Thread to state that you will not be playing a part in the experiment of secondary schools reopening as normal with no masks, no social distancing, no additional cleaning and no additional transport

[TheKarenWhoKnocks]

The arguments have all been hashed out many times on other threads. This thread is for parents to state that they won't be participating in this and will not be sending their young people back to secondary school as things stand. Not deregistering, just not attending. Phoning in sick, phoning in as self isolating etc but not sending them in.

I state that I am not going to send my children to secondary school under current proposals.

@Hercwasonaroll

I personally am not going to participate in it.

You are though. You're making the schools job harder by BSing about why your kids are off. You'll waste their time contacting you to deal with the absence. Staff may be expected to set work for your children on top of their daily class teaching. This will take time and over a long period is difficult for the teachers to know where your children are at.

I think the OP is most likely hoping that “exceptional circumstances” due to covid will still be a legitimate reason as it was pre-lockdown (although it wasn’t deemed to be at the time so people were left with little choice). Schools should see the issue coming this time and hopefully be able to avoid that problem happening again.

Good for you, destroy your own children’s education then, what do I care

...teaching unions...

Ash. I did wonder

Ah *

Schools should see the issue coming this time and hopefully be able to avoid that problem happening again

What are you talking about?

Schools won't be coding absence as exceptional circumstances. No one will need to isolate for 6 weeks. Schools will (rightfully) have to investigate, as is their safeguarding duty.

Teachers need to blame the gov nor the parents. Parents would be honest, but why should thry be fined. As long as parent agrees they will be doing the teaching.
As it looks like they will be lucky to get to half term. Less disruptive to dc to stsy at home

[quote TheKarenWhoKnocks]@MoreW1ne Ok so how can we do this legitimately then? I have no intention of deregistering but government policy is that they either go in or get marked as unauthorised. Any tips to avoid this? Ideally I would like to say that I'm not sending them in as I don't want to participate in an activity that will negatively impact on public health as I feel the proposed set up is risky in that regard. But there doesn't seem to be a legitimate way of stating this. Any tips?[/quote]
I just think the way you're possibly going to go about it will make things very stressful for you and your children.

Our school would be making a daily phone call. Then when you're a couple of weeks in your under safeguarding concerns with the council and home visits. Your children will likely feel more stressed by this. Will they request work from teachers directly whilst 'off ill'? will they be forced to lie to them when requesting the work going along with your plan.

Does this mean you wont be allowing them to socialise the whole time? The second they go out with another child that will spread in school so school will know you're lieing (not that they wont see through this anyway) and the whole time it will just create a poor relationship for you (and importantly your children) with school.

Phone the headteacher. Better to be honest and open with them about it. They can then work with you to address your concerns. Sure, worst case its unauthorised but its not like a good school would really authorise everything you're suggesting anyway. A lot of heads wont push the fines yo the LA and at least you will be setting a positive example yo your children about beliefs/opinions and integrity rather than the opposite.

I dont have an issue with you wanting to keep your children home. My concern is with the way you are choosing to do it and the example that shows them.

Re the six weeks thing, that's just how long I reckon ft normal school will last. During that time we may trigger a phone call from EWO but certainly not SS intervention and we'll be far from having places withdrawn. I don't want my family to be implicated in unsafe practices re public health and workplace safety.

I mean

If I was a teenager and my parents stopped me from going to school, when all my friends were going, because of a virus that was basically zero risk to someone my age

I'm not sure I'd be impressed

And if school lasts longer? When will you be sending them back?

You'd trigger LA level referral and daily EWO contact from us within 3 weeks. You're deliberately wasting people's time. I'd have less issue if you were honest.

@sunseekin she isn't hoping for "exceptional circumstances " though she plans to have a new excuse every 2 weeks bit of isolating and throwing the odd tummy bug in (her words). That's going to trigger major red flags to school. Schools LAs and social services are already stretched without people playing games added to the mix. Its unfair.

@TheKarenWhoKnocks no one is disagreeing about your decision to keep them home that's totally your choice to make what we are disagreeing to is how you plan to go about it

You could need to isolate for six weeks if you kept getting new coughs or temperatures between isolating. If those gaps fell at the weekend for instance and you went out.

But that isn’t what I was talking about at all.

I was talking about how in March there was a petition for parents not to face fines or risk losing their school places if they kept their child off due to the pandemic. The government responded that as long as the schools believed the child to be educated at home and safe that was a legitimate exceptional reason. But people keeping them off at the time didn’t know this would be stated retrospectively. People had to fight for it.

Things look to be heading that way again and I can’t see how they can back down on their own words, if some people choose to take their children off due to the pandemic again. I know some people can’t and some people don’t want to it it’s not unreasonable to decide to.

It feels like people are trying to make it seem unreasonable but it’s really not. It’s a reasonable decision that a lot of people will make.

If the government acknowledges this, without forcing people underground (you’re right, it could become an issue) then that would it down on some of the work of schools chasing up absences. If people have to fight for the right again then there could be extra work. Nothing the parents can do.

Ps did anyone else sing “to parttttty”
Pps I’ll go find the link in case you’ve not seen it - nearly 100000 signed it last time.

@HalfPastThree and that would be a totally legit argument if you were a teenager living on an island populated solely by other teenagers which meant that you could freely spread the virus around and increase incidence of it without it affecting anyone else around you.

I think hero it’s about teaching our children some moral and social responsibility. It’s not about them but about society as a whole.
If Boris closes some of the other things down though this may help schools open more safely although I apprexiate it’s a balance with the economy.
I have discussions with my children and they know they are not totally at risk but it’s about others. We have agreed not to see grandparents once back at school and risk taking it to them (it’s very sad)
But it’s hard to protect any teachers and others in society. They understand the situation and sometimes I worry that if one of their teachers became extremely poorly that they would feel a sense of guilt for contributing.
I do understand where the op is coming from but it’s a very split for or against on here Op

If you want to disadvantage your children by keeping them off school that’s up to you. I wouldn’t expect gratitude from them though. They’d probably like qualifications some day.

You could need to isolate for six weeks if you kept getting new coughs or temperatures between isolating.

Negative test and you no longer need to isolate unless you still have symptoms when the test comes back. Majority of people can access drive thru test and results within 24h.

@Hercwasonaroll is there a way of me doing this legitimately then? Because if there is, I gladly will. But I'm not seeing anything telling me this.

I'm with you @TheKarenWhoKnocks.

I don't believe that the DoE guidelines go far enough to make schools a safe place.

With smaller class sizes, desks at a minimum 1 metre apart, an effective Track & Trace system, low community infections and regular testing I would be happy to send my children into school - as it is I'm not.

I don't want to de-register them, I want support to home school them until I feel schools are safe and they can return. I don't want to be threatened with fines for making that decision.

There should always have been a plan B for education, flexible, blended learning. Those of us lucky enough to be able to do that reduce numbers in schools making them safer for pupils and staff.

Home schooling is not a choice I would make in normal circumstances, I'm being forced into it by an inept government.

Op
If you say you are showing symptoms then they will require you to have a test so your plan has holes in it already

Ok. Well I suppose that makes easier drop-offs and smaller class sizes for the children who do attend.

Be honest with the head. It will save a lot of time and money chasing you. EWO calls will drop to less frequently. However eventually someone will want to see the kids without you present.

Ultimately the head could fine you though most won't.

Ofsted will be allowed to ask what provision was made for your children. The school will have to have provided work. They will have to evidence every contact they've had to encourage you in. Teachers will have to chase your child for thr work. At least if the head is aware the chasing can be a quick email rather than phone calls. That's why your process is shitty. Just deregister.

Agree with you entirely @TurboTheChicken. The initial communication we had from school was that there would be blended learning, reduced numbers on any given day and social distancing. Together with an effective track and trace system this sounded entirely feasible and I was all for it.

But now it has morphed into everyone back, pretend it's normal, over 1000 students in buildings with no restrictions at all and a fucked up barely there tracking system. This goes against any guidance for any workplace or indoor activity. I don't want to be implicated in this.

OP you dont seem remotely bothered by SS or EWO visits (which baffles me slightly) but if you're not concerned about any of that (and theyll most certainly happen) then why even lie in the first place? What are you trying to achieve? Just tell the school the truth and keep them home. The same process will happen either way. Youd have to be at a pretty crap school to be left alone for 6 weeks!

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300399

Here it is, somebody tried to start a new one six days ago but it was rejected because this one already existed (so I guess you can still sign even though it has been responded to by the government).

The way I see it is it’s about choice and respecting and accepting differences.

And while I remember - I wouldn’t think badly of anyone being dishonest in these circumstances. I taught for 17 years before switching to SAHM for a while and can’t think of a single teacher who would either. And I really mean that.

As I’ve said upthread these fines are divisive. If parents have to choose between lying or their child going without something when they’re just trying to protect them, then something is very very wrong.

This one size fits all blanket attendance policy is nothing but lazy and cost effective (free).

But I think all of these fines and deregistering is just a distraction. Think how glad we’ll be when they say we are allowed to do it, when they actually need reduce numbers and know they need to reduce numbers. Games all time. I just want to live in an open, honest, tolerant and caring country.

I could rant all day but must go to bed in my sweaty sheets. So jealous of that PP right now.

No one will be forced to take a test by the way. If you don’t test you have to stay at home for 2 weeks. Just to let you know