Mumsnet users share their thoughts on the return to school with INEOS

[LucyBMumsnet]

This sponsored discussion is now closed. Thank you to everyone who posted on the thread.

Up and down the country, parents are polishing school shoes and getting school bags ready in preparation for sending their children back to school. For many, the return to school this year is likely to result in mixed feelings: whether that’s relief that you no longer need to home educate or anxiety about what it might mean. With this in mind, INEOS want to hear more about your thoughts and feelings about sending your children back to school.

Here’s what INEOS have to say: “Going back to school in 2020 is going to be a bit different - with more emphasis on hygiene, social distancing and keeping safe. INEOS Hygienics Sanitiser contains 75% high purity hospital grade ethanol and kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria. It has given confidence to thousands of frontline medical staff and care providers, and now offers that same level of protection to you and your family, at home, travelling to and from school and beyond. INEOS would love to hear your thoughts on your children returning to school.*”

How do you feel about sending your children back to school? Do you feel differently now that they've returned? Are you looking forward to getting back into the school routine? Has adapting been easy so far? Perhaps you’re feeling sad about spending less time with your children? Or excited about having time to yourself again? Is this the first year that hand sanitiser has made your list of essential back to school supplies? How are your children managing now they've returned?

Whether you’re feeling excited, relieved or slightly apprehensive, share on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

*Use sanitisers carefully. Always read the label and product information before use.

Not back to school but my oldest is starting school on Monday for the first time. I'm quite apprehensive that but have received lots of assurances from the school and they seem to have risk minimization well sussed out. I feel a little sad that her first year of school will be such a strange one!

I have really mixed feelings. We are in an area of low case numbers and that feels quite “safe” but this is a big change. School seem quite well organised but things are going to look some different for them that I do wonder how my 9 year old is going to react to the news way of things

All sorts of emotions.
Glad they're getting an education again.
Guilty that home schooling wasn't a roaring success here (both DH and I worked throughout)
Wishing we'd had more family time but knowing it wasn't possible as work got in the way again.
Worried they'll bring the virus home (I've got higher risk factors)
Pleased it's a step to normality.
We've bought the clip on plastic bottles for hand sanitizer for school bags and hope they'll use it.
Uniforms off when they get home straightaway.

I have mixed feelings. My DDs are all at secondary school and two of them have exams next year, so am pleased that they are back in school, with their friends and learning. The continuing uncertainty over exams and assessment is really difficult.
However I am sad that our little 'bubble' is now over. Lockdown has been challenging, but has also brought good things: more relaxing, time together, less hectic schedules. I am sad that this is over.
From a health perspective, I do not worry about my children, though am somewhat nervous about the potential for them to transmit it to their dad and I.

We've been back for three weeks now, and it's so good for all of us to be back into a routine. It's taken a while for things like drop off and pickup to settle into new patterns, and I really feel for the staff having to juggle new routines and high absence rates (as every start of term cough means self isolation for the whole family while the coughing child gets covid tested) but they're doing a great job of making it all as normal as possible for the kids.

Really relieved that children are going back. Given the extraordinarily low risks of children suffering serious illness with C-19, I think it is appalling that their education and mental health has been so damaged. I also have minimal concern that children will turn into super-spreaders and get thoroughly pissed off with people getting paranoid that they do (and refusing to see us because our children are back at school).

Also seriously pissed off at the shitty service that some schools have provided. Yes, there are great teachers who have done amazing things, but the divide between state and private has really been shown up. Given the incompetence of the DoE, the LEAs should have stepped in to provide clear guidance on the levels of home-schooling that they required schools to provide, instead of leaving it up to individual heads.

How do you feel about sending your children back to school? Are you looking forward to getting back into the school routine? Perhaps you’re feeling sad about spending less time with your children? Or excited about having time to yourself again? Is this the first year that hand sanitiser has made your list of essential back to school supplies?

Yes this is the first year that hand sanitiser has made it onto the "back to school" shopping list. We've been excited about going back to school because it signals that the other afterschool activities will be back on. Many parents seemed nervous and some children seem more fragile than usual (more tears at the school gates etc) but I've just kept saying that the school staff will be trying their best etc and that some rules may change, just ask if you're not sure what the rules are... It's been weird to imagine having free time with the return to school but then again, I haven't had to wash water bottles and prep lunch boxes etc during lockdown which takes up time!

I am conflicted. On the one hand my son (8) desperately needs to learn and play with his peers. On the other hand, the routines and practices the school are putting in place seem unworkable and I am extremely concerned about air hygiene: windows will be open for now but as the weather gets colder and central heating goes on the virus has the perfect opportunity to spread. Research shows that low humidity and airflow are big factors in transmission. So, he will be returning on Monday and we will spend the next few weeks/months in a heightened state of anxiety, taking copious amounts of vitamin D and waiting for the second wave to begin, or not.

As a teacher I feel a little nervous but also excited! I can’t wait to see my class be my two are excited about going back. I’m only apprehensive because their school have very poor communication.

i personally cant wait. It will be nice to have some quiet in the house for a little while. They have missed their friends aswell so they are excited

We are in scotland and my 2DC have been back since mid Aug. Its going well. There are a few weird things like no singing and wearing their PE kit all day. However they have loved being back, catching up with their pals and spending lots of time outdoors. I felt a bit nervous about it but its going well.

I’m relieved dd is back at school now. She went during lockdown as Dh and I are keyworkers so it was not so much of a shock for her as she mostly knew what to expect. Things are a bit different but her teachers and the kids are embracing the changes.

I have no concerns, bar that the restrictions are likely to cause anxiety for some children when I think the risks are vanishingly small. I think we risk having a generation of children who are terrified at getting close to others plus the interacting for collaborative learning and social skills acquisition kids develop in childhood will be reduced.

I feel children as a whole need ti go back to some normality.I am a single mum, working on the frontline and I have found it extremely hard balancing work and home schooling.
With the correct safety measures at the school, I am happy to send my children to school

It's been such a long time, mine are all looking forward to getting back to a normal routine and so am I. Covid seems to be mild for most Children, so we aren't stressing about it too much, they can't stay home forever, so I think back to school is best all round.

We’re in a low case area so not worried and the school are rigid that they must go back so no alternative. I’m high risk but we can’t keep living in fear.

They aren’t encouraging masks either as they think they do more harm than good and are insisting on a fresh one with every wear, so that could be several a day. If the government says they have to then that will change things.

We have hand sanitiser lipped to every bag now.

*clipped

I'm feeling really positive about my son having returned to school - it has been a really confusing time for kids & something I've struggled to navigate my own way through as an adult!!
School have been fantastic in communicating what policies & procedures they have implemented. It's a primary school & they have been honest from the outset & said they cannot maintain social distancing in school & with children as young as 4, we can't expect them to.
My son returned to school 26th August & has settled back into routine brilliantly. I have nothing but respect & admiration for the school & all their staff for how they have handled the situation.

So pleased they are going back! Hoping the extra measures etc can just blend into the background so they can enjoy their lessons and friends

My child has developed mental health issues over lockdown, serious enough for her to need medical intervention. I truly think that going back to school is going to help her massively although we are both apprehensive about how it's going to go at first

I am very pleased my DD is returning to school. She thrives on routines and has missed school terribly. I am not too worried about the virus. I have drummed into my DD who is starting Y9 how to thoroughly wash her hands, how to put on and take off a face covering, and how to social distance. She's decided to walk to school rather than take the bus, reducing her risk further. She will probably be doing some lessons online to protect her teachers and herself. We signed a very long learning agreement saying DD understood the changes to her day and what sanctions are in place for non-compliance. Tbh, the new rules are stressing her out more than the virus itself.

I'm halpy my kids are seeing their friends, but slightly anxious overall - I would have liked a staggered return to help manage the transition, but then my children handled being at home well which made a difference. My eldest has asd and is very anxious around pick up and drop off, so hand sanitiser and masks are employed here!

How do you feel about sending your children back to school?

They are ready to go back, and I feel quite apprehensive, as we have been in a local lockdown as a result of high rates of infection - I am worried that school will have to close of there is an outbreak there - and we will be back to homeschooling again

Are you looking forward to getting back into the school routine?

Yes, definitely they need the structure.

Perhaps you’re feeling sad about spending less time with your children?

A little - we have had a wonderful summer together (renting a hot tub for the garden and buying a 13 foot trampoline for the garden) - it's been lovely having them at home, if not tiring and expensive.

Or excited about having time to yourself again?

Yes - those special 3 hours - cup of tea - and daytime telly !!

Is this the first year that hand sanitiser has made your list of essential back to school supplies?

Tea tree sanitiser and masks are part of the daily school routine.

I am glad they are going back and the 'new normal' is being introduced - but I worry about local lockdowns affecting us - and the school and their mental health - the virus is spreading and the cases of post viral fatigue worry me

Im really happy my stepchildren are going back to school (year 4 and 5). They have missed out on so much socially and it is so important for them to be able to have some sort of normality, routine and to use their brain. It will be an adjustment period in the beginning but I think we have all tried to halt this pandemic as much as we can and it is time to think about children's education, social lives and mental health which I think has been suffered in this period and I really want to avoid long term damaging effects to them.