Denied Education for wearing a face mask

[Sumh]

I’m on the NHS extremely vulnerable shielding category. My 12 year old daughter is attending state secondary school. She is being denied to enter her classroom because she chooses to wear a plain cloth face mask. She has been left outside the class on her own with little provided worksheets to work on her own but no directed teaching.

The DfE ‘guidance’ on face coverings in education August 26 to schools highlights it’s just a ‘guidance’ and not mandatory, that it is not necessary/recommended/ to wear face mask because it may hinder communication by wearing face masks in education,

“ On the basis of current evidence, in light of the mitigating measures education settings are taking, and the negative impact on communication, face coverings will not generally be necessary in the classroom even where social distancing is not possible. There is greater use of the system of controls for minimising risk, including through keeping in small and consistent groups or bubbles, and greater scope for physical distancing by staff within classrooms. Face coverings can have a negative impact on learning and teaching and so their use in the classroom should be avoided.”

but then fines of not wearing face masks in other settings are doubling, retail business staff now have to wear face masks, a legislation is in place enforcing wearing of face mask above the age of 11 in certain settings and plus the booth were cabinet ministers stand and give press briefing has 3 pictures, one is a face mask. All of this is an implied message to the public of how important it is to wear a face mask.

With all this message including WHOs recommendation that all 12 years plus should wear face mask, is it right that a U.K. state school should be denying a child from her right to education on a not mandatory guidance for simply taking extra precaution?

Both myself and my daughter do not go out without wearing a face mask which we have been doing so since March 2020 and she herself strongly agrees to wear one in school at all times for my safety. Having spoken to the senior managers and informing them of my NHS letter of previously shielding the school are still refusing, replying to me “it could open a floodgate!” but are they not digging a hole for them by denying a child education!

This guidance states for example when if it is mandatory to wear a face mask in school like corridors and communal areas but a child refuses to wear a face mask, then no one should be excluded from education for not wearing a face mask.

My child wants to wear one for hers and my safety without affecting anyone else’s liberty and yet she is being excluded from education.

Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Masks protect the wearer as well:

www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-covid-19-study-face-masks-and-coverings-work-act-now#

It seems that I brought out many people’s fear of potentially being told to wear mask, I didn’t realise that is the case. I don’t wish you to be forced to wear one.

There is still some benefit to you when wearing a mask, even if other people aren’t.

They’re allowed to wear them in class in my dds’ school although not many do, the teachers wear them when moving around the class.

Any Head banning masks in classrooms is on very dodgy ground.

Have you called the school and spoken to someone senior?

Our school isn’t enforcing masks but allowing those who choose to wear one to.

I agree with you, masks must protect the wearer to some degree, a family member is a virologist and also agrees.

Yes the deputy head and head of year and still waiting to speak with the headteacher though I’m told it’s the heads decision too!! also still waiting for a official letter/email but none received yet.

It looks like many schools in England allow face masks in classrooms as personal choice. Clearly they are breaking the DfE guidance for using their common sense.

The school where I am governor respects individual choice in this situation. Different pupils have different home situations and health vulnerabilities for themselves and families.

It's no different to when pupils are excluded to other rooms for incorrect uniform. If as a parent you disagree with the uniform you can raise with school or remove child to another school. The school aren't preventing her from having an education, as you could remove her and place her at another school.

As a parent you don't have the right to your particular school, just a preference.

@Mischance

I cannot understand why the school is making an issue of this and not simply respecting her choice. What does the school gain by taking this stand?

This is what I don’t get but OP I also get the impression that you think masks do more good than they actually seem to do

@BreathlessCommotion

Hmmm not sure I agree.

Our kids aren’t allowed to carry bags around school, however, those with severe allergies are to carry their EPI pens around.

Hats are not allowed in our school, however a child has a severe ‘physical difference’ So is allowed to wear a hat inside.

You get my gist...

For the love of Gawd, will people PLEASE stop repeating this myth that "masks do not protect the wearer"? They DO protect the wearer--the evidence is pretty clear on this.

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-020-06067-8?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health
www.npr.org/2020/07/20/893227088/growing-body-of-evidence-suggests-masks-protect-those-wearing-them-too

The endless repetition of this myth in countries where mask refusal is common is beginning to annoy me so much that I am tempted to go away and start another thread on it.

Whether they work or not it’s surely for another thread.

By school following a guidance which is full of words like ‘may’ ‘not necessary’ ‘it’s an advise not mandatory’ are they not breaking any other law by denying education, like the education act 1996, section 9?

She’s still in school though so I don’t think you’ll be able to argue she’s being denied an education.

Frankly it seems an odd battle for the school to pick. Speaking to the head is probably the best option.

School sounds crap. Students at my dc's school can wear them if they wish.

Hi, she is unsupervised throughout the day and no one is providing one to one teaching.

I don’t think the school should be spending any penny extra but allow her to listen and see the teaching in her classroom.

I think wearing of masks in the classroom should be the choice of the individual, and the school is wrong to take sanctions in this case.

Quite a few students in my oldest's secondary choose to wear masks throughout the day (changing several times during the day). COVID isn't the only illness in circulation. If she has a sore throat and sniffles, can she wear a mask then? Or just sneeze over her classmates and hope for the best?

At DS’s school they have to wear masks in class, as well as in the corridors etc. I haven’t come across any other schools where mask wearing is mandatory in class.

Our school is encouraging children to wear face masks.

At my DCs secondary school in England they have to wear masks all day except when outside the building. The school have even produced school masks printed with the school logo and given some to each pupil.

so whilst it seems some schools in England I hope, do allow face masks in classrooms, then my daughters school is forcing others to accept their personal choice/belief on face masks and denying education.

I wonder would any school sack their teacher for wearing a face mask in classrooms!

I think OP has needlessly been ranted at in this thread, if I'm honest.
I also think the rules and regulations around what's safe and what's not safe are getting more and more bizarre by the day.

So, the kids have to wear masks for the bus journey to school, if they want to nip into the shop on the way home, if they go into a cafe to pick up a sandwich for their dinner - but not in a room of up to 29 other children, sitting close together for a long period of time.

Now, it's up to each school whether they enforce masks in school or not. Fine. But to deny a child something that we are constantly being told is a safety precaution seems cruel - particularly when she's wearing it to keep her mum safe.

Whether masks do or don't work, or do or don't protect the user, is largely irrelevant in this case I think (although of course the girl is hoping to protect her mother). The fact is that wearing one would make her FEEL safe and FEEL as though her mother was safe, and that she was doing everything in her power to keep her safe.

Much of mask wear is about the psychological side of things, and I think that for a school to take that away from any pupils who wishes to wear a mask is disgusting, when we're in such worrying times.

For those who said classes were harder to discipline with kids wearing masks - really? A good teacher has the respect of their class no matter what they're wearing, and any trouble makers should be dealt with, just like in a normal situation.

Thankyou! My 12 year old would cry and is adamant she will not take her face mask off as she does not want to think that she could be the reason to lose her parent!

@Sumh

Thankyou! My 12 year old would cry and is adamant she will not take her face mask off as she does not want to think that she could be the reason to lose her parent!

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the school mask issue and I think they are wrong you really shouldn’t be letting her think that way. That’s really awful for a child to think that they’d be responsible.

I think whether or not the child is protected by the face mask is a moot point. I'm a teacher and I can't see any reason why she shouldn't be allowed to wear a mask in class. Why should it cause any disruption that one child is wearing a mask? I genuinely think it's shocking that the school is behaving like this. The guidance for schools specifies that PPE is not necessary but doesn't say it should be banned from use. Most reasonable schools, including my own, are allowing face masks for those who choose to use it.

DD is allowed to wear a mask whenever she wants in school, other DC aren't allowed to at all. Same LEA. I hate illogical rules based on controlling rather than protecting. Your DD should be allowed to protect herself and others with a mask, obviously. Plenty of other countries are making masks mandatory for the entire school day to protect all children and staff.

Agree that if a pupil wants to wear a mask during a global pandemic in a poorly ventilated classroom with no social distancing then the school should allow this.

I hope you get a sensible answer from the head. Perhaps ask him to take personal responsibility for the decision in writing.