Masks at school drop off....

[QueenofmyPrinces]

My son is in Year 2 and during school drop-off there is a 1 way system and staggered starting times to allow for 2m spacing. There are usually about 3 members of staff manning the gate to make sure the correct distance is kept between parents.

However, my son was sent home tonight with a letter from the teacher to say that all parents are now required to wear masks at pick up and drop offs.

I don’t know how I feel about it....ok, it’s no hardship at all, but it feels like now it’s yet another thing we are being instructed to do. Day by day it feels like we are losing more of ourselves.

I know that sounds dramatic and in the middle of a pandemic it sounds ridiculous....but it’s just never ending isn’t it.

Our children are all mixing with each other every day, with no social distancing, yet we have to wear a mask to follow a one way system that keeps parents 2m apart anyway that takes only about a minute to enter the school grounds, drop the child off and leave the grounds.

It feels like there’s no end in sight and between this and the Rule of 6 it feels like we are slowly having our rights taken away from us.

I know I sound silly.....but I’m just fed up.

I have been following the rules from the start but this just feels like the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

I wonder how long it will be until teachers are wearing masks in school and then our children will be too....

Like I said, I just feel a bit down about it all.

I think the psychological impact of the ever increasing and changing requirements and restrictions is similar to being in an abusive relationship so it’s no wonder you and others are finding this hard. First your partner wants you to let them know where they are all the time and then they don’t want you staying out too late and then they don’t want you to go out at all and want to control what you wear and who you socialise with. And all this is done for your own protection and because it’s the “right” thing to do. One requirement might seem reasonable in itself but they build up until every aspect of your life is being controlled. The reasoning behind masks, lockdown etc might be different but I think the experience is broadly similar.

I’m finding the uncertainty over what’s going to be taken away next and the sudden imposition of often quite arbitrary new rules to be one of the hardest things about this. It’s not really just masks for ten mins for school pickup because it’s also masks in most indoor spaces and navigating a page of rules for every activity you want to do and limits on seeing friends and family and whatever else is required in a week’s time. And it can always be justified if it “might” decrease the risk of transmission even by a negligible amount.

Well I’ve just got back from the school run and it’s an kidnapper’s wet dream as they’d say.

Hundreds of adults walking around the children, around the grounds with masks on and nobody knowing who anyone is.

It will be even worse at pick up.

Any adult could grab a child and bolt knowing full well their hidden face wouldn’t be suspicious and knowing they can’t be identified.

Very unlikely yes but there’s a sense of unease amongst the parents.,The whole thing just doesn’t sit right with me.

This is outside?

Makes it difficult to identify parents and prolongs the time you're standing there.

Dont wear one.

Can you really not tell who someone is when their mouth is covered? Interestingly, I have a certain degree of face blindness so I find it difficult to recognise people by their faces - so it would make no difference to me at all, as I go by hair, stance, clothes etc. I hadn’t thought that people without this might not be able to recognise people when part of their face is covered.
We have to wear masks the playground. You are only there for a few minutes, it isn’t an issue for me, and I really don’t like masks. My older DS has to wear one all day,including lessons, apart from lunch and break - that is quite harsh.

A kidnapper's wet dream?

I don't think it's typical OP if you can't identify people because they're wearing a mask. I certainly can and I would imagine most other people can.

I struggle to identify people with masks. Especially with the rain right now. Coat on, hood up, so that'll be me blanking folk till March. I can't see kidnappings happening though.

Alot of these posts have made comment on covie coming to an end and wearing a mask at drop off is showing that the end isnt near.
But its becoming very clear that this is the new norm, masks arent going anywhere anytime soon. We may even need to accept this as a way of life

I don't wear one. It's utterly pointless. We're outside and we stand 2m apart.

We may even need to accept this as a way of life

Nope. I will comply with it for the time being until it’s clearer how things will pan out long-term, but I will never accept permanent mask-wearing as ‘normal’ because it runs entirely counter to natural human behaviour and interaction.

And yes, agree that outdoor mask-wearing is pretty much pointless.

They brought this in at DC's last week. I was fine with it until I realised I couldn't kiss my DC goodbye whilst wearing a mask. Obviously, I am still wearing one, but it did make me a bit sad.

So just pull the mask down for a second to kiss your child. No one is likely to see, and even if you do you're not going to get frogmarched to the headteacher's office and given detention.

Well I’ve just got back from the school run and it’s an kidnapper’s wet dream as they’d say.

Hysterical much?

Hundreds of adults walking around the children, around the grounds with masks on and nobody knowing who anyone is.

Really? I have yet to fail to recognise a single person I know when they're wearing a mask. I can see most of their face and head, it's only their nose and mouth that are not visible. Is everyone at your school wearing balaclavas?

There is a massive queue outside my Dd school. AM and PM not distancing, cases are rising in our borough. I choose to wear one as the rule of 6 had come in. I’m waiting with people I don’t normally mix with and different people every day. I don’t think it’s a big deal really.

I'm just glad I no longer have school age children.

@Pommes

I completely empathise with your arguments but I do agree with the masks in playground rule. We have it too.

My reasons for agreeing are:

1. Teachers and school staff are putting themselves at risk to educate our children, the least we owe them is compliance with measures they suggest to mitigate risk.

1. Masks do prevent virus transmission - anything helps to get us back to normal.

1. Masks act as a physical reminder that we are in a pandemic. Parents have a tendency to group and chat (me too) but masks help to deter this.

Point three is very interesting. Hadn't thought about that. Keeps it in people's minds doesn't it

We have to wear masks at drop off & pick up at DS school - we were told before he went back. DD year 9 has been told that as of today they must wear masks in communal areas around the school - that's as a result of other schools having had students testing positive.

@TempsPerdu

And yes, agree that outdoor mask-wearing is pretty much pointless.

Not if there are groups of parents stood talking/laughing far too close to each other it's not. Such a shame they're too stupid to understand social distancing.

Can you really not tell who someone is when their mouth is covered?

Masks go up to people’s eyes - and yes, when it comes to winter, thick winter coats, hats and scarves on, only eyes peeking out, I can imagine it would be very hard to recognise people.

and yes, when it comes to winter, thick winter coats, hats and scarves on, only eyes peeking out, I can imagine it would be very hard to recognise people

So was everyone in the yard unrecognisable this morning, or not?

Really? I have yet to fail to recognise a single person I know when they're wearing a mask.

There are at least 100 adults at drop-off - do you really expect every parent, including teachers, to know the faces of each of those people?

I wouldn’t recognise about 75% of them even without masks.

and yes, when it comes to winter, thick winter coats, hats and scarves on, only eyes peeking out, I can imagine it would be very hard to recognise people

So was everyone in the yard unrecognisable this morning, or not?

I recognised the people I knew, as did everyone else I imagine.

But it’s not winter yet - which is the point I was making - when people generally are much more covered up with their winter clothing.

I can recognise everyone I already know regardless of them wearing a mask or not.

I have been stood in the gate from school drop off almost every day. All the parents I already knew I can recognise even in their mask.

It's not really much different to when I see parents wrapped up warm in the winter with big hats and scarfs round their face or when some of our parents come to school,wearing a head scarf and face covering due to their religion. I can still recognise them.

Obviously if I couldn't recognise them without a face covering I'm unlikely to recognise them with one. 🤷‍♀️ However, after being in the gates so much recently I'm getting there with all the new parents, slowly.

So it really wasn't a case of nobody knowing who anybody else was and children being at risk of being kidnapped, then?

So it really wasn't a case of nobody knowing who anybody else was and children being at risk of being kidnapped, then?

My point was that I don’t feel comfortable that any adult can walk into school grounds with their faces covered and have access to the children - knowing that the teachers won’t question who they are simply because they can’t be expected to recognise and know 100+ parents.....ergo being able to know when a masked face is that of someone who doesn’t have a child at the school.

Maybe myself, and the mothers I speak to on the school run, are more concerned than the general public.

A previous poster joked about balaclavas but that’s kind of what it will be like as we get into winter, not much visible except the eyes.

My point was that I don’t feel comfortable that any adult can walk into school grounds with their faces covered and have access to the children - knowing that the teachers won’t question who they are simply because they can’t be expected to recognise and know 100+ parents.....ergo being able to know when a masked face is that of someone who doesn’t have a child at the school.

If your school has decided to abandon all safe-guarding procedures, and none of the teachers know the parents of the children and are willingly going to hand them over to any masked adult that turns up in the yard without question, you need to get in touch with the governors and the LEA, because that is far, far more serious concern than parents/carers being asked to wear masks when collecting/dropping off.

Nobody could put a mask on, walk into our school yard, and have access to the children without being questioned. If there was any likelihood of that happening I'd take my children out of the school in a millisecond. If that's what you genuinely believe could happen at your school you need to take it further, urgently.