elsewhere but just 'children don't get so ill', then why do you think a non socially distanced environment is acceptable for the many adults who work in every school, while you still want social distancing in other contexts?

I want a gradual reopening of things, in order of how essential they are, with 2-4 week breaks in-between to see what each reopening did to the R value. I think schools should clearly open well before restaurants. The exact ordering is debatable, but schools have to be early because 6 months is a large proportion of an infant-aged child's life, and many other things can't open if schools are shut due to the childcare problem.

OTOH I think events like large music concerts, football matches etc with the potential to cause super spreading, should be cancelled until we have a vaccine/effective treatment/reach herd immunity the slow way.

[cantkeepawayforever]

(I am a medically vulnerable older teacher. I am in school, with some social distancing, because I care hugely for the welfare of the children i teach. However, since my safety seems to be held in such contempt, i am wondering why this is worth it?)

[Bettyboop82]

Mine are due to start preschool in September (no previous nursery) if social distancing is still in place I won’t be sending them. I need my babies to be able to have a hug if they’re upset and to have as much contact with their peers as they want to. I’m luck that I have the option of keeping them home if I want to as I’ll be on maternity leave by then.

[CarlottaValdez]

Is it a basic human right for adults working in school to have measures in place to give them a reasonably safe working environment

Well they have the same rights as everyone else to a safe working environment. There thankfully don’t seem to be huge numbers of deaths among teachers including from when the schools were operating normally when the virus was transmitting at peak levels.

[Scotinengland76]

Absolutely. I’d go anywhere if there was no social distancing.

[cantkeepawayforever]

It is worth pointing out that i am working in a school with 'as far as practicable' social distancing - 15 per bubble, so closer than 2 m between tables, but significant care being taken to keep children at a reasonable distance from one another all day, especially between bubbles.

The children are THRILLED to be in school. Loving it. Not remotely traumatised. Loads of positive e-mails from parents.

[CarlottaValdez]

I am a medically vulnerable older teacher. I am in school, with some social distancing, because I care hugely for the welfare of the children i teach

That’s great that you care so much but I think your employer is letting you down here. If you’re vulnerable you shouldn’t be in school, we’re insisting on WFH for shielding individuals at my work.

[cantkeepawayforever]

when the schools were operating normally when the virus was transmitting at peak levels.

You might want to look at the dates on that.

I am certainly glad that when cases DID hit a peak (AFTER schools shut down) that the 6-7 families affected by CV in my class hadn't been sending their children to school during their incubation periods....

[CoronaIsComing]

Yes. We’ve been in a very good position to home school but it’s wearing very thin now!

[cantkeepawayforever]

Not my employers' fault. I have declared myself fit enough to be in - there is a sentence in the guidelines that allows me to state that I am willing to work closer to another individual that 2m as long as I understand the risks.

Otherwise my bubble would be unstaffed, and some children would not have been able to come into school.

[Wasabiaddiction]

Yes. And with no social distancing.

[CarlottaValdez]

You might want to look at the dates on that. I am certainly glad that when cases DID hit a peak (AFTER schools shut down) that the 6-7 families affected by CV in my class hadn't been sending their children to school during their incubation periods

Are you saying you think the virus was transmitting more after lockdown than before? So lockdown accelerated transmission? That can’t be right can it?

[VideographybyLouBloom]

Absolutely yes; with no social distancing, no bubbles and no fear. I am terrified of what price our children are being made to pay

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

I would.

However the issue will be for DD1 if she can cope with being in a room with 30 other people after months of being told she had to stay away from other people. She was quite anxious at school before this. It would be better for her to be in a class of 15 for even just a week first- and I don't doubt she's the only child like that.

[roastedsaltedpeanut]

yes I will.

There is no enforced social distancing in primary reception, year 1 and year 6 right now. Social distancing will be encouraged but it means very little to youngsters playing catch at the playground.

Teenagers, or even ten year olds, should be reminded or potentially enforced to social distance but I doubt most schools will have the capacity to allow social distancing once everyone is back.

[Aria2015]

Yes I would.

[IckleWicklePumperNickle]

I don't even need asking. I would have loved my school age child and nursery child to be back already.
But stupid NS fucked it up.

[cantkeepawayforever]

It's interesting, isn't it.

In my locality, certain identified events started the chain.

Then the incomplete lockdown meant that there was significantly wider infection in certain working environments.

Then those infected spread the virus further to family and in certain specific environments such as care homes.

So when was the virus transmitting most? At the 'seed' events, or at the familial spread stage? In terms of R, probably at the start. In terms of number of infections, the familial and institutional spread stage.

[Alipaules33]

Yes definitely. My son went back to nursery school on Wednesday and there’s 10 kids and 2 teachers and no SD. My y2 daughter is desperate to go back. I don’t get why everyone is so worried about kids at school. The virus has been around for at least 6 months that we know of (probably longer as the only thing we all seem to agree on is that the Chinese haven’t been truthful) and yet schools only closed 20 March! So kids and teachers were doing normal schooling all this time while covid was around with no problems, but now it’s not safe...?!?

[happyandsingle]

Yes with or without.Schools need to go back its affecting young peoples mental health and its beginning to affect mine!.

[Londonmummy66]

Yes - frankly they'd go back now if they could social distancing or not

[MeglaFlop]

Yes, and in primary expecially social distancing will not exist regardless of what's in place. Children and teenagers rightly or wrongly just don't give a shit

[Peppafrig]

No chance

[mooity]

They aren’t fully social distancing now in my dc’s school. They are within a class bubble with one teacher who stays with them and does not move to other classes etc. Within the bubble they are encouraged to keep apart but the staff are being realistic and sensible about this. My dc’s have loved being back this weeks and have adapted to the changes with no concerns. They were only supposed to be going a couple of days next week (I’m a key worker) but they now want to go all week!

Without the social distancing between the bubbles it would be very hard to utilise the track and trace system. When a child tests positive, without the bubble how would you know who they had been in contact with? In the current setup it would just have to be 10 children (5 households as they’ve put siblings together) and a teacher rather than goodness knows how many staff and pupils.

[cassgate]

Yes, I would send mine back tomorrow. Doesn’t apply to dd as she is year 11 and would be in the middle of GCSE’s now so wouldn’t be going back anyway but DS year 9 definitely. He is being set work by school but he needs to be taught not just read powerpoints which he doesn’t always take in. I have been sitting with him and we have been looking at work together so that I can check understanding and I get him to research other sources if he is struggling but not all parents have the time or inclination to do this. I am also a Year 6 TA and went back to work myself on Monday and think it’s ridiculous the measures we are expected to follow. I would be far happier If we could just go back with a full class with no social distancing than what we have at the moment.