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.

"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."

Not true. High school kids dont need parents to be at home. So parents can easily go out to work if they want to.

33Diplidally

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

I agree, it's ridiculous. They may be fined, they may not. They are not fining in Wales. You dont need to deregister. Covid is a fairly short term thing. People can keep their kids off for a fairly long time before the wheels get put in motion re losing their place and there are lots of long drawn out discussions before that happens. If you dont want to send your child temporarily, you dont have to deregister. This really is a quirk of mumsnet. I know a child who didnt go to school for a whole year. She didnt lose her place.

@Orchidsindoors

33Diplidally

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

I agree, it's ridiculous. They may be fined, they may not. They are not fining in Wales. You dont need to deregister. Covid is a fairly short term thing. People can keep their kids off for a fairly long time before the wheels get put in motion re losing their place and there are lots of long drawn out discussions before that happens. If you dont want to send your child temporarily, you dont have to deregister. This really is a quirk of mumsnet. I know a child who didnt go to school for a whole year. She didnt lose her place.

I also know a parent with a school refuser, again very lengthy period off school. The wheels turn slowly. School can not lie about you either,if your past attendance record is good, it is clearly just covid.

Agree with this. Don't deregister unless you want to, get advice before you do.

@Orchidsindoors high school DCs technically can have schooling from home without a DP around, but my experience from last term was unless I was on hand to support DS was not self motivated. May not be self motivated in school either, but at least he has to be physically there so it doesn't matter quite as much as he'll get the lessons.

I'd be much more concerned about the lack of education vs the very very very very small chance they will die from Covid. Look at the stats and figures of how many people have it and the death rate for teens.

I agree rookie, but for us there was more chance of being demotivated as it was a case of "do this work if you want to and nothing will happen if you dont". But if run properly on teams just like being there, there is more chance they will do it. They could get sanctions for non attendance to lessons etc.

@1940s

I'd be much more concerned about the lack of education vs the very very very very small chance they will die from Covid. Look at the stats and figures of how many people have it and the death rate for teens.

Just to repeat what's been said in the thread many times - death is one possible harm, not the only one, there's a lot more to it than that.

13:491940s

I'd be much more concerned about the lack of education vs the very very very very small chance they will die from Covid. Look at the stats and figures of how many people have it and the death rate for teens.

Again, its not just a case of dying or being asymptomatic...its the inbetween. Ie those severly ill and end up with lifelong medical conditions. Those with damaged hearts and lungs. Those who are then exhausted for months on end.

I does tickle me how over invested some posters are in the decisions of others. If people are worried about Covid then it is their choice not to send children in.

It really has nothing to do with anyone else.

I agree there can be more to it than that. But the actual risk of catching it and experiencing harm is very low. There would be more risk for me in allowing a 15 year old to miss such a vital stage in his education. Unless my child was absolutely at the top of the class and could breeze through collecting a handful of top grades. The impact of missing this part of school will be hugely detrimental.

And yet the thread was started by somebody asking for others opinions....should we reply ‘none of your business?’

The thread title is

Is anyone not sending their secondary school child back initially?

Not

Pass judgement and give me your opinion and criticise those who aren’t sending children back and tell them to deregister.

0.8% of hospital admissions for Covid were under 19 years old. Out of 55,000 cases.

How many of those 0.8 died or were left with serious harm? It's still such a small risk.

I would assume the majority of those 0.8 had underlying conditions and I'd assume not all died.

Keeping healthy (OPs asthma case not in reference here) teens out of schools when they reopen with sanitisers and social distancing and some activities curbed (including external activities further lessening the risk of transmission) in my opinion is foolish.

UK stats below

@CountessFrog

Some posters often struggle to find the line between giving their opinion and being a nasty wanker 🤷🏻‍♀️

DS is starting secondary school and will be going no matter what. He worked hard to get his place and he is going to take it up!

"Keeping healthy (OPs asthma case not in reference here) teens out of schools when they reopen with sanitisers and social distancing and some activities curbed (including external activities further lessening the risk of transmission) in my opinion is foolish."

But they arent going to be social distancing. When social distancing was strictly recommended, schools could only have a third in because of numbers and sizes of classrooms. You cant have them all in, and social distance. In my sons school they sit 3 to a desk meant for 2. He is in a bubble of 250 kids. There will be no social distancing whatsoever.

"He worked hard to get his place and he is going to take it up!"

What do mean? They all get a place? Dont have to work hard for it, unless it's a grammar?

My DC won't be going back. We have our reasons due to health of family members
Also, DC keeps showing me videos of his 'mates' going here, there and everywhere with no masks, no SD. Parents having house party's. I'm in GM so we are not even allowed in each others gardens but these people are doing what the fuck they want.

Mine will be home educated.

So 0.8% of 55,000 cases in UK hospitals were under the age of 19. This was prior to any measures in place. There are now some
Measures (even if not as ideal as we would like to see) such as hand washing, limited activities both in and out of schools, sanitisers, perhaps masks at a guess? Smaller bubbles of children rather than the exact ways schools used to function. So the risk is now smaller than 0.8%. I am trying to keep perspective. Every time we fly, cross the roads, drive, pour a hot drink, we take a risk for our health. I don't think staying at home when this virus seems indefinite is a smart choice unless your immediate household or child has a very serious health condition.

Recent South Korea study showed that teenagers were the biggest Spreaders of the virus. Teens don’t live in isolation, they live with older people. Teens are at school with teachers of a variety of ages. So even though the risk of death for teenagers is very low, the risk to their families and the teaching staff won’t be anywhere near as low.

@Orchidsindoors I am perhaps being unfair to judge what online teaching would be like next term, based on last terms experience, but from that I'll happily let DS run the risk of going back, versus the impact to his education and my mental health of him not going back.

"There are now some Measures (even if not as ideal as we would like to see) such as hand washing, limited activities both in and out of schools, sanitisers, perhaps masks at a guess? Smaller bubbles of children rather than the exact ways schools used to function."

But that's not true. High schools are bubbles of 250, no social distancing, no masks. Only change is handwashing (have you seen toilets in high schools), and sanitiser which is useless as they will be sat literally squished next to the person next to them. There will be activities outside of school as sports things are starting again. Plus all travelling on public transport and taking it home to vulnerable people. It wont be anything like thos videos weve seen on the news of little children 2 metres apart, hardly any of them in class. It will be rammed, just like normal. We arent expecting our workplaces to be like this, why are we doing it for our children.

We've enrolled our ds (14), dd (10) and dd (9) into a private internet school. This is to ensure continuous education and to help protect ourselves and our other children. Frankly we can't take the risk of either our eldest ds (who has been shielding), myself or my DH being made seriously unwell by covid due to inadequate safeguarding against covid in school.

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?

I cannot remember reading any reports that school kids coming back from Italy with Covid were "passing it on" - even if some schools were closed as a precaution. Any (possible) link between school kids and transmission was not identified as early as Feb/March. No doubt school staff members were infecting each other at the time, having visited France, Italy and Spain themselves during Feb half-term.