keeping primary kids home - best way to avoid a fine?

[dreamsofholidays]

Local primaries are open, I'm CV and don't trust this government to make sensible decisions about the safety of schools. In my assessment, the biggest risk to our family in the short-term is losing a parent rather than missing some weeks of school. But I would like to avoid the stress and expense of being fined - I get very anxious of being 'in trouble' with school! What's the best way to avoid a fine - do I (a) write to the head honestly (b) say household has covid symptoms and string that out for a bit or (c) something else? Also, how much would fines be - is it per child? Per day? Per week?

Im not in London. But it doesnt inspire confidence does it. I'm hoping after 2 weeks it will either be all schools shut or testing or clearer what to do.

No, it isn't a justification, its an explanation of why I might feel I have to be dishonest in this context as the lesser evil, and because I don't have the power to do anything else to protect us. I think protecting public health and families (and keeping a parent alive) are more important than being totally honest with school.

Justification, explanation, dress it up how you like, OP. You’re still saying your reason for being dishonest with your DC’s school is because you feel some one else has been dishonest with you.

As it happens, I think you should keep your children off if, in your opinion, they are safer at home.

I just don’t think you should lie about it nor make your children lie to support your decision. Just be honest and own your decision - it’s a good way to rolemodel good parenting to your children.

Hoping that will change to allow all Tier 4 parents who want to keep their children at home to do so... I really don't want to lie but can't see a way around this.

Apologies - our LA was per day. Otherwise it would encourage a parent to keep their child off longer if the fine was no different for one day than for ten.

I'm sorry but this can't be true. If it was you'd be hearing of families with fines running into £1000s depending on how many children they had and it would certainly have been reported on and legal limits put in place - more court cases and appeals etc.

For Christ's sake, you can't keep them off for the duration of covid's existence.

If its not safe for London's children it's not safe for mine.

No fine London schools at primary level will not open

I expect the head would rather have a lie like "self isolating" than have to mark a child absent and have to start all the paperwork associated with that. But it will only buy you 2 weeks. So, unless you are gambling on schools closing, better to approach them and ask for flexi schooling.

I'm sorry but this can't be true

Ah you might be right. I left last July and it had been a while since education welfare issued a fine so I may have misremembered. Maybe it was each parent, not each day. It all seems - thankfully - in the dim and distant past now

Deregister your kids and home school them. No fines. No lies. No need to stress about being found out. No need to expose to corona. I believe this solves the dilemmas you state you face in your OP.

@FamilyOfAliens
But OP doesn't want a fine. Nor should she get one. But school might issue one if she's honest even though that's illogical.
It's not black and white in this situation.

I would be honest most and hope for the best. Worst case scenario you get get fine or lose place, but hopefully headteacher is sympathetic and neither of these happen. If school aren't helpful then fine or losing place are better than you catching covid if vulnerable and with the vaccine in sight it is worth avoiding school for a bit longer.

Lying just pushed the problem along two weeks.

Op, just buy time, say they seem off coulor and you'd rather keep them off to see how it develops.

Tread water and buy time, at least a week then see where we are.
We are at last resort crisis point and children are getting covid

Sm is on fire at the moment.

I have no personal intention of having a clock set agaisnt me or pointless convo with school who know it's not safe.

Maybe I'll get into that position in a few weeks but at the moment...

Be honest

If I de-register we will lose the places and probably not get them back. My children love school and I don't want to homeschool (not well enough!). I just want to reduce our risk which is already high and don't want to leave my children without a mother!

I'm happy to push the problem along two weeks by then who knows what will happen.

FamilyOfAliens I've already said that being honest isn't my priority in this situation, it is being safe and avoiding a fine / losing school places. But in any case I also think there are mitigating circumstances when lying as a defence against a dishonest / incompetent government to keep my family safe & support public health. I don't think lying in this context is anywhere near the worst thing you can do. Being reckless with peoples' lives is much worse.

[quote BettyAndVeronica]@FamilyOfAliens
But OP doesn't want a fine. Nor should she get one. But school might issue one if she's honest even though that's illogical.
It's not black and white in this situation. [/quote]
I think when it comes to asking your DC to lie it’s very much black and white. And to lie about having symptoms of a disease from which so many people have died seems especially distasteful.

@seasonFinale you know that doesn't make sense. I've nothing against homeschooling but that's not my long tern intention nor I doubt many on the thread. You do realise the difference right?

If our school was undersubscribed I might consider it, but it isnt and I don't intend to lose my space - I intend to keep in touch with school and reunrn them when its a bot safer

Season, there's no need for that at all and school places are rare round my way anyway.

Op... So many parents are just going you say child ill, I wouldn't mention covid, ie child ill with it, there's a broad range to choose from.

Lying just pushed the problem along two weeks.

This is true but a lot can happen in two weeks. Look at the schools in London who were threatened with legal action just before Christmas and now according to this link, all primary schools in London will not now open for the beginning of term.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/01/all-primary-schools-in-london-to-remain-closed-after-u-turn

@HmmSureJan

I'd buy some time by saying you're isolating for 14 days. I suspect all schools will be closed after that anyway.

Yeah that’s what I’m going to do initially

@FamilyOfAliens the lack of understanding or empathy in your post is astounding. 'Distasteful'? Really? I think we should all be doing our best to keep out of hospital right now so that those already there get the best chance of survival and the HCP's are not further overwhelmed. I would suggest it would 'distasteful' to do otherwise. Can you not grasp the risks that some of us are living with?

To be fair if I or my child ended up in hospital with Covid, the last thing I would give a shit about is my "distasteful" lie. We aren't doing this for kicks, the government have put us in an impossible situation.

@SeasonFinale

Deregister your kids and home school them. No fines. No lies. No need to stress about being found out. No need to expose to corona. I believe this solves the dilemmas you state you face in your OP.

I hate rubbish like this. OP you are perfectly entitled to want to keep your dc off now while it’s unsafe and for them to have a school place to go back to afterwards. This is a pandemic and nobody knows what this virus will do next. It’s safer for children to be at home. I think we will look back in a few years and realise that children should have been off the whole time and yes I mean for however long that may be weeks or months. This virus needs to be under control and better understood before we start risking more lives by sending thousands of children back into schools to spread it more