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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Primary school seems obsessed with covid

259 replies

Lightswitch123 · 02/11/2021 10:27

My children's primary seem obsessed with covid.

We had a few cases in school before half term (??20 positive tests in the whole of the school?)

Now we are back, because 2 parents emailed the head over half term to say their child had a also had a positive result, the school have cancelled all in person events, after school clubs, parents not allowed in playground, reintroduced bubbles, staggering drop offs, minimising lunch and play times, kids not allowed to use class pens or pencils, no water provided etc

We get at least 1 parentmail a day "updating" us on the situation.

This is in spite of no one actually being unwell- just positive lateral flow / pcr results off the back of being named contacts. And we've all been off for ages for half term as well.

It all seems so bloody punative and OTT.

I'm beginning to think I'd rather the kids went elsewhere or just stayed at home away from this crazy.

Aibu?

YABU - School response sounds reasonable

YANBU - School is OTT

Also any advice as to how to tackle this with the school? It's doing my head in.

OP posts:
DisappearingGirl · 02/11/2021 10:57

Gahh sorry slightly off topic but I get quite annoyed when people say "school isn't childcare". Of course it is, for the vast majority of working parents! If schools (or after school clubs) are closed at short notice, it is a nightmare for working parents.

luckylavender · 02/11/2021 10:57

@Lightswitch123 - cases may be falling but they are still very very high and reinfections (of which there are many) are not being counted.

Nevermindthesquirrels · 02/11/2021 10:57

@justLyra after school activity clubs and after school clubs are different, yes. Activity clubs can be cancelled at short notice, good schools will make arrangements for those kids. After school club is most definitely childcare though.
I think it is a very entitled thing to say 'school isn't childcare'. However much I wish it wasn't, the way the current spciety is set up, it is childcare.

coffeerevelsrock · 02/11/2021 10:57

@TotallySuper

Cancelling after school clubs etc too? Back to bubbling? I'd write to my MP this goes against everything Boris has said. It is seriously damaging for the children's mental health.
Yes, to me a club is run by a teacher as a volunteer, while after school care is separate and run by an external provider. I've only heard of the former stopping due to Covid.
Wondergirl100 · 02/11/2021 10:57

For those who are worried - I want to know when that worry will go away? We have vaccinated everyone who is at risk - even my friend who is a kidney transplant patient and at high risk is happy that children are not longer suffering from all these restrictions.

My parents generation have even had boosters - this is it, we need to return to normality now.

The vast majority of hospitalisations and deaths were always among the elderly - that is even more the case now. Only 1 per cent of deaths are among the vaccinated and that is now the very old and vulnerable.

It's been a scary time for everyone but children also deserve the chance to have normal lives again

Original poster
Lightswitch123 · 02/11/2021 10:58

acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.12488

OP posts:
daisyroses · 02/11/2021 10:58

I'm with you OP and thankfully my children's school is not taking this approach.

JustLyra · 02/11/2021 10:58

Children are not the only people in schools.

People soon whinge when schools have to close because staff are off, yet whinge when schools take measures to protect their staff.

They can’t win.

Stela40 · 02/11/2021 10:58

It is very frustrating and, it seems, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel with regards to Covid. Children may not get sick but unfortunately, adults do and that includes parents/carers as well as all of the school staff (in whatever capacity that might be) so I guess the school must do everything in its power to keep as many people as possible safe. I understand your frustration but also the school's position on this. I was surprised that one poster commented on the "childcare" provided by after school clubs. After school clubs are largely staffed voluntarily (I.e. unpaid overtime for school staff). They are there as an educational enrichment activity....not as an unpaid child minding service. I really don't blame school staff for wanting to stick to the main school working hours during the pandemic. If childcare is required beyond the school day, then wrap around care should be paid for.

JustLyra · 02/11/2021 10:59

[quote Nevermindthesquirrels]@justLyra after school activity clubs and after school clubs are different, yes. Activity clubs can be cancelled at short notice, good schools will make arrangements for those kids. After school club is most definitely childcare though.
I think it is a very entitled thing to say 'school isn't childcare'. However much I wish it wasn't, the way the current spciety is set up, it is childcare.[/quote]
After school clubs are just that. They’re not childcare.
After school care that is set up to provide care is childcare. They’re different things entirely.

Shelovesamystery · 02/11/2021 11:01

[quote BiscoffAddict]@coffeerevelsrock indeed. How many times do we have to point out that school isn’t childcare?[/quote]
I'm privileged to not need to use school as childcare and would still be able to feed my kids and put a roof over their heads if they couldn't go to school. But I'm also able to see past the end of my own nose and realise that many parents are not in the same position as me. Seriously, get in the real world!

Nevermindthesquirrels · 02/11/2021 11:05

@JustLyra are you trying to tell me that the after school club lady that is on my schools payroll, alongside the 4 other ladies that I make sure he paid correctly each month, are not running a childcare provision? What exactly is childcare then?
This is their actual job. The 5 schools I've worked in, have had this provision. I do not know of a single school where an after school club, that's paid for and run strategically from end of school to 5:45/6pm is not there as childcare.

Grumpster21 · 02/11/2021 11:05

@Lightswitch123

Since the start of the first wave children are at 10x higher risk of comitting suicide than of being ill with covid.

Yet we keep on forcing this disruption on them.

It's not for them. Stop pretending the children benefit from this

It's a joke.

@Lightswitch123 Who is 'pretending the children benefit from this' and how?
MiddleParking · 02/11/2021 11:07

School absolutely is childcare Hmm

Original poster
Lightswitch123 · 02/11/2021 11:08

I understand the sentiment of those saying IABU, but with everyone who wants to be vaccinated, 90%+ of the population having antibodies and the boosters avaliable to those who need them...

What are you waiting for??

Just when do you propose we stop penalising our children!?!

If that's your approach to risk then we should immediately ban all cars, sugar, tree climbing, swimming, lock up parents who drink or smoke etc....

It's now wildly disproportionate and punative to continue with these measures- yet some people just can't see how illogical and damaging it is to carry on like this.

I really can't understand or relate to that

OP posts:
JustLyra · 02/11/2021 11:09

[quote Nevermindthesquirrels]@JustLyra are you trying to tell me that the after school club lady that is on my schools payroll, alongside the 4 other ladies that I make sure he paid correctly each month, are not running a childcare provision? What exactly is childcare then?
This is their actual job. The 5 schools I've worked in, have had this provision. I do not know of a single school where an after school club, that's paid for and run strategically from end of school to 5:45/6pm is not there as childcare.[/quote]
That’s after school care… had you been clear what you’re talking about there would be less confusion.

Clubs are totally different. None of the 15 schools I’ve worked in, nor the 6 I’ve run after school care in feel the need to confuse the terminology. Apologies for misunderstanding what you meant

toomuchlaundry · 02/11/2021 11:10

It is a Government department (DfE or PHE) advising schools what to do under their outbreak policy, so don't blame the school (especially as the schools are just trying their best to reduce cases and keep school open)

BogRollBOGOF · 02/11/2021 11:11

DS's class had a cluster over half term. About 5 or 6 have mentioned it on parents' chat. There could be a couple more as not all parents use it.

The class has come back from half term and been bubbled off which seems pointless at this moment as they naturally had 10 days away from each other. Siblings are in school across pretty much all year groups. As it happens, DS likes getting his lunch from the hall and eating in the classroom so fortunately the only detriment to him is the inevitable awkwardness that his two closest friends are off.

One of the most important things that children need is stability, and the constant changing of routines of things like clubs is damaging and destabilising. A lot of children have drifted away from extra-curriculars in the past 18m+ because of lockdowns and constant changing restrictions and that's a lot of lost opportunities for development and lost fitness and skills.

Just the unstable autumn last year with constantly changing tiers (I'm on a county boundary so aspects of life were out of synch on different rules) and in and out of lockdowns was bloody autumn. There were a lot of threads about feeling "flat" as the restrictions eased because of the damage of this instability, and I found it was August before I had the security to cope with making plans and anticipate them again. Two years (as it will most likely be) of constantly changing the goalposts in children's lifes is not consequence-free.

lollipopsandrainbows · 02/11/2021 11:11

@Lightswitch123 I've been quite relaxed about the whole Covid thing however I can assure you that healthy children can and do get poorly from Covid. I'm currently sat with my very poorly 9 year old who's temperature is 39, she's shivering, vomiting and coughing and has the faintest positive on the lateral flow this morning. I've honestly never seen her this ill. Her sister tested positive on Saturday and my youngests school insisted she could still attend if she had no symptoms - which by Monday morning she hadn't. But my gut instinct was to keep her off rather than spreading it around, and thank god I did because it's really taken hold now.

BiscoffAddict · 02/11/2021 11:12

What was the point of you posting in AIBU OP as you clearly don’t think you are unreasonable and aren’t interested in other points of view?🤔

Nevermindthesquirrels · 02/11/2021 11:12

@Lightswitch123 it is a hard reality to swallow but schools have always been, and always will be, germ central. If someone is extremely vulnerable, it is not the right workplace for them.
This is the harsh reality. There are vaccines available and measures like cleaning that have always been there.
My annoyance with this, as someone that works in schools, albeit in finance, is these measures achieve very very little in terms of the protection pp are talking about.

Shelovesamystery · 02/11/2021 11:13

@Lightswitch123

I understand the sentiment of those saying IABU, but with everyone who wants to be vaccinated, 90%+ of the population having antibodies and the boosters avaliable to those who need them...

What are you waiting for??

Just when do you propose we stop penalising our children!?!

If that's your approach to risk then we should immediately ban all cars, sugar, tree climbing, swimming, lock up parents who drink or smoke etc....

It's now wildly disproportionate and punative to continue with these measures- yet some people just can't see how illogical and damaging it is to carry on like this.

I really can't understand or relate to that

Completely agree with all of this!
Nevermindthesquirrels · 02/11/2021 11:14

@JustLyra I've never heard it called anything but after school club. The activity clubs are always called by their activity eg I'm meant to be at football club miss etc etc.
Regional differences I guess.
I still stick to the fact that, whether we like it or not, school is absolutely childcare.

Suspiciousmind20 · 02/11/2021 11:15

It’s just ripped through our school and I wish they had put measures back in place temporarily.

I’m on my third week of sick leave from the NHS - no one else can see the patients I had booked in so wishing times will increase. I’m just one of many parents that will have been off sick or off looking after sick children.

Short term re-introduction of infection control measures just seems sensible to me.

Original poster
Lightswitch123 · 02/11/2021 11:15

@BiscoffAddict

What was the point of you posting in AIBU OP as you clearly don’t think you are unreasonable and aren’t interested in other points of view?🤔
Haha- probably true.🤣 I guess I just wanted a rant really.

Fed up with the covid worshiping and just feeling sorry for the generation who don't have a voice, ie our children.

OP posts:
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