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

OP - we can’t get a test
Get a test
Get a test
Just get a test
OP- we can’t get a test
Just get the test
Get a test done

😂😂 this is like cancel the cheque

Schools were apparently being given a small supply of tests. Keep trying on the site for a drive through or walk-in test, if you can't get one by tomorrow morning, ask the school if they can drop a home test urgently to you. Otherwise try again bang on 10am tomorrow - we did this and after not being able to book one all night for DS (he had a temp) we got a drive through test about a mile away at 12.30 same day. We had the results the day after (negative). Overall I was happy with the speed etc.

As they've identified she's got symptoms and requested a test before she can go back, you can't send her back before 10 days have passed otherwise. And it would look really bad on you if you've got a safeguarding sensitive job if she did have it and you went to work anyway...

I feel for you on the wages situation and this is something that the government needs to sort urgently, financial support for anyone with a positive result or asked to isolate through test and trace. It won't make a difference in the short term but write to your MP and let them know the position this is leaving you in. Might make a difference for next time (we're going to have a whole winter of this :-( ).
Good luck for your job interview.

The thing is OP, if she had a high temp, which school verifies she did, she needed the test. Doesn't matter if the temp went down afterwards. School were following the correct rules to keep everyone safe, and they needed to see a negative test once a child has displayed continuous cough or fever. We had the exact same situation last week, luckily we managed to book a test quite quickly. Glad you got the test and all ok.

Social services are extremely supporting children and young people who are neglected and vulnerable.
But if you would like to waste their time by raising a safeguarding, that is your decision and you will have to own your decision when they ask you what grounds you feel we are neglecting our perfectly healthy child.
I would also contact the school governors and PTA before removing your child from the school. I would state that you will be "naming and shaming" the covidiot who wants you to test without symptoms.
What if your child refused the swab procedure? They don't have to consent!

Of course you can get a test. It seems like you just don’t want to. It’s a box ticking exercise for the school. There must be more to this story

[quote GhostTypeEevee]@MitziK where in the guidance does it say 37.5? I thought it didn't give a temp?

Many hospital trusts give 37.8 as the guidance however. [/quote]
That's the point. It doesn't specify a temperature, so saying it has to be above 37.8C or it doesn't count is wrong.

It just has to be higher than normal.

I've lost count of the number of temperatures I've taken recently. Not one healthy person, adult or child has clocked up more than 36.4 (I've retested frequently and have tested some often enough - health anxiety - that I already know their usual temperature range). I also know my temperature range - 36 to 36.2. I've tested straight in from outside, after sitting inside, after rushing around and it doesn't vary - not because of anxiety, but partly as a precaution (what with being coughed over on a daily basis by kids sent in whilst unwell) and partly because it was useful to know whether the weather/outside temperature/consuming hot or cold drinks affected it. It doesn't.

So I have faith in the thermometer because it is so reliable - and a 37.5 reading would make me likely to err on the side of caution because it's significantly higher than what I've had from the vast majority of people I've blipped. 37.5 is also, in old money, just under 100F (99.5). Which has always been seen as raised.

@nitsandwormsdodger

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

Regardless of the outcome here you need to report the way you were spoken to. It is absolutely disgraceful and a breach of trust between you and the school!

Regardless of the outcome here you need to report the way you were spoken to. It is absolutely disgraceful and a breach of trust between you and the school!

I totally agree with this. I believe the school have behaved appallingly, and if there was another option I would be looking for another school.

As for those posters banging on about the school thermometer, they can be inaccurate surely. I have my temp taken when I visit my father, one day it wouldn't read, another day my temp was reading as 32, which it obviously wasn't.

I have to say the threats are unacceptable. I would be kicking up a fuss about this. Explain factually the financial constraints you are under.

My experience of the testing system (last week) was great. Booked for late afternoon on the same day and results back Monday lunchtime. Birmingham.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the child being kept off school, that conversation was appalling. I have never worked in a school where that sort of threat would be made, or even considered. It's quite appalling and should be reported.

Who were you speaking to, OP? Was it the head? Member of teaching staff? receptionist?

I really wouldn't allow a threat of SS and embarrassing you at work to pass. It's absolutely appalling, and I've no idea why most posters are ignoring it.

It's absolutely appalling, and I've no idea why most posters are ignoring it.

Ha! No-one except the four people who posted while I was typing! Sod's law.

My upset was at the threat of and I quote "embarrassing when ss ring your {insert place of work} which they know lack of safeguarding would have me suspended and would be massively stressful especially as I'm trying to re interview for my job

I would complain to the head about the way this was said to you @nitsandwormsdodger

@jojobar I'm sorry you had to deal with that attitude at school. I tend to forget that some schools are not that great with parents as I work in a school that (I think as a parent and as a teacher) is good. Not saying they're perfect, always room for improvement, but threatening SS involvement when it quite clearly was not SS level would never cross our minds. We only call SS when it's a clear safeguarding issue.

@Reb4evaaa

I would call your local social services and discuss it with them. I’m a Social Worker and and Social Services would likely not do anything in regards to this. It is not a safeguarding concern.

The reason the school mentioned social services was because the OP threatened to leave her child at school without a negative test result.

Quite rightly the school would not be able to admit her and would have had no option but to contact social services. It would be illegal for them to have the child on the premises under those conditions. They could not send her home unaccompanied and would not have the facilities to isolate her within the school.

Schools have got enough on their plates ATM without parents throwing hissy fits , I am not surprised the school responded to the OPs selfish threat the way they did, if every parent decided to ignore requests to get suspect children tested then the measures schools are implementing to keep as many children infection free as possible would collapse.

I hope the OPs child is fine, btw and is able to go back to school on Monday.

The school's approach was heavy-handed and unwarranted.

But your behaviour was wrong too.

You needed to obtain a test, that's clear. You forced the school's hand by insisting you'd send her in.

You made a huge fuss here saying you couldn't get a test. Turns out you could, fairly easily.

I don't like the sound of the school but you are being massively unreasonable.

Cross post with you @viques - I agree 💯

Some of these thermometers test your external temp and some the core temp - which could explain the difference. Just get the test.

We would realloy struggle to get a test in my town. We don't even have a testing centre, the nearest one is about 15-20 miles away.

@Witchend

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!

I had a test yesterday, we were the only ones at the testing centre. We got there early and were waved straight through and out before the actual appointment time

Is this a private school? I have never heard of a state school having a solicitor readily available!!

Definitely not private school

Well that is the strangest thing I have heard about a school - I have taught for 15 years, last few years in safeguarding and have never had a solicitor involved by a school in any case... And certainly not summoned on a whim.

You can get a test! Temp and a cough. Doesn’t matter which type as long as it’s continuous. A continuous cough is classed as 3 episodes in 24 hours. So basically any cough that you get with a cold would be enough for a test.
My DD has a cold with a cough. I know it was just a cold. But I certainly didn't expect the school to allow her in. So we had a test Monday and results back 29 hours (negative) and she was back to school today. She still has a cold. (Not bad enough to be off school). But at least we know for sure it is ‘just’ a cold.

OP has stated many times that she can't get hold of a bloody test!! Stop telling her to get one!! I haven't managed to get one either they are like gold dust!!!

I'm glad yoi5gota test.

But WTF? Who the hell do the school think they are issuing threats like that? I would not let that slide at all. Its fucking terrifying that people think that's ok. We are slipping, tiptoe, into some weird fucking totalitarian state with these attitudes.