School and Coronavirus - keep kids home

[life2day]

Very surprised by the announcement not to shut schools. Is anyone keeping their kids off regardless. The LA. Surely can't fine us if we make that decision.

The government is listening to the advice of the chief scientific advisor, listening to an expert view. I won’t be keeping my children off school unless that advice changes or if they display any of the symptoms where the current advice is to self isolate. Why would I do any different? I doubt my employers would be sympathetic if I told them I wasn’t turning up for work because I had to look after my kids who I reckon should be at home against official advice.

Yes we are monitoring the situation but I think we will be keeping our 2 off from Monday and go into a semi lockdown for ourselves. I think interaction from schools is the most likely way a virus will enter our house

I’m a teacher and think parents should be keeping their children off if they have the means to.

No. How long will you do it for?! This could go on for months.
Mine are going I until government shut schools.

Just make up a series of small illnesses if you want to avoid a fine.

Yes of course they can fine you because they should be in school

I'm just a bit confused why anyone would want to tbh, unless your child has a serious underlying condition. Children are unlikely to show moderate/severe symptoms so keeping them in will only be fun for a couple of days. Staying home gets boring v quickly especially when you're not feeling crap, and if they'll go and meet their friends it loses the whole point of keeping them off school.

I am so worried about this. I have medical conditions which mean I should avoid going out, but my sons school is accepting children who have a parent with suspected coronavirus at home. Also my sons girlfiend is diagnosed and in hospital. She thinks she caught it from school. I can certainly imagine my son infecting me and feel I should keep him off school but at the same time, if they don’t shut the schools at all, I can’t keep him off indefinitely.

For many children, the symptoms will be relatively minor. Unless your child has underlying health problems or you have circumstances which mean relatives would be more at risk then there is absolutely no reason to keep your children off school. It’s actually better for them to be at school and catch it as they will be back to business sooner rather than later. They will also then be immune.

I can’t say I am entirely comfortable with the government policy of sacrificing a few to save the majority which is essentially what they are saying, but for the first time in my life my biology degree is actually proving quite useful. I do worry about those most at risk being put more at risk by current policy. However, the government are right in trying to get as many people not considered at risk as infected as possible. If you have vulnerable people in your family though I would be doing everything I could to protect them until 6-12 months time when a vaccines is available.

School closures are like a tap - they can easily turn them on and off. If children are at school and infecting each other then on the whole symptoms will be mild and they are off for 7 days. They may well infect adults in the household but this should be manageable I.e. you’re expecting it. Keeping all children at school helps manage where they are as normal routine ensues. Keeping them open means parents don’t have to rely on childcare from older relatives which can lead to further spread to those people we need to protect. Remind yourself that this is not about protecting yourself but about protecting the most vulnerable.

We are of course reliant on statistical modelling to get things right which is also a concern. We also assume that British people will cope with isolation for 2-4 weeks. After that people will think they know best and start leaving their homes. That’s not science, that is just behaviour. We are not China where if you don’t do what your told you disappear. Lockdown situations need to be implemented when the most vulnerable are at greatest risk.

I can honestly see schools closing for four weeks over Easter but then things will go back to normal (ish).

I have waffled a lot. To address your point - no schools shouldn’t close nor should children be kept off unless they have an underlying health reason.

If children aren’t in school, many of them will be out in parks, shopping centres, on the streets spreading it even more. I know lots of parents who don’t actually parent their kids and will let them out and about unfortunately.

If your children have a cough or a temperature, please keep them off school. We know they are likely to suffer very mild symptoms but please spare a thought for their teachers and the relatives they infect.

Yes @notangelinajolie. EVERYONE should be following the rules on self isolation if they have a temperature or cough. Children and teachers alike.

@Zodlebud who said that one would be immune from re-infection? Some doctors in China got re-infected and scientists are not sure that a person will be immune from catching the virus again. So no point trying to catch it to build up immunity! Just like a person is not immune to flu just because he already had it once

Both my husband and I are coughing. He has a temperature but I don't. Our youngest is also unwell. My eldest is fine but as we are self isolating, neither of us can take our son to school.

Well in NI the kids supposed to have school as normal but have been told they will eventually be off school for up to 16 weeks. Think all of UK need to prepare for kids being off for 16 weeks. Realistically they likely to close shortly and not return until September.

I'm in NI. I will not be sending DS back to school. I am aware that this is not a short term measure and may extend into autumn. I am ok with him seeing his cousins and friends. That will amount to maybe 16 kids outside and at different times rather than 800 other teenage boys 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Plus the 2 rush hour busses, to school and back.

I am incredibly pissed off that I am expected to send my child into a school of 800 kids and go to work myself in a school of 1250 in a different county. The catchment area for my school covers nearly a quarter of the county, while my child's school is only a 5 mile radius. This considerably increases my chances of contracting Covid-19 and means that I now have to isolate myself from my elderly parents.
If schools closed I could still see and care for my parents rather than abandon them to their fate, as is what I feel is happening.
To be clear, schools remaining open will transmit this fast as not much consideration seems to have been given to the size of catchments (particularly in semi-rural schools) and the impact on adults working in those environments.

I am an Academy Attendance Manager. I can do my job because I genuinely believe that mainstream education is the best option for the majority of children and regular attendance will benefit their long term outcomes (don't hate me). However, I'm not comfortable with parents being forced to send their kids to school during a global pandemic, especially when the rest of the affected globe seems to be doing the opposite. I am not convinced that this is a decision that's been made in the best interests of children and families or even education for that matter.

Please keep your children off if they have any form of illness at the moment.

Lots of teaching staff - myself included - have health conditions which lower their immunity and/or older. I'm doing what I can to keep myself at lower risk but young children are really rubbish at hygiene, even with all this increased hand washing. Yes, they might only get it mildly but the adults around them may not.

We are gearing up our plans for if we do close. We will do what we can to get work up online. Obviously we can't guarantee everyone will do it or even look at it, but we do plan to have lessons, worksheets, web links, and learning ideas online for those who want to use them. There won't at this stage be personalised learning online and it will focus more on recapping and consolidating learning rather than new stuff, and feedback on work done will be limited. If we were off longer that would be potentially up for change. We've taken advise from an ex colleague who works in China now and has been off since January - she's actually just headed back this weekend, which has been really useful. Almost all of our staff have now had additional it training to support them with this, and we are putting learning packs together for pupils to take home, with the primary focus on our more disadvantaged pupils.

I would not be sending my children in if they were school age.

Lockdown and/or closed schools is inevitable at some point regardless of what we do now we are not likely to prevent that from happening. Therefore it’s important to co your as normal for now otherwise you will be in isolation for a long time

In ni attendance figures will not be affected if you choose to keep your child off due to worries about corona virus..
I think schools should be shut and children kept home.. Play in the garden etc but not soft play type places

Lockdown and/or closed schools is inevitable at some point regardless of what we do now we are not likely to prevent that from happening.

I've heard that they're drafting legislation to force schools to remain open.

I think at the moment the numbers are still low and we have a couple of weeks before serious lockdown occurs in schools and gatherings. It's pointless now as we would be just closing schools of healthy children, only to reopen when the risk is much higher. We're all going to get it eventually. All we can do is even out the outbreaks so that the NHS can cope and we can develop rapid testing and vaccines.

Children are the most resilient to Covid 19. Shutting schools means someone has to care for them. Vulnerable grandparents? NHS workers who will have to stay home?

Alexasaymyname well said