So who will be returning their children to school in June?

[Bigfishylittlefishy]

Just that really. Parents of reception, year 1 and year 6, IF schools return on the 1st of June, will you send your child in?

My son is in reception and I would be willing to send him in.

So.... no one in teaching will countenance an increase in student numbers until the government has track and trace up and running. To be honest, I don't think that is realistic really. Other countries are sending the young ones back first - it is quite a sensible strategy if you keep them in a bubble and other professions will be doing "bubbling" if they cannot socially distance from everyone. The police are already doing this.

@MonkeyToesOfDoom. Aside from being one of the rudest people I have ever seen on Mumsnet, you are incredibly selfish. It’s all about YOU spending time with your child. My 9 year old completed a COVID-19 time capsule. What did he put at the top of his list for things he wanted to do after lockdown? Go back to school! All you are going on about is “selfish” people wanting to work (most of whom are doing that to feed and cloth their children). You have completely forgotten that some children may actually prefer to be in school rather than being taught by their parents all day.

With regards to passing on the virus to vulnerable people (such as elderly grandparents), you don’t realise just how offensive your comments are to me.
My mum was seriously ill for over 15 years until she died at 61. There were many times when we couldn’t visit her (including when she was in hospital herself) because we were ill, when my dad had to sleep in a separate room, when she had to stay at home....and she always carried hand gel with her. This is nothing new to us. If she was still here now, we would be shielding her. I can tell you one thing though...she wouldn’t have wanted life to stop completely and she would be horrified at her grandchildren being prevented from going to school in case they got ill and passed it onto her. She would have simply kept away from them. A lot people seriously misjudge just how pragmatic people with serious underlying health conditions are. For many of them, death is something that they face everyday. They have to balance risk against making the most of what life they have left.

BunsyGirl

TL:Dr

No we're not sending dd (reception) back.
For the sake of a few more weeks I'd rather wait it out and see what happens.
I've been going to work throughout this anyway so school is not needed for childcare and she's quite happy being at home with her parents, she's also very independent so will play happily on her own for hours at a time, and we also live in quite a rural area so we've been going out on walks, have a big enough garden, growing veg etc (and now the national parks are opening this will make things even better, the main thing she misses is the beach!)
The way I see it, she's 5, she learns through play mostly and we have been doing phonics, reading etc each day. (Along with the dojo challenges)
She misses some friends but they stay connected on messenger etc.
If she was showing sings of becoming upset/anxious/bored then I'd consider it but for now, we're managing just fine so i dont see the point in sending her back so early when no one really knows what the repercussions will be. Hopefully non at all of course..

That was a great post @BunsyGirl and please, ignore the arsehole.

@SushiGo - Thank you. Her last comment shows what an idiot she is...she can go on forever spouting offensive crxp about people but is unwilling to read a reasoned argument from someone who has experienced COVID-19 in a school setting and had years of protecting an extremely vulnerable person.

I CBA with you two.
Go and look at the stats. Count how many mums, dad's, Nan's, grandads, sons and daughters are dead in the last week and how many more will die in your rush to a second peak. Several unions don't want schools back yet, but hey, fuck em. What do they know? Tracking and tracing? Nah.. just line em up and march em in. If they end up giving a lethal disease to their mums, well, it's just acceptable risk..

No. No way will mine be back.

It's complete madness and shows a reckless disregard for the lives of teachers and their extended families.

I would rather be living a life in benefits if my employer insists I return.

No point in having a job if you're dead. Or your parents die because of your frustrations at looking after the children you chose to have.

I am not a teacher btw

I haven’t read the recent posts.
DH and I are key workers, we been juggling childcare/ home school. We didn’t send our DC to school to reduce their risk and others.

We needed to send today, DC mood is so much brighter, DD said she had the best day ever. I think everyone needs to weigh up the risks. I spoke to a paediatric ID consultant in the nhs trust where I work, as we were agonising about school. The number of children who have been very unwell with Covid is very small, she likened it to being less chance of developing a childhood leukaemia (touching much wood).
We have to somehow live with this, we may never get a vaccine. People who had the SARS vaccine were found to have greater risk for example - not to be negative but to try and have some balance.

Going to school, may well be best option for some if not all children, with of course appropriate shielding for children and staff.

I explained to my DD 6 and DS 9 about school arrangements/social distancing. I don’t think they completed their home learning for the day ! But they still benefited from being there. I’m pleased we took the leap.

Our school is saying groups of under 10 students to each room, Mon - Thursday and going home at lunch time so there is no need for lunch breaks. It's not going to be normal school hours.

I'm expecting 15 5 year olds in my classroom on 1st June.
None of them will be able to observe social distancing at all. Without me reminding them every 4 seconds. So that'll be a lovely day for all involved won't it. Them being effectively 'told off' all day long for doing what 5 year olds do naturally.

For me the biggest issue is the psychological impact on these children. This is verging on cruel. You're going back to school but you can't touch anyone, play with your friends like you used to, sit next to each other etc. Have the government met 4 and 5 year olds? ?

I dont know why the older year groups weren't suggested first. Much more emotionally equipped to deal with the drastic changes. Years 4, 5 and 6 perhaps. As a reception teacher I would be more than happy to go in and teach smaller groups of the older children, I'm qualified and willing, so im not saying all this to avoid work!

I genuinely think that imposing social distancing on 4 and 5 year olds in an environment they usually associate with fun and physical closeness is potentially very damaging to them.

@MonkeyToesOfDoom maybe you should start. Might make you less of a twat

For me the biggest issue is the psychological impact on these children. This is verging on cruel. You're going back to school but you can't touch anyone, play with your friends like you used to, sit next to each other etc. Have the government met 4 and 5 year olds?

Meanwhile these odd trips to school which will be alien to these children is being hailed as the silver bullet to saving the mental health of the nation's children.

PeanutDouglas

Goodness.. how rude.. I may go cry..
Nah, randoms on the internet mean less than fuck all to me. 👍

@CleanUpWoman

But isn't the whole point that they won't be socially distancing? Isn't that the whole idea of them being in a bubble?

I think it is quite psychologically damaging for a four year old child to be shunted between two working parents who are stressed out and are struggling to switch off from the demands of the work they are dipping in and out of and are in survival mode.

The whole world is stressful right now to be honest.

@FourTeaFallOut was your post aimed at me?
I didn’t say the odd trip to school would save mental health, I said my DC”s mood was brighter and they enjoyed being there.

No, it wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, it was just after listening to Harries in the conference today saying that the reopening of schools will be a step forward for the well-being of children.

I've spoken to my daughter tonight about grandaughter (almost 4) going back on June 8th. She's had a four page email with how things will be done when they return. There is no way she will be able to adhere to these new social distancing rules, it will end up with her being told off all day and child/parent/teacher all being incredibly stressed. She will end up hating nursery. On the other side, she's due to start reception in September and a return now could be beneficial to her settling back in then. My daughter is having a bit of a wrestle with what is the right thing to do.

I’ve not had chance to watch.

DH and I have tried really hard to with home schooling/other activities but they miss other children a lot.

These photos are from Twitter.
If the UK adopted similar practices I don't know how much my daughter would enjoy being back at school.

The article that goes along with that photos says the kids are all getting on fine with it and are happy.

This is also not what the government are advising we do so are actually wholly irrelevant.

TrustTheGeneGenie

Oo I didn't see an article, the tweet I saw was just the photos.
Share the article if you have the link.

I can well imagine that children who are currently at school find it beneficial at the moment @Pomegranatepompom - I just think it will look different when teachers need to negotiate the space with so many more children.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/world-news/chalk-playground-photo-school-france-18243576.amp

"The children play, dance, jump, laugh together ... but from this square. From what we have seen, they do not view it as a punishment."

Yeah, it's like crate training, they'll get use to it.