Sending son to school when he's been coughing at night?

[cultkid]

He is in reception, first week

No fever but he is phlegmy and has a snotty nose

I would have kept him off nursery but know school is stricter, what do I do?

with a cough I would keep off and test.

I wouldn't a new cough is one of the symptoms.

If he’s been coughing all night it sounds like he meets the outline of a persistent cough. You keep him off and get him tested.
It will likely be negative but you need to do it.

Ok I'll email the school the form yes? The attendance one? Sorry I haven't got a clue what to do 😔

I'll see if I can book him a Covid test

Keep him off. The guidance is pretty clear.

Is it a continual / dry cough?

If you think he needs to be home then keep him home. You decide when he's not well enough, not the school.

If this is about cv, is he coughing now? If he is, he needs a test.

It's coughing , at least 4 coughs at a time.

And it's very wet.
Sounds like he has a lot of phlegm

You follow the standard absence procedure on their website. Ours is ring in and leave a message.

Test. Probably a cold but you cant be sure

I'm worried school will not be happy with his attendance FTR, not about having him home with me (he is annoying though 😆)

I am almost certain it's not covid but I don't want to be disrespectful to the school

School will be bloody pissed off if you send him in and he turns out to have covid. Loads and loads of kids will be taking time off to get tested over the next few months. Schools know this.

My daughter was a little phlegmy this wk, coughed prob less than 1 x an hr.
Doesn’t sound like covid but really depends how often he is coughing as to whether you get a test imo

School definitely won’t be happy if you send him in with a cough and they have to isolate him and send him home.

Schools have relaxed their attendance rules this year, they have had no choice to.

Schools can't be funny about attendance if you are following the rules. My kids barely ever have days off normally and get lots of 100% attendance but only been back a week and off for 3 days so far.

Ok he's staying with me and we are going to watch wizard of oz in bed

I'll email them shortly the form

Thank you for the reassurance I'm making the right choice

The school isn't going to try and determine what type of cough he has and what it means. They will just send him home.

You won’t be in trouble with attendance for keeping a Reception-age child with a cough off school.

Give the office a call and leave a message.

I'm pretty sure any covid related instances will sit outside the attendance rules & it's best to be on the safe side.
We got tested at the weekend for the same reason, got negative result within 36hrs.

If a child comes in to my class this morning with a cough ill be emailing the office and getting them sent home. The office will know if they have had a negative covid test I won't be taking any risk with the 30 other lives in the classroom trying to work out if it's a cold or not. The school shouldnt be counting absences linked to Covid same as its not getting put on to our sickness record.

I will add though... Testing my 5yr old was an awful experience, wouldn't let us swab the back of his throat so we just had to do his nose. Even that took the promise of a small toy!

You're making the right choice :) Definitely follow the guidance (re: covid). Schools would rather that you're cautious with this than not. Have a nosey on the government website re: how to arrange a test, but let the school know via normal absence route.

I had to stay of work a fortnight back because one of my kids had covid-like symptoms (persistent cough). I kept us home and got us all tested: normally there's no way that my work would have been happy for me to stay home because my nearly 14yr old had a cough!! However, in this case, had I gone in to work regardless, I would have been in big trouble (I'm a nurse).

Schools/work places etc are taking covid into account now.