Threat of Social services and solicitor from school

[nitsandwormsdodger]

School has threatened us with SS and school solicitor
Back ground: Just had to take a few days off work unpaid due to covid at DD Nursery ( he is fine) , older DD sent home from school yesterday due to temp 37.5 ( taken on the wrist remotely )and cough. We took temp with good quality thermometer under Tonge and it was 36 we have taken temp repeatedly and it has stayed 36 for two days and night. There is a chest cough and snotty nose but cough is a couple of times today

School rang and said she can't come back till negative covid test , we told school we can't get a test as she does not have symptoms ie no temp and it's not a continuous dry cough

Lastly and not insignificantly I can't do another 10 days at home as this would amount to loss of a month wages, we have had a whole year of scary finances pre covid and I'm interviewing for my job this month ,

Yes we must all follow guidelines and isolate I'm a rule follower and socially responsible, can't get test, DD is now well but tad snotty still no temp , have done two weeks isolation with robustly healthy son if I take her to school without negative test they will "embarrass us at work by calling social services" ( we work in jobs that can't be done from home and are safeguarding sensitive) and they threatened to release their solicitor on us

Other than suck it up and isolate Any helpful advice please

Call the school and say you can't get a test as you can't confirm she meets the criteria. If they still wish her to test they can give you one of their school allocation of test kits...

It is utterly ridiculous. I agree with previous poster. Write to the school asking if they suggest you lie to get a test and to confirm that they are involving social services and a solicitor. Of course they won't.

Is 37.5 a temperature? I thought it was 37.8 as I received a letter about a Doctors's appt and it gave that temp

37.5 is not a temp.

They can’t ask to see the negative test result... just a thought

37.5 is not a high temperature. The government guidance is that 37.8 is a high temperature that requires a Covid test. You must email school and ask them to explain their actions.

She had a cough and a temperature so that requires a test.

She doesn’t have a high enough temperature or a new, continuous cough so no, she doesn’t need a test.

From your OP there would not be anything sufficiently concerning to warrant a referral to social services, let alone for a social worker to call you...(and even if a social worker does call you, you obviously have no reason to feel embarrassed).

I would invite their solicitor to write, sit back and watch as they quickly retract.

School needs better quality thermometer. My goodness you are stubborn. Taking temperature orally is not reliable in a primary school aged child. I think we can also safely assume the school will have got a decent thermometer as schools have worked really hard to put in place measures to protect everyone. After seeing our school non contact one, I want to buy one for my family as they're quick and accurate.

@ChaChaCha2012

Guidance is a cough, it doesn't specify chesty, dry or otherwise. Remember that it can present differently in children. It most likely is a cold, but under the guidance she should get a test.

Guidance refers to a continuous cough, which OP's child did not have.

Bloody hell! If 37.5 is classed as a high temperature then we are all screwed! DS has to have his temperature taken regularly (for other reasons) and his daily, resting temperature is 37.6 and has been since he was newborn!

If I were you I'd turn this round on them. Point out that your child has never at any point met the criteria which would permit you to get a Covid test, therefore requiring her to be kept at home is an illegal exclusion and a breach of your child's statutory entitlement to full time education. It's also a breach of her human right to education. Say that you therefore require their immediate confirmation that she can return to school otherwise you will have to take legal proceedings by way of judicial review to secure a court order for her return. Also say that you will be filing in those proceedings full details of the wholly unwarranted threat of social services action that they have made.

For what it's worth, if you actually had to take action it would probably be covered by legal aid in your child's name so they shouldn't take this as an idle threat.

We had a similar situation recently. We received a test the next day, sent it back in the post and received the all-clear the next day. Whilst this is only our experience we found the testing system worked fine for us so it is not automatically going to be a nightmare or even a lengthy process.

I am in a similar position and have been advised my 6yr old needs test. There are no tests available or even walk in options. We were advised to go to a and e and get him swabbed as his dad is immuno suppressed due to cancer treatment. However I dont think that is good advice and if he did have covid taking it into a and e where the most sickest are is dangerous. So I am happy to isolate him away from dad and wait for a home testing kit. I am going to keep trying the site this evening

lolasmiles
Have been desperately trying to get test since she was sent home, absolutely no avoiding at all

And this is why there are no tests left for genuine symptoms. I know at least ten children who have been tested for a cold. (All negative)

@nitsandwormsdodger

lolasmiles Have been desperately trying to get test since she was sent home, absolutely no avoiding at all

Keep trying people are resubmitting for hours and days on end which is ridiculous but that is how it is.

She had a symptom - raised temperature - book a test and then wait result. Much quicker than arguing.

alexalee wish is was bs my wife was in tears and especially the bit about embarrassing us" as ss will call our work place "

Sorry you have this issue. I'm not sure how 37.5 on the wrist is a temperature....... 37.8 or 37.9 is a very low grade. Hopefully you get a negative test soon.

@nitsandwormsdodger Are there any other safeguarding concerns? I cannot think for the life of me why a school would call SS or get a solicitor involved just because you say you can't get a test.

The guidance is changing all the time (v unhelpful). It currently states “hot to touch” so whilst you may be able to challenge the validity of the reading in school, I should imagine they’ll stick to their position that a test is needed.

In fairness I know getting a test is an absolute nightmare because I did have to get one for my DC who was poorly with a temp of 38.8 for over 24 hours despite regular calpol. There’s a couple of good threads on this site on how to get one but our school got sent 10 so it’s worth checking with the school. Also, when I initially checked it said there were no postal tests available but after a lot of refreshing, I got one.

I’ll warn you though, even after the massive hassle of trying to get a test, waiting for it to come, doing it and posting it back, getting the results back took 4 days by itself.

@Dutchesss mass testing of children with minor symptoms was part of what was supposed to make return to school safe. Testing those kids is exactly how the system is supposed to work.

@Alexalee

Calling bs on this No way the school threatened ss Or their solicitor

I can well believe it - my DC's primary school threatened me with social services referral if I ever took longer than 30 mins to return their call or if I wasn't able to attend one of their spur of the moment appointments. Their attitude was that children should always have 1 parent or relative at home and immediately contactable. I can quite see they would have pulled this kind of stunt over testing.

@nitsandwormsdodger could they give you one of the kits kept in school?