Reasons why you will not be sending your children back to school in June?

[saylor]

Unless you live with an adult over 65 (2% of UK households with under 16s and over 65s according to ONS), your child has an underlying health condition, or someone in your household has an underlying health condition/is shielding, what are your reasons for not sending your child/re back until September or beyond?

I've read that poorer households are much less likely to send their children back to school than wealthier households (paper copy of Economist magazine last week before anyone asks for a link!) which will widen the achievement gap even further.

For context, I'm SAHM and DH a high earner - we are both in agreement DD will be going back the minute school reopens.

@VideographybyLouBloom there’s been none of that in our school. Probably helped by the fact that literally dozens of parents are hospital doctors (it’s a private school near many large hospitals) and all of them sending kids in to school on 1 June. I think if the ICU doctors think it’s fine for their kids others are happy to follow suit. Unscientific scaremongering messages on the class WhatsApp get shot down pretty quickly

1st June if the nursery reopens. I can't sustain my current situation much longer.

I think that there's lots of legitimate reasons why you might not send them back

1. it's part-time
2. no guarantee that it's education - could be more like glorified childcare because of lack of money/space/safety concerns
3. siblings haven't different days or even worse one sibling going back while the other doesn't may be difficult for the children and parents
4. health concerns. I'd be hesitant to send an asthmatic child back
5. possibility that children won't be their friends
6. socially distant schooling could be more damaging that not being there at all. Imagine not being able to play freely, eat your lunch with friends and hug them?

I think that parents will be able to make a better decision once schools send out their proposed changes. I am interested how other countries are doing it and assume it's on those lines but English schools are different for many reasons so will need new adaptations.

I have 2 at secondary and will send my y12 ASAP but am happy to wait until September for my y9. I am hoping that y10 and 12 will get more than the "face to face time" mentioned by Boris but understand that secondaries are bigger with a lot more movement around the school of people doing different options so it's far more complicated.

I dispute it’s judgmental rubbish. Have you seen ‘rich house, poor house’? Many middle and upper class people are ignorant of what, metaphorically, happens outside their doorstep. Very much in a bubble.
If they are looking at child infection rates statistics, perhaps they should consider for the most part children haven’t been mixing, due to schools, parks, nursery, soft play etc being closed. In addition, still nobody actually knows how it effects children. This is a new virus, we still don’t know that much about it. Does your school contain chicken pox, lice, the common cold well? Ours doesn’t. I cannot imagine a setting, which isn’t psychologically damaging for young children, that allows children to attend school safely.

perhaps they should consider for the most part children haven’t been mixing, due to schools, parks, nursery, soft play etc being closed the infection rates amongst society include children- we can see children aren’t as affected. Lockdown was imposed on everyone, adults and children.

I don’t think class has anything to do with who sends their children back to school. This thread alone shows there are many seemingly middle class SAHM who are panicking and insisting on keeping their kids home.

We have been asked to make a decision by the 18th. The email with the information in it made me want to cry, cry that we are even in this position. Bubbles of 15, no interaction with other bubbles, in different classrooms, perhaps with different teachers etc etc,

We are in an upper middle class area and I think most will keep their children off however I think our email has been written in a way to put parents off and keep numbers down, understandably.

I wanted to send mine back in for normality and education, I am not scared of the virus in that respect... but it sounds so far from normality I worry about how my sensitive 4 year old would cope, especially when his year 2 Brother won't be going. Now I am thinking not.

This thread alone shows there are many seemingly middle class SAHM who are panicking and insisting on keeping their kids home

Sahms have the option. There's no reason to think that iltheir decision is based on panic but one of considered benefits and disadvantages. But go ahead and feel superior if you like.

Desperate to send Yr1 DS and preschool DD back but DH thinks it's too risky.

Working class here - minimum wage jobs, social housing etc (and living in one of the worst hit towns according to the daily wail yesterday) Ds with sen in yr6 - he will be going back the minute the doors open! I've battled my way through homeschool for 8 weeks now (we had an extra week off at the beginning due to younger dc having a fever), it's been so tough and this week I finally had enough and quit my homeschooling role for the sake of our mental health. But he isn't a high flyer and education doesn't come easy to him, he needs that classroom setting.

@BitchPeas Sky News says all the children were previously fit and well although I don’t think that BMI can be classed as fit. 🤷🏻‍♀️

One of mine is year 9 and they don't seem to want them back anyway. The other is year 10, will wait and see. We live with my parents who are over 70 so am inclined to say no.

People’s decision’s will probably depend on where in the country they live too.
I live in London, my borough and the surrounding four boroughs have some of the highest numbers of confirmed cases, so fair to assume the risk of catching it is higher here than elsewhere in the country.

@BiggerBoat1 The difference between June and September is that the schools and teaching unions will have had longer to properly prepare and the NHS will have learnt more about how to fight the virus.

Exactly this.

I have zero trust in the government at the moment. They don't have headteachers on side and it's too rushed.

I have a Yr1 son, if he were to be offered 2 days per week for 7 weeks, I don't really see the point. He's learning well at home and we're using the opportunity to teach him more varied things than what is being sent by school. We are both professionals wfh so have the luxury to work around his school needs. I appreciate how lucky we are.

Forgot to say, I have a year 6 and a year 1.
The reasons for sending them back would be based on social and educational benefits as my work has closed so I don’t need the childcare.
I’ll have to see what the school say about how they will manage it.

I will wait and see what DS’s school are going to put on place and make a decision from there. I hope he will be able to go back on a part time basis as he is flying with his home education but desperately needs to socialise with other children.

I don’t think it is conducive to learning, or emotional well being for a 4 year old to sit at the same desk all day.

I don’t think it is conducive to learning, or emotional well being for a 4 year old to sit at the same desk all day.

In unfamiliar classes with different teaching staff and not being allowed to interact with his friends properly.

100% agree.

I think my 6 year old would find it all very upsetting to be honest.

It sounds like ours isn't part time - they are splitting the classes into 15, into different classrooms and teacher. They only spend time in their 15, and they try and encourage distancing but appreciate not possible with reception and year 1. Own equipment, no large play equipment... general learning resources kept to minimum due to cleaning. Every child has own desk, but will be able to move around.

Playtime / Lunchtime staggered and only with their bubble. One adult only at drop off, with separate entrance and exit points.

I am impressed that the school has put together a five page comprehensive document to help us make the decision, but also surprised as advice could still change.

ABucketOfShells - I agree that the scientific study of kids is probably much more limited as kids have been away from school, parks etc
If my kids had the adult risk factors like diabetes, asthma or were BAME I would certainly be waiting to see if they were risks for kids too.

I'm surprised that Boris didn't go for expanding school childcare to single working parents and other groups who need it )eg kids with SN who could do with a routine) in order to work tbh. I know that a ECHP was supposed to mean a place at a childcare hub but I've read on the Internet about some not getting a place.

I don’t believe it’s a clear cut social divide, surely it’s circumstances and nothing to do with income?

For context, we are both high earners. Both trying to WFH whilst caring for a highly energetic pre schooler. Most of that falls to me as I’m self employed, with a business that will continue post CV19 whatever happens. So I can take the time out now to do most of the childcare - at some financial cost.

So financially (and personally) I want to be back at work properly. I find it stressful knowing that work is effectively piling up around me and I don’t have time to do it properly. My pre schooler only attends nursery during term time anyway, my summer holiday childcare plans (grandparents and holiday club at an external facility with cousins) are looking very much scuppered so to have at least some nursery hours between 1 June and mid July would be amazing.

I don’t think there is likely to be a greater risk to my child from returning in June versus September, assuming rates continue to fall, and all parents/families/staff are continuing to follow guidance. Nursery have indicated they will be increasing ratios and taking some additional precautions that I think are sensible and thought through.

I will not be sending my children back. I have no faith that our schools will look anything like the ones we see in Europe. I don't think our government is able to organise it, it is like a monkey copying a human zoo keeper, doing roughly the same actions but without any meaning or purpose behind them. So, we won't have staggered drop offs, we won't have any distancing in classrooms, we won't have part time classes. It will just be a horrible, jumbled free for all.

If I thought they could get tests done and back in 24 hours, rather than almost a week and if cases were low and we had a tracing program in place, I'd feel happy at that point. My fear isn't that I catch the virus, or that my children do, my fear is that we screw up and get a second peak immediately and have to implement a new lock down from scratch just to get back to where we are now.

I think it's my duty to do everything I can to prevent a second peak. Everyone talks about how wonderful Sweden was because everyone took personal responsibility. Well, that's what I'm doing. I'll go in to work, because I think seeing Year 10 and 12, on a limited basis, and ensuring they can access the work they need to is manageable and worthwhile. I am not sending my primary aged children in.

If I was a primary school teacher, I would be thinking very hard about handing my notice in. The only thing that would be stopping me was doubt that schools would actually reopen at all.

Dd is yr6. She has 2 brothers not in a year currently flagged as returning.

Fwiw dh is front line nhs. My work has said I will be working from home indefinitely.

I have worked out that I am saving approx £500 a month due to schools being closed (If I wasn't paying my child minder) due to childcare, breakfast club, school dinners, clubs, trips, petrol. Plus I got £1k back from various cancelled trips. Was surprised at the amount.

We live too far for dd to walk to school. Her returning will not help with childcare (the opposite). It will not save me money. It will make my life harder. I love having her at home.

But I'm a shit teacher. She misses her friends. If we wait until Sept, she will have had no formal education for 6 months. I know from various threads that our schools are better than some and worse than others on the home ed support.

We've looked at the risks. Based on us, her, where we live etc. She will go back as soon as she is allowed.

We have 3 weeks for risk assessments. Planning. I trust her school.

Because there are too many people still dying and catching this infection

Because there is this Kawasaki type illness which I want to know more about before I send them to school

Because I am worried about them bringing the illness home and infecting me and their dad

Because I think teachers lives are important and I don't want them at risk.

Because I don't think the measures will be enough to protect them

Because I can't see how they can be educated properly at distances

Because I can't see how having to stay two metres from their teachers and friends can be beneficial to their mental health

We are classed as low income but I am a qualified teacher (haven't worked as one for years) and well educated. At the moment, I can give them a better education then they would get at school with all the restrictions in place. We have four children so they socialise with one another, and they regularly speak to our neighbours children from a very very safe distance so I'm not worried about socialisation for now.

I'm surprised at the lack of belief lots of posters here have in the resilience and adaptiveness of their children (I'm talk I there about kids with no additional SEN). Saying that the change in set up would be too confusing/upsetting and that is why you wouldn't send them back. Have you asked your kids what they'd like?
If you'd been told in Feb that your child would be abruptly taken out of school and isolated at home with no sense of return , how would you have assumed that would affect your child? Upsetting? Confusing? Enforced separation from friends? Would you have gone 'yes, my kid can handle that no probs?' But somehow thats now fine and you prefer to keep them home because they can't possibly deal with the change of a different set up at school? No one wants their kid to be sad but sometimes I think we jump to conclusions and don't think about how change can be a positive learning experience for kids.

Because he's not a guinea pig