Schiol parents- Please keep your children at home if you suspect covid!

[TeenyQueen]

Rant-
I'm a pregnant SEN teacher and I've just tested positive for covid, after spending the week in a small classroom with 3 children that tested positive on Thursday. Another child was sent to school, on a shared transport bus, even though the mum and a sibling both had covid. Another child was sent to school with symptoms and both the child and mum have now tested positive.

My class has two teachers, we've both tested positive today. Fortunately we're all double vaccinated and boosted, but I'm heavily pregnant and asthmatic and currently feeling very unwell.

I know for a fact that some parents send their children to school even when they display symptoms because keeping them at home is inconvenient. Well good luck sending them to school now because we will have no staff to teach them!

I also wish that parents were honest about testing their children. Many of mine have very challenging behaviours so I seriously doubt that they are being tested, even when the parents say they have done it.

I just hope that the baby and I will be ok. I also have to self isolate away from my DH and little toddler to protect them, which is breaking my heart 😢.

I understand you're upset but lots of employers only paid statutory sick pay of £96 per week. Those families may already be struggling financially with no savings. This may be the upteenth time they've had to take time off in the last couple of years and they simply can't afford it.

www.gov.uk/test-and-trace-support-payment

Payments are available for people on low wages and benefits

I was going to say what @Mickarooni did.

I don’t (as far as I know) have a child with SEN but I do have a thirteen month old and there is absolutely no way I could do a LFT on him.

@BluebellsGreenbells

www.gov.uk/test-and-trace-support-payment

Payments are available for people on low wages and benefits

But there are plenty of people who are not on a low wage as such or benefits but would still struggle to afford repeated isolating.

Those with toddlers are doing them when they’re asleep. No excuses. But if he’s not in nursery there’s not much point. However if you take him to see elderly relatives? Would you test?

@scammedmum29

I’m sorry you are unwell and hope you recover quickly.

The child with symptoms should not have been sent to school. However, children that do not have covid can still attend school even if there are household members with it- families are not breaking any guidance in sending them.

This ^

Absolutely agree that symptomatic child shouldn’t be at school and should be getting pcr test.

Also agree that parents are probably pretending to test their dc (especially if they don’t tolerate it well) and not doing so, but there is no way to prove this.

But it is definitely ok for asymptomatic, negative testing siblings or family members to be in school if a household member is positive. This has been the case for a while now.

No. I’ve never tested him. I test myself regularly.

He does attend nursery.

And LOL at ‘no excuses.’ I can’t really see my child staying asleep while I shove something up his nose!

I'm sorry that you are feeling so unwell and I hope that you recover quickly.

On your return to work you need to insist that the school review and update your risk assessment.

So your toddler is presumably going to childcare whilst your dh goes to work in a healthcare setting? Sorry op, but I am losing sympathy now Obviously your DH and toddler could be spreading it for a few days before testing positive themselves so I don't really think that is any different to what you are complaining about! Given you are so mild, why on earth you aren't caring for your toddler and keeping them home is absolutely beyond me.

Yep as has been said, people can still go to work or school if a household member as Covid. It's not just schools. My office is in the middle of an outbreak and every few days someone new is testing positive. We are all left wondering who will be next.
If I get it, I will still be expected to send my DD to school. If my DD gets it, I will be expected to still go to work.
With the Covid outbreak in my office I have been testing everyday and my DD tests twice a week. Not sure what else we can do unless we start getting symptoms.

@PrivateHall
It's the weekend and today is a Sunday. DH doesn't work weekends and nurseries are closed during weekends. DH is currently looking after the toddler, why is that upsetting you?

Our plan is that DH will stay at home tomorrow to look after the toddler whilst I carry on self isolating, and if he is still testing negative and feeling well and I'm feeling well enough, I'll look after the child at home and DH will keep away from us both. Did I even say I was planning to send My child to nursery next week?

@Zombiemum1946

It's difficult. My 18yr tested positive and I was a symptomatic. I kept my daughter off and contacted the school. The school said as long as she tested negative she should go in. She tested negative in the morning but that evening became unwell and tested positive. We all then tested positive. We had initially gone against advice and kept her home. I hope you're okay but we did follow the advice especially as she was asymptomatic at the time.

I agree it’s difficult but where do you draw the line?

My dc tested positive and only dh got it, the other dc would have missed school unnecessarily.

Unless you have a crystal ball you can’t possibly know!

Sending kids to school when there is Covid in the family home is utterly selfish, even if it doesn’t break the ‘guidelines’- which lets be honest are what they are to protect the economy!

"Utterly selfish" being putting oneself (or their family) first. I imagine most people generally do that when it comes to paying bills and putting food on the table.

My DD went to school when DS had covid. She had no symptoms. We took lfts every day and pcr tests on day 4 and day 9. She is year 11 and was desperate to go to school in the weeks preceding mocks. DH continued to go to work, he is self employed and would not have earned anything in that time. I mainly managed to wfh but had to go in a few days. None of us got it.

My dc tested positive and only dh got it, the other dc would have missed school unnecessarily

Unless you have a crystal ball you can’t possibly know!

You do know, because you tested.

[quote TeenyQueen]@PrivateHall
It's the weekend and today is a Sunday. DH doesn't work weekends and nurseries are closed during weekends. DH is currently looking after the toddler, why is that upsetting you?

Our plan is that DH will stay at home tomorrow to look after the toddler whilst I carry on self isolating, and if he is still testing negative and feeling well and I'm feeling well enough, I'll look after the child at home and DH will keep away from us both. Did I even say I was planning to send My child to nursery next week?[/quote]
OK so your previous posts were quite misleading then, that is a relief. You stated you were isolating from small toddler and DH was still going to work in a healthcare setting. Clearly I was responding to that. But apparently that is not actually happening so that's great. People can only respond to what you actually write you see.

By the way, I don't believe I said it was 'upsetting me' :-)

@TempNameChangexx

Personally I think people should ignore the "guidance" which has always been a bit inconsistent and contradictory and apply some common sense. My son currently has Covid - the "guidance" says I don' t have to isolate as I'm triple jabbed, however I am as I think it's the sensible thing to do to ensure I don't spread it to anyone else....

You are lucky to be in a position to isolate, many of us who have to go to work don’t have the choice.

I am nhs and patient facing and we need to be in work now if we have a family member who is positive and we are negative.

@BluebellsGreenbells

Those with toddlers are doing them when they’re asleep. No excuses. But if he’s not in nursery there’s not much point. However if you take him to see elderly relatives? Would you test?

I have managed to swab my toddler but it involves 2 adults and a lot of effort and mine is fairly compliant. I am laughing at the idea of shoving it up his nose while he sleeps, as if that would work! I can easily imagine how hard it can be to test some children. Plus children with SEND are a completely different ballgame. It cannot be compared. Of course many children will be fine but many will not.

Lollipop, you are so right. I said before I was able to stay off so I kept my DC home too - but I was lucky it was before that policy changed. It is really tough now for people to manage.

@BluebellsGreenbells

I’m talking about those who say you should keep your dc at home if a family member tests positive in case they get it themselves later in the week.

Some people seem to believe that you should isolate family members even if they test negative.

@Bakewelltart987 no shame here , you need to get a grip, your post is ridiculous.

School tested her because the girl I take to school tested positive (in school). They both tested negative Monday, both positive on Wednesday.

It’s very difficult for parents at the moment with the guidance as it stands. We were told that keeping a child off with suspected covid would be counted as general absence, not covid related until there’s a positive PCR test result. Not everyone can afford the fines they’ll get for keeping their kids off based on sniffles.
Really sorry that you are in this position, the guidance needs to be properly looked at and updated.

With regards to children that can't be tested due to SEN, our local authority guidance says that the child needs to self isolate for 10 days if they display symptomsor they have covid in the household. Of course that's incredibly difficult for many families, but it's done to protect everyone. Many of my pupils are ECV so catching covid could be very dangerous for them. I just wish everyone was honest about testing and symptoms. A symptomatic child was sent to school when two family members had tested positive and the parents thought we'd do nothing about it. We always find out the truth, one way or the other.

@BluebellsGreenbells yes, I work in a school. In fact, I have worked on the testing team since last year, 1300 pupils.
41 positive last week. Symptoms? None, that's why they were in school.

My dd hates school and would happily be off at any given opportunity, hence not giving in to a headache. She was well. If I had the sane scenario next week, I would still be sending her in.

@TeenyQueen

Just to clarify, what I want us for parents to test their children if they think the children are symptomatic or they is a covid positive person in the household. This is actual government guidance (which does unfortunately and rather confusingly keep changing). Also to respond to someone's comment, it's also government guidance that you should try to isolate from other family members if you're positive. Fortunately I can do this because we have the facilities to do it, and my DH is a healthcare professional so I also want to protect his patients. He is testing daily and fortunately he is negative so far.

I think what parents quite often fail to understand is that teachers are school staff are human beings too, we have different health conditions, vulnerable family members and care commitments. My TAs father has terminal cancer and no immunity against covid. My other TA has a disabled child with complex health needs. Many schools are running on skeleton staff and some schools are actually having to close entire bubbles because there are no teachers available to work.

Please test your children and be honest about it. I just read an article about secondary pupils who are refusing to take part in school testing schemes. Children's education has suffered so much already, we don't need it yo suffer any more by forcing teachers to self-isolate and affecting whole classes, when just one or two pupils could and should have stayed off.

But you said yourself you work in Sen ,with children with challenging behaviour, I thought I was doing the right thing keeping my son off before Xmas from his special school because his brother tested positive ,and then got an arsey phonecall asking for PCR tests,well I'm not doing it again my son has no concept we are in a pandemic or why we need to test ,it's cruel to pin him down ,if one of us tests positive again or he has symptoms the school can make the decision if they want him in but I'm not testing him again .