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

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

A continuous cough means 3 episodes of coughing in 24 hours - nearly every cough will meet this criteria.

I'd keep trying for a test.

I dont think the school should have made any threats, but equally you cannot take in a dc who has been identified as having a temperature. It is awful but we are all going to end up taking more time off this year than we normally do. That isn't the school's fault.

Driving back from walk in testing centre now
Results due Friday hopefully , so she can be back at school Monday
I just thought it was v heavy handed of the school to reduce us to tears and fear when I was desperately trying all evening and this morning to get test and hearing reports of no available slots , all I could think of was weeks off work, missing interview, losing job, losing months salary on top of a year if financial desperation
DD has been full of beans and just snotty
If school / nursery expect this every time they sneeze it's gonna beak us financially

Just say she has the symptoms and get a test. Surely thats the easiest solution.

Where I am (not UK mainland) they are very clear that 'cold symptoms' (as long as they don't meet the 3 main symptoms of a new, continuous cough, a temperature over 38c or loss of taste or smell) don't need a test.

This advice is community-wide - although parents of young children are also asked to watch out for gastric symptoms, as they can be a sign in younger children.

All schools here are following that advice. All school are open. No cases in any school. No community transmission for over 3 months.

Mind you, we also test everyone coming over our border, so there's that too...

@jojobar 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.

SS would have just laughed at them if this was the only reason why. I'm guessing there were other safeguarding concerns. Teachers are parents too, and none of us are available at the drop of a hat to return calls in 30mins or attend spur of the moment appts. So I can't see why they would demand that if you under the threat of SS unless something else was going on.

It's parents like the posters on this thread that worry me. You have no way of knowing if your DC has Covid. For her sake, your family's and everyone else at the school, put as much energy into getting a test as you're putting in to complaining about it.

How do you know that it is not your thermometer that is faulty?

I said to school DD would be at school Friday as not iill NEVER had a temp and only coughs a couple of times a day just snotty nose
School said that would be child abandonment and SS would be called. Absolutely never any safeguarding issues , we both work in safeguarding sensitive area and are foster parents ( non placed at the moment due to our ) baby being under one

I imagine SS have more pressing things to deal with.

@ItIsEnola

It's parents like the posters on this thread that worry me. You have no way of knowing if your DC has Covid. For her sake, your family's and everyone else at the school, put as much energy into getting a test as you're putting in to complaining about it.

Exactly. Glad you Did the right thing and got a test - shows you can get one if you make the effort

@WildWaterSwimmer

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.

The government guidance doesn't state a threshold temperature anymore. It doesn't specify a type of cough, either.

Cough and raised temperature - isolate and test.

People deciding to interpret the rules as they see fit is exactly why I got coughed over yet again today, as I did yesterday (to be told on collection 'Going to go for the test now - yeah, I booked it on Saturday' so you knew your child was potentially ill with it and still sent them into school, you imbecilic fuckwit ) and the day before (with a haughty lecture about how an elevated temperature doesn't mean anything, as you can get them with colds and in any case, it's simply post nasal drip coming before the cold symptoms start instead).

Fuck's sake.

In the space of a few minutes you've gone from not being able to get a test to driving home from a test centre? I know life in the mumsnet universe moves at pace but that must be a record!

I called 111 on Saturday to try and get antibiotics for Tonsilitis. I had to croak speak to 4 different people to get the antibiotics finally sorted but each one said I had to have a Covid test also.
I had a very sore swollen throat with white spots on my tonsils, enlarged glands headache and a temp of 37.3!!
No cough, no problems with smell or taste.

There was no lack of effort on our part
Always wanted a test
Just couldn't get one for 24 hours
And feared we wouldn't get one for week
School would not take her back till negative test
Which we will now get
36 is not a temp 37.4 is not a temp
She has hardly coughed
Totally understand we need to test but. Just the target audience and keep the slots free for folk that could have it

Some can. Not all.

So less than an hour after posting that there was no way you could get a test..... you've had the test. What a big fuss over nothing!

huggedtheredwoids
Was trying to get test since Tuesday when she was sent home

Just got though and got lucky walk in

Suck it up and keep trying for a test and or isolate.

It’s just the way it is.

Imagine if she did in fact have Covid19- the school would be negligent in allowing her back and possibly infecting others.

@chandosbucks channel islands? My island isn't doing brilliantly at the moment 🙄

Wow! You must have a slick testing centre. Round here even the walk in (drive through!) ones are queued. You'd never go from "no possible test" at 18:14 to driving back at 18:24 having done it!

@nitsandwormsdodger taking your child into school when you've been told you cant due to COVID protocol IS child abandonment and therefore SS would be called.

If school / nursery expect this every time they sneeze it's gonna beak us financially
Schools aren't expecting people to isolate for every sneeze.

If a child has a snotty nose, is bunged up and sneezing then they don't need to be tested.
If a child has a head cold and their sinuses are sore they don't need to be tested.
If a child has asthma or another respiratory condition that often has a cough then their normal cough/respiratory symptoms don't require testing.

What requires a test are ANY of the three main symptoms:

1. A new persistent cough or your normal cough is worse than usual
2. A temperature
3. Changes to sense of taste and/or smell

Nobody has any way of knowing if a new cough is Covid or not.
Option 1: people test and isolate when required and, along with other measures, hopefully that will keep cases down and schools can remain opening as much as possible
Option 2: people don't bother to test and isolate properly, they send their children in with coughs, more people have to isolate and be tested, the risk of a positive case goes up. With a positive case then bubbles have to start isolating and then the parents of every child in that bubble have childcare issues and work issues because half a dozen people decided they're the only people in the country with childcare/work issues. Cases spread in schools, teachers get symptoms so have to isolate, provision gets even more fragmented, and people start threads about how awful it is that schools didn't do more.

@ShawshanksRedemption no, you imagine incorrectly. No other concerns, apart from me being a single FT working parent with no family support, so not fitting their usual demographic of well off families with one SAHP, or non working single parents dependent on benefits. Their threat was bullshit, but in the type of role I was in (and being the sole source of income for my family) whilst I politely challenged their position and negotiated something workable, I couldn't afford to simply call their bluff in case they did take some action and it had professional repercussions for me. Thankfully my days of dealing with that school are all in the past now.

However it does not surprise me one bit that schools would use SS as a threat in a situation like this.

kissabushi
No undue fuss , just upset over heavy handed response from school that stressed us out
Genuine fear of losing home and job if weeks of waiting to get negative test as I would not get paid, we are on knife edge financially this could have broken us and if it happens again and again each time baby or kiddo gets a sniffle will will be fucked financially I've just paid for last 6 months of Nursery approx 7k as in London

People were asked not to take kids with colds for a test

@bigbumbiggerheart

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

No, she didn't. 37.5 taken remotely on the wrist doesn't meet the criteria for a test.