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.

Both my husband and I are eligible for flu shots and my husband is a diabetic and has heart issues. My son has autoimmune issues too. I will be sending mine back. But I will monitor things as I am concerned.
However, I don’t get the issue with keeping kids at home as long as parents are prepared to home school them. I have been so impressed with the Uk’s home school network and have met many well adjusted home schooled kids.

What about the government playing silly buggers with the health of children teachers and families? They say one thing and do another the next. We are on the way to an increase of cases in the autumn and winter, label it how you will, fuelled by pushing all these young people together.

AS a general policy, it may be that the government feels justified in throwing the clinically vulnerable under a bus like this in pursuit of various other goals no doubt of value in many ways.However, for the particular* people who are themselves vulnerable, it would make sense to avoid the melee planned for the autumn.

"11:46SpanishPork

The head at the DCs' school has been clear that parents playing silly buggers with attendance in September will simply not be tolerated."

Parents playing silly buggers? Oh you mean like protecting their children or vulnerable family members from serious illness or death? How about your Head making sure he protects children from this too?

@RhubarbTea I’m not a home educator but this is definitely the point I was trying to make in my earlier post... like if the schools are open and your DC are medically able to attend then you are by default making the choice to home educate them which is a huge responsibility and something I have enormous respect for when done responsibly and well.

It would be ideal for our government to have better prepared for an alternative approach, or better equipped the schools to operate in a way which more parents deemed safe...

But as I’ve said if my DC were secondary age, assessing the risks as they currently are and my knowledge of what I could offer in terms of education I’d have to send them in.

@Orchidsindoors

How many D.C. with no health conditions have died from Covid in the U.K.? None is the answer.

l"ike if the schools are open and your DC are medically able to attend then you are by default making the choice to home educate them which is a huge responsibility and something I have enormous respect for when done responsibly and well."

Not necessarily. If schools have a good plan in place, children can get taught at home on teams.

How many D.C. with no health conditions have died from Covid in the U.K.? None is the answer

Is death of the pupil really the only outcome you think worth considering?

Secondary pupils are approaching adult pattern disease, can be very ill, and can spread it to others, who in turn can be extremely ill (life-changingly so) or die.

And of course DC with even the most serious underlying conditions are currently being told to go back to school. 90,000 of them

Plus those with newly deshielded family members. Plus staff who may be vuonerabke/exceptionally vulnerable or have someone with a relevant underlying condition in their household.

It's just not that black and white.

Spanish pork, you clearly missed the above posts where I mentioned that people seem to think its death or very little symptoms at all. Which is absolutely not the case, there is a massive in between where people get severly ill and suffer long term medical problems, possibly for life. Heart disease, stroke, fu**ed up lungs. The list goes on really. And all these children, have parents and possibly grandparents. It's not the case that they exist in their own entity in a bubble. They are in school with adults, go home on public transport with adults, live with adults.

And all these children, have parents and possibly grandparents

This is a thread about secondary schools, so remember we are talking about near-adult and adult sized teenagers, whose disease pattern is more severe than for littlies

I think you will get fined or have to de- register him

Agree with @AnguaResurgam and @Orchardsindoors. All school students have lives, carers and loved ones outside of school and most of the secondary school cohort have adult sized post pubertal bodies.

Plus schools are workplaces. All other workplaces have to be covid secure. Jfc how many people on here are planning on going into the office every day come September? Would you be happy to do so, with no precautions in place at all?

@Orchidsindoors

l"ike if the schools are open and your DC are medically able to attend then you are by default making the choice to home educate them which is a huge responsibility and something I have enormous respect for when done responsibly and well."

Not necessarily. If schools have a good plan in place, children can get taught at home on teams.

@Orchidsindoors but we know that the schools don’t have the infrastructure in place to provide this... and certainly won’t when reopened. so provided they are open and as a parent you are choosing not to send them and to educate them at home then you are choosing to home educate them...

Asthmatic D.C. here too but going back.
There is a risk in everything we do - ride a bike, cross the road.
Education - in the wider sense, not just academic - is so important
I appreciate it's different for everyone but we've done our risk/benefit analysis.

@2020notQuiteAsPlanned

Asthmatic D.C. here too but going back. There is a risk in everything we do - ride a bike, cross the road. Education - in the wider sense, not just academic - is so important I appreciate it's different for everyone but we've done our risk/benefit analysis.

But we control risk, ride a bike wear a helmet, cross the road, use the green cross code. Sending every senior school back to school with no changes is like crossing roads with your eyes shut and headphones on.

This is my view. I think 'harm' from covid extends beyond death! I would say a parent being too ill to care for their children for a month, resulting in emergency care for example, would be far more disruptive than missing a few weeks of school.

The disruption from covid as an illness is in itself harmful.

Sorry, that was in response to @nether

The difference is @thekarenwhoknocks is that DC do not catch or transmit the virus in the same way as adults. There is not a single case anywhere in the world of a D.C. or teacher being proven to have caught it in school.

The other difference is that D.C. cannot work from home- they need to be in school so parents can go back to work and get the economy going to pay for the NHS. Many D.C. also do not have the equipment or space to learn at home.

Get the schools open and get them open fully!

@SpanishPork sorry, there is increasing evidence that this is quite wrong,see for example the experience in Israel, when teachers got covid when schools were misguidedly opened too early, and also the recent article in the Guardian.

Give parents the choice of blended learning!!

@SpanishPork

The difference is *@thekarenwhoknocks* is that DC do not catch or transmit the virus in the same way as adults. There is not a single case anywhere in the world of a D.C. or teacher being proven to have caught it in school.

The other difference is that D.C. cannot work from home- they need to be in school so parents can go back to work and get the economy going to pay for the NHS. Many D.C. also do not have the equipment or space to learn at home.

Get the schools open and get them open fully!

FFS. Senior pupils are NOT children, - and that study had flaws and was only for children under 10 Senior students are in the main biologically adults.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks

Includes link to papers (preprint on medRxiv) showing that yes they do catch it in secondaries, both staff and pupils. Less evidence for younger age groups (but this thread is about secondary schools)

Children catch the virus just fine. Older children spread it just fine too - jury is out for younger ones.

Can I post this article from the Lancet again that models the likely resurgence if we don´t have a more sensible plan for schools than shutting our eyes and pretending it is 2019?

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30095-X/fulltext

"but we know that the schools don’t have the infrastructure in place to provide this... and certainly won’t when reopened. so provided they are open and as a parent you are choosing not to send them and to educate them at home then you are choosing to home educate them..."

They managed to educate them on teams for most of lockdown. I cant see why that cant continue.

Some people seem to be very gleeful about telling other people they must de register or they must be fined.

Like what difference does it make to your life if someone else keeps their child at home to educate.

I support everyone’s decision. We’re all different with different situations.

"There is not a single case anywhere in the world of a D.C. or teacher being proven to have caught it in school."

who is telling you that tall storey? Can you not remember right at the start of this how schools were closing because of kids coming back from Italy school trips with covid and passing it on?