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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel in despair for the kids

448 replies

JudesBiggestFan · 08/09/2020 16:09

My son was one of 400 children sent home from two bubbles in his high school today to isolate for 14 days. He's in Year 7 and it was his fourth day in his new school.
He'd been catching the bus, made a new friend, had settled in so much better than I hoped after the past few chaotic disrupted months. And now he's home again.
Not only that, he is now going to miss his cricket presentation and first two football matches of the season, not be able to see friends and family, all for the pleasure of three days of schooling.
And I can see this happening over and over and over again. Luckily childcare isnt an issue as I work from home, but I'm just so sad for kids missing out. Six months off and it seems we're back where we started with no end in sight

OP posts:
Ohfrigginghellers · 08/09/2020 16:11

Hugs. It's shit.

AlexaShutUp · 08/09/2020 16:11

Yes, it's shit that our kids are missing out on so much, but what's the alternative? We can't just keep schools open and let the virus spread, regardless of what all of the covid deniers might think.

millymollymoomoo · 08/09/2020 16:15

Well I’m personally of the opinion that thus is madness and we shouldn’t be sending children home.
We have to find a way to allow kids and young adults to go about Their business as normal.

MadameButterface · 08/09/2020 16:17

It is really shit, i agree, my ds2 is in y6 and their class are isolating for 14 days after a confirmed case 😩 it won’t be an unusual occurrence though, and it’s better than them not being able to be back in school at all. Everyone’s doing their best, it’s not a normal time. I do feel sorry for the y7 cohort though, they missed their end of year milestones like prom and residential trips, and their transition days. I think they’re real little troopers, you must be so proud of your boy settling in so well despite all that. I’m so sorry, what shit luck Flowers

smogsville · 08/09/2020 16:17

I'm sorry OP that's just beyond disappointing for your son and the rest of the children. What happens to siblings, do they have to stay away for 14 days too?

@AlexaShutUp I don't agree I'm afraid. If the alternative to keeping potentially contagious kids at home is for those in vulnerable groups to isolate, that would be a least worst scenario for me.

FourTeaFallOut · 08/09/2020 16:17

That sounds hugely frustrating. My ds started y7 yesterday - he doesn't even know his way around the school yet - and I'm hopeful that he manages to make a few friends before we see this level of disruption.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 08/09/2020 16:20

YANBU, it's just ridiculous.

MJMG2015 · 08/09/2020 16:20

@millymollymoomoo

Well I’m personally of the opinion that thus is madness and we shouldn’t be sending children home. We have to find a way to allow kids and young adults to go about Their business as normal.
Not send them home? Just let the virus infect them all, all the staff, all their families??
MJMG2015 · 08/09/2020 16:25

@Mustfly

I'm sorry for your DS, I think it's particularly difficult for Y7's.

I wish the schools would find a way of making the bubbles smaller. Even if it means reducing some of the options & not streaming them.

AlexaShutUp · 08/09/2020 16:26

If the alternative to keeping potentially contagious kids at home is for those in vulnerable groups to isolate, that would be a least worst scenario for me.

OK, so I get that you're happy to screw over all of the more vulnerable people in our society, and we can agree to disagree on that, but how do you propose that schools should manage without all of the staff who are in vulnerable groups and/or have vulnerable family members? Especially when you also need to factor in the fact that a certain proportion of the less vulnerable staff are likely to be off sick at any one time, if the virus is just allowed to spread? And then there will be the proportion of healthy staff who get long covid and experience ongoing health problems as a result of this?

Mistressiggi · 08/09/2020 16:26

...well that's another way of closing the schools, I suppose!
It's a shame for him, I hope the time passes quickly. The alternative would be surely to have SD in schools do a positive case wouldn't require so many to go home.
Which in turn would require part time schooling.

walksen · 08/09/2020 16:27

"We have to find a way to allow kids and young adults to go about Their business as normal"

As long as people wilfully ignore guidance about sd and socialising outside of work between household for any of the myriad reasons usually given, and community infections increase, this will keep happening.

However shit it is to be sent home after 3 days you can't keep bubbles/ schools open when there are too many known cases. Schools are in no way covid secure whatever the guidance says so the only way to keep them open is keep cases low outside of them.

AlexaShutUp · 08/09/2020 16:29

We have to find a way to allow kids and young adults to go about their business as normal

So what do you propose?

monkeyonthetable · 08/09/2020 16:30

It's so hard. I do recognise how important it is to be sensible around Covid but as a nation we are completely ignoring MH. My DDad just rang me from hospital. He's desperately lonely, stuck on a ward (not Covid related) unable to see anyone, hating hospital food (we used to bring him home-cooked food. He's elderly and so confused. He said it was like living on Mars. He's in and out of hospital these days and I think he's scared he'll die there alone, unable to say good bye to family or my mum, who he is devoted to. I think this is every bit as dangerous to his health and as traumatic as the risk of catching Covid.

tensmum1964 · 08/09/2020 16:31

I don't know what the answer is but this isn't sustainable. I feel so sorry for young people. There must be an alternative and less damaging and disruptive way of managing this.

Mistressiggi · 08/09/2020 16:32

There is. It's part time school. Parents didn't want it.

smogsville · 08/09/2020 16:34

@AlexaShutUp it would be njce if we could discuss this without using aggressive language (screw over for example). I know people who are 70+ or who have health concerns, I have no desire to spoil their lives.

With fewer staff it might be necessary to have fewer options as has been suggested but this would still be preferable to wholesale disruption of the rhythm and routine of school, IMO. It would indeed require the sort of thinking and planning that is probably beyond the abilities of our govt and I'm certainly not pretending to have all the answers right here right now. But on a balance of factors I don't believe sending large groups of children home from school for two weeks at a time in order to protect people against a virus that is far from lethal for most of us in itself - but has widespread effects for education, mental health, employment, the economy etc is the right move. As you say we may just take opposite views on this and therefore agree to differ.

Weallliveinagreensubmarine · 08/09/2020 16:35

Yanbu, suspected case here too. 2 days in!

What will the rest of the autumn/winter be like I can hardly imagine Sad

Trottersindependenttraders · 08/09/2020 16:35

'There is. It's part time school. Parents didn't want it.'

Parents didn't get a say in it!

Weallliveinagreensubmarine · 08/09/2020 16:37

Agree I would have been very keen on part time school and smaller classes!

walksen · 08/09/2020 16:38

But on a balance of factors I don't believe sending large groups of children home from school for two weeks at a time in order to protect people against a virus that is far from lethal for most of us in itself

Well the government could have decided to massively ramp up testing and test teachers regularly and test kids for the virus at specific intervals after an outbreak as some countries do instead of quarantine but on balance probably decided it cost too much.

middleager · 08/09/2020 16:43

It is shit. Mine are in GCSE years and I worry about their present and future.

Blended learning was the best solution and I am so sad and angry at how little this Government cares about children and schools.

ChaChaCha2012 · 08/09/2020 16:43

Just imagine if the government had spent £500 million and the past six months on online learning, sourcing more premises, more staffing for schools. Instead they spent it on giving us half price burgers.

No system was going to be perfect, but what we've got is unsustainable and completely inflexible.

Mistressiggi · 08/09/2020 16:44

@Trottersindependenttraders

'There is. It's part time school. Parents didn't want it.'

Parents didn't get a say in it!

Parents where I live didn't get a say as such but a very influential group of them challenged the plans for blended learning, got positive press coverage, and were a contributing factor in the SG's change of heart that sent us all back in a few weeks ago with no SD.
middleager · 08/09/2020 16:44

@ChaChaCha2012

Just imagine if the government had spent £500 million and the past six months on online learning, sourcing more premises, more staffing for schools. Instead they spent it on giving us half price burgers.

No system was going to be perfect, but what we've got is unsustainable and completely inflexible.

Absolutely.
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