Is anyone thinking of keeping kids off school in Aug/Sep?

[user8558]

I know a lot can change before then.

And I know lots of kids are desperate to go back and parents desperate for them to go back.

But is anyone considering at this stage keeping them home a little longer?

We have been continuing to provide work to children that can be done whether they are at home or at school.
However, come September when the expectation is that most (if not all) children will be back, then it is unlikely that Home Learning will be provided. When If schools have to close again for a period (either in pockets of resurgence or more widely), then online tasks will again need to be provided.

Sometimes the relationship between objective facts and subjective feelings are counterintuitive because people in general tend to give greater weight to subjective feelings and minimise objective factors.

For example, a parent might believe that it is better to comfort and hold an upset infant in their arms in a moving car rather than put them in a car seat. At a specific point in time, for subjective reasons, it is 'easy' to dismiss the objective reality of momentum, mass and force because the risk of RTA is thought to be minimal and can't be avoided entirely.

Because the economy is being prioritised in the UK there is a danger that political messages exploit this bias and actively encourage people to ignore objective reality by using shaming and claiming the real problem is fear and anxiety located in the individual.

The subjective is irrelevant to viral transmission. If a virus is present in an environment it will find vulnerable hosts to replicate and transmit. The hosts can either not be in the environment, prevent or reduce transmission, reduce viral load and best prepare the terrain to withstand infection. Individual feelings have no impact on this. Just like stopping distance is unaffected by my feelings about it.

I'm just saying what is stated in the latest gov guidelines for the wider re opening of schools in September.

Where a pupil is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical and/or public health advice, we expect schools to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education. Schools should monitor engagement with this activity (as set out in the section below).

@CallmeAngelina presuming you are a teacher? How easy or difficult would it be to lesson plan for both home and classroom settings? Could you be available to both sets of pupils at the same time?

I dont think its necessarily nasty to say deregister and home school but possibly a realistic decision that some will be forced to make. That doesn't mean I think it's right or fair because I dont by any means.

How easy or difficult would it be to lesson plan for both home and classroom settings?
They are not lesson plans per se, but detailed grids and activities (with links to video instruction where appropriate) which are the same for all pupils, whether accessing them at home or at school. The teacher's role in school has been to allow time to complete them, with support if necessary.

Could you be available to both sets of pupils at the same time?
No. Currently, we are available via email, but not expected to respond in "real-time," so not really suitable for questions requiring an immediate response.

This will not continue in September, however. We will revert to the usual timetable for children in school. I don't know what the provision would be for those electing not to return.

@CallmeAngelina basically your whole attitude to schools reopening to all children. I'm sure everyone knows that schools will not be risk free and completely safe from covid, but keeping dc at home long term is not risk free or safe for many other reasons. Are you suggesting we keep our dc at home until we have a vaccine or cure because that's how you are coming across?

Are you suggesting we keep our dc at home until we have a vaccine or cure because that's how you are coming across?

Then you need to address your comprehension skills.

basically your whole attitude to schools reopening to all children You have no idea what my "whole attitude" is, as you do not know me or my circumstances. However, as I have mentioned a couple of times on this thread alone, my school is already open to children in all years and I have been back at work to my full hours since June 1st (and working from home, plus a rota system for KW children prior to that). All I have done on this thread is to mildly point out that the notion that children are safe from infection/spreading the virus when attending school, is false. Whatever the school might tell you they're doing, there are many many instances each day where cross-infection can (and almost certainly will) occur. I have witnessed it.
Have you?

And you still haven't identified which of my supposed opinions are "quite extreme."

I am dreading it, but my DC needs social interaction and an education. What I am worried about it the constant disruptions due to quarantining and self-isolation if the children are in bubbles of about 200 (secondary school year groups). If the teachers are expected to deliver full-time education within school, will they also be able to teach online those pupils who have been told to self-isolate. The testing system in this country is appalling. I know someone who flew out of the Philiphines last week - they had a mandatory test at the airport with a result back in 3 hours. Every single passenger. In this country pupils might miss days/weeks of school sitting at home in quarantine/self-isolation if one person in their class coughs or even if they get unwell for any reason. I think schools are going to have to turn a blind eye to an awful lot of coughing for full-time education to be able to work.

I don't need to send them, they'll be out of the door on the first day of the September term like a whirlwind and nothing will get in their way!

they'll be waiting a hell of a long time for that to be the case

@Uhoh2020 i dont think its at all unreasonable to wait until either the vaccine appears (possible), Drs figure out some form of treatment (more likely), or it runs through the bulk of the population and hopefully theres maybe some degree of herd immunity (worst case scenario). If other people are happy to volunteer themselves for that process thats their choice. But i dont see why DS should risk being collateral damage.

DC off when norovirus went through school that just proves my point that schools were never "safe" from viruses before all this.
I'm not sure what your point is. Most people wouldnt have kept they're children off for Norovirus in the school, because regardless of whether the school was "safe" from viruses, for most people Norovirus is not pleasant but very unlikely to cause long term harm. We are still learning about the potential long term harm even in some "asymptomatic" carriers. I dont think its at all unreasonable to be cautious abput a decision that is driven by economics not health

Is this in guidelines anywhere...or specific to your school?

@Bupkis I've seen it in shielding information. I can't give a definitive link because honestly I can't remember where!

@Hazelnutlatteplease

they'll be waiting a hell of a long time for that to be the case

@Uhoh2020 i dont think its at all unreasonable to wait until either the vaccine appears (possible), Drs figure out some form of treatment (more likely), or it runs through the bulk of the population and hopefully theres maybe some degree of herd immunity (worst case scenario). If other people are happy to volunteer themselves for that process thats their choice. But i dont see why DS should risk being collateral damage.

DC off when norovirus went through school that just proves my point that schools were never "safe" from viruses before all this.
I'm not sure what your point is. Most people wouldnt have kept they're children off for Norovirus in the school, because regardless of whether the school was "safe" from viruses, for most people Norovirus is not pleasant but very unlikely to cause long term harm. We are still learning about the potential long term harm even in some "asymptomatic" carriers. I dont think its at all unreasonable to be cautious abput a decision that is driven by economics not health

Is this in guidelines anywhere...or specific to your school?

@Bupkis I've seen it in shielding information. I can't give a definitive link because honestly I can't remember where!

I am going to assume that your DC is extremely vulnerable for you to take such view and honestly if I was in your position I'm sure I'd feel the same. I'm not for one second suggesting you are wrong by any means. My point is just simply that schools will never be totally 100% safe from ANY virus spreading.

Still waiting for @mostwonderfultime to tell me which of my posts show "quite an extreme opinion" about this subject.

That'll be because I haven't expressed any.

No why?

@user8558 I’m still considering it and haven’t decided on a solid yes. Unfortunately on mumsnet if you have any other view apart from ‘I’ll send them back the minute the gate opens’ you are branded as a neurotic mother. I consider myself, no sorry I am a very intelligent woman and have three beautiful children who I also feel I can make decisions for that are not only out of ‘anxiety’. Honestly @CallmeAngelina you are so honest in what you’re saying as my friend who works in school right now is saying exactly that, no social distancing in school and cross infection is occurring and there have been positive cases too. Why is that so hard to believe ? The risk is very much there, not a little but a lot and we have to face the facts that if we send them in we will contact the virus so we must just pray for the best (if you pray) and accept it. To deny it and say by September the infection will be so low and be in doubt of it crossing in between bubbles of 30 to 240 is being ignorant. Even if infections are low in the U.K. once you get children mixing with relatives coming from abroad from countries still very much infected with coronavirus (which will be the case for a very long time) the risk is high again. Also ONE MORE THING which is really annoying me is that NOT ALL CHILDREN ARE MENTALLY UPSET BY SCHOOL closures. Bloody hell my children are the most happiest I’ve ever seen them, they get up, have breakfast, do their school work and work books then are off to play. When I mention school they start getting upset and want to stay home. That just means I must be doing all the right things at home or that school isn’t legoland after all and that maybe just maybe school isn’t the only place children are happy. I think the latter .....

No, I don't think they should have shut in the first place.

All my children will be going back to school,
But the school one of my children goes to is a specialist school and they have said there will be no fines as a lot of the children are really vulnerable not just to covid but will need a lot of help and support with there emotional state and that things will have to be very slowly done.
These children have suffered so much and it isn't as easy as saying after 6 months its all good and just throw them in full time.
The problem is the government have been telling people to stay at home,the death rates,how serious it is.
And people are scared, yes we need to get back to some sort of normality but for some they are going to need a lot of reassurance to do that.

A resounding no then op - Has that helped? Made you feel any better.

Honestly there is more chance of kids dying in the car on the way to school than of Covid.

No. Mine will be going back.

I'm not happy about mine going back in September. It's a dangerous virus. Some suggestions about wearing a mask in shops so it won't be safe in a classroom with 30 kids and teacher with no PPE . Some will not be able to send the kids back because they have health conditions or their family. But in this day and age there should be I clusion and equal rights, everyone treated the same. So is it fair kids with health conditions or families can't go back to school but others can? If there is another lockdown everyone except key workers will have to stay at home so schools could close again in winter because the virus thrives in colder temperatures.

Honestly there is more chance of kids dying in the car on the way to school than of Covid.

Do we REALLY have people still spouting this? That is so far off the point that it's not worth trying, yet again, to explain.

I would honestly love to keep my children at home, safe. They've been happy at home for the last 3 months. I do worry about them going back to school and either getting covid, or bringing it home. I may not send them back.

Mine will be back like a shot for their own social, emotional & academic well-being

Yes I may not either.
My ds is happier at home too and I have taught him at his correct level so he is thriving (he is gifted and the school will not teach him above his year group) I am considering home schooling yes

No way. They will be going back "come what may".