Does the school's Covid policy makes sense?

[PedroPonyismyspiritanimal]

DH and I have both caught Covid. DD7 has no symptoms but is also terrified of testing so we haven't been able to test her. I told school that she will have to be off until we complete isolation next week, and they've said that it's an unauthorised absence as she hasn't tested positive herself and has no symptoms. To me, this seems like a crazy policy, for one, we are both isolating so there is no one to take her to school, and even if we had tested her, a negative lateral flow isn't 100% reliable, and she could get infected from us in the time it would take a negative PCR to come through. I don't feel like we could take the risk to her classmates, teachers and their families. Am i being overly cautious? Would love to hear other people's experiences.

We have the opposite problem. Our DC's primary school is asking kids to stay home if someone in the household tests positive, which can cause a childcare issue as no workplace will happily allow someone to have 10 days off with a child that doesn't have covid at the moment as the official guidelines say they should go to school. My friend has a teen who tested positive but is asymptomatic. Teen can stay home alone but can't really look after 6 year old sibling who isn't allowed into school, so mum is having to take time off work.

Say she has a cold?

As others have said it’s not the schools policy it’s the government’s

@beentoldcomputersaysno

It's this sort of policy that has led us to 'it's inevitable all kids will get it soon'. It really needs to stop - Cumbria (I think) are dropping that rule. I expect more will follow. I would either be honest with the school (many schools are trying to keep open and protect their communities), or if yours is a school that favours things like big assemblies, perhaps say your daughter has symptoms.

Other than a few us4them types, is there anyone who really thinks this is a good policy? Surely it is perfectly normal to expect to be able to send kids into a relatively safe environment, and not one that actively courts risk and harm? That's not the same as expecting no risk or wanting lockdowns.

Some people have discussed feeling nervous about the unknowns of a vaccine, yet the unknowns of covid are freely accepted. Where is the scientific evidence that shows this policy is a good idea? Where is the consent form for herd immunity through mass natural infection of our kids?! Sorry bit of a rant.

Agree with this. I wryly reflected today that if a Prime Minister Corbyn had embarked on a policy of allowing mass infection of school children with a relatively new virus, the media would have been screaming blue murder. But such a policy under a Conservative PM elicits barely a peep from the mainstream media. And where people do object to the policy, they tend to blame the school rather than putting the blame where it really lies...with central government.

@LilyPond2 the media thing is probably true. Schools do have some leeway - e.g. some are holding assemblies, turning a blind eye to siblings being off, getting Hepa filters etc. Others are 'back to total normality, nothing to see here', refuse donations of Hepa filters, have full school assemblies.

All schools have been put in a horrid position though and teachers, pupils and their families have been put at unnecessary risk. I think most parents accept there is some risk, but I find the whole 'they're going to get it anyway, so let's try to remove every single chance of them not getting it' argument pretty poor - it's government and not school policy that has made it so.

Cumbria Public health seems to be very on the ball with this. We’ve had a lot of kids off and then their siblings go a few days later along with their peers.

Hopefully others will follow suit soon. It's an awful policy.

YANBU, it's a crazy policy although not of course the school's fault.

My DD wasn't allowed back to her nursery school even with a negative PCR until her cough was gone as they don't want non covid bugs spreading leading to isolations and testing etc - but her friend who was symptom free but whose father had covid was allowed in. Madness.

Isolation might be a government policy but are the school really forced to record it as unauthorised absence?

Ds’s college told me today that as long as he felt well enough because he had a negative LFT this morning he could go in even though one of his classmates tested positive yesterday and Ds himself has developed a hacking continuous cough.

He of course didn’t go in and is awaiting PCR results.