Delaying sending DC back to school due to covid - thoughts?

[bubblesaway]

Just that really. Thinking of not sending DC (4) back to school this week and waiting until we know more about the data re Omicron post Christmas. Not sure if I can legally do it but as she's under 5 and only in reception thinking it may be okay but also not sure if I should. Wondering if any other people thinking of doing the same.?

[quote bubblesaway]@ShinyHappyPoster - thanks - I think our HT is similar - but as they haven't emailed this time it just feels like we're being left to make the decision ourselves. It was such a relief when they finished school two days early before Christmas last year.

It feels like we're playing Russian roulette. We've been so careful up until now and I am slightly resentful that the government are leaving us to flounder like this.[/quote]
Look at the end of the day it’s your decision, as with most of parenting. I’m not really sure what alternative you are expecting the government to offer? Closing the schools for everyone? I think you can tell from this thread that you are in the minority in terms of keeping/thinking of keeping your child off. That of course doesn’t make you wrong.

@ShinyHappyPoster

There are a lot of Boris supporters on MN currently (which is odd in itself because its not really MN's demographic to worship a man who doesn't even know how many DCs he has; cheated on his cancer-stricken wife; fails to attend important meetings and is completely incompetent). Anyway, keep your DC home if you're worried. They won't miss much. They don't need to be in school. Our HT is very scathing of the government approach. Because of health issues we have in our family we've had to keep our DC home quite often and the HT and all the SMT have been very supportive. They are at the end of their tether with the government approach to schools and with the parents who are determined to send their DCs in regardless of having Covid at home, etc.

Wanting our children in school means we're Boris supporters? OK.

Keeping dc off school is even worse for some groups so not sure why the left are seen to be pro closure, they shouldn’t be anyway

My main concern is the lack of continuity given the government approach of merging classes etc. My eldest daughter has asd and my youngest also finds change difficult to deal with. We chose a small village school for her so she wouldn't be overwhelmed. Last term her teacher and both TA's had covid so the class was taught by a different teacher which she struggled with. The lack of government action and interest in primary schools re. covid is frankly galling.

OP Do what your gut tells you feels right. It is 3 days, your child is only 4, yes there's significant learning at this key stage, but absolutely not something you cannot deliver at home with the right approach.

I am pretty appalled at some of the responses you've had here, and that i have read in past days on other threads, the blind conviction of some statements with no backed up substance and the huge judgement is indicative of the whole divisive, "I am alright jack attitude so many sadly appear to have adopted during the past two years with no thought for those who have other factors to consider or God forbid, simply hold a differing view.
We will be keeping our child at home and duplicating work in the coming days, for quite different reasons to you, but to us valid and well considered. I hope you and your child are okay OP.

The truth is that your dd is going to catch COVID at some point. Possibly repeatedly over the next few years. So no, I'd not take her out of school to delay the inevitable.

@DoubleShotEspresso

OP Do what your gut tells you feels right. It is 3 days, your child is only 4, yes there's significant learning at this key stage, but absolutely not something you cannot deliver at home with the right approach.

I am pretty appalled at some of the responses you've had here, and that i have read in past days on other threads, the blind conviction of some statements with no backed up substance and the huge judgement is indicative of the whole divisive, "I am alright jack attitude so many sadly appear to have adopted during the past two years with no thought for those who have other factors to consider or God forbid, simply hold a differing view.
We will be keeping our child at home and duplicating work in the coming days, for quite different reasons to you, but to us valid and well considered. I hope you and your child are okay OP.

I’m appalled by the dismissive attitude of a school and it’s social and academic benefits. Covid is here forever so perhaps hibernate from life and homeschool your children, don’t expect the schools to accommodate your come in whenever we want to attitudes.

I'd say it's the government's approach that dismisses the importance of schools. Whilst there may be a risk of catching covid, the government's approach, especially to primary is to try and make the risk as high as possible. It's thankfully mild for many, but for thousands of kids, it hasn't been. We have normalised an extreme approach here.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers
I’m appalled by the dismissive attitude of a school and it’s social and academic benefits. Covid is here forever so perhaps hibernate from life and homeschool your children, don’t expect the schools to accommodate your come in whenever we want to attitudes.

I am equally appalled but that's what we appear to gain from a largely Eton educated government who possess no understanding of our own education system.

An while we are here i's not a case of come in whenever you want. It's a case of attend when the EHCP specified "consistent" 1:1 support is available to assist our child moving around the building safely and yes learning. School confirmed today that said 1:1 IS UNAVAILABLE and no alternative known to our child is available. Combine this with combined classes (we are told likely) a change of classroom and double the numbers, with interchangeable teachers throughout the day (reduced hours since before Christmas due to shortages) this creates not a learning environmnent for our child but a series of obstacles and hindrances all detrimental to the learning DC could complete here at home calmly and happily, with a jointly agreed "buddy video call".
Is it ideal? Hell no
Do I accept it's the kindest and best solution for our child? Hell yes
Is it for you or other supercilious posters to judge me or my family decisions? IS IT FUCK
Further to the above I have two elderly parents both in their 70's, one currently in hospital, the other who require my support is due at another hospital 30 miles from my other parent, this Thursday, likely to be admitted. This leaves me with the joyous task of providing negative LFT results to not one but two separate hospitals for a period exceeding three weeks. And because Covid is here forever I am if you don't mind doing my damndest to avoid it in order continuing to support a child with complex disabilities, alongside two ailing parents as i have been doing way before Covid was a thing or folks like you really began to understand the true meaning of inconvenience or personal responsibility to others.

I did not choose to hibernate from life and homeschool- as clearly unlike your family we were not afforded that privilege. Our child was until last September denied access to education. FYI A long battle to obtain a school place following wilful incompetence from the previous setting (LA and Governor complaint fully upheld -OFTSTED pending, 'cos yeah I trained myself as a SEND lawyer in addition to Speech therapist, SEN teacher and all-round firefighter while you were prancing about to Joe Wicks and posting banana bread to Insta)FYFI DC who was non verbal prior to lockdown now argues back and writes their own stories and against all previous school statements reached or in some cases exceeded their key stage milestones. Yet were afforded no access to school as there was no option to "come in whenever we felt like it".
SCHOOL HAPPENED HERE BECAUSE IF IT DIDN'T IT NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED AT ALL.
School made no effort to accomodate DC or my attitudes (incredibly same as yours, I just wanted them in school like you think your kids are entitled to). Are you getting it yet?
School is a concept not always a building, some of us rose to the challenge some of us didn't and just coped. The difference in my attitude is that I choose not to judge anybody or their attitude towards education, as i do not expect their child to mirror mine.

I will stop hibernating from life (because yes as a FTC I accepted long ago that all the rights and entitlements you clearly demand and expect daily are something I am exempt from) when my child can safely and calmly access school fully supported and both my parents are no longer in the CEV category you deny any consideration.

What I am not exempt from is the right to an opinion- just as you are free to expect your whole existence to continue without giving a second thought for anybody else who may not share the same good fortune as yourself.

[quote Covidworries]@silverswirl
Why would her child have to be made anxious here? Surely the child would not a. be aware what day she was going back or b. Be involved in adults decisions that parents make for their child.
Do you make your child anxious about seatbelts?

1. Well if in 3 weeks cases are even higher it is likely boris will have been forced to uturn or otherwise school is the least of our worries.
2. Not everyone is garenteed to get it. And if we do get it i would like to know ive at least tried to avoid it. Hopefully if or when we get it hospitals will be more likely to be able to treat one of us if the need arrises than what is looking currently likely in next few weeks.

And the increase in children being hospitalised due to covid that is being seen in data, i am also seeing im personal contacts[/quote]
You think that a child wouldn’t notice when all their friends and class mates have been in school and they haven’t? When they go back and the rest of the class has been in? A 4 year old would notice as everyone else will have covered topics / done things for display that they hadnt been involved in at school.
If for only a few days maybe not but weeks, yes they would notice.
A parents anxiety gets VERY easily transferred to a child. Believe me I know first hand from my own mother. Even if it’s subconsciously. It has a life long impact in many ways.
Not sending your child to school for a virus like this which has such a tiny risk for children is over the top anxiety. It just is and that will transfer to the child via many words / actions of that parent.
The effects of this is going to be shown in the next generation long long after covid is no longer a problem.

@Covidworries also I’m sorry but you are totally deluded. You will get covid many times. As will pretty much every man woman and child over the course of the next couple of years.

“Coming and going to school whenever you like”

Keeping a child out of school is never a easy decision made by parents . We are in the middle of a pandemic! A lot of children will be in and out of school isolating jan /feb coming and going as you say . It’s NOT just a mild cold for some .

Over 1 million cases in America today and over a third of parents kept their children back from school. We're at over 200,000 today without schools being open. Boris says we 'have a chance' of getting through this without shutting down - a chance.

@Sallydimebar

“Coming and going to school whenever you like”

Keeping a child out of school is never a easy decision made by parents . We are in the middle of a pandemic! A lot of children will be in and out of school isolating jan /feb coming and going as you say . It’s NOT just a mild cold for some .

Keeping a child out of school is never easy for parents no- more often the decision is not theirs as corrupt and ill qualified schools management teams abuse the practice of illegal off-rolling, whilst still retaining the full funding, usually hard fought for by the parents. So many here really need to educate themselves and remove the rose tinted glasses that applies to their own children, but not others sadly.

There is no way I'd ever do this. Children have missed out enough as it is and they need to be exposed to bugs and germs. This bizarre culture we now live in of keeping children away from germs is causing a lot of damage and children aren't building up their immune systems as they should be.

200,000 cases but - more crucially - only 43(?) deaths. It doesn't matter how many people get it as long as the deaths and hospitalisations stay under control

@summertimerolls

200,000 cases but - more crucially - only 43(?) deaths. It doesn't matter how many people get it as long as the deaths and hospitalisations stay under control

The hospitalisations are rising, but so far the deaths are not climbing.

As we are seeing though - it is young people who have had it so far, so we don't know yet. Infections in older people are rising now, helped by all that lovely Christmas mixing.

Of course hospitalisations would be lower if all adults got vaccinated ... wasn't it 4 out of 5 patients in hospital are unvaccinated?

How about we don't disrupt children's education any more and we focus on getting people vaccinated .... just a thought.

OP, it is entirely up to you what you choose to do.
As for the case numbers though, that is all a lot of them are. Numbers. There are so many people who have tested positive and are without a single symptom.
So while the numbers may seem large, it doesn't mean its all bad. The hospitalizations have dropped dramatically and that was the whole reason for school closures to begin with included in lockdown - to prevent the hospitals from being overwhelmed by increases in hospital admissions.

DoubleShotEspresso happy you got that off your chest- the OP in question hasn’t mentioned a SEN child- she has a child who could be in school with her peers. As for home schooling last time vs time: compulsory vs optional is that we know more about Covid, we know more about how to treat Covid, vaccine rollout a success, vaccines holding up against the virus on the whole. The main issue is isolation not sickness fucking up the school staffing. Covid isn’t going anywhere I don’t see why the teachers should go back and forth catching up children of unreasonably anxious parents. That isn’t to say the government haven’t let down schools and also the nhs in their inability to implement further safety measures/ ventilation etc.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers "unreasonably anxious parents" okay then 🙄
You do you but know to others here comments like yours are nit just unhelpful they're totally vile. But hey you're alright fuck the rest of us huh?

@Potatodrivers

OP, it is entirely up to you what you choose to do. As for the case numbers though, that is all a lot of them are. Numbers. There are so many people who have tested positive and are without a single symptom. So while the numbers may seem large, it doesn't mean its all bad. The hospitalizations have dropped dramatically and that was the whole reason for school closures to begin with included in lockdown - to prevent the hospitals from being overwhelmed by increases in hospital admissions.

Where I am (Ireland) the numbers in hospital with Covid and in ICU with Covid are up on the figures for this time last year. There was a lockdown then - we were told to protect our health service, the HSE - but there isn't one now when the numbers are higher. (Though the % being hospitalised is down, the higher transmission rates are causing overall higher numbers of hospitalisations.) So it is confusing I think. The strategy seems to have changed, at least in Ireland, but this isn't being talked about.

I'm not sure how this compares to the UK, I haven't looked at numbers there. Just a reminder to be careful when people say hospitalisations are down. The rate of hospitalisation can be down, while actual numbers are still high, and I've found that isn't always made clear in news reports.

[quote DoubleShotEspresso]@OnlyFoolsnMothers "unreasonably anxious parents" okay then 🙄
You do you but know to others here comments like yours are nit just unhelpful they're totally vile. But hey you're alright fuck the rest of us huh? [/quote]
Who said that?! How am I alright and everyone else ok? Unless a child is vulnerable they should be in school, what’s alright for me about that?

OP ,I was high risk in the first wave and home schooled my child for one year .Its the best decision I ever made .More or less covid will be endemic by next year .You can decide then to send them back to school .You just have to fill a form with the council .I would say just do it at the moment

@summertimerolls

Can we just engage brain here cases today approx 220k only 43 deaths
But people dont die on the date they test positive this can take 2 to 4 weeks or can be months. During this time they need medical care which means the doctors and nurses are unable to give care to others.

Now lets see 3 weeks ago there was approx 53k cases. Even looking at 4times the deaths from todays figures we are looking at approx 200 deaths in 3 weeks time that we can do nothing about.
We have lost control of counting cases because we cant provide test for all that need them and numbers are likely to continue rising

But also looking at deaths you really need to look at a 7 day average because you know people arent convenient to die at exactly the same stage as each other. For example on the 30th december less than a week ago we had 332 deaths
The 7 day average is approx 127 daily deaths.

But even more important that deaths are hospitalisation and they are rising alot. With many hospitals in crisis. Witty said today that omicon is not mild with most covid hosptalisations a direct result of covid with possible between 10 to20% as a result of incidental findings and in hospital infections.