Schools reopening - Right to decide as a parent

[DocMia]

Boris Johnson : Parents should have the right whether to send their children back to school in September. - Sign the Petition! chng.it/N76dqb4y via @UKChange

we already have that right. we have the obligation to educate our children, that can be via sending them to school, or otherwise. anyone who isn't happy to send their child to school can deregister them and home educate. if lots of people choose this then all schools will be undersubscribed and there will be plenty of places available when you decide to restart school.

this is a silly petition as it doesn't even mention the implicit point - because the right it is asking for already exists, obviously what the petitioner wants is the right to hold on to a school place indefinitely with no intention of using it, but as this isn't stated in the petition wording, the whole thing is pointless.

I think people don't want to deregister because they still want the school to be responsible for their DC education, like before. Ie providing home learning. But how on earth can schools be expected to provide that on top of full time teaching? Yes, if there are teachers having to work from home maybe they could, but I am not convinced as many fall into this category as MN would have you believe! If parents don't want to send their DC to school then realistically they will have to deregister and take responsibility for their DC education.

Home school is your answer OP. I absolutely respect your right to not send your child/children to school in September, but seriously, how am I supposed to teach them?

De register your child then. DC are on the waiting list for a place at our village school so I hope someone in their year groups will be doing this...

I believe Oak Academy are still going to be running though, so feel free to use that and deregister your child 👍

You do have the right to decide - you homeschool.

Teachers can’t be working full time in the classroom and be expected to still teach distance learning. That’s your job. If you can’t be bothered then your child goes to school. It’s not hard to work out.

I agree with PPs. If you dont want to send your child to school thats completely your choice and your right. You legally have the option to not send your kid to school. However, if you do so, then you must take responsibility for their education. Schools shouldn't have to take responsibility for educating a student who doesnt comes to school. It's not logistically practical. So not sending a kid to school is fine, but then parents have to take full responsibility for their childs home education.

@GinWithRosie

I believe Oak Academy are still going to be running though, so feel free to use that and deregister your child 👍

Exactly what I was going to write!

They are giving parents the freedom with much more support than previously available to provide education as they like.

Ok, it's not an ideal situation - a pandemic never is!

But you aren't being left high and dry with no choice.

Schools are open and if you don't want to use them then you can use bbc bite size, oak academy and all the other available stuff and do it yourself.

PrivateDOOr - it's kind of irrelevant how many teachers are vulnerable, extremely vulnerable, pregnant or living with people extremely vulnerable because we all have to be back in the classroom in September anyway. No-one will be wfh.

You already have the right to homeschool? Why do you need a petition for this?

If you don't want to send your child to school, de register them and home educate. Don't force teachers and other pupils to put up with the disruption of not knowing if/when your DC will be coming back and then use up the teacher's time and attention catching them up on missed teaching just because you chose not to send your child in.

What others have said. You can de register and home school. What you can't do is expect to keep the school place and teachers to provide work for home learning as well as for the pupils in school.

It's also important to remember that expected attendance at school makes it easier for us to be aware of and keep tabs on those children we have safeguarding concerns about. By continuing to keep school optional, there would be many children who are never seen and there could be awful consequences for them.

I'm wondering if posters think that all extremely clinically vulnerable students should just deregister and give up their school place stat or whether the govt should be persuaded to make allowances for them rather than force them back to school?

I know that our students with cancer diagnoses and heart conditions will be facing this exact dilemma (or their parents will) and I absolutely don't mind spending extra time catching them up where possible (as, obviously, we do I'm normal times).

I am so pleased there is another school thread. I was really starting to feel like there wasn't enough.

Like others have said....de register and home school. Exceptions should be made for vulnerable children.

I dont think any teacher would refuse to send work home for kids who are extremely vulnerable due to illnesses. We were doing that pre covid anyway. I would usually have maybe 2 or 3 students that I was working with in a distanced capacity (sending work home, making, communicating through email with parents. I teach GCSE english). The issue is parents who are simply nervous or dont agree with the schools returning and their kids have no medical reason not to return. We cant do online or distanced learning if there is a large number of students like this.

Agree with pp. We already have choice. We can send them or deregister. It's not fair on school or teachers if we choose to keep them home but expect them to teach them or provide resources. But I also agree there should be an exception for extremely clinically vulnerable students as pp says.
My dc is more vulnerable than other children due to his chronic illness, so I am facing this decision. But if I decided to keep him home, I would have to home school him myself.

I dont believe it should be fines.
Wales isnt going to fine.
There really is no need for it. In fact it makes the gov look much worse than many countries they critisize.
I bet no other country is fining CV or ECV children and families.
Most of the world is going back with masks or going online.
Uk gov are completely out of step as usual. Not to worry though like this i put money on all being shut by oct.

Can't think of another country in the world right now which is threatening children with fines and deregistering. Welcome to 2020 England. What an embarrassment.

Yes, if there are teachers having to work from home maybe they could, but I am not convinced as many fall into this category as MN would have you believe

No teachers will be working from home in September.

I wouldn’t expect the school to provide materials or help. I’m very willing to use online resources and books, and to keep in step with the curriculum. I’d just like flexibility in the actual attendance, perhaps based on local stats.

It just seems extraordinary that it’s either full attendance or complete deregistration. There is something in between everywhere else, why does the government make England have to be so severe? Surely children at risk would be in even more danger if their parents just deregister them?

Is this your own petition OP or have you just stumbled across it and decided to share without thinking it through? It's one of the odder ones, I will give you that. As PP's, children don't have to be in school, they just have to be educated.

I don't want your child's results dragging my data down if you're going to be in and out of school as you see fit, I'm afraid. Data driven performance management and all that.

Deregister and home ed. This petition does nothing to further safety in schools for the majority of children this September.

I am so pleased there is another school thread. I was really starting to feel like there wasn't enough.

👏👏

I think the difficulty is, if the government say you have a choice about schooling and fines are optional, they are implying it is not safe which they don’t want to do and they will also be forced to offer teaching for those children which the don’t want to do.

I expect schools will close and the gov will have to backtrack on many things.