Mask wearing for years 5 and 6

[PandemicPalava]

My dd goes to a middle which has years 5-8 all mask wearing. Guidance is patchy for middle schools and our head has taken it as because the setting has year 7 and up, all pupils need to mask wear.

Does anyone else have children in a middle school? What is your school doing? I really want to draft a letter to the school as they were told off yesterday when they removed them even though they previously confirmed the mask wearing would be encouraged not enforced.

Any input gratefully received

Tell her to keep the mask on. Try nice soft cotton ones and launder them each day after they are worn.

My son is also in a middle school , year 5.They have also been asked to wear masks.

It'll take a few days for the kids to all get used to them, just get them to persevere.

I make masks so have made her single layer masks which are nice and breathable. To be fair, she's coping well, but I am just wondering where parents of these years stand.

I'm just not clear on the guidance, all the way through middle schools have been left out, it just talks about primary and secondary with no guidance specifically for schools with both KS2 and 3

It's just the guidance, DFR clearly states their recommendation is no primary should mask wear during lessons, that's what's confused me

@PandemicPalava

But... a breathable single layer mask totally defeats the object?!

If your school are mandating masks, it’s for a reason. If you don’t like it, don’t send her!

Homemade cloth masks are useless, which is why many schools with mandatory mask wearing won't allow them. In ours, only surgical or FFP2 which are washable.
They're also much stuffier to wear.
Papery surgical masks are much thinner, so more comfortable, and actually work.

How long has she been wearing a mask all day in school?

@AnaisNun the mask is a cotton backed with a non woven layer, so it doesn't have the layers my masks normally have - they are usually two layers of cotton with a filter pocket.

Also, there has never been a stipulation in this country as to what constitutes an appropriate mask, nor has there been any school guidance

Why did you bother making single layer ones?

@StepOutOfLine the school has no guidance on mask type, never has. This is my point. Their approach seems muddled

Yesterday was her first day mask wearing all day, she was fine. It's not that which I'm asking, it's clarification of the guidance.

She is primary yet is having to mask wear in class, she isn't secondary.

@ineedaholidaynow they are single cotton with a non woven interfacing layer, better than two layer cotton but more breathable.

Why the mask bashing?!

Why the mask bashing?!

Because people are tired of people complaining about masks. Covid is shit for all of us and all our children. Mine are wearing their masks.

Because I thought masks had to be 3 layer to actually work

I honestly don't understand why this thread has gone off in such a tangent. I was asking about experiences of people with children in middle school. A few parents have concerns and want to pose questions to the school, just wanted to sound it out.

Surely single layer or cotton is irrelevant as she is primary and shouldn't have one on according to government guidance anyway.

Of course she will mask wear in line with the school rules, I have no intention of disruption, but they are muddled in their approach, can't clarify the guidance as to how it applies to middle schools

@ChameleonClara the thread isn't about masks, it's abort guidance. I asked for guidance clarification. I'm not complaining about masks, I make them for a living! Ok all for them. It's the DFE and government. Guidance for middle schools I wanted to chat about

@ineedaholidaynow where did you get that? Surely if that is common knowledge the school would be enforcing it

Schools can’t make children wear masks so if you don’t like it don’t make them wear one. If you are going to give them a mask to wear at least give them one that actually does something

@ineedaholidaynow right, so how come the school haven't insisted on a certain mask type if she science is so clear? How come people are allowed all over the place, supermarkets, doctors etc with cotton masks?

@ineedaholidaynow this is also exactly my point. They can't enforce but they are. That's what I wanted clarification of, where we stand

You can have cotton masks but they should be at least 3 layer, this has been guidance for months

@ineedaholidaynow so how come all shops sell random material masks - fleece, towelling, Lycra - which aren't 3 layer? How can they possibly do that if they don't work?

@ineedaholidaynow and how come the school aren't shit hot on it?

Any mask is allowed OP because the government don't really care. They know mask wearing is tokenistic and done just so people feel better. The gov advice is against mask wearing in primary schools (for all sorts of good reasons) so I would email the head saying for this reason you are not comfortable sending your child in any mask. I would not send my Year 5 in a mask.

I had a similar situation a while back with my dd who is year 5. The dfe and government guidelines are very clear that masks are not required by primary school children. They can actually be more detrimental as the children don’t know how to use them. Demonstrated by dd when she told me they’d all been trying on each other’s masks. I emailed the school repeatedly asking for risk assessments and expressing my opinion on this. I’m not anti mask far from it but wanted to introduce mask wearing slowly and gently for my child and the school took away that choice as a parent for me. There is a good Facebook group ‘us for them’. That was great reassurance. As I felt like I was one of very very few parents who felt so strongly about it. The trouble is schools are trying to balance everyone’s needs and wants. They are between a rock and a hard place.