Paranoid about sending children to school!

[Bumblebee2930]

Dp is positive. So far the rest of us are negative but Dp is still early days into isolation and it can chance quickly from experience. Dp had a negative pcr one day and the next he had a strong positive on lft and then pcr confirmed. He caught it from a work mate.

So far the rest of us are negative on both pcr and lft.

So I can send kids to school but I have this sense of dread about it. Worried they will take it in and spread to their teachers and pears. Two members of staff in Dd's class had it about 3 weeks ago but I'm worried about ds's class. His ta is in her 60's - Ds has sen so had close contact with ta. I assume she's double or triple jabbed.

Worried about what other parents will think. The school has been fortunate enough to not have any cases amongst the kids - but a few members of staff have had it.

To top it off if my kids take it in then it's ruining a lot of people Christmas's

I'm just like well just because today's pcr is negative, doesn't mean they wouldn't be positive tomorrow or the next day!

To add, Dd already has a non covid cough she's had for 2-3 weeks.

It took test and trace 5 days to call and tell me mine was Omicron.

We have had some parents call and ask what we prefer, and in all honesty we would rather they stay at home but we have to record it as an unauthorised absence. We are struggling with staffing.

We've had around 20% of staff off now for months with either covid, waiting for a pcr or with children with covid. If we are lucky we get 1 supply teacher a day and the rest is absorbed by a staff that are on their knees. Staff should only expect 'rarely cover' which is 3 a year. Some of our SLT can do 3 a week, week in, week out. We double up classes if we can, with 6th form taking a beating as they are classes of 15ish, so we can fit 2 in a room. We've had a few movie 'reward' afternoons after having staff stood teaching getting a text that they are positive and having to leave the building immediately (as a close contact, not with symptoms!)

I thought last year was tough, but this is worse.

DD tested positive on a PCR on Saturday, the rest of us got PCRs which were negative and we have been sending DS to school (both primary so unvaccinated). We are doing LFTs every day and DP and DS are going for PCRs again today. DD almost certainly caught it from a classmate who was sent to school while waiting for a postal PCR result that took 5 days, negative LFTs every day but the PCR result of course finally came back positive. So I don't trust LFTs and I do recommend going to a test centre where the results come back quickly (usually within 24 hours where we are).

I'm a school secretary. In practical terms nothing happens if it's an unauthorised absence unless it's more than 10 sessions (5 days) at which point they can fine you. They might send you a letter if it makes their % attendance drop below the expected figure and will be brought up again if their attendance is low further down the line

We have had some parents call and ask what we prefer, and in all honesty we would rather they stay at home but we have to record it as an unauthorised absence.

I know this isn’t your fault but it highlights the insanity of the current position - ‘we’d rather you stayed off but it’s an unauthorised absence’ is a very mixed message!

I’ve recently had an absence warning letter from school - the only time my DS has had off school was when he was in isolation following a positive PCR! I know they have to send these letters but it looks utterly incoherent!

The current situation is indeed insanity. We can't record it as anything else if you tell us. The staying off part is to protect our staff and students as much as we can, just to reduce some spread.

We have a constant stream of cases in staff, students and their families and there is nothing we can do. It's depressing plus everytime we have a case now I have a some students absolutely not coping; we lost a few parents between January and July in addition to lots of students losing extended family, and mental health is now taking a plummet. Between it being their first Christmas without that family member and a constant "oh, Mrs Smith is off for a bit" us not helping them in the slightest. Even our school counsellor has been off with Covid and then covid complications.

We are just sick of it.

If the school want them in then send them in.

Do another PCR in a couple of days. That’s the best you can do.

Our school did similar - followed the guidance. Then funnily enough cases exploded so local public health told them to revert to only allowing them back with a negative PCR.