Unhappy about primary schools re opening

[Bitterglitter]

Is anyone else unhappy about primary schools being re opened as part of the lockdown easing measures?

I keep thinking about the kids who have underlying health conditions that aren't yet diagnosed.

My DS1 (5) was diagnosed with a benign heart murmur in feb this year. It was only picked up because he has a lot of follow up Paediatric appointments because he was premature. I don't even know if it's an issue as far as covid19 goes. But what about all the kids out there with undiagnosed asthma, diabetes etc?

Primary age kids can't and won't maintain social distance. And they will act as super spreaders too. Doesn't matter how well their parents maintain distance if all these kids are mixing it up in schools.

It just seems crazy when so many parents can continue working from home. Am I being hysterical?

Exactly @Dahlietta so a big risk for so little gain.

We are taking in vulnerable children already

No- only 5% of children classified as vulnerable are attending school- there was a report about it in the guardian.

These are figures from the DofE, not anecdotal.
www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/21/just-5-of-vulnerable-children-were-in-school-in-england-last-week

But if we reopen in September and nothing is different, we will have to lockdown again during termtime, so it is a gain over the alternative, surely?

I wonder - all these people who don’t want to send kids into schools. Fair enough, but that also means to not visit playgrounds, not visit friends etc (the risks from that is higher than from school as its not traceable). if you or your child has a health condition, it could be worth the sacrifice. If not, don’t you think they will be damaged more be this than by the low likelihood of serious consequence from corona virus?
Mine certainly won’t get close to their grandparents for a while (high risk), but they will go to school asap (low risk)

When I said ‘we’ I meant my school.

@LittleBearPad there's a flu vaccine, there isn't a Covid 19 vaccine, that's why it's different, and also why the NHS doesn't collapse every year

The flu vaccine is made on an assumption of which strain will be prevalent each year. It’s frequently not right.

The NHS has had a crisis every single winter for the past goodness how many years.

Some teachers are grandparents @Yurona

banjaxxed
There is no evidence at all that children are superspreaders. They are with flu, but not with this.

There is little evidence either way, stating as a fact that they are not superspreaders with covid is also not supported by evidence.

Well as long as your school is doing it then fine, eh?
The school I’m chair of governors at identified 36 children as being extremely vulnerable, and were offered a place. 2 of them took the place up, and have now stopped attending. Teachers are trying their best to engage with the parents but the parents are not engaging in return.

It’s not a ‘big’ risk! A risk, yes, but big risk? No.

@Greenpop21 yes which is why France is a week Monday and we will be later

We were not weeks behind though there were no many weeks it was 9 weeks from when it kicked off on January 20th to when we locked down so they cant be to far ahead.

But given that they are starting now and we are starting in June - the gap makes sense

My son has a primary immune deficiency I am terrified he’s been shielding on advice from his consultant since before the schools closed so I’m not sure of what we’ll need to do when the schools go back it’s very scary times

My understanding is that whilst we can offer vulnerable children places at school, we can't force them to attend.

Exactly @Dahlietta so a big risk for so little gain.

In your view, as a parent of nearly grown children.

In mine, my primary aged children would be better off seeing their friends in school.

My view as school staff, not parent.

@Harrysmum2020

If I was you i'd keep him at home even when the schools go back. There will be kids with significant health issues who would be at risk going back and I'm so sorry- that must be so worrying for you.

But that doesnt mean the rest of the kids shouldn't go back.

Interestingly, at our school (primary) the teachers are desperate to get back for at least a couple of weeks before the summer and think it will be hugely beneficial to the children to have that time.

Our school is private sector and dying to announce a reopening. We’ve had no correspondence from them yet, it’s probably a good indication of how realistic these claims of primary schools going back June 1st are.

@Greenpop21 being a grandparent isn’t a risk factore. Being over 70 is!

Have any statistics been drawn up regards the number of teaching staff who have become ill due to looking after key worker children? It stands to reason that these children are going to have more exposure to Covid19 than most given their parents occupation therefore more likely to be 'spreaders' if we are to believe the asympotmatic theory. If teachers have not been affected then I can't see how the argument stands up that they will be at an increased risk when all children return.

We are all working either at school or at home but we simply don’t have the staff numbers available or the space to socially distance. We are keen to get back to normal but not at the expense of health.

Regina the schools can’t communicate anything until they know for sure when they are expected to return. No one knows that yet, not even head teachers.
Our school has a full plan in place for a return before the summer holidays. Obviously this may not happen, but the plan is there. It won’t be communicated to parents until we have official guidance from the government.

Being 60 is a higher risk than being 30 @Yurona. Also, teachers have asthma, diabetes etc etc

The media began acting fairly responsibly at the start but now they just want to get us to click their stories and to hell with the facts. I’ll listen to the briefings and follow the official advice. Until there’s an announcement, it’s just guessing. I’d expect the government to be weighing up a variety of back to school dates.

I’m in a hospital and we are making plans for stage 2 in which all services resume however each specialty must have a plan for patients with Covid 19 as spread within a hospital setting could be absolutely deadly - for patients and staff. We are looking at a way forward where covid becomes a new normal. I think schools will need to do similar but what that looks like who knows. People struggle with the 48 hrs off school for noro so I’m not sure 2 weeks off for a family member with covid would be adhered to by those parents who send little Johnny in because he’s not been sick for 3 hours despite being contagious.

@LittleBearPad yes there's a flu crisis every winter but not like this, with no vaccine and spread across the world. If no countries had had lockdown do you think this would just have been like a normal winter but in March and April?? My mind is blown.