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Original poster

Children who don’t consent to a lateral flow test should be treated as positive and sent home

263 replies

user1471505494 · 09/01/2021 14:26

Schools now have much higher numbers attending than in the first lockdown. The lateral flow test was brought into schools to try and keep Staff and pupils as safe as possible.

If a parent or child refuses consent is absolutely their RIGHT to do so and I appreciate that there are many varied reasons for this. It should therefore be the RESPONSIBILITY of the schools to safeguard others and send the child home to self isolate.

OP posts:
CodenameVillanelle · 09/01/2021 16:05

@user1494055864

So my teens can't go to school unless tested, but I'm free to come and go as I please at primary school every day with all the other untested staff and kids. It's all utter bullshit. Who bloody cares about testing. It doesn't work, and the more false positive cases the more likely the panic and more shut down. Why can't people just wake up.
Neither the lateral flow nor the PCR tests give false positives.
PugInTheHouse · 09/01/2021 16:05

I kind of agree OP, I do think if there is a genuine reason such as SEN then allowances should be made but I do think care should be taken that these children aren't mixing at all with the others or if they are that social distancing is maintained at all times. I would feel even more concerned that I already am if I knew there were children going in and parents were refusing testing for no particular reason.

My DS2 has additional needs and is in school, all children are having their lateral flow tests the first day they attend school and keep repeating them each week. He has sensory issues and I thought he would struggle but often his need to follow the rules outweighs sensory meltdowns. He told me he felt like he did the throat swab right as it made him gag, he was quite pleased with himself bizarrely. I totally understand this isnt the case for all children of course.

We have had issues with a few entitled parents sending their kids in even when they have had positive covid tests within their household so I am not confident everyone is being careful.

Mumofsend · 09/01/2021 16:06

@gamerchick good for you. Unfortunately reasoning along those lines doesn't work for my DD. It doesn't work for many children.

The last medical related thing she had done (a plaster!) Resulted in an adult on antibiotics. She won't be punished as she had zero clue what she had done, she was terrified.

Schmoozer · 09/01/2021 16:07

Surely children with sensory issues would have to tolerate having a test if they were going to access any hospital treatment ?
As this is something that is likely to be an issue for many months to come, surely these children need to be supported to get used to these tests as opposed to expecting them to access education without tests and run the risk of spreading infection ??

LindaEllen · 09/01/2021 16:08

@SionnachRua

Yanbu. I feel the same way about anti-vaxxers tbh. Fine if you want to refuse it but you shouldn't be allowed into mainstream school.
Children will never be offered the vaccine, so this irrelevant.
JillofTrades · 09/01/2021 16:09

Dn is autistic, having the test would cause her a lot of distress. She cannot engage with online learning. Do you really think it would be right to deny her an education?

Her education isn't more important than the safety and risk to others. Not even comparable.

PugInTheHouse · 09/01/2021 16:09

I do also think there are parents that will use any excuse to not do something that is inconvenient to them or their kids. It's a fine line really but essentially I do believe that schools should have the authority to make the decision if children attending during lockdown (if school is open as normal then I dont think this should be the case).

To the poster who mentioned their child not getting an education if they can't have the test. The children shouldn't be getting more of an education currently in school than online so this shouldnt be the case right now, school is generally childcare right now if they are doing it correctly.

babybythesea · 09/01/2021 16:12

Endoplasmic My feelings exactly! If the tests were reliable then I would give consent. But I don’t see how an unreliable test helps at all. In fact, it may worsen things as people believe themselves to be negative when they aren’t.
And while DD doesn’t go to sleepovers etc, she did attend dance classes when they were permitted. I just do not want her doing that (when we can!) if she has been in contact with the virus, and then a test has told her she’s negative, because there is a strong chance she won’t be. Far better to not have the test and just isolate.

FoxyTheFox · 09/01/2021 16:12

Surely children with sensory issues would have to tolerate having a test if they were going to access any hospital treatment?

It depends on the treatment. DS has had a few hospital appointments and treatments with no test required. It seems to be mainly surgery and/or ward (including day ward) admissions that need a test beforehand. If he was to need a treatment that required a test then he would have to be pinned down and/or drugged - his neurology team would know the best way to do it - as the risks of not having the test/treatment would outweigh the distress of testing. This is not the case with school testing and I cannot justify repeated distress to him and repeated risk of harm to him and others for a 'just in case' test with questionable reliability.

PugInTheHouse · 09/01/2021 16:13

I agree with JillofTrades. If my DS was not willing or able to take the test I would feel it is my duty to keep him at home in order not to increase risk to those in school, as well as not putting us at risk at home.

FoxyTheFox · 09/01/2021 16:15

Her education isn't more important than the safety and risk to others. Not even comparable

And yet legally a child cannot be penalised for not doing the test. A child not doing the test due to disability would also be covered under equality laws as to then exclude them from school for an issue directly relating to their disability would be discriminatory.

NailsNeedDoing · 09/01/2021 16:17

No, the responsibility of schools is to educate children. They do not need to be safeguarded against a virus that probably won’t even give them any symptoms, and it it does they will likely be mild and short lived. ECV have their risks catered for separately.

Rosebel · 09/01/2021 16:17

My daughter was physically sick when I told her about the test. She just became hysterical despite me and eldest (who have both had tests) resssuring her it's not too bad
I don't know what to do for the best. I can't keep her home as I have to go to work and she's entitled to a place due to her autism but obviously I don't want her passing Covid round or to become so distressed she's either sick or attacks the staff.
I've also probably missed it but how quickly do the results come? Unless it's instant where are the children meant to wait, do they just mix with children who are possibly positive for Covid while waiting for the results?

Mumofsend · 09/01/2021 16:19

@PugInTheHouse EHCP provision has not been suspended, it is still legally meant to be provided. Therefore my DD is in school, with her 1-1 for 32.5 hours. She receives her phonics and maths interventions. She receives her SALT provision. She is having all her learning fully differentiated full time. Her learning is never the same as the other kids in her year but she is still 2+ years behind so she isn't at an advantage. She is still legally entitled to her provision. The gap would grow significantly if she were not to be receiving it.

Mine can't tolerate tests, I do my part on reducing the risk she poses by keeping her at home or at school. She doesn't go to shops or the park or on playdates. She doesn't go anywhere other than ridiculously remote walks. If she catches covid she will get it from school. My parents drop my shopping off to us so I also am not mixing in shops.

Meanwhile there are kids in her bubble who literally had a sleepover last night, whose parents are exposing them to multiple high risk environments. If my daughter is being expected to test then other parents need to be held to account for their actions.

annevonkleve · 09/01/2021 16:19

When the schools were planning to reopen with testing, DS' old secondary school said that if parents didn't consent to testing the kids would have to go home to isolate for 10 days. Not sure how that works with repeated testing though, if it happens once a fortnight the kids would only be in school about 2 days every fortnight before the next round of testing and isolation.

PugInTheHouse · 09/01/2021 16:20

The children may get mild symptoms but what about staff?

Rosebel - tests back within half hour I believe. They do them first thing so they should be sat apart at desks at that point presumably.

marshmallowfluffy · 09/01/2021 16:21

LF tests are not accurate at all.

www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4469

Would you be happy for your child to be sent home after a test that's barely 50% accurate?

Schmoozer · 09/01/2021 16:21

Lateral flow tests take 30 mins to get result
They require 10 secs swab in each nostril
They aren’t 100% reliable but with regular testing they are highly likely to pick up someone with covid

EndoplasmicReticulum · 09/01/2021 16:22

Schmoozer no they're not.

Theunamedcat · 09/01/2021 16:22

@Bixs

Dn is autistic, having the test would cause her a lot of distress. She cannot engage with online learning. Do you really think it would be right to deny her an education?
Don't bother trying to reason with them the disablist attitudes are appalling
MotherExtraordinaire · 09/01/2021 16:22

@Bixs

Dn is autistic, having the test would cause her a lot of distress. She cannot engage with online learning. Do you really think it would be right to deny her an education?
I have a child on the spectrum and yes no test regardless should mean no attendance at school. Safeguarding the others, on balance, has to be the priority.

We've had enough of this nonsense with the mask exceptions. Yet majority of countries have managed without exceptions!

NailsNeedDoing · 09/01/2021 16:22

@PugInTheHouse I completely get that argument, I work in a school, but I don’t think it would ever be right to insist that children have an invasive test for the sake of other people or be denied their education.

Schmoozer · 09/01/2021 16:24

@EndoplasmicReticulum

Schmoozer no they're not.
Yes they are !
Schmoozer · 09/01/2021 16:25

Invasive ?? It’s not a smear test !