When will children stop being sent home...

[ThornAmongstRoses]

I’m doing an extra work shift this afternoon to cover a shift for my friend (which I don’t mind doing ) because of what her children’s school did yesterday...

The school phoned her at work to say her son (12 years old) had a slight headache and so he must be collected and would not be allowed back until she had a negative Covid test. Apart from a slight headache the boy was absolutely fine.

My sister argued that a headache isn’t even a Covid symptom but the school wouldn’t relent.

The school also said her other son must also go home (15 years old) purely because his younger brother had a headache and might have Covid. The oldest son was absolutely fine but the same rule was given to him regarding him needing a negative Covid test before he could come back to school.

As a result my friend had to leave work and pick up her two well children from school.

Both children had negative LFTs (which my friend thought was appropriate as the children weren’t symptomatic) but the school said the tests had to be the PCR ones.

So she then had to put them through that, whilst taking time off work herself, and they are currently awaiting the results. All three of them are perfectly well.

Surely one child having a slight headache but being otherwise well doesn’t warrant all this disruption?

When will this end?

Imagine if you had to be pinned down for a test yourself. It’s horrible that we’re putting our children through this.

I'd be livid at my child for reporting a mild headache, rightly or wrongly I'd be making it clear that my job was at threat if they did this again and I'd not let them.on the Xbox for a day or two!!!

School is crazy but what can your dsis do. It's stupid and going to continue to be stupid. I don't think there is an end in sight.

@ZenNudist

I'd be livid at my child for reporting a mild headache, rightly or wrongly I'd be making it clear that my job was at threat if they did this again and I'd not let them.on the Xbox for a day or two!!!

School is crazy but what can your dsis do. It's stupid and going to continue to be stupid. I don't think there is an end in sight.

So your child has to shut up about feeling unwell or be punished? That doesn't sound great.

I'd be livid at my child for reporting a mild headache, rightly or wrongly I'd be making it clear that my job was at threat if they did this again and I'd not let them.on the Xbox for a day or two!!!

He hardly ‘reported it’ did he. It’s not like he sought someone out to seek assistance and demand to see the school nurse etc.

His teacher asked why he was working slowly and he said he had a slight headache.

I doubt for one minute he thought that answer would warrant him and his brother being removed from school.

Our local high school was closed this week except for year 11 and key workers because of an outbreak
They can’t win can they?

They can’t win can they?

Perhaps not......but making up their own rules probably isn’t the answer.

If it is the belief that children display different symptoms than adults then that needs to be formally recognised in new guidance in terms of when schools can request a test as that way children and parents know where they stand.

Sending children home when they aren’t even displaying symptoms and saying they can’t come come back without a negative PCR just doesn’t seem right to me.

At my kids school Someone in the reception class last week had a temperature so not only did they send them home to have a test but they shut down the entire reception bubble AND the nursery bubble because the nursery class had been into the reception classroom 😩

Then told the parents that all the kids from those classes had to isolate at home for 10 days! For a kid with a temperature.

Thankfully the results came back 2 days later and all sense could be restored 🙄

Schools are being a bit ott

Your friend may not like confrontation, but could you contact the school given it affects you? The school cannot disclose information about an individual child but could advise of their policy. If a whole class has been sent home it does not identify your friend.

I think it's difficult for school atm. Since a lot of children can be asymptomatic, you can't just ignore the sign of slight illness. It's either let the child get tested and have a negative results, or end up him spreading and potentially causing more children and parents to suffer the consequences.

We aren't even allowed to ask our parents to prove they have had a negative result, let alone insist that other family members have the test! All we can do is send home children who have either a new persistent cough, a temp or the loss of taste/ smell.

I had one child yesterday who suddenly said he was cold and was actually shaking - his temp was 39.1 so home he went. We did send his siblings home too but that was because mum wouldn't have been able to come and collect them once she had started the isolation period with the poorly child. I'm not sure they could use the same reason for teenagers though, as they can go home independently?

I'm just praying he tests negative or I'll be isolating for the whole half term too.

"Schools are being a bit ott."

Hmm. I wonder why that might be.

I had one child yesterday who suddenly said he was cold and was actually shaking - his temp was 39.1 so home he went. We did send his siblings home too but that was because mum wouldn't have been able to come and collect them once she had started the isolation period with the poorly child. I'm not sure they could use the same reason for teenagers though, as they can go home independently?

In this case though it would need to be done anyway. As the child had covid symptoms the household needs to isolate until a negative test is received for the symptomatic household member. In OP's case the dc doesn't have any covid symptoms which is why it's ridiculous

My friend’s six year old has had to shield four times with his school bubble.

He has had to have in excess of twenty tests all of which came back negative.

He has had his ECHP referal cancelled and has developed a virtual phobia of strangers and being outside.

I’ve lost my job, so have countless others in my immediate circle. A friend and a cousin have had to put their homes on the market because they simply could not keep up with the mortgage payments after losing their jobs. Our high street has been decimated, both independent and chain businesses - restaurants, shops, soft plays, grocers, butchers most gone.

Another friend has had her autistic teenage son referred to social services because his behaviour is so out of control after his entire routine has collapsed and they’re thinking residential care is the only way to ensure him structure.

I can’t count the amount of relationships that have broken up, or the amount of relatives who died alone (not through covid) and we just cannot carry on like this.

My grandfather died of dementia during lock down. We were allowed fifteen minutes with him having not been allowed to see him for over six months. He had moved care homes twice and we hadn’t been allowed to see them, he was dishevelled, frightened and alone.

Covid has been truly awful but I think we’re at a point now where we have to take a step back and start to assess the affect the restrictions are having on the wider community.

How much longer can this go on?

also you are allowed to ask for a negative test result you just aren't allowed to force one. We've not had a single parent refuse to show us yet. Why would they if they had taken one. I'm shocked people are still so unaware of the rules in positions where you need to know them

The school my children go to don’t require proof of a negative test before allowing the children back. They just take the parent’s word for it.

The thing is, schools can't win.

Schools are - obviously - Covd-unsafe environments, due to the number of people who gather together in close quarters inside for long periods without social distancing. That risk is regarded as worth it because of the counter-benefit to children's education and general wellbeing.

Very few members of the school community are fully vaccinated - in fact, with the average age of school teachers being 33, there will be schools where only a tiny minority of people have even had the first vaccine.

The mitigations that there are - hand washing / sanitising, grouping of children into smaller groups such as class or year group, increased ventilation, use of LFTs to pick up a tiny proportion of asymptomatic positives - are better than nothing, but are of limited utility once Covid infection gets going within a school.

By far the most effective mitigation is isolation of close contacts of suspected and actual positive cases. It's not perfect, but rapid removal of all contacts from the school environment does seem to keep down the probability of a small outbreak turning into a huge one.

Against this, headteachers have a legal Health and Safety duty - that over-rides all else- to risk assess their school and act to mitigate the risks to staff and students. Yes, there are Government guidelines to follow about e.g. who to send home BUT the Head's H&S duty over-rides that. In a school hard hit in the lst wave, in a high infection area, where history says that many children with 'atypical' symptoms have been positive and have been index cases for larger outbreaks, then the head's risk assessment is - rightly - informed by this experience.

24 hours away from school to be tested vs the risk of a much larger outbreak within the school meaning multiple 10 day absences?

Schools aren’t being ott.

They have to protect their staff and students. It’s a health and safety issue, and they could be liable if a kid mentioned a headache, which was the start of Covid, then stayed in school and spread it to others.

They’re damned if they do and dammed if they don’t. Better safe than sorry.