Is anyone not sending their secondary school child back initially?

[lastkisstoo]

I've decided to keep my 15 year old home, probably until the October hols to see what happens.

We are in Scotland. What just happened in the pubs in Aberdeen is exactly what I see happening in schools. Mostly young adults, enclosed space, no social distancing.

My child has asthma, and while not on the list for sheltering I still feel is vulnerable enough that I don't want to see him being used as a guinea pig while the government assess just how big the uptick in cases will be on schools re-opening.

@SpanishPork

To be frank I suspect a lot of parents on this thread are going to end up with large fines and possibly in jail. If your DC are enrolled in a state school, you have a legal obligation to send them in.

The government have been very clear that the expert advice is that schools are safe. Therefore, all parents must send their DC as not all. They have also been clear that fines and prosecutions will be enforced as normal.

Some heads will go further such as the one at my own school who will be referring parents who play silly buggers with attendance to hospital for anxiety treatment.

You posted something like this yesterday. People with genuine anxiety often wait for months or years to be seen by a specialist. No doubt they already have a huge backlog due to the Pandemic. I'm sure many people would be delighted to get fast-tracked to the front of the queue. The Head Teacher doesn't have the authority to refer people for anxiety treatment, so total BS.

Nope - I doubt parents will be finding themselves in jail and if parents want to keep their children at home or deregister and homeschool, then more space for your children, No idea why you are so fired up about it.

[quote SpanishPork]@labyrinthloafer

In my opinion any parent who does not send their DC in September without a doctor's note should be referred to social services, fined and given one warning.

Should they refuse to comply, I'd have them arrested for child abuse- robbing DC of their education is abusive![/quote]
Wowsers! Probably can't reply honestly and remain in line with forum rules, so I'll just quietly back away...

My dds can't wait to go back!! There is no way I would stop them going back to school after six long months!

Yep - mine too. Make the most of it though, because it won't last long.

It is also my understanding that normal school attendance legislation will apply in September all children.

For any parents wishing to avoid being charged, it might be easier to simply deregister and homeschool.

Well when you run your own totalitarian state @SpanishPork you can do it that way. Luckily this is a democracy where its parents and the law not "our glorious leader" that get to decide what's best for a child.

Yep - that is what lots of parents are doing because they know that give it a few weeks and they will be homeschooling or doing blended learning anyway.

Well I'm not registering mine. If I decide at any point it's not in their best interests to send them in because of virus concerns I'd be totally happy to let my lea challenge me in court.

I imagine the schools will remain open regardless of a second wave, and local schools will be closed by the LEA depending on the size of the outbreak as and where they happen. School closure on a national scale is unlikely to happen again unless the next wave is truly enormous, there are measures being put in place now to try and avoid a total lockdown of the country. We are in a much stronger, more informed position now as a whole, and can feel more confident that we understand the virus better than we did in the beginning.
I am pretty sure the gov will move heaven and earth not to close schools again!

porcupine Non school attendance does carry a prison sentence. Although you are most likely to get community service for a first offence.

@Friendsoftheearth

I imagine the schools will remain open regardless of a second wave, and local schools will be closed by the LEA depending on the size of the outbreak as and where they happen. School closure on a national scale is unlikely to happen again unless the next wave is truly enormous, there are measures being put in place now to try and avoid a total lockdown of the country. We are in a much stronger, more informed position now as a whole, and can feel more confident that we understand the virus better than we did in the beginning. I am pretty sure the gov will move heaven and earth not to close schools again!

I don't think there will be a national closure. I fully anticipate lots of local closures due to outbreaks and schools having to close due to Teachers having to self isolate with coughs and sore throats. Have you read the study published in the Lancet this week? It shows that if schools go back and there is not a significant increase is test and trace we can expect a second wave much bigger than the first by December. This academic year is going to be chaotic even without national closures, which I don't expect. I think it is naive in the extreme to imagine that there will not be significant disruption this academic year (not aimed at you Friendsoftheearth) and I think people would be wise to have an alternative plan in place.

@Friendsoftheearth I really cant see a judge putting me in prison for refusing to send my children to school in the middle of a pandemic if it's not safe for them to be there. Esp if they are working well at home and have an excellent record of attendance up til now.

At any rate there's a huge backlog with the courts so if I have to spend a few weeks in jail in a couple of years, well there are worse things. They'll have been back at school for a long time by then.

@Porcupineinwaiting

What medical and scientific qualifications do you have to allow you to determine accurately the risk of sending your DC to school, as opposed to the risk of them being out of school.

purple 90 min instant testing is now being rolled out, so we will be able to see what is a cough and cold and what is covid soon enough.Australia have seen record low levels of flu and cold this year, largely down to the extra hygiene measures being taken by most people. I agree some disruption at local levels may happen due to sporadic outbreaks, but not a sweeping national lockdown of the magnitude we saw in the spring.

porcupine Nigtingale courts are being set up, I don't expect the backlog will last for that long with weekend hearings etc. Fortunately the lockdown was useful in bringing down the crime rate in most areas. I don't expect that to last though! I think any conviction and a criminal record would be bad personally, but I don't know of your personal circumstances. For very vulnerable people I am sure with the right paperwork from doctors and consultants a court would take a different view.

@SpanishPork the risk is actually to other members of the household of them bringing it home. Or possibly to them if it is shown getting it twice causes more severe symptoms (we've all had it once already) - ds1 has only recently completely recovered from the first time he had it.

Dont get me wrong, they are going back in September. But if rates go back up to March levels locally they are coming out.

porcupine Were you severely ill with covid in March and are afraid to get it again? Have you had an antibody test? Almost certainly you will be protected already from catching it again.

@Friendsoftheearth I was moderately ill with COVID in march and am still moderately ill from the after-effects of COVID now. First appointment at the COVID recovery unit in the local hospital in a couple of weeks. I hope I've got some immunity but that's a bit of a gamble if it turns out I've got permanent damage to my heart and lungs.

There's also the grandparents to consider. They didnt get it in March but 3 are in the shielding category and have increasing care needs. Obviously we wont be visiting when kids back at school but if if we get to the point when they need active care we will have to think about how best to provide this. Again, doesnt mean necessarily pull kids out of school but it will depend on what exactly is happening.

I can see why you are more nervous than most if you are still feeling unwell from the after effects, and but honestly when it comes to the grandparents, I think your dc's education needs to come first, and alternative care arrangements would be better for the gps.
Your dc have already taken a massive hit to their mental health, education and physical well being in the last six months. Children of all ages need to be prioritised in my view - their whole future depends on it.

I hope you get well soon porcupine

"Spanish Porkś comments again

Lolololololol

This is not reality. There will be too many parents doing this to take the sort of action you suggest, and the energy would be better spent finding alternative provision for children where it is indicated.

Believe me, MH services are not going to be providing emergency treatment of anything like this, especially not for the reasonable concerns of parents in a pandemic.

And if all these parents were put in prison,what do you think they would do with the children? In a pandemic? Christ on a bike!

We need to all work together on this, for the sake of the kids.

Thanks @Friendsoftheearth. I see what you mean about prioritizing them and, strange as it may seem, that is what we are trying to do. I cant see though how losing me, or 3 out of 4 grandparents, would fail be devastating and would likely have far greater and more far-reaching effects than missing a few more weeks of being in school. They are already far more traumatised by what's happened to me than by lockdown.

I wonder if views on sending DCs back to school are coloured by level of online education received over the last term.

If DS 14 had received a reasonable online education, I might be less strident about getting him back into an educational setting. However as the quantity, quality and organisation of what was provided was variable and required a lot of coordination on my part whilst I was trying to work, I would feel far from confident about an ongoing online/mixed situation now that he's moving into a more important school year.

Also I suppose it depends a lot on the nature of the child. DS is not very organised and the work sent out seemed to require a level of coordination well beyond his remit, plus they were receiving over 20 emails a day about different things.

For those who aren't planning to send your child back to school, what was the provision of education like during lockdown period and is that a factor in your decision?

I have to wonder what happened to people like Spanish pork that made them so bitter and twisted that they get so heated up about things that have absolutely no bearing on their life whatsoever. Kinda sad.

I wonder if views on sending DCs back to school are coloured by level of online education received over the last term

We had amazing on line schooling, but you can't replace being with friends, talking to an actual teacher in person, routines of school life, team sports and shared experience. You just can not replace the most important aspects of schooling. On line school is a pale imitation of the real thing, and it took this pandemic to make me value schools more than I ever done before (and I valued schools before a great deal before!) Most children are happiest with their friends learning together.