Are you taking your dc out of school early for Christmas?

[FestiveFannyGallops]

Mine officially finish on the 18th but I'm taking them out on the 11th to protect myself
(Clinically extremely vulnerable) and my elderly mum who is with us over Christmas. There have been 7 cases in ds's relatively small primary in the last week and at dds' secondary not a week goes by without a year having to isolate. It's been a shit year for everyone and Christmas is the one thing we've had to look forward to. We are in tier 3.
Anyone else doing the same?

Yes I am so that we can see vulnerable relatives for a few days.

Our school is doing all Christmas activities this week so I'm assuming they are expecting a few children not to come in

Yes. My DD's primary school have written to all parents to advise that if we choose to do this there will be no penalty. They say that the last week of school will generally be watching Christmas films & colouring etc, & that any work will be uploaded in the way that has become the norm for those self-isolating & home schooling. They pointed out that if there is a positive test in a bubble during the final week the children in that bubble will have self-isolate through Christmas so any plans would be ruined. Most parents have appreciated this & all those who can are planning to take advantage of it.

I have an Autistic child who has seen their grandmother twice this year due to her being CEV, previously they spent every third weekend together for respite. This is a rare time where I can ensure that my child can see my mother in safety. I hope it will give us all the bit of joy we need to push through until the vaccines have a significant impact.

I hope you & your family have a great Christmas OP

They are actually a wonderful school and have only had 1 bubble close during this entire pandemic. Generally very supportive and have online log ins sorted for bubble closures/individual isolation cases they just do not tolerate parents ever taking the week off just before Christmas, just before august etc our school has the highest attendance locally and above adverse nationally.

I'm not surprised if they are threatening parents with fines

It is not supportive to send out that type of email when they have no way of knowing each families circumstances.

Where do they suggest parents get this "proof" from? Talk about piling on the pressure!

And the fact they've had only one bubble close is 100% to do with luck and nothing else. It has no bearing at all on what might happen next week. Our school have only had 2 bubbles close and one was during October half term anyway.

What does that have to do with anything?

@HallieKnight

I'm so glad this year has made so many people realise that school is not what's important and that learning doesn't just happened in a classroom 😊

...and in other news, apparently the Pope is a Catholic.

Its ok that you failed, as long as you tried your best
@HallieKnight hands down award winner for the most patronising comment of 2020

I mean judging a school as unsupportive over not agreeing to unauthorised absence is bonkers tbh. The proof presumably being testing positive or being asked to self isolate by track and trace etc to isolate as being near a confirmed case. Pretty obvious really.

No. We've decided to postpone seeing MIL (who is 80) until New Years, when the children will have been out of school and virtually isolated for nearly two weeks. Obviously this will contravene the Christmas 'window' but given a choice between a) the children missing school, b) spending time with MIL when the children are just 4 days out of school and could easily be asymptomatic or c) not seeing MIL, who is widowed and lives alone a few hundred miles away and has seen us just once since last year, we are going for d) breaking the law.

I can understand the feeling if your vulnerable, or want to see those that are. But we aren’t.
My feeling is there’s more risk of them bringing it home after the holidays when everyone goes back after mingling

No, they've already missed too much school. We just won't mix over Christmas, only meeting family outside. How will taking yours out early help you if you're vunerable? Aren't you living with them at the moment while they're in school?

No as we are both teachers. We will only be seeing my parents over the Christmas hols and they are already in our childcare bubble.

Yanbu - they do f all in class for the last week anyway

YABU - are you really intending to keep them indoors isolating for two weeks?
Education really matters - still amazes me after many years living here that me that people in this country treat it so casually -elsewhere people would kill for the education available free here.

"I mean judging a school as unsupportive over not agreeing to unauthorised absence is bonkers tbh. The proof presumably being testing positive or being asked to self isolate by track and trace etc to isolate as being near a confirmed case. Pretty obvious really."

You do know there are other illnesses out there? If the kids wake up with diarrhoea on Monday the school wants "proof"?

It's not "bonkers" to believe that before sending out blanket threatening emails, schools should consider that this year, there are circumstances in which families may hugely benefit from taking that week off.

To believe that schools should consider that it might not be very supportive to threaten parents with fines when they don't know people's circumstances is not "bonkers".

I know someone who has weeks to live. He wants his whole family with him this Christmas. If his nephews attend that school then their (now unemployed and skint thanks to covid) mother has received an email threatening her with fines she can't afford should she choose to isolate the kids before visiting her brother as per his wishes.

Yeah, I know....bonkers

If the child had d&v it would be a 48 hour period off not a whole week.

With regards to end of life etc they also take into account things like that if parents asks but you wouldn’t know that. They will and do authorise holidays in term time for families where it’s end of life situations. We are talking about time off for covid only as a just because I can and I want to which is what the email refers to.

Ds1: sixth form college on week-in / week-online rota, his last week is online so last in-college day will be 2 weeks before 25th

Ds2: was planning to have him miss last 2 or 3 days, but had a call today to collect him to self-isolate as a contact of a confirmed case, so that's him out of school until the new year.

Just have to hope ds2 doesn't develop symptoms, as that would push self-isolation for the rest of us closer to Christmas.

Will only be seeing my parents over Christmas, and they don't see anyone else inside anyway.

No, but we aren’t going to see family. I can understand why people would do this to see their family. And to be fair the last couple of days tend to be fun stuff and not much work anyway?

Yes I am.
I am a teacher and I know how many children we have waiting for Covid test results. We only have one year group in at the moment, and I give them 24 hours at best. We have had many children from the same year groups now test positive for Covid, we get a number of positive results daily.

My son’s year group is due back on Monday and I’m thinking ‘no way’. I don’t want him isolating over the festive season. I want him to be able to see his girlfriend; see his grandparents; see his auntie and cousins.

He is a bright kid and will bounce back educationally. I’m not worried about that. I do feel that after this year, he deserves that 5 days of respite promised to us by the government. So I’m keeping him home until January.

"If the child had d&v it would be a 48 hour period off not a whole week."

It's 48 hours from the last episode as far as I know.

But, the example I gave is one of extreme circumstances. Many many others aren't doing it just because they want to...I'm just surprised that the school with exceptional attendance rates in normal times feel the need to send that email out. Surely the majority of parents at that school wouldn't be inclined to take their kids out anyway.

Emails like that don't foster great trust or relationships in my experience

Nope. We are tier 1 anyway, and I work in their school so unless I was also planning on bunking off what would be the point?

They do so much fun stuff in the last few weeks it would be quite mean to make them sit at home missing their friends for the sake of a few days.

No, we are not vulnerable and I have to work until the 23rd anyway so could bring it home myself. Visiting vulnerable family members outside this Christmas.

DC finish on the 10th anyway so no need to go early, BUT DC in senior school (private) has been wearing masks in lessons for a while now to ensure everyone can enjoy xmas.

Also we are having Xmas in the garden for a few hours instead of the usual grandparents to stay.

Previous tier one area.

Can someone decide for me please!! I just don't know what to do! We have loose plans to see close family but know how quickly things can change so not committing to e.g. Christmas dinner so we don't end up letting anyone down for the bigger events if any of us show symptoms. So my reason for finishing them earlier would be so that the children themselves aren't isolating for the whole period and for us it covers a birthday too. We're quite outdoorsy, they have new bikes for Christmas and I just don't want any one of us having to isolate. It totally goes against my normal beliefs - I wouldn't normally even consider taking them out but I'm very tempted! Having said that, they're better for the routine and have just got back tl some of their activities so it would be a shame to disrupt that again! Anyone got a crystal ball??

DC's college is going back on line for a week from Monday to help with the spread over Christmas.