To pull my DC out of school for the rest of term?

[RiverOrla]

Rates are skyrocketing at the DC’s primary. We have lots of Christmas plans with extended family (Christmas is a huge deal to us, celebrations relating to several different cultures) and I don’t want to risk it being ruined by covid. If I take them out for the rest of this week and next week (last week of term) this would seriously reduce the risk of them having it for Christmas.

Anyone else doing this?

YABU - keep them in school
YANBU - take them out to safeguard family Christmas.

Thanks bofski I agree school is not the be all and end all. Important of course but not the only thing that is.

There's a reason the government changed the isolation rules to ensure children weren't kept home unless they were ill. They've missed so much school already and its causing huge problems.

It's not just about your children. They won't "only" be doing the show. Your kids will miss 2 weeks of reading, writing, maths, science, topic work, and it causes the teacher to have a lot of extra work to bridge the gap. Its especially bad when its followed with two weeks off anyway for Christmas, a 4 week chunk of time out of school really slows down their learning.

Also the message you are sending to your kids will really stick with them at those ages. Do you really want that message to be "skip school the stuff you need to do it's more important to have fun?"

It’s only one week, not two.

I do take the point that there is more to school that school work and the importance of the fun bits too. This isn’t a flippant decision I’m trying to make.

Is a school play (without an audience) worth missing family Christmas?

We live in the countryside, when not at school their chances of catching it elsewhere are vanishingly small.

I see where you're coming from op, but mine would be gutted to miss all the Christmas fun at school. They've got the nativity, Christmas jumpers, Christmas lunch, a film night. That's part of Christmas too.

[quote User2638483]@7eleven taking a holiday is a bit different to imposing isolation on them[/quote]
Not for the argument that school is really important it isn’t (which obviously I think it is 😀)

I'd keep him in until the end of the week and then take him out if you deem it necessary.

At the end of you day he's your son, it's your choice. He's under eleven and it's the last week before Christmas - its not a big deal.

You're removing him to limit transmission and keep him and elderly relatives safe. Contact them and say you have concerns with clinically vulnerable family members and see what they say.

My sister's school have always continued online lesson plans. Any children who cannot attend can access work, homework etc.

@Heartdogs

Don't deprive your kids of any more school, any more playing with friends, any more education so you can have a big Christmas. .

It’ll probably fall on deaf ears but I agree.

@bofski14

Oh for crying out loud! Why do people think that school is the ONLY place that children can be educated? If OP wants to remove her children from an unsafe situation and she has the means to do it, who are any of you to guilt her into "oh but they'll miss precious school!". There is a world for children outside of 9-3. Have fun with your kids OP.

Well the OP did ask for opinions?? I don’t think school is the ONLY place children can be educated or it’s the be all and end all - no-one has said that! I just think, in the OPs circumstances, it would be unreasonable to keep them off. I’d probably think differently if she was keeping them off next week because it was the only chance to see family (and they were actually going to have some fun) but I’d still think lying about symptoms isn’t right.

Is a school play (without an audience) worth missing family Christmas?

But it doesnt mean missing immediate family Christmas. It means missing a bigger Christmas with extended family & extra activities, not everyone does that anyway.

Hope you weren’t one of the people moaning about home schooling. I know it’s hard to believe after the last yr but school isn’t optional

Children have missed so much school over the last year and a half. The last thing I'd want is for mine to miss even more. There's been so much written about this, not just the affect on educational levels, but also on children's emotional development, mental health and social skills. It's also extra pressure on teachers who are already dealing with lots of absences and having to help children catch up when they've been absent for genuine reasons. That takes teachers' time away from the rest of the class too, so it's not even just your own children who are affected. YA definitely BU.

Why do people think that school is the ONLY place that children can be educated? If OP wants to remove her children from an unsafe situation and she has the means to do it, who are any of you to guilt her into "oh but they'll miss precious school!". There is a world for children outside of 9-3. Have fun with your kids OP

Because picking and choosing when you want to send kids isnt fair on the school. Those teachers have to make up gaps, they are held to account on progress. If you don't want to part of that, you are free to home educate, but you can't just have your cake and eat it too and partake of it only when it suits you. Its disruptive to the rest of the class.

I wouldnt - just think of the impact on the children and their mental health. The last week of term is always an exciting time with various non-studying activities, you want to help them to build happy memories of their primary school. Family will be there every year school friends and scholl activities wont.

Also are you demanding that all the other family members also take their children out of school early so that they are not infected?

Oh come on education? My ten year old in year six, a sats year has watched two movies this week, practiced for their Christmas play and spent time making decorations. Oh and yesterday he made a fruit salad.
They won’t miss out on anything.

I wouldn't. I loved these last weeks before Christmas at school and so do my boys. They'd be gutted to miss out on all the fun to spend a week or two at home doing all the things they've spent the last year or so doing because there wasn't a choice.
What if we end up in another lockdown? It would have been for nothing and the kids would have spent an extra week or two indoors being bored.
We're all desperate to have the Christmases we want after last year, but I think this is a selfish and potentially pointless thing to do.

I can see both sides - most people are looking forward to a more 'normal' Christmas this year and don't want to risk them being ill or passing anything onto older, more vulnerable members of the family.

But the last week of autumn term is usually a lot of fun for primary kids and remember how fed up and angry most of us were when our kids couldn't go to school for all of those months?

I think that's perfectly reasonable. The last few days are usually watching films and having fun anyway. It'd be a shame for them to miss out on those fun things, but even more of a shame for everyone to be ill over Christmas. As long as you're planning to homeschool for at least a week to get you to pretty much the end of term then I think it's fair enough. They're your children and it's your choice.

Obviously you can't then complain if they miss out on something, but that's just common sense.

There's a lot of dramatic responses on this thread!

OP I get it, quality family time is equally as important as school. They really won't miss much at this point of the term and with so many already off with COVID I shouldn't think the class will be being taught much if any new content.
My DS has COVID so he's missing school; we're having a lovely time watching Christmas films, making decorations and playing board games.
We now run the risk of me or my eldest testing positive next week and some of our Christmas plans being ruined. As they were ruined last year, my children have really missed time with extended family and are soooo looking forward to this Christmas. Another festive season without their elderly relatives is just as damaging to children as a couple of weeks of missed education.

@Chipsahoy

Oh come on education? My ten year old in year six, a sats year has watched two movies this week, practiced for their Christmas play and spent time making decorations. Oh and yesterday he made a fruit salad. They won’t miss out on anything.

They won’t miss out on much education, but they would miss out on fun. It’s the nicest part of the school year and OP wants to whip them out so as to not spoil her own Christmas fun.

Sods law would say that you'd take them out of school, then catch it at the supermarket, or at one of the family events you have planned. I sympathise with the desire to prevent them getting it right now, but I don't think it is right to make them stay at home for two weeks now. The other possibility that would worry me is that you take them out now, then they catch it in January and end up missing another 10 days.

People for so long have been concerned about the impact of children not being in school, of life not being normal. Taking your DC out of school for a week before the Christmas holidays isn't normal. Our friends did it the week before the summer holidays, they went on holiday to Cornwall as planned, all caught covid within a few days of being there. Just carry on as normal.

How happy are your children about missing the Christmas show? To say nothing of any other stuff happening in school like special assemblies, class parties, staff pantos etc.

In your position I would pull them out of school.

Sounds like you've already made up your mind, I don't know why you bothered posting.