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?

When they say phased return they mean whole year groups returning at different points.

There will be none of this messy mornings-only stuff and sitting two metres apart. Schools will simply reopen and get on with it. The terminally neurotic will have to accept that or deregister. Those in households where someone is legitimately at high risk are a different matter.

I suppose it depends how long families will want to shield for really. Will people be waiting for a vaccine or a cure? Say that either of these could take 2 years, is it fair to keep that school place open indefinitely in the hope that that child will maybe return at some point?

The ref to pupil premium is in regards to the fact a lot of people will assume pupil premium children should be back ASAP because of “disadvantage”. The school has offered him a place with key worker children as per policy to keep pupil premium children at school, which we declined. I’m concerned with his pp status he will be deemed vulnerable and therefore will be expected one of the first to return.

Yes. I think that would be fair if the school is compelled to support that child via remote learning.

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?

The people who produced the vaccine that is in trials now at first said they were "hopeful" it would be ready in September. I have no idea about the timeline, or if that's feasible, but it was a target. So there's that.

I don't think that if schools are open, and children are required to attend, that teachers will be expected to also offer online learning to those who choose to stay home. It would be too much work.

I guess there is no magic marker for September, just that we will have had a few more months and have more knowledge. We are still seeing high levels of daily deaths. I just can’t understand how 2 weeks ago with death rates not to dissimilar to yesterday the public were in outrage if someone sat down to have a picnic in an empty field, yet now we are expected to just accept and get on with it, whilst in the grand scheme of things not much has changed?!

Choose to stay at home?

People who are shielding are confined to their homes. Those without gardens can crack open a window.

Even if they say it's compulsory it;l be easy for parents to not,send them in. Just tell school the child or,someone in the family has a new cough, or a temperature. No one is going to come and check.

Our Lea finds for non attendance - which the government rules have actually suspended for now anyway - is only £60 per adult per absence - so it'd cost you up to £120 to keep them at home til the summer.

I can't see them deregistering pupils as that's after a much longer time period and with more admin required, and would most likely to be counter productive.

Many schools would be very sympathetic to parents over this in my experience too.

It's not the shielded group I worry about. They will be protected and special guidelines provided for them.

It's the vulnerable group below them. Many more children and staff are in those groups. The group who are those vague 'underlying health conditions' we've heard about, rather than just the most vulnerable. We've been told from the start that we are at greater risk and to,take extra care especially with social distancing.

What protection will they get?

For those suggesting it : How do schools provide home learning online provision whilst teachers are expected in school to teach? Even if pupils were part time, staff are unlikely to be.

Are there any teachers here who can confirm whether or not parents choosing to keep children at hone would be penalised please?

For our family June feels way too soon and I feel it would be very unreasonable to use our very youngest children as guinea pigs in this way. I'm not at all convinced by any of the info I've seen yet. How are teachers supposed to teach, monitor hygiene, social distancing amid playtime's and such limited spaces for a class of 30? That's a tough gig that none of us would want to attempt....

I just can’t understand how 2 weeks ago with death rates not to dissimilar to yesterday the public were in outrage if someone sat down to have a picnic in an empty field, yet now we are expected to just accept and get on with it, whilst in the grand scheme of things not much has changed

Because it’s not about the deaths, it’s about the rate of infection, and because we have not locked down to eradicate the virus, we have locked down to protect the nhs.

That's a tough gig that none of us would want to attempt....

According to mumsnet most kids are being de regged and home schooled so a much easier task than you think.

Unless those parents are actually going to send their kids in when it comes to it,,

It's not the shielded group I worry about. They will be protected and special guidelines provided for them

Well, I am pretty worried about us. At first everyone seemed convinced we were all on death's door in any case and should not be considered among the 'real' coronavirus deaths. Now we are being painted as deliberately obstructive for not just sending the kids in to school and we should all have the online resources removed/ lose school places/ be fined depending on the level of venom of whichever poster.

The government and the la might have a plan but it's clear many would just have us sink because they couldn't give a shit.

We have no choice now... we (unless all adults are keyworkers) aren't allowed to send them now. So I imagine there won't be a choice in June, either.

The ref to pupil premium is in regards to the fact a lot of people will assume pupil premium children should be back ASAP because of “disadvantage”.

The DfE hasn’t identified pupil premium children as being in the group who are “expected to attend”. It’s irrelevant what other people assume.

We have several children with social workers who are not in school. As long as the risk assessment has not identified that they are unsafe at home, they don’t have to come in.

Fourteafallout - I didn't mean that I'm not concerned for them at all. I just meant that I believe they'd remain protected. They'd be eligible for support to stay home, assistance, etc longer term. I know people in this group,so,obviously I'm concerned for them in many ways.

Whereas I think the vulnerable group won't be - they'll be expected to just return to work, return to school and take the risk.

The other things is if parents keep their kids home when school starts then they need to get serious about home education, their children can’t fall behind or they will seriously struggle, as other kids will be getting a full education.

They also need to think about socialisation, because all their friends will be at school and playing together and they will be excluded. How they fit in again on return is not guaranteed, as friendships move on.

as other kids will be getting a full education.

Well that depends doesn't it. If the op is only concerned about stretching things out till September when hopefully we will have more data about who really needs to be shielding, on which drugs are helpful, when contact tracing is established, when more may be known about immunity, when the effect of children retiring to school will be known, when we will know if the human trials with a vaccine is successful and in production then she will only have to dodge 6 week's worth of school.

That's 6 week's of a disrupted timetable, in schools that are scrambling, when friendship groups will be fragmented in any case, when the stress levels of pupils and teachers will be high, when teachers need to assess who has done the work and who wasn't able to, while they work out the possibilities and limitations around social distancing. How much learning do you think will happen in that half term?

Teachers can't confirm anything. We know less than the Telegraph, it seems.

I agree Aragog. The vulnerable were told to practise stringent social distancing first. Then when lock down happened and the extremely vulnerable group was created, the vulnerable group were forgotten. Hopefully the removal of lock down will be done to allow the vulnerable some leeway for a while. The shielding families should be allowed to do their 12 weeks and then get some leeway.
We're in a tricky position as I'm in the extremely vulnerable category but dd has an EHCP so I'm not allowed to change her named provision without the LA's agreement. I didn't realise that until recently. I can't just deregister her and Home Ed her even if I wanted to.

It will not be optional in a free choice way no since those who most need it probably always did have parents less likely to send them, hence why low attendance and constant lateness has always been a safeguarding flag.

They will likely allow more parents to keep kids off because of health concerns but I imagine that they will be defined and you could deregister and home school as has always be the case.

@MaverickSnoopy - I think we are saying the same thing! Nothing official but starting to at least do the thinking of what might be needed/what info, things need to be thought through etc

Are there any teachers here who can confirm whether or not parents choosing to keep children at hone would be penalised please?

No, there are no teachers anywhere who can confirm that.