To not understand why people are taking children out of school for the last week?

[TellerTuesday]

To be clear, I don't mean people who have travel plans for the the first week of the holiday. I totally understand why people agave decided it's not worth the risk of having to isolate and not being able to go away etc.

But I really don't understand why people are keeping DCs out of school for the last week so that they 'don't have to isolate for the first week of the holidays'

There are 6 children in DD's class who have now finished for the year despite them not breaking up until next Friday. 1 is travelling the first weekend so I do see logic with that one hut the other 5 don't have anything planned.

In that situation are people not just isolating for a week to avoid the risk of POSSIBLY having to isolate the week after?

Guidance here

And the final page here

Our local secondary have offered the option or home learning or sending them in. They currently have 60% off isolating.

Because its everywhere in schools at the moment.

DD's bubble popped for the 4th time on Tuesday. She has to isolate until after the term ends. She's year 6, so Tuesday was her last day of primary.

She's missing all the end of term activities and all the saying goodbye.

If I'd pulled her out, she'd still have missed them, but she wouldn't ALSO have missed all the last classes for her hobbies, seeing her cousin, being able to go out in the great weather we're having, the 1st of her planned holiday activities, seeing her friends etc etc, and we wouldn't be struggling like mad with cancelling our plans for the weekend.

She'll have done 40 days stuck in a house with postage stamp back yard since September, plus the limitations of the lockdowns. Her Oct 1/2 term was a write off, because she was isolating, Christmas was under the rules change, so we did nothing and saw no-one, her birthday was in lockdown, Feb 1/2 term was in lockdown, Easter was spent isolating, and she's now isolated twice since May 1/2 term.

We're northwest, so we were Tier 3 for most of last year, as well. In real terms, restrictions on her hobbies and on seeing her friends never happened here at all.

This summer holiday is/was the first chance she's had since March 20 to be an unrestricted child... and she's starting it in isolation.

It's enough to stress anyone, and I don't blame any patent for not wanting to risk the same for themselves and their kids.

I’d do the same. I am forgoing several invitations and meet ups between now and my Cornwall holiday at the beginning of August. There is nothing stopping me and my family going away!

I find it strange that many were so many posts moaning when schools closed for covid safety restrictions yet so many recent posts re taking children on term time holidays or missing school to avoid isolation.

Its not just about wether they are a close contact though.

Our primary has 15 cases of confirmed covid. In a school of about 350 including staff. According to the school Public health England have told them, to ask parents to all get the kids tested. Only 10% have complied so far, but everyday there's at least one more case.

I don't want ds to catch it and have to stay in. I don't want to catch it. And have to stay in on my first week off with ds this year.

We arent going anywhere but I want to be able to leave the house.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

I find it strange that many were so many posts moaning when schools closed for covid safety restrictions yet so many recent posts re taking children on term time holidays or missing school to avoid isolation.

I don't think it's thats strange.

Missing the last week of term isn't the same as being at home for months. Our school for example has online learning that is far better now than it was when schools were closed.

During ds last isolation, was the first time we had live lessons.

But also, lots of people aren't trying to avoid an isolation. They are trying to avoid another isolation. Some people are on their 4th. People need to work. Kids need to be able to leave their house. Some kids are spending weeks in isolation, going back to school for a couple of days and then isolating again.

They can't go to holiday childcare if they are in isolation?

The parents may not have holidays booked away but might actually want to do gun stuff in their annual leave?

I don't know about schools but under the general law in England if you are pinged by test and trace you do NOT have to isolate by law at all. A myth is being put out that you do. It is different if you have a call or email from NHS track and test.

I'm a teacher and currently I'd rather be taking my child out of school than them getting covid. The virus ìs spreading badly where I am and the children I know who have it are quite poorly.

Kids are being sent home left right and centre due to the odd case in schools in my area. It’s to avoid isolating. My reception child is missing their last week and having to self isolate for 10 days which is shit but doable for us as we have a garden. Some people don’t have childcare and need to work but will be fucked if their kid has to isolate. Or they don’t have a garden.

I've taken both of mine out. Cases are rising fast here and kids are being sent home to self isolate every day. Dd said it was worse than Xmas. She is Year 12 so all her lessons are on Zoom and she's mainly doing coursework now, so that's fine.

I think it’s mostly people that have plans for the first week of the holidays. I don’t blame them tbh, kids don’t do much the last week anyway and it seems half of students are already off isolating. Mine are staying at school, we are going away on the 3rd which gives us time if they need to isolate (they break up on the 21st) though I think if they were asked to isolate I would probably ignore it. They have both had to isolate in the last month due to being a so called close contact when they haven’t been in close contact with the child who tested positive (not within 2m). Soon kids will not have to isolate anyway so why is it so important now? Nothings going to change in the next few weeks, if anything cases will be higher when isolation changes?

Children in classrooms will not be counted as close contacts

This is already happening. Kids aren’t being asked to test either. You’ll never know if your child is a close contact because they won’t tell you.

This risks are higher now than they were before.

I don't have kids at school or work in a school so have no personal experience of this but I totally get it. If someone has holiday clubs or an actual holiday booked in the first couple of weeks of the holidays they don't want to risk the child being told to isolate or actually getting CoVid in the last days of term and their carefully laid plans going kaput. And really, after the chaos of the last academic 18 months, a few more days at home isn't going to make much difference.

We have a family reunion planned for early next week. Most of the attendees are voluntarily isolating for the two weeks before as we don't want to get pinged or infected and miss out on the party! I quite understand parents wanting to do similar.

I wish I’d done this. We’ve had to cancel our holiday next week because DS2 was told to self isolate on Monday. I’m gutted. We don’t know if DH will be able to book another week off during the summer holidays.

Our entire school has been shut since the beginning of the week because of the huge number of cases- it is completely out of control in some areas OP. This is the worst it has been for the entire pandemic for us but hey, roll on freedom day eh?

One of mine is currently isolating until tomorrow, and we took the decision to keep her non isolating sister off this week too.

Not an easy decision, as pp say they’ve missed so much school already. But, here in the NW, virtually everyone is isolating; we have done 5 isolations in this house so far. We are supposed to go away on the 22nd, booked 12 months ago to the date. I have no regrets about keeping the youngest home this week (We are both working up to the 21st, in covid swamped environments, but apparently as I’m NHS I’m bomb proof re isolating when exposed to covid so that’s ok then…. )

Because at DDs secondary school there's a massive number of children isolating. DD included. She's been isolating since last week. Her isolation ends today. I'm not sending her in for one day to risk another long isolation period for her.

Kids having to isolate is horrendous. Been there and I hope never to have to again so I get it

@IDidNotSignUpForThis

Our entire school has been shut since the beginning of the week because of the huge number of cases- it is completely out of control in some areas OP. This is the worst it has been for the entire pandemic for us but hey, roll on freedom day eh?

Sorry and sad to hear that and hope all eventually recover from illness. It’s no consolation to be part of a de fact non mitigation implemented herd immunity experiment.

*de facto (typo)

Dropping like flies around me op, it's creeping closer and closer and closer, we are going away in about two weeks so hopefully we can make it through...

What’s happening at the moment is cruel to the kids, some get told they have to isolate while their friends don’t, DS is in second isolation after being back at school after a few days, he’s 17, his mental health is suffering, I cried for him yesterday when we got the notification he was a close contact again, he’s lost out on a summer job because of 2nd isolation, he doesn’t even know who was the close contact, we normally hear through the grapevine.