Back to School - AIBU to expect further chaos?

[DadAManger]

We are less than one month out now from both our children returning to school. Like many others, my DD and DS were taken out of school and had to isolate because of cases within their year several times during the last school year. The whole period was stop:start for them.

I feel like we are making progress in lots of areas and feel much more freedom than we had before of course, but we know now that the Delta/Indian Variant spreads very easily and with a greater viral load amongst our kids. And Autumn does tend to see an increase in cases.

Are schools going to have to pull kids from school again and follow the same approach as before and AIBU to expect more chaos again?

No, they also should have their tests done at home

Well there's a surprise. I hate it when people post disingenuously.

@Justajot

I suspect the biggest problem in primary schools will be the lack of supply teachers. If there's no requirement to isolate then it will circulate pretty widely and plenty of vaccinated staff will catch it. Those staff will still have to take 10 days off (minimum) and there will be class closures where there aren't enough supply teachers to go round.

Yep. This.

I'm not sure if parents of primary children realise that there is absolutely no plan whatsoever for primary schools.

The current advice seems to be:

1. ignore it and hope it goes away
2. get any children who test positive to identify close contacts. Yes, including Reception / KS1. (Not sure if the Govt have ever met an actual child)
3. stick a wet paper towel on it and hope for the best.

No improved ventilation/ testing / funding. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

You forgot 'not actually do anything with close contacts except advise a PCR'. No sending them home.

I don't expect parents to be informed there's a case in the class either, so that they can take precautions.

@noblegiraffe I used Y7 as main example. But referred to yp or children also. What's disingenuous about that?

[quote Tryingtryingandtrying]@lannistunut Did you parents not manage to get their vaccine yet? I've heard elderly housebound people have been missed in a fair few cases.[/quote]
The vaccine is not an impenetrable shield, this autumn/winter tens of thousands of people will die and most of them will be elderly.

Two things need to come together for a person to be hospitalised from Covid:
a) Be at risk of a bad outcome - this is going to be a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people, age/health remain risk factors as before
b) catch Covid

I can do nothing about a) beyond the vaccine, but I can try to do something about b).

Yes, 'used Y7 as a main example' is exactly it.

Using kids to make an anti-mitigation measure argument is a favoured tactic of particular campaign groups.

I'm not arguing against tests. Just saying it would be of benefit to the children themselves to do it at home. We are allowed to actually consider what is best for children right?
I'm not part of any campaign group.

You certainly sound like them.

Why were you posting about Y7s being swabbed by strangers (incorrect) instead of just saying 'I don't think the tests should be conducted in schools on any child'. I'm guessing it was because it was done in March and they know the drill, so Y7 was your 'in'.

The best thing to do for new Yr 7's (I have one as well as a Yr 9) is to practice doing LFT's at home and a good chat about potential issues should they test positive at school. If they can also talk about it with older children even better.

There has been so many isolating at my kids schools, our neighbours and extended family it seems pretty commonplace.

Not really. It was done that way in March as there wasn't an abundance of tests in every house and they were still being distributed in order of need. Far less people vaccinated too. Different set of circumstances. Best option at the time. No longer best option and especially for Year 7 children who are not supposed to Swab themselves anyway. Many more people will refuse consent this time around I am sure.

@Notonthestairs No, the best option is to do it home? Or don't you trust yourself to record the result honestly?

Our school are doing LFTs as they return and then again a few days later. Expect it will be fine for a while and then the cases will start to snowball again. (As happened at Chrismas, Easter and just before summer holidays.)

Sod off. I've been recording my sons tests as directed throughout. It's never been a problem.

Then why make him have them at school when it's easier and better for him if you continue to do them at home? The reason they want them done in school is that they don't trust parents to do it or record it properly as someone above has said.

trying you mean that you are hoping that parents will refuse consent and are trying to nudge them in that direction.

A Y7 turning up to my school in September is expected to head to the hall first thing with their tutor group for their covid test. They do the test then head back for some settling in activities.

What will your 'consent refused, I've done it at home' Y7 be doing? Turning up late? Hanging around an empty classroom?

Covid hasn't gone away. Fully vaccinated people can still catch and transmit covid; they're just not so likely to be seriously ill and die. For now. No one knows how long vaccine "immunity" lasts. Respiratory viruses usually increase in Autumn/Winter. From what I have read, nothing has been done to improve ventilation in schools. Boris, having played catch up all through this pandemic, is planning more "firebreaks". Schools will definitely be affected. Hopefully not as badly as this time last year.

I'm quite happy for him to do it at school because I don't see any drama about it.

I think if there are multiple cases in a school it will end up in a closure of that school.

This will also mean no zoom lessons if the teachers all get ill with it but the government haven't thought about those issues of course.

So a lot of (understandable) confusion or uncertainty for some of us still at this stage (including in Scotland, which where the kids start back earlier than in England and Wales).

@theluckiest - personally, I think that is pretty accurate and @Maryjane3227 agree that what actually happens will depend on how we collectively behave. That is the problem I have with the "you do you and I'll do me" posts we see re Covid on MN - it doesn't apply to this sort of situation. Nor does the "it's over, move on" mindset of some. If only that were so.

It was done that way in March as there wasn't an abundance of tests in every house and they were still being distributed in order of need.

Btw this is also wrong. Once pupils had done the tests in school they were given a supply to take home, because there was confidence that they had been shown how to do it properly. So not a shortage of tests.

@noblegiraffe I imagine they will go straight to their classroom with the other 15 to 20 kids whose parents have already tested them at home, or possibly refused testing altogether.
Locally I know parents are refusing consent for in school tests. Don't think a mnet thread read by a couple of thousand people at the most will change that one way or the other.

At the time you couldn't just drive to the nearest covid testing and pick up boxes of tests. Secondary schools and primary teachers were a priority after nhs etc.

I don't think they will close schools even if there is a large outbreak. I think schools will be left to muddle through and staff expected to cover every eventuality.

I don't know anyone that has refused consent. We moan about the website that collects the data being slow but that's about it.

I imagine they will go straight to their classroom with the other 15 to 20 kids whose parents have already tested them at home

But this won't be the case. Back in March the vast majority of kids were tested in school.

If everyone you know has actually refused consent, and it's not just a debate tactic where you try to make out that your position is actually the popular one (contrary to evidence), then that just illustrates the type of people you hang around with and explains why you are using particular buzzwords.

Not basing it on people I know. Local schools are struggling to get consent this time. It is different to March.