Schooling - do you think there will be a choice?

[Missmummy88]

I know school threads have been done and no one really has any answers just speculation and guesses.

My question though is do you think we will have a choice whether to send our kids to school should they reopen in June?

In my personal situation dh is a shielder ( cancer and autoimmune and history of stroke) I am currently pregnant on furlough but 90% sure I’m being made redundant should furlough not be extended. If not I can work from home as only work part time online.

My kids have been so happy at homeschool. My 8yo maths has come very far with 1-1 learning (although I appreciate I have focused much more on maths and English than the full range of subjects)

My 5 yo is happy and engaged in the different activities we do, is doing well with handwriting, number formations, counting and reading.

Technically my 8yo falls under pupil premium as the pp stays with the child for 7 years as we claimed benefits while dh was ill when he was in foundation. Stats would say he is disadvantaged by virtue of this, but technically he’s not we are degree educated, no mortgage, financially stable.

I don’t want to send my kids back to school in June, to me it seems too early. The risk for us as a family, I believe, outweighs the benefits. Do you think there will be an element of choice? Particularly for those with shielders in the family?

Depending on what sending back looks like I can imagine that it will be compulsory unless you are shielding. The trouble is nobody knows and I think the gov will need to recognise how vulnerable and scared around people are .

Scared some people are rather.

I doubt it will be optional as in make your own choice. I would have thought it will be criteria based but nobody can tell you what the criteria will be yet.

You have the choice that you’ve always had - you can degregister your children, have them removed from the school roll & home educate them.

I would be surprised if it wasn’t optional until the end of the outbreak. At least for children with shielding parents.

I don’t think they’ll be an element of choice because it’s essential that some children are ‘seen’. If attending is optional, you can bet your bottom dollar that the most vulnerable children (in terms of safeguarding) won’t be in. The gap would also get wider between those with parents who are motivated and supportive of their children’s education and those who aren’t for whatever reason.

Our schools go back on May 11th (Switzerland).
It has been made very clear that it is mandatory, with fines imposed for non-attendance. The only exceptions are for children in risk-groups.

All schools are back on the 11th, but it's been left to the cantons on how to implement it - I believe Geneva are having half the class coming in the morning, the rest in the afternoon.
Here it is business as usual, no smaller classes or shorter days etc. No social distancing required between children under 10 (but there is between students and the teachers). Just hand washing, hand sanitizer on desks. The Swiss seem pretty convinced that young children only get a very mild illness, if at all, and cannot transmit it to adults.

Unless there are specific circumstances (shielding etc) I expect it will be mandatory.

It's going to be difficult as everyone has a different view of 'risk' and not everyone believes or trusts the govt approach. Overall I think it being mandatory is the way to go as imagine the logistics and legalities of all this. The choice is then to home school if parents can/aren't happy. Be interested to see how many do that.

School has always been optional and always will be, you can pull your child out and home school.

I’m sorry but I thought everyone understood this?

Do you mean optional as in you get to keep their place, see how it goes and change your mind as and when you see fit?

That I’m not sure about but I think possibly until sept. However I’m not quite sure what you think will be different in September, other than it’s the start of flu season. So worse?

I think you need to make a decision, home school or proper school you can give them a year out home schooling, and put them back in sept 2021, applying for a place then.

If schools are open, then the rules will be the same as always, it will be mandatory. There might be an exception for children who are immunocomprised themselves but I doubt family members as the numbers would be too high.

Thank you all. Interesting to hear opinions! I wouldn’t want to fully dereg the children from school as they are both in first years (infant and middle) with 3-4 school years ahead of them at current schools. Once you dereg you loose your place completely and both schools are massively oversubscribed and the chances of being able to re-enter would be almost 0. I would not be able to commit to homeschooling long term (I.e beyond my maternity leave) and so for the sake of wanting to wait until September de-registration seems over the top for our personal circumstances.

I also don’t want dh to die because the government sent kids back to school and he contracted it from them. At this time no one really knows the transmission levels from children and without that knowledge it feels like a level of danger I am not willing to participate in! So hard!

No it won't be optional.

Matt Hancock answered this question at one of the briefings this week, not a direct answer, but reading between the lines he said as schools will only be reopened once it is deemed safe there would be no reason not to send them.

You have a personal choice to de register and home school, as everyone does, but what I can't imagine happening is schools being opened and some children going in and some staying at home as their parents are worried but still expecting their place on roll to be held indefinitely until individuals decide to come back.

What’s different about September OP?

What do you think will be different in September?

I see posters everyday saying wait till September, the virus will still be here then. We will have to find ways to live with it, if you deem that risk too big for your family circumstances maybe you will have to look at alternatives.

If you scroll through the many many school threads on here you will find lots of links to papers on the risk of infection and transmission in children.

I’m also curious why september op, what you think will be different then, other than the fact it’s start of flu season and higher capacity for the nhs? Do you have some info we don’t?

I think people just think we may know more in september, if we dont then and nothing has improved then the same people will still probably be unsure about sending dc to school

My 3 year old has a school nursery place which i would not be happy to send him back to as things stand. If school is going to be social distancing then i am also not sure about sending my 7 year old. I dont think she would do well having to stay away from everyone.

The problem with it not being compulsory i assume is teachers will not be able to do both online and in class teaching. That’s a massive amount of work. So if you want to keep your kids at home, then you’re going to have to actually home school then.

Tbh i hope we go like Ireland with gradual reopening in next academic year. Or possibly year 6 10 and 12 before then which i have seen suggested

It can't be optional as that defeats the point of them opening.

As a pp said Matt Hancock said that when schools go back it will only be when it is safe to do so and that normal ways of life will apply or some such. So it appears that fining will resume.

No one has said the schools will go back in June though. They've said that when they go back they'll be phased. I think we just have to watch and wait at this stage. Govt have said that schools will get plenty of notice before schools return so they can plan. Our school has not had notice yet - our head has confirmed. We're now into May so unless restarting in mid - end June I don't see how they would get decent notice. Schools will need this time to do a huge amount of planning- lessons for those in school and work for those still at home, plus redesigning of classrooms. It will also need to be after people gave finished shielding so that these people can take their children to school. There is also a call for sufficient ppe for teachers.

I'm not concerned that the govt won't consider the safety of children. I am however concerned that they haven't considered the sheer number of adults that are in and around schools every day. I go 3 times a day to 2 classrooms. We are packed in like sardines, often standing together for 10-15 mins at a time. I don't know whether our govt have properly thought about the logistics. If they have then I'd feel better about it. Even phasing children will still create a huge number of adults in the school.

I think people just think we may know more in september

Knowing more doesn’t change anything only a treatment or a vaccine changes it. There may well be a treatment by September, but Will it be mass available?

People need to make a decision for the next year or so, there is no magic date for this to be fixed by September which curiously coincides with schools opening for the next year.

It’s either send them in or de reg, shit or get off the pot.

We’re waiting for the antibody tests to come out. If it turns out we’ve already had it (many people get no symptoms or only mild symptoms, so we might not know) then kids will go back to school.

If not, I think we’ll be deregistering and home schooling for the foreseeable.

I think there will be room for maneuvre for shielding children and children of shielding parents.

It may be I n practice there would be a more relaxed approach to fining for the summer term if schools went back. But online learning would generally need to stop ( perhaps continue for children who are shielded etc).

I really feel for you OP as I can see that for you this decision is really a very difficult one. I’m so sorry you are in this position. I hope there will be an more understanding approach from schools ( and government) to parents like yourself, even taking into account the counter balance that others mention that for some children it will be important to make it clear the majority should be in school.

It doesn’t sound like it applies to you but the other thing that I suspect would happen would be for workplaces to reduce the flexibility they currently have for parents with children ( if they do). So even if wfh in my work there would be a presumption that parents would send their children to school ( although it is likely to be part time only - and of course if more than one child might get different days!).

I'm an education welfare officer. No info on when schools might go back or whether it will be "compulsory", but sanctions for non attendance for shielding families? I don't think I'll be doing that, thank you. Advice and encouragement where appropriate yes, but not in cases of genuinely medical vulnerability.