Those wanting school open - are you not worried about your DC?

[Hicksville21]

Just that really. Do you not think it’s time to keep our kids home safe until this wave passes?

No - both go to large schools and in one there were no CV cases at all last term and in the other one very limited outbreak due to one child going to a party when they and their parents should have known better. Frankly they are much safer being at school than locked up at home with their MH shot to pieces and no support from CAHMS.

I'm not worried for my childrencatching Covid, no. Extremely concerned about the prospect of more to me at home.

If the new strain had not started spreading, I would have no qualms having them back at school.

New strain is a problem. It's a super spreader. A lot depends on if/when the Oxford vaccine is approved and how quickly it's rolled out. Not sure we have capacity for any mixing at the moment.

Yes I am worried......about the A levels he has to take next summer and the impact missing school would have on his education. I'm not worried about him catching Covid. He was in close contact with a teacher who had it with no repercussions for ds, which either means he caught it asymptomatically or he is immune or was lucky. The teacher wasn't badly affected either afaik.

They can bring it home though. What if they were then left with the effects of knowing they gave the virus to their loved one and they didn’t make it? We should be allowed to decide if we want to risk it or not

Sage has said they should close

Its ok for Boris, he doesn't have school age kids coming home to a small house!

To be fair, he probably doesn’t know!

Nope.
I work in an area which sees the impact of lockdowns on vulnerable children. My own DS is autistic and has had all his therapies stopped since March.

Given the actual virus has minimal impact on children and healthy people under 40 and seeing the actual impact on children, the closure of schools simply cannot be justified.

I’m not worried about DC being ill if he catches it. I am worried about his mental health if he can’t go back. He’s not NT and his SENCo confirmed our opinion that it massively benefited him being back in June.

I am concerned about staff in schools and hope that they will be prioritised for the vaccine - I think I read today that they will be once the Oxford vaccine is approved.

More worried about schools closing

OP in that scenario you wouldn't know for 100% where the covid came from.

Keep your kids at home if you want OP but don't expect everyone to agree.

But op almost everyone who gets it - even those over 80 with conditions still have a majority chance of surviving it

People talk like getting it equals death

Most do not

I'm not worried about my DC health wise, covid gives me no reason to be. I worry about my DDs 1-1 and all the other staff. I worry about the children who are cared for daily by CEV parents. I worry about the impact on my DC's additional needs.

DH is a doctor. We know quite a few drs between us. I dont know any doctors who are concerned about their children catching Covid. All anecdotal, of course. They just want the vaccine.

Hugely concerned about the rise in cases and what is coming after Christmas mixing.

I’m much more worried about how far behind they’ve fallen with the last lockdown, how much they were affected by being isolated from their peers and my own mental health if I have to attempt to homeschool again. It’s a disease that Over 99% of people will survive. So my other worries are more pressing.

I'm undecided. If school closures are time limited I think I would support them but not for months on end like last time. I wasn't at all worried last term and my children's school managed very well with only one bubble bursting.

But this new variant stuff has triggered health anxiety in me and part of me just wants to keep my kids where I can see them. They are keen to go back.

Yes more worried about the long term effects on children that are being studied now and also Ive known a few very ill children.

Yes I am.

If I keep DS home, I cannot go out to work. This will mean us losing our house and ending up in poverty. I am more scared of that than the extremely tiny risk that Covid poses to DS.

I feel like the wave will never really pass and there will always be a new variant, unless children are expected to be homeschooling indefinitely then there will always be a spike every time they return.

During school times we tend to go to school, work then home. Whereas during lockdown, being pent up made them want to go out more.

I feel like its more dangerous when going out shopping that when they are bubbled off at school.

When I go shopping for food I have to take them with me as I cant leave them at home.

Most of my family work in the NHS (I work in a nursery) so nothing really changes when there are lockdowns or teir changes.

So selfishly I would prefer if the schools didn't stay close.

I want to know more about how the new strain impacts children. It already appears children are more likely to catch this strain so I want to know if it's more likely they will suffer symptoms or longer-term effects, but I suppose it's still so new we won't know for a while.

@Hicksville21

They can bring it home though. What if they were then left with the effects of knowing they gave the virus to their loved one and they didn’t make it? We should be allowed to decide if we want to risk it or not

Honestly, what parent in their right mind would tell a child that they gave the virus to a loved one and it killed them? When I was 7, I had chicken pox and gave shingles to my elderly grandmother, who subsequently was very poorly. Looking back it was obvious I gave her the illness but no one thought to blame or burden me (a 7 year old) with this.

If we are telling our children this, we have more problems than covid 19.

Basically infection rates in the community are mirrored in schools.

This new variant is more contagious so it follows infections will jump like mad in schools this term compared to the last. Infections have jumped in the community, schools will go back, infections will jump, everyone will lose their shit.

The government is making all of the overtures that England will have a full lockdown announced sometime between now and 1 Jan.... a universal Tier 4 “stay at home” order.

But this government keeps pushing their luck until they panic and then act in chronic haste unsettling everyone (look at how Tier 4 was launched) so they will fuck this up too.

They need to shit or get off the pot; say school holidays are extended to 18 Jan in line with rUK or commit to keep schools open (not “education”... Schools!) against all odds.

I have a feeling schools in England will remain open for a week and come 8 Jan the government will shit themselves and closure will be from 11 Jan to 1 Feb.

Let’s see.

@GoldenLabbie give over with the "free childminding" comments. God forbid people actually want to work to feed their kids!

DS' school of 1600 students has had 2 cases. One case in a member of admin staff who had no contact with the students and another in a student who was in another bubble. The school, staff and students have been absolutely amazing with the protocols and adherence to protocols. So no I am not worried about DS going back to school.

The new strain is no more lethal, serious than the first.

It spreads more.

So many kids had it in all our schools last term. None were seriously ill. Most had no symptoms.

I’m not worried.