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...

it depends on reason people are not sending their child's school. I'm not sending mine back because of the school set up. The fact it needs such a strict setup means it's technically not safe for our kids to be there. I'm not fearing the virus when it comes to sending her back. only you know your child and how they will cope. I personally think my child will find it too much of a change because it's her first year at school. She's only 5 and the school setup that she knew is gone. I can send her back but but I can just see this all day being really confusing for her. She won't be in the same class or with the same teacher. She's normally with 40 children and they're being split into groups of 8 to 12. so some of the kids she loves to play with won't be in her class and she won't be allowed near them. But not allowed to school dinners anymore more. There won't be any PE lessons anymore. All the cosy environment will be gone. No books, no bean bags, no dolls or teddies, no arts and crafts, notes and, no water play and no sharing. It's just ridiculous to expect such young children to behave like that and be stripped off everything we have taught them since September. It's very unsettling.

Instead I'll be meeting up with the odd person over the summer. My friend has a son. I have one of each. They usually spend alot of time together. So yes I'll be having a picnic and walking with them over the coming weeks. But I'm doing what's best for my daughter. This is not about the fear of coronavirus for me anymore. The numbers are going down. If we only mix with others also at home and who are not working then it's going to be pretty safe. Teenagers need to mix again too. It's really hard to be isolated from everyone.

normalmum

Fewer children returning makes it easier for schools to satisfy their social distancing requirements.

France has allowed parents to choose. There is no rational reason why schools can't open for those who need/want to return. Home educating parents have never put others at risk of not getting an education!

extreme measures taken to social distance... 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

Perhaps all schools are different but the provision we’ll be having will not be as extreme as this. Yes, there’s a one in/one out policy for the loo and separated desks rather than tables, but a great emphasis on learning and playing outdoors and making the most of time in school to BE social, having had so much time off.

Children adapt really quickly IMO. While none of this is ideal, I think for most going back into some form of safe, if odd, learning environment outside the home is the right thing. I’m glad the government has prioritised this and hope more Years beyond R, 1 and 6 get it soon.

What an absolutely ridiculous post.

Taking children to exercise in a park for an hour is a far cry from 15 rammed together in an airless classroom with a rotation of teaching staff who are also supposedly magically assuming the dual roles of teacher/cleaner.

Parents have every right to choose regarding return to school, just as they do to use judgement to adhere to guidelines for being outside.

Get over yourself OP seriously

Meeting friends at the park for an hour or two is totally different than being in a classroom for several hours with 10-20 people plus all the other stuff at school

I'm not saying it's right to meet friends,just that you can't say it's the same risk, it's not.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me who found that comment completely nonsensical.

It's all another example of snowflake generation.

I'm sick of it, in 50 years from now our kids are going to become scared to step foot outside, entitled brats! Scared to do anything and riddled with anxiety.

To those worried about the kids social distancing are you fucking kidding me? Psychological effects? You really think them staying at home is going to help them? No interaction at all with friends?

If you think your kids social distancing is traumatic to the point where you'll deprive them of education, you've honestly lost your mind.

And yes, this is to all parents who are not sending their kids to school and are not from a household of vulnerable people/high risk.

Totally agree that this is not school. I have vacillated but although Insm a teacher and desperately want to be back on school and not delivering via Zoom, if my DV were still R or Y2 I would not be sending them. Not because I think there is any health risk (negligible for mist people but certainly DC) but because it sounds like soulless, mirthless, public sector jobsworth misery. Definitely better playing in the park with other DC.

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.

∆∆∆ this.

From a personal viewpoint I'm not overly concerned with the virus but my dd is 5, I'm not putting her through the emotional upset of the restrictions and not being able to play with her friends and her cousin for the sake of 6 weeks of school (probably less if the school has their way )

@daisydukes7576 I am not sending mine back because I don’t have to. I’m not working, and she has siblings who can’t go yet (Wrong year groups). The headteacher made it clear in her email that if we could keep them at home, we should. As mentioned above, it frees up spaces for kids who really need to be there.

I don't think it will be soulless. It might be hard and not the same and everything but I think the teachers will try really hard to make it fun still, perhaps even harder than before

Why no books?

My friend is a school librarian. She says it's been. Lot if work and she's had to submit a large risk assessment but children will be able to pick a book. The only difference being that all returned books need to be surface cleaned as best as possible and quarantined for 48 hours.

No-ones saying it's going to be easy or lovely. It's not going to be the warm, cozy-up place it used to be, but that is long gone. Honestly, it's not going back to that for a long time.

@daisydukes7576

Its taken my 6yr old (who is currently on the waiting list to be assessed for ASD) a year to adjust to being in school. He still clings on to me and struggles to go into school without having a small toy for comfort that stays in his bookbag, which his teachers have allowed because it gets him into his class without hysterics. His school wont be re-opening, all children going back to school next week from his school will have to go to another school in a neighbouring village without any of their usual teachers.

We would fall at the first hurdle, teachers will not intervene if a child is resisting going into school and parents will be told to take that child back home and try again another day!

He's as happy as Larry being at home, he hates school! Couldn't give a monkeys about seeing other children and as for his education, I'm not sure he'd be learning much in a new school with new teachers who are completely unaware of his extra needs and the measures that have been put in place by his teachers to get him to do anything in school.

Can anybody tell me why the moronic government is sending little kids to be penned in?

I agree OP, social distancing and lockdown is over in many people's minds except when it comes to work and school. Happy to meet friends, happy to go to shops, crying out for pubs and restaurants to open but no chance of getting them to work or school especially in this weather.

I haven't taken my 4yo anywhere except for a walk since before lockdown and he cant go back to school because it isn't open but I wouldnt be sending him.

Still, I don't agree with what you're saying.
School as it is, is not going to benefit a lot of children. My son wouldn't get on well with less toys, different teacher and room and social distancing. He may as well stay at home with me. That's not about the virus, so taking him places wouldn't be linked.

I think people might be getting a misleading picture of how it will be. We will be creating small bubbles of children. Yes,the kids sit at desks on their own. However, they will be taught. They will be in a small group so that potentially allows for plenty of individual attention (at a 2m distance!) and a quiet and v structured environment. As they will play in these small groups at different times to the others, there will be less playground issues. I am not saying it is normal and the clubs, playground games and interaction will be very different and not ideal, but it will not be the horrendous experience that many are envisaging.This is particularly true for y6 who will be able to understand what is happening. I think the lack of free play and close contact is much more problematic for reception and year 1 which is what makes the government's decision to send the very youngest back first to be extremely silly.

Plus as @Picklypickles says, we would fall at the first hurdle because he would cling to me and cry and they're not allowed to take him.

When I spoke to my school they were very reassuring saying that at the same time they are human if a child is upset. Implying they might come close if needed

My child will cling at drop off. I kind of took the above to mean that they might take her off me if needed

Everyone seems to make the new school system sound awful. My children have been going in part time since this all happened. It's not at all as busy but they both enjoy it a lot (infants) maybe it's different for older kids though but my kids have enjoyed going in.

My issue is that peoples reasons for not sending their children back to school is not the virus itself but the social distancing measures. I'm not completely decided, but my decision is to do with the infection rate in the area.

They will not feel like cattle being dropped off in a 'pens'. Most will find it a novelty. Its the parents who wont like it. There will be some children who might be upset not having the same teacher or classroom but they will be the minority. Children are so much more resilient than we give them credit for. It is the parents who have the issue with what classrooms will look like. The staff will still be friendly, they will see their friends and they will start getting the education they are entitled to.

When in history have we been so blase about education?! The only reason to not send them back is if you believe the infection rate is still too high, or they or someone in the family is shielding. This virus is not going anywhere. September will likely look the same!

How do you find out what the infection rate is in your area?

The kids who have been there all along are not comparable to the ones who have been home for two months. They left because of the "germs" they were told we will all be back together when its safe. So if after two months they go back and find its all changed its only going to further their fears.

It's all a reception child knows. It's the first year of school. My DD knows where the ramp is to her playground. She knows she goes in the "foxes" door. She goes to her peg. She sits on the carpet whilst the other 20 kids arrive. She then goes through the routine of the school day. She sits under a canopy for her snack. She goes to the hall for a hot meal. She plays outside with year reception and year 1-2. She knows pe is on a Friday. She knows assembly is in the morning. She knows who her teacher is. She had a job of carrying the book bags with her friend. She knows she brings home a reading book. She knows that they have free play where they can go outdoors into the playground with sand and mud kitchens and bikes etc. She was always holding hands with the other girls. They were always playing with eachothers hair (she looked a mess after school)

I just honestly think it's too much for her.

I don't think to the person who is saying that our kids will be scared of germs and anxious that's the case! I think putting them into a strict environment which goes against everything school had taught them so far is more likely to unsettle them. They will be unsettled. We've had no time to prepare them beyond the teachers they have now. The school would have prepped them for summer holidays and moving into year one. Now it's going to be a big change come September. So I really can't see the benefits of sending a child back unless they will love the changes. I think many kids will be clingy and emotional. My friend's son is so sensitive. He sobbed on the last day of school because his teachers explained about the virus and the fact school was shutting. He now is anxious and doesn't want to go back. He won't be alone either.

September won't look the same. They can't build an extra 12 classrooms?

In one of the papers online. There was also an article yesterday about which areas haven't yet peaked. There are about 18 boroughs. My sister is shielding in the south west. They got a text message to say their town is a hot spot at the moment so if I lived there I would wait a fee more weeks.