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.

Just like I go to my local supermarket

Only without a mask

@SurroundedByIdiotsEverywhere

I think you are being far too cautious, at the end of the day it is up to you but it is DC exam year!

You do know that more children die of flu (22 in 2018) than have died of Covid-19:

As of 24th June 2020

5 children have died of coronavirus in UK:

Study of 71 children treated in pediatric intensive care units, 5 died, 63 recovered, 3 remain in intensive care

Now you know the facts about flu will you keep DC off during Winter now you have the knowledge?

I've seen very different numbers to these. I can't put my finger on them right now but could you please link the source of your data? There seems to be so much discrepancy in the figures.

I M more worried about getting in my cR because statistically I am more likely to die or be seriously injured in an RTA than from COVID

@nostaples

How many children have you seen choking and struggling to breath.

I'm guessing none.

Or you would take the threat more seriously.

I have seen several young teenagers terrified and fighting for every ounce of oxygen

Also one toddler.

I have two children in my tutor group with lungs so scarred they are unable to walk up stairs, and I have had to go and get extra lift keys cut for them

I have several students who have lost parents.

I have one student who has been left deaf

And I have one student who had withdrawn her university application as her mum as been left missing a lung and a leg, and is now unable to run her home alone

So give over with telling me how harmless this is to children.

"when the R rate is falling snywsy?"

The r rate isnt falling, its increasing. It's been reported today that they are not sure it's under 1. Numbers have been increasing over the last few weeks and back to about 800 cases a day. It was down to 400 at one point.

www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-death-data-in-england-update-2nd-july/

Deaths from COVID by age @lastkisstoo

21:56nostaples

"Orchids I am a teacher over 45 who had been and will be working in schools with absolutely no anxiety"

Yeah right. How come you think people over 25 are "old people" and can dispensed with? Pretty idiotic that. You dont even seem to know what's happening with covid. It's on the increase again, it's not declining.

@mosquitofeast I work in a MAT with nearly 2000 kids in my school and several hundred in the others in an area that is quite high risk. A number of colleagues and pupils have tested positive. None have had serious illnesses or consequences.

Of course many more will have been completely asymptomatic.

Orchids, you’re obviously choosing not to read or understand what I’m saying or to engage with the data or research.

If you really are a teacher I think you have the responsibility to educate yourself properly

"21:56nostaples

Just like I go to my local supermarket"

High schools are nothing like your local supermarket. In a supermarket you can pass by people. In a Highbschool you are in a room with 30 of them for 45 odd mins. Then in another room with another 30, and so on, for 7 hours a day.

@nostaples

Mosquito of you look at those graphs you will see no deaths from COVID. 0.8% of all hospital admissions have been for under 20s.

Children are not given the vaccine for flu.

What actual planet are you on?

My son has the flu vaccine every year as he has asthma.

@nostaples

I M more worried about getting in my cR because statistically I am more likely to die or be seriously injured in an RTA than from COVID

Hmm. I've been on lots of these threads and the same stuff gets wheeled out.

A lot of your low risk of harm from covid is because you have a low risk of catching it - but the chance of you catching will go up a lot once schools open with no SD.

Personally, I do worry about what we don't know and am very happy to let other people - people like yourself who appear happy to catch it - go ahead of my family.

I'm happy to give it a swerve for a year or two while you try it out.

@nostaples

There are around 12 deaths from flu in under 25 to each year. Google it if you don’t believe me.

That is more than COVID which is zero

No one under 25 has died from Covid?

2"2:05nostaples

Orchids, you’re obviously choosing not to read or understand what I’m saying or to engage with the data or research.

If you really are a teacher I think you have the responsibility to educate yourself properly"

No it's you who cant read. I'm not a teacher, I never stated I was?! What gave you that idea? It's you who claimed you were a teacher. And I said I dont believe you as you seem to be quite ignorant.

It's you who also doesnt engage with what people are saying. You just keep saying how no children under 25 have died. Firstly that's not true. Secondly, that's not the point. The point is that children in schools pass it on to people over 25. You seem to not engage with that information. Do you really think children exist in isolation?

"Orchids I am a teacher over 45 who had been and will be working in schools with absolutely no anxiety"

Omg, I've just realised you read your own comment where you said you were a teacher and thought I said I am a teacher!!!

How funny? Are you drunk no staples?

Not an option for me - I teach at the school my children attend.

If anyone gets seriously nobbled by the virus, it'll be me (fat, wheezy, nearly 50).

I think it's a bad idea, OP, as schools will be concentrating the stuff that really requires teacher input in September - we all know we could be shut down again within weeks. BBC bitesize is crap, & frankly Oak Academy etc is... limited.

If you keep your dc off, he'll miss a huge amount of teaching.

Up to you & him, obviously, but it's not the route I'd take, simply because he'll miss a lot of content before he & his peers end up doing distance learning again - probably between October & Xmas.

& obviously if we are open, we aren't going to be able to provide distance learning resources to students who are off because of parental choice - I'm private, & we will just be removing students from the roll if they don't attend. They can be added back later, obviously, but they will be recorded as 'off roll' for the period they didn't attend so that we don't have full time expectations of them in terms of external exams.

You'd be better off repeating year 10, if that's an option.

What is the medical evidence to support this risk to his health?
Have you talked to a doctor? It’s rare for children to be badly affected.

Are you sure that this isn’t a decision driven more by fear than real facts?

I think the point is we don’t really know the risks, certainly not the long term ones. We just don’t know enough to be confident either way which is why we need a more cautious approach.

I certainly would not advise anyone to assume that the courts will 'go easy' because is is 'covid' - quite the reverse. Without substantial medical evidence to support your case for keeping a child at home you should certainly expect to be charged within the normal range of school non attendance. By all means contact the school, but they will make little or no difference to the legality.
We have a duty of care as a country to ensure all children have an education.

I can see further down the line we will see threads of court appearances, and shocked parents thinking they could just keep their kids at home, really you can't do that. You really can't. Covid or no covid the same rules apply.

@lastkisstoo your son is offered the vaccine annually because he is at risk as you say. That does not mean it is given routinely to all children or people. That is the opposite of routine

@Friendsoftheearth

I can see further down the line we will see threads of court appearances, and shocked parents thinking they could just keep their kids at home, really you can't do that. You really can't. Covid or no covid the same rules apply.

Out of interest, what percentage of parents issued a fine get taken to court in normal years?

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-52003804

I’m sorry but it’s all getting a bit silly now. Really sorry if you’re trying to offer free legal advice out of the goodness of your heart, it just sounds like you’re trying to upset people for no good reason.

Our circumstances are all different, our children all have different needs. We will all make the best choices we can from a load of crappy options.

And hopefully schools will have time and space as a result to make schools as safe as possible for everyone that needs to attend.

And in a few months, maybe less, hopefully we will all be able to see the route out of this. It will get better, we just need to be kind to each other in the meantime.

There is no way fines will be enforceable. Although when I enquire I may make reference to my new cough just in case I have to play hardball for a bit.