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Original poster

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

174 replies

FestiveFannyGallops · 07/12/2020 08:08

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?

OP posts:
PufferFishGoneWrong · 07/12/2020 21:22

No, will finish as normal. It's just us at Christmas and has been since MIL died 3 years ago.

HairyToity · 07/12/2020 21:25

We won't be as I have to go to work, so need the childcare. If I was a stay at home mum, I might be tempted to take my 7 year old out of school, and 3 year old out of nursery.

TwoDirections · 07/12/2020 21:29

Gosh no they have missed enough and I want to keep things as normal as possible for them. Also, I have to work and would have to use grandparents as chi's are which is more risky
Over Christmas I'll use my common sense and stay away from elderly/vulnerable relatives

moonpig23 · 07/12/2020 21:29

No, but in a survey of parents apparently 60% said they would. I guess the majority of them are on benefits or housewives.

TwoDirections · 07/12/2020 21:29

*childcare. Typo

adagio · 07/12/2020 21:32

Anecdotal - both my kids (reception and y3) have said ‘half the class were not in today’. There have been no Covid cases at their school. (Wales)

TwoDirections · 07/12/2020 21:37

@adagio

Anecdotal - both my kids (reception and y3) have said ‘half the class were not in today’. There have been no Covid cases at their school. (Wales)

That's insane...poor children being kept off because of their parents decision

CrownAddict · 07/12/2020 21:59

Thanks Spudina very helpful

myhobbyisouting · 07/12/2020 22:00

"I guess the majority of them are on benefits or housewives."

Really? 😂 I'm neither

Sweettea1 · 07/12/2020 22:03

Hopefully all the kids in my dd class stay of then she can have all the teachers attention an catch up and less risk for them both might put a post on the school page trying to convince them to keep their kids off hahaha

manicinsomniac · 07/12/2020 22:20

No because,
a) Both my/DD3's school and DD1/DD2's schools finish on the 11th anyway.
b) We aren't seeing anyone vulnerable at Christmas
c) I'd still have to teach anyway
d) There haven't been any cases or 2 week isolations at either school all term.

If the above things weren't the case then I might do. But it would depend what the children were missing out on. At my school, the last week includes Christmas productions, carol service, Christmas concert, Christmas jumper day, Christmas lunch, Christmas parties, Secret Santa and (less fun but more important!) 3 assessments. I really wouldn't want them to miss all that unless it was for an exceptional reason like a terminally ill relative. And even then, I'd rather break the rules and see them at New Year than make my children miss the fun of Christmas at school - especially in a year when most of the fun of Christmas out of school is cancelled.

MrsBlondie · 07/12/2020 22:24

Nope. No way. GCSE year and missed enough already. Other year 3 and she needs to be with school friends and routine.

Not seeing anyone indoors over Christmas though. Dont agree with it. Cases will rocket in January

Squidsister · 07/12/2020 22:35

No because I still have to work in school until the 18th anyway so there’s no point. The DCs have missed enough school this year.

I haven’t seen my family for nearly a year which is very upsetting, but my parents are elderly and vulnerable. Mum says she doesn’t want to risk meeting on Christmas Day anyway, which is understandable.

AbstractDot · 07/12/2020 22:39

This was my plan for a longtime as we must have seen my vulnerable parents less than 10 times in lockdown for garden visits. However someone on here pointed out that if DC picked up Covid on 11th and incubated it for 5 days before passing it asymptomatically to another family member who was also asymptomatic you could end up with a really risky situation - in a nutshell, unless you have access to tests, 14 days isn't enough and it would be immoral to use up NHS tests for this.

Both me and my parents have agreed it really isn't worth the risk and we will see then outside briefly and give them lunch to take home. Then as soon as they are both vaccinated we will have our big family meal.

Cantspeakpublic · 07/12/2020 22:49

@moonpig23

No, but in a survey of parents apparently 60% said they would. I guess the majority of them are on benefits or housewives.
Or have two parents who work from home!
MaltTeaser · 07/12/2020 23:00

Yes. ( I'm working and totally financially independant from man or state if it matters!)
We're in a single adult support bubble with my parents and are each others only close family. They would usually help with school pickups, have DD for sleepovers on occassional weekends and holidays & we do loads of stuff all together. School cases have made it too risky to spend any significant time with them since september and its impacting on all our mental health in different ways. For us its not just about "one day" (I wouldnt do it for that!) but making it as safe as possible to spend a decent amount of time together, to recouperate and reset, before another 3 month slog of no support (both ways). School have declined my request to make this authorised (she has 100% attendance so far this school year) but I dont care, in this instance my and DDs emotional needs are greater than her academic ones or their attendance percentages.

rtgiv · 07/12/2020 23:03

Yes, I took the decision yesterday not send them from today, until return in January (Tier 3, school had 6 positives last week but according to school all 6 weren't at school to pass it around so no bubbles closed).

Legal Guardian of two 12yos - sibling group split over 4 guardians (3 guardians are CEV, I'm not), last physical contact between siblings was end of July - we all live 30-50miles away from each other. Their mother is in residential care home and they last saw her xmas 2019.

1 day "unauthorised" absence since 2015. I WFH, have done from 9 years and will continue to do so during this whole house isolation/shielding.

A Fine? Unauthorised Absence? Missed Education? .... I don't really care, top of their xmas list this year is to see their mother & siblings and they will as safely as possible.

Understandingnotignorance · 07/12/2020 23:07

Yes to my surprise many children in our school have already started doing this to begin their 2 weeks.

Covidfears · 07/12/2020 23:15

My children go to a private school and so finish on the 11th as do most private schools (and I imagine most of the conservative mps have children in private so won’t have to worry about ‘killing granny’ Confused

If my children were in state school I would absolutely take them out a week early with no qualms at all. As a former primary teacher I know exactly how much work goes on in the last week - none. And I think it’s more important for families to spend time with aging relatives who might not be here next Christmas. They have years more of Xmas fun week at school. Slightly different for exam years admittedly but seeing as most have now got to grips with online learning for isolating children I would have the children ‘develop a cough’. Unfortunately, this callous government will force people to lie to avoid fines.

Covidfears · 07/12/2020 23:17

@rtgiv

Yes, I took the decision yesterday not send them from today, until return in January (Tier 3, school had 6 positives last week but according to school all 6 weren't at school to pass it around so no bubbles closed).

Legal Guardian of two 12yos - sibling group split over 4 guardians (3 guardians are CEV, I'm not), last physical contact between siblings was end of July - we all live 30-50miles away from each other. Their mother is in residential care home and they last saw her xmas 2019.

1 day "unauthorised" absence since 2015. I WFH, have done from 9 years and will continue to do so during this whole house isolation/shielding.

A Fine? Unauthorised Absence? Missed Education? .... I don't really care, top of their xmas list this year is to see their mother & siblings and they will as safely as possible.

I absolutely applaud you for this. Sometimes family comes first.
Trickyboy · 07/12/2020 23:17

Without a doubt.. if my children were of this age I would be doing it .. my parents are now in their 90s ., if they were to be denied a Christmas with them or school ... knowing now what I do now ..: that it's ALL a pile of crap compared with love and family ... I would not hesitate to yank them out .. (From a mother with 3 doctors and a lawyer for children,,, I can say having your family alive beats it all)

BexR · 07/12/2020 23:25

No. Hoping we will reach xmas without bubble bursting. I'm not seeing anyone vulnerable over xmas though.

However I am already thinking about missing week one of school in January. I'm worried that the transmission will be high after all the holiday mingling.

Covidfears · 07/12/2020 23:26

@flowerycurtain

Nope. School is far more important than a 1 Day jolly.

My kids will see their grandparents 14 days after they break up. 2 of the 4 it might be their last Xmas. We'll wave at them and raise a glass in the garden but as their grandpa says he's had 86 family Christmases. One more is neither here nor there.

I'm quite surprised by the number of people who are going to. I think it's fairly disrespectful to teachers who've moved heaven and earth to keep teaching.

Quite frankly it’s these attitudes that shock me rather than people taking their children out. You would rather your children spend a week in school probably doing sweet FA instead of spending a week of relaxing family time, hugging relatives who may not be here in a few months Confused I despaired of the human race before Covid but I hold out no hope for us now. It’s just school Confused and I say that as a former teacher who values education.
lolawasashowgirl · 07/12/2020 23:32

Yes. I was planning to take my son out of Y4 a week early however his class bubble has gone down so he won't be back until January now. I'm doing this so we can spend Christmas with my parents who are in their late 70's. There was no other safe option for us as they live in Hampshire and we live in Yorkshire so staying together is the only option. It's really important that we get together for wellbeing reasons but I know that it's the only safe way we can do it. I also appreciate that we are lucky to have the choice as we both work from home.

WingingItSince1973 · 07/12/2020 23:48

Surely to make it work the whole of your household would have to make sure they are shielding for the 14 days which means no outside work or shopping etc?

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