I AM NOT SENDING MY DC TO SCHOOL!!! But...

[HT96]

Ill take them to a park full of kids! 🤦🏻‍♀️

People are so backwards its a joke, group chat last week how no one is risking sending DC to school till September then same group chat meeting up at the park!

The parks in our area full of people today! Even though they still have tape round...

I would imagine that the group of people in the park and the group of people not sending their children back to school probably don't overlap very much.

I'm not sending my children back to school because it's only two days a week, the setup sounds absolutely grim and by the time they're used to it it will be time for the summer holidays. I also have no academic concerns, so it seems like putting them in a situation that I'm pretty certain would really upset them, for very little reward.

Everyone of course will weigh up their options differently.

no one is risking sending DC to school till September then same group chat meeting up at the park!

I hoe the do keep them at home.

School, much higher risk

Well it is now

Mine aren’t going back as I’m uncomfortable with the new rules, nothing to do with the virus so yes I would take them to the park

This is like the people I've seen cycling with a face mask, but no helmet!

Don’t understand why some people who will send their children back to school have a problem with those that won’t. Surely if the safest thing is less children in school (so there’s more distance between individuals). So if some parents make the judgement call that it’s right to send their kids in and some choose to keep theirs off isn’t that the best outcome?

All those saying they're keeping them off due to the measures being put in place in school - what makes you think the measures will be any different in September than they are now? Social distancing will be with us for a long time yet or are we keep our children home indefinitely? The school setting isn't ideal I agree and some schools will be doing things slightly differently to others but children do adapt to change quite well and accept a new normal fairly quickly.
Anyway back to the point of the story.... a group of friends on my Facebook have been strongly vocal against the dc going back to school yet the same groups of friends have met at each others houses all through lockdown having many bbqs, bouncy castles and parties. I suspect they fall into the 'I can't be bothered to get up and take my children to school' category because it certainly isn't over fears of their safety.

why should I send my kid to school when they will be separated from their friends (alphabetical order), will not be with a teacher but with a TA , won't be involved in all the events they were looking for: sports day, school trips, disco, movies, swimming...

you do realise if ALL the parents were sending the kids back immediately.. then the schools wouldn't be able to open at all because they are not ready, haven't got the resources and staff?

Well, I wouldn't send my child to school at the moment unless it was necessary, but I would let them meet their friends and play.

School with social distancing in place sounds utterly grim to me. It won't be school like your DC remember it at all. If I could continue homeschooling while letting my DC play with friends in the evenings and at weekends then I would do, no question about it.

what makes you think the measures will be any different in September than they are now?

they'll have to. There's not enough time to build more classroom, and not enough trained teachers available.

Things will be different, but the measures schools have had to take for next week are simply not sustainable. Classes were over-crowded back in January and have been for years, nothing has ever been done, what do you think will happen in September?

Plus we will know what the numbers are doing.

I'd love for my Y7 DD to go back to school, she's really suffering from anxiety and online nastiness from 'friends'. I'd love her to have something else to think about and some semblance of a normal life.

IF she was in primary I would be a bit more cautious though, as she was much more on an even keel when she was little.

I agree and I am one of the 'not sending my children until september' (I will make a decision then whether to send them back or switch to full time homeschooling) however we have not been meeting anyone else and the children have been no further than our garden gate (thankfully we have a decent garden!) Since the beginning of March when we pulled them from school, however one of our children is vunerable so taking extra precautions. My friends are all on about not sending their children back but are all meeting up with each other children playing together, going in and out of others houses , travelling on aeroplanes with the children, going to crowded beaches etc pretty much carrying on life as normal despite guidsnce. Each to their own but I don't see why then they can say they don't feel it's safe to send their children back to school !

My next door neighbor has been very vocal about not sending her dc’s back to school yet every day someone different is round her house,having bbq’s,playing in the pool you name it

All those saying they're keeping them off due to the measures being put in place in school - what makes you think the measures will be any different in September than they are now? Social distancing will be with us for a long time yet or are we keep our children home indefinitely? The school setting isn't ideal I agree and some schools will be doing things slightly differently to others but children do adapt to change quite well and accept a new normal fairly quickly.

I can't speak for anybody else but for me at least it comes down to the fact that there is so little time before the holidays anyway that by the time they get used to it they will be off again. Hopefully the schools will learn what works and what doesn't during this time, then can prepare really well for September. I can also use the time to prepare my children (at the minute it's so rushed that the school can't really tell me how it will all work).

And, again I can't speak for anyone else, but if my four year olds have to social distance in September then I would definitely consider home educating.

Dd is in a London state school. Even with only six kids in each room, the classes will be stuffy. Lunch six feet away from your mates? It all sounds too grim for an 8yr old. September may not be a magical date, but I think we will learn better control as things open up. I'm happy to wait. Leave the school places for the kids of key workers and special circumstances. Let them have all the space they can.

@CoronaMoaner I appreciate that social distancing measures are likely to be around for a long time but we aren’t in September yet so we don’t know how schools will look then. I have made the decision not to send my son back to school in June based on how schools will be then, obviously I will reassess when September comes and we know more about what social distancing measures will be required.

Something will have to change in schools because as it stands schools will struggle to fit 3 classes of children in, never mind the rest of the children!

I don’t agree OP, I’m not sending my child to school next week but not because of the risk of the virus but because of the extreme measures taken to social distance in school. I haven’t got a problem with my child playing with other children, my problem is that dropping my child into a ‘pen’ in the playground, him staying in the same classroom for the whole day, having designated toilet times and sitting at a desk alone all day do not provide an environment that promotes emotional wellbeing.

Is this what your child's school is doing? This is not the approach of any of the primary schools round here, where children will be in mini-classes of up to 15 and be able to mix normally within that group. They will have staggered arriving and departing times and staggered playtimes, but within the mini-class there is no social distancing. Actually I think my children will quite like having a smaller class as they previously said the class was too noisy and they wanted to have playtime just their class, not the older kids.

My year 10 will have to have some time in school face to face with tutor/teachers. I'm fine with that as long as its limited, and as long as its about guidance towards studying the curriculum. No issue. But, if I had younger children I would not be sending them into a class of 15 for the sake of a break/childcare and where no actual curriculum teaching is going to happen.

In the park, maybe I would feel ok with that because I would be supervising my child. It is outside and there is plenty of space to distance. Not so much in school.

@Darlingyouvegottoletmeknow Yes that is what our school are proposing, they acknowledge that they can’t stop children in each bubble of 10 (the most they say they can fit in a classroom) but in order to limit this they will each have their own desk and will have a higher level of independent learning. All of the schools in our local area have said pretty much the same.

My two are going back (year 1 and 6) and I'm quite happy with the schools plans. I know it won't be the same and I have drummed this into my kids but they will have something to get up for 2 days a week and will get to see their friends even if they have to stay 2m apart.

I'm fed up with people making me feel guilty for sending them back!

You do realize there is lower risk of infection outside, yes? And people are further apart? And children more closely supervised? Ratio wise...

Our DC aren't doing either (going back to school or the park) but your comparison doesn't stack up. It's a bit like saying I don't like oranges but I do like bananas. You're not comparing like with like.
DCs at the park won't be sharing toilets, will be able to socially distance easily, won't be touching similar hard surfaces, will be able to get attention from their parents if they hurt themselves; will be getting exercise and fresh air; won't be in groups of 15, etc.

We haven't been near any parks/beaches or supermarkets. We've stayed in our village, we haven't seen our families and the children have only seen their friends in passing while we've been walking around our village they have kept their distance from them.

I'm not sending my 6yr old back because any children from our village school going back next week will actually be going to a different school in another village as most of the teachers at our school are shielding. So he'd be going to a strange school with teachers who have never met him and wont be aware of his "issues" and know how best to deal with him, as well as children he doesn't know. I wont be able to support him if he freaks out and doesn't want to go, and if that did happen (quite likely) the teachers wont intervene and I'd have to take him home again anyway! The village in question is very small and can be a nightmare to get in and out of, as for parking you can forget it. There will also be roadworks there next week. It all sounds like an absolute nightmare tbh and as I don't need to send him I'm not going to. We still wont be breaking into the local playgrounds, having parties or rushing off to some shitty packed beach.

My daughters school has also sent out a very long list of measures similar to MrsWhites that they’re putting in place and it sounds grim - it almost seems designed to discourage people from sending their kids to school.

The other thing that concerned me is that my daughters school have also said that their capacity to set any home working is going to reduced as the teachers will be focussed on meeting the needs of the children in school. This means that my daughter and the other year groups not going in will be disadvantaged. How is this fair?

I'm fed up with people making me feel guilty for sending them back!

people making you feel guilty, or people making different decisions with some valid points that you don't like?

And again, if every parent was sending every child back to school next Monday, the schools would not be able to open.

YANBU

At today's press conference they reiterated the importance of handwashing. It's not easy to do that in a park. Yes I know that's what hand gel is for but soap and water is better. They also said to avoid meeting with lots of different households. So definitely not a class playdate. I'd rather save our "quota" for more important people.