To despise school policy of going in when sick

[Thankyouschool]

So once again we’re just over 2 weeks in to the new school term and DS has brought a mutant cold virus home.

Its wiped out the entire house. His two brothers are ill so is DH and so am I. DH has started a new job so is struggling on but luckily WFH. I’ve come into work & locked myself away trying not to infect my colleagues. I am so ill with streaming noise and eyes I’ve had to lie down in the work toilet. My head is banging & I can’t stop coughing.

All because the DS secondary school he attends tells everyone they must go in even if they feel unwell. The recent government campaign promoting everyone going in even with heavy colds doesn’t help “you might feel better when you get there” the poster shrieks with a young school girl with a streaming cold on the ad.

I thought after Covid we’d get better at telling people to stay home with infectious diseases but apparently not.

I am so so angry.

Why are you in work?

Maybe you should have stayed home from work if you're that bad.

Yet you've gone into work despite being ill 🤷‍♀️

Illness has to be authorised and there’s nothing they can do. It’s only guidance to go in with a cold so either ignore it or just say they also have a fever over 38

My boss entered our office the other day and proudly announced she had COVID. We all slid back on our chairs to give her a wide berth, fully expecting her to go and retrieve the laptop and take it home to quarantine.

Nope. She stayed the whole day, refused to close the door to her office and repeatedly came over to our desks to cough and splutter all over us for conversations that could have been had from a distance.

She will reap what she sows when we all go off sick simultaneously and the department grinds to a halt. Stupid woman.

OMG the irony of posting about this when you've gone into work?!

Double standards galore

I’ve come into work & locked myself away trying not to infect my colleagues. I am so ill with streaming noise and eyes I’ve had to lie down in the work toilet. My head is banging & I can’t stop coughing.

You should have stayed at home.

But you're not wrong that schools are annoying for this insistence on attendance despite illness. Parents should have more common sense though. My DC will stay home if I feel they're too ill to go, regardless of school policy. And if that means keeping them home with "just" a cold, then that's what I'll do. My DD is only in year 1 with 100% attendance, but that's pure luck. I'd keep her home if she was too ill.

I wouldn't send my DD to school when she is sick no matter what their policy is. I'd pop a note on their app to let them know she has a fever and let her stay in bed.

Whoops, pressed post before I'd finished.

In your situation it sounds like you don't have much choice, why are they forcing this on parents?!

We need to give people the option to WFH or stay of school, we have learned absolutely nothing from the pandemic!

Colds are a fact of life. You can’t avoid them. A number of people are going to catch yours from you at work.

I've said it once I'll say it a million times

You all need PROBIOTICS!! get the whole family on them- buy them today on the way home with a good multivitamin and all of you take them religiously everyday. You'll soon notice the lack of illnesses in your house. The boots probiotics are bloody brilliant and cheap too. Look for the probiotics with the highest millions of bacteria.

She will reap what she sows when we all go off sick simultaneously and the department grinds to a halt. Stupid woman.

Same with schools - the schools that reduce the exclusion period for d&v to 24 hours aren't actually going to reduce their absences, are they. It will go up when children come in while still very infectious.
And obviously they don't even pretend to give a shit about vulnerable children. Obviously you can't avoid all illnesses, but going below the NHS recommended guidelines is just stupid and thoughtless.

It wasn’t a pandemic of colds though, was it?

"All because the DS secondary school he attends tells everyone they must go in even if they feel unwell."

This seems implausible. Can you tell the actual policy?

I’d go in with a cold unless I was too unwell to be there. If you’re having to lie down in the toilets as in your example, you’re too ill for work. Admittedly I’ve never been floored by a cold to the point I couldn’t carry on as normal and I don’t recall the dc ever needing time off for colds but I know some people have immune troubles etc.

Test for Covid. The latest strain is presenting as a streaming cold for a few days and then the aches and sweats start. It’s rife in schools near me.

And yes, it’s stupid sending children to school sick to infect their peers and their teachers. It affects learning and makes everyone run down - and thus prone to more illnesses.

How can you complain about the school's sickness policy when you yourself have gone into work whilst clearly Ill? Your work colleagues are unlikely to be impressed by your stoicism and will pretty much have the same complaint you are making when they catch whatever lurgy you are infected with and pass it on to their families.
You are part of the problem.

Why are you in work if you're that ill?

I think the school campaign is going too far, unfortunately because some parents do take the piss and don't take their kids in on Fridays (seen first hand at my DDs school), or keeping kids off so they can "rest". But I really don't think anyone is suggesting kids with very bad colds, flu, D&V etc should be in school.

My DDs always have over 95% attendance but I've never sent them in if they have a fever or D&V or similar nasty symptoms

I had to come into work. Luckily I sat in a room with the door shut away from my other 2 colleagues. I’ve had so much time off work from being given all these school germs it’s either come in or lose my job.

You wouldn't lose your job though, it doesn't work like that, if they were concerned about your absence they'd have a chat. You are using the same bathrooms, public transport, coffee maker whatever as your colleagues while you are there, don't fool yourself they don't feel exactly the same way about your choices to come in this morning and expose them as you do about the school kids? Anyway it's a cold, it is generally accepted most people have to push on through the mild viruses, kids and adults.

I agree op.

Also all colds are different. Dd has a cold at the moment. It's very much a head cold, I said she could have a day off school if she felt rough but she has been fine to go in. Other times, my dc have had really nasty colds that have wiped them out. It's variable.

Your boss should be reported to HR for failing in her legal Health and Safety duties.

@Thankyouschool what’s the gov campaign? I googled and couldn’t find anything.

if the policy is as you say, I agree it’s ridiculous.

But you're exposing your colleagues to your germs in the same way as you're complaining others shouldn't be