Primary school seems obsessed with covid

[Lightswitch123]

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.

@Lightswitch123

Fair enough if this was still 2020.

But it's not.

Kids don't get ill from covid.

This obsessive testing and disrupting does not happen for the flu or rsv or other communicable illnesses that actually make children and adults of parental age unwell.

We are almost 2 years down the line.

Everyone who wants to be is vaccinated.

At what point does this madness end?

Hmm yes they do . My a 10 year old has been really poorly over the school holidays . We had a about 15 kids over the holidays test positive in my sons year .
With varying degrees of illness .

I’m a teacher. Some of our children have been extremely ill with covid since September. We’re talking four to five weeks out of school, horribly poorly with it. It’s not true at all that children only get it asymptotically.

Besides, not everybody is vaccinated who wants to be: very few children in schools are currently vaccinated, and therein lies a major problem. We can’t really afford not to have mitigating measures until children are also vaccinated.

I'm disgusted by this post and the selfish attitude of OP and those that agree with her. A teacher's job involves being around hundreds of children from all different households, their job inherently holds more risk of COVID. Teachers didn't get to work from home during lockdown, they went in and taught children of key workers and vulnerable children. They haven't had the luxury of staying safe by staying at home. Schools wanting to protect their staff by putting in COVID measures is completely reasonable and I'm disgusted anyone thinks otherwise.

I trained to teach during COVID. A teacher at my school caught COVID and was incapacitated for months. She has finally returned to work but her health will never be the same.

I'm not saying teachers are heroes or trying to put them on a pedestal. But the job has inherently more of a COVID risk than many other jobs and teachers shouldn't be criticised for wanting to protect themselves from it. If they don't and they catch COVID you won't like it when your kid is stuck with a rotation of supply teachers! Plus they were well aware of the impact this has all had on children's mental health and I see teachers trying so hard to mitigate this and ensure children in their class are happy. They care about your children but they have to balance their own safety. I'm truly disgusted by the attitude of the OP

Also, vaccine efficacy is seriously dwindling amongst most of the teaching populace, as booster vaccines are slow to come about at the moment.

My mid-December, the majority of our staff will be over six months since their vaccine, so will no longer have protection.

If it was any other illness causing it I bet most parents would be up in arms if measures were not being taken to try and stop the spread/keep people informed. But because it's Covid some people think because they're bored of it that it doesn't matter.

I beg to differ with you on your opinion that ‘kids don’t get sick’ - my teen was very ill and is still struggling with headaches, tiredness and skin complaints weeks later.

Heaven forbid that your children should miss a Christmas nativity!

Literal heading in the New York Times this morning: Needless Suffering: Britain offers a warning of what happens when a country ignores Covid.

When you combine no mitigation in schools with a very low rate of under 18 vaccinations, it's a recipe for massive spread. As for the dip in cases, have you really not connected that to half term?

www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/briefing/britain-covid-cases-restrictions.html

But all the points everyone is making to keep restrictions going could be applied to other illnesses . Vaccine efficacy / feeling unwell etc etc

Flu being the easiest parallel. Feel rubbish. May need a couple of weeks off.

School doesn't shut down because of it though.

2020 - yes was proportional

Coming into 2022 - no. It's not proportional. It's just the easy argument as you dont need to weigh up the other harder / impossible to measure costs and impacts . You just need to shout "but you don't care if someone dies!"

@salviapages

I'm disgusted by this post and the selfish attitude of OP and those that agree with her. A teacher's job involves being around hundreds of children from all different households, their job inherently holds more risk of COVID. Teachers didn't get to work from home during lockdown, they went in and taught children of key workers and vulnerable children. They haven't had the luxury of staying safe by staying at home. Schools wanting to protect their staff by putting in COVID measures is completely reasonable and I'm disgusted anyone thinks otherwise.

I trained to teach during COVID. A teacher at my school caught COVID and was incapacitated for months. She has finally returned to work but her health will never be the same.

I'm not saying teachers are heroes or trying to put them on a pedestal. But the job has inherently more of a COVID risk than many other jobs and teachers shouldn't be criticised for wanting to protect themselves from it. If they don't and they catch COVID you won't like it when your kid is stuck with a rotation of supply teachers! Plus they were well aware of the impact this has all had on children's mental health and I see teachers trying so hard to mitigate this and ensure children in their class are happy. They care about your children but they have to balance their own safety. I'm truly disgusted by the attitude of the OP

Well said and I couldn't agree more!

Our school never stopped those measures. Most schools here are insisting on 10 days off school if close contact as so many are testing postive on day 8

Kids don't get ill except those with asthma who can end up in hospital but as long as your kids dont miss out on their afterschool activities

Re: introducing bubbles - close contacts of affected children DO NOT need to isolate. If the school are doing this, then please report to the DfE, as it puts their funding at risk.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

@FallonBeesley

I agree with you OP, the vaccine was our way out, we just need to live with it now. The things my DS has missed out on are ridiculous, I want a normal happy life for him not this awful half life that our children are experiencing right now. It’s not fair on them and will be affecting them mentally far more than this virus.

@FallonBeesley go on then tell us what the awful half life that our children are experiencing right now is?

January-March 2020 - they were not in school, not going to sports, clubs, parties, into other families homes
Autumn 2021 - my DC are in school today, tennis tonight, going to a party and an activity at the weekend, attending brownies, family visited and stayed over for Halloween. Admittedly parents evenings are now online & the Christmas activies will be in school without parents attending but streamed to watch.

But I think you are being quite melodramatic to claim they are NOW living a half life...

The virus is still spreading in schools (in our school more so than last year) so I don’t see the difference between 2020 and 2021.

Would you have schools remove all precautionary measures and let it run riot through our children and those teaching/supporting them through their education? How irresponsible and selfish would that be!

@salviapages

I'm disgusted by this post and the selfish attitude of OP and those that agree with her. A teacher's job involves being around hundreds of children from all different households, their job inherently holds more risk of COVID. Teachers didn't get to work from home during lockdown, they went in and taught children of key workers and vulnerable children. They haven't had the luxury of staying safe by staying at home. Schools wanting to protect their staff by putting in COVID measures is completely reasonable and I'm disgusted anyone thinks otherwise.

I trained to teach during COVID. A teacher at my school caught COVID and was incapacitated for months. She has finally returned to work but her health will never be the same.

I'm not saying teachers are heroes or trying to put them on a pedestal. But the job has inherently more of a COVID risk than many other jobs and teachers shouldn't be criticised for wanting to protect themselves from it. If they don't and they catch COVID you won't like it when your kid is stuck with a rotation of supply teachers! Plus they were well aware of the impact this has all had on children's mental health and I see teachers trying so hard to mitigate this and ensure children in their class are happy. They care about your children but they have to balance their own safety. I'm truly disgusted by the attitude of the OP

Completely agree. The OP seems to feel that schools are not putting the children first. Of course we are. However, if the teachers are all off sick then the children will be much more adversely affected than they are by not having indoor events. Our parent interviews are still happening but online instead. We did a Carol concert outside last year. Schools are trying to be creative to make things better for kids whilst at the same time have been massively unskilled to be able to teach remotely if we have to. Teachers feel like lambs to the slaughter. Not just undervalued as professional but that our lives have no value.

@SachaStark2

Also, vaccine efficacy is seriously dwindling amongst most of the teaching populace, as booster vaccines are slow to come about at the moment.

My mid-December, the majority of our staff will be over six months since their vaccine, so will no longer have protection.

That is not what the data shows. The protection offered by vaccines does not just 'switch off' after 6 months.

You are quite right OP, we need to keep our children in school.

Today 10:48 BiscoffAddict

@coffeerevelsrock indeed. How many times do we have to point out that school isn’t childcare?

Until such time as there are adequate levels of feasible and affordable wraparound childcare across all schools in the country, I imagine.

When do you think parents will have viable alternatives to relying on after school clubs as they try to meet their employment obligations?

You can’t blame parents for wanting to make use of what’s available. And generally quite a lot of schools are mindful that parents rely on clubs for childcare and try their best not to disrupt the provision. Doesn’t yours?

@Lightswitch123 you are getting a bit ahead of yourself in your timeframe - it's not been 2 years since March 2020 (counting from then its only been 18months of a novel virus circulating in the community) and we have two months to go until the end of 2021. I know it feels longer! This is the first winter we have to get through (with the protection of vaccines) but a high rate of community infection that inevitably will still cause disruption this year as more of the population are exposed to it.

@SachaStark2 By mid-December, the majority of our staff will be over six months since their vaccine, so will no longer have protection The medics have said protection will not drop off a cliff edge but will gradually wane so thankfully will still prevent most hospitalisations and deaths.

You are quite right OP, we need to keep our children in school.

With all the staff off?

To me, the problem now is the inconsistency or what people are experiencing. When it was everyone then fair enough. But now it's just children and it's not all children. Adults can attend theatres and concerts packed with 1000s of mask free people. But some schools are cancelling their nativity in the school hall for a couple of hundred?!

And because it's Local Authority guidance schools a) have no choice and b) aren't all ending up with the same restrictions. I teach in a private school so we don't have to follow LA guidance. We do have to follow PHE guidance. So, when we had a cluster of cases before half term, we stopped whole school gatherings and asked the older children to wear masks in the corridors. Now we've had half term and currently only have a couple of children off with it, those restrictions have stopped and we're back to normal. We're able to have all our productions, concerts, matches, clubs, practical lessons etc. But schools that have to follow the LA directives can't do that. Even though I bet most of them want to.

I don't blame the schools for doing what they have to do but it isn't fair or porportionate to the risk. I don't think YABU at all.

The way to keep the children in school is by ensuring the safety of the staff. If there are no mitigations to protect the staff then the staff could become ill and then the school shuts.

OP I agree, stopping all clubs etc is way OTT now.

There’s a middle ground of following requirements to test where symptomatic, isolating when positive etc, without operating as though it’s summer 2020. There’s now no need in general and we have to weigh up the detriment to children, whose interests were largely sacrificed for the greater good for the better part of 18 months. We now have vaccines and better treatment. We can’t afford to suspend normal life indefinitely. I appreciate some people are still scared and have sympathy, but a middle ground needs to be sought.

I appreciate some people are still scared and have sympathy, but a middle ground needs to be sought.

Who is scared? I’m so unwell I couldn’t get off the sofa to teach a class if I tried.

@carrythecan You are quite right OP, we need to keep our children in school

Where is anyone saying otherwise?! The whole point is the schools (advised by the health security agency or whatever succeeded PHE) are trying to manage the situation to keep as many children onsite learning as possible while there is still a great deal of Covid circulating in the community.