Challenging school fines or referrals to safeguarding for keeping children home

[MotherOfDragonite]

Just that really.

I'm alarmed by the lack of testing and/or track and trace activity, plus the increasingly high rates of community transmission (which must be higher than we can see from the data as so many are unable to get tests at all).

Seriously considering keeping my child off school.

My mother is shielding and in our support bubble. If we quarantine for 2-3 weeks we can return to her home and isolate with her to look after the children while I work. She is a retired teacher and the children flourished with her over lockdown.

I am clinically vulnerable (but not 'highly vulnerable' IYSWIM) due to my weight (suspect fatness is a less sympathy-inducing reason than other medical things, but there you go). I am a single parent with no back-up care for my children should I become unwell and unable to care for them. They are in two different settings -- the private nursery is no problem as they will save our space as long as I keep paying the fees, and there is no obligation to attend. School is a different matter. The head teacher is very gung ho about getting back to normal and basically implied I was being irrationally anxious when I expressed concerns. I think she will fine me and I am worried she will refer me to social services or educational safeguarding or whatever it is.

Is anyone taking legal or campaigning action to challenge this?

I know we can deregister and home school, but I don't want to home school in the long run, the school is really wonderful and I definitely want my child to return as soon as it is safer.

Any pointers or recommendations for how others in the same situation are dealing with this?

@Starlingbird

I don’t know of a coordinated campaign. People are already deregistering so it’s urgently needed. Councils are starting the fine route already though.

There is a closed petition that’s waiting for a parliamentary debate, called “No prosecution for parents that remove child from school during a pandemic“. I don’t know what’s happening there but it has answers from before summer about dropping fines.

Do you know what LEA has issued fines please?

@Keepdistance

Also staying registered gives you access to the home learning g when the class do move to that And any online systems (mathletics etc)

Exactly. Which is probably about three weeks away.

@Keepdistance

To be honest I think the anti mask parents are out on their own Everyone has seen how hard it is to get a test How easily things are spread at school How much time they could have to take off. I would think most teachers are now in faviour. And if not the gov will end up sued. They cannot argue it's safe their own guidance says as cases are dropping but they arent

What a good point re the government guidance being out of date. Jotting all this down for battle next week!

They have argued schools are safe.
They are not. One had 4 teachers And one student infected. We know teachers at least can definitely spread it.
They have put in place these quarantines which will affect asthmatic families more. And anyone prone to temperature.
They have refused masks
We have shown willing to send them in.
They have come out infected with what could have been covid.
Maybe that isn't a huge risk to kids that is unclear about long term.
But it is clear it isn't good news to most parents.
At minimum they then can't work for as long as getting a test.
If no test then that's well maybe 14d.

I would say it is partly the other parents fault sending in coughing kids and having (legally but not sensibly) been to places in holiday and soft play etc
It may be unclear if kids will pass us vivid but they will pass everything else including viruses that cause temperature.

sunseekin
I don’t know of any authorities that have issued fines yet. But people are having the formal processes initiated so having to deregister. Check out the Facebook site recently if you haven’t already.

The government school safety guidance doesn’t take into account how the virus spreads.

@Starlingbird

sunseekin I don’t know of any authorities that have issued fines yet. But people are having the formal processes initiated so having to deregister. Check out the Facebook site recently if you haven’t already.

That’s good to know, I had been keeping an eye out on BRTUS and hadn’t seen one yet.

I think we probably almost need a local authority to issue one so that the issue is properly brought to the public’s attention. I’m not disappearing from the system easily - how is forcing children off roll protecting vulnerable. It’s outrageous.

The threat being there is unforgivable - it shouldn’t be a factor in parents’ difficult decisions at the moment.

Slightly off point and I don't know if this has been mentioned, but in your case op are your children not going to socialise at all with other children while they are going to be home schooled by your vulnerable DM?

That's seems a pretty high price for them to pay if Covid is around for another year/a few years?

Im worried she will refer me to social services or educational safeguarding

They may do this, but its really just to check you haven't got them beaten starved and locked under the stairs.
On a more practical note these services are there to help and support you aswell, so if they do become involved engage with them and take any help they offer its what they are there for.

Ordinarily, the school can off role you if the children have 20 school days of unauthorised absence. If you are off for covid-19 reasons (e.g. self-isolation) that is authorised so won't be included.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/1751/regulation/8/made

Whether the school or LA will action this during these times is another matter.

@wedidntstartthefires

Slightly off point and I don't know if this has been mentioned, but in your case op are your children not going to socialise at all with other children while they are going to be home schooled by your vulnerable DM?

That's seems a pretty high price for them to pay if Covid is around for another year/a few years?

It's a good question. In our case we can socialise with a couple of other families in similar situations who we trust are also isolating like us.

But even if we didn't, I'd have to carefully weigh up the risk of the children not socialising with their peers vs the risk of the children losing their family support network in terms of their grandparents and aunt and uncle who are all clinically vulnerable and who are isolating and unable to see us if we are going to school.

Either would be a loss, and I don't mean to downplay that, but I'm actually inclined to think it's more of a risk to be isolated from extended family.

On the news today, after the Whitty/Valance briefing, a professor of child health and outbreak medicine mentioned that there has been a surprising increase in hospital admissions among women in their 20s to 40s.

They think maybe it's because women are more likely to work in public facing roles like retail or care work etc.

Is it just me, or is this more likely that this rise relates to women being mums and primary carers to children who have just been forced to return to school with huge class sizes, no masks, and slow testing???

Deregister and homeschool for this year, but you can't expect any help from the school or them to keep your space (the oak academy is still available I was told). Teachers need to get on with teaching the kids in school.

It's your choice, ive homeschooled, it's hard, it's expensive and it's much more than worksheets and online maths

No way will I deregister if I can help it! I hate the idea of home schooling on a long term basis and we all love the school!

I think we should all have the option of following the curriculum at home as an emergency measure. Like people being able to work from home if they can. I don't really see why this shouldn't be possible. It would certainly be a lot safer for everyone for the children who are vulnerable or whose parents are vulnerable and for the children who are still coming in to school, who would benefit from lower infection risk due to smaller numbers. It should be encouraged, not penalised!

OP just adding my support. You absolutely should not have to de-register. It obviously just gets problematic because the school then have responsibility for following you up and providing work which they obviously don't have resources to do, poor staff are flat out as it is.

I have no idea what the solution is!

@PrivateD00r

OP just adding my support. You absolutely should not have to de-register. It obviously just gets problematic because the school then have responsibility for following you up and providing work which they obviously don't have resources to do, poor staff are flat out as it is.

I have no idea what the solution is!

Thank you! Just to be clear, I am not expecting them to provide work I'd really like to return to a situation like in May-July where my child's year group was open but parents weren't obliged to send them in (and they didn't send work either we followed the curriculum at home by ourselves, which was very successful).

But I don't want to home educate forever, just as a temporary emergency measure. I'd like to be able to send the kids back as soon as Covid is more under control and the test & trace service is working at a level that makes it effective in identifying cases quickly and shutting down outbreaks. Also so that if a child gets ill and it's not Covid, we can quickly identify that with a negative test result and get back to school/work!

Mother I totally agree. Mine also did well under lock down although I'd rather not hs again mine really blossomed esp in reading.
I too feel trapped and just want a proper test systems, easy access, fast turn around, and the return to April where dp can choose to send them in.
Even part time would work for me.
I'm thrilled they have had a chance to get into school, meet their new teachers, socialise, play but safety is now more important.
The guidance does not include how it spreads at all.

Another voice of support. I am ECV and my kids are in school today, but that in substantial part is because our area/s is/are low risk (and supposedly numbers are falling, though I don't place much in faith in that).

I certainly don't think we should be fined for keeping kids out of school in a pandemic (I may have mentioned this previously).

Good luck

You have my support too op. I find it so unbelievably ignorant when people flippantly state parents in vulnerable situations should just deregister, irrelevant of fact we are facing an unprecedented situation which can be significantly life threatening. Regardless of the shambles of test and trace. Regardless that their own children would be safer if class sizes were reduced. Regardless of cases growing at an exponential rate. But no, if you want to safeguard your family and keep your children off just for a few months until hopefully things are safer you should be forced to deregister and affect your child's education beyond some months instead to affecting it for several years. I do wonder how many of those who preach deregister who be saying otherwiss if their situation was different.

It's disgusting and disgraceful we are having to have this worry of losing a school place when we are trying to protect our family members. I feel completely and utterly let down by the government.

I am still sending my children to school and nursery, but pretty disgusted by the lack of testing availability and track & trace. I don't believe the risk levels are low any more under these circumstances, but as a parent I have no right to decide.

Feeling really worn down. I don't want to be forced into home education in the long run, but I'm increasingly concerned that it's not safe and that parents have no real choice.

There is little social distancing at the school gates (three year groups go in via the same gate), almost no parents wearing masks, and all year groups share the same bike/scooter storage area.

My daughter's year group have run out of hand sanitiser, which they were previously prompted to use at the beginning of each day, and therefore only wash their hands for the first time at 10.15 am after arriving at school at 8.50.

Thanks to posters who recommended the BRTUS (Boycott Return to Unsafe Schools) groups on Facebook. A lot of parents there seem to be going down the route of being fined, threatened with court, or forced to deregister otherwise. Although I'm not quite in the same situation yet, it's a helpful group with lots of information sharing and a push for safety in schools.

www.facebook.com/groups/657607021743154/
www.facebook.com/BRTUS.ParentsUnited/

The private nursery my DD2 attends is a lot better actually -- proper social distancing at the gates, small bubbles, hand sanitiser and hand washing prompted regularly.

I no longer feel confident that my DD1's school is taking proper steps to mitigate risk.

And that's quite apart from the shambles that is testing. It's hard and time consuming to access tests in the first place, and then they take days and days to return results. Many parents will be discouraged from acknowledging illness (their child or themselves) if the result is that they may all have to be off school and work for 10 days while waiting for test results.

A friend in Canada had a cold (their list of symptoms that should be tested is much more comprehensive) and was able to get a test on the same day and results within 24 hours.

Just to say that this petition not to penalize vulnerable parents is now being debated on November 2nd.

You might want to contact your GP if either this affects you, or you would like to support vulnerable families, who could otherwise be pressurized to send their children into school right in the middle of the current resurgence of infection.

Thank you .