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.

Back to school has been seamless here, like nothing much has happened. My son's old year 4 teacher has become his now year 5 teacher- they decided to do this for continuity instead of changing and I think it's a great idea. We planned a week beforehand to change bedtime and waking hours gradually so it wouldn't be so much of a shock on the first morning yesterday.

As a parent I'm relieved my DD is going back to school. She was struggling with maths before the school was closed and unfortunately my attempt at home teaching did not help matters!
She was nervous the very first morning but when she came out she said the first day was "actually exciting" 😊
The school have put a lot of measures in place to keep the students and staff as safe as they can be.

We were due to go to preschool but have decided to homeschool now so won't be going at all

Sending my 5 year old back to school has been a very difficult decision for me as both myself and my baby boy are classed as vulnerable. It comes with a weird feeling of both relief and anxiety. I don't send her in with things like sanitizer but i do have it in a pocket for her to use as she gets out.

I am happy for DD to start school this week. I am confident that her teachers have made her school a safe environment for her.

I am happy they have gone back because I think my children need to interact with children their own age and be able to share their feelings with their friends. I am worried because I have one child studying their GCSE's and another in primary, meaning if we have to isolate my eldest sons education will suffer.

I wish they have implemented some blended learning model with some in person, some online delivery. I am worried that with everyone back at once, and no online delivery there will be more people missing lessons due to symptoms and no replavement, and higher chance of bubbles bursting.

My son went back to school in June so it was not such a big thing for us to send him again this September. I know the school have put in measures and we were really struggling with his behaviour, mood and effort with any home school work so school is the right place for him.

I do think there will be a lot of disruptions over autumn and winter. My son already missed a day off school waiting for a negative test result for a cough that I was 95% sure was caused by a cold. Luckily we managed to just walk into a testing centre 10 minutes down the road. Had we not managed to get a test, he would have missed more time off school. I think that will be the case for a lot of school children over the next couple of months.

Our children are having a brilliant return so far, they are so happy to be back at school again. It's all a bit different from before but they've taken it in their stride - the pay off for them has been seeing all their friends and teachers again.

I am pleased to get back to some kind of routine although my daughter has just started 6th form and has brought home a complicated timetable where she has different start and finish times and has told me some days she might be home for lunch! I do worry that now that kids are back at school, in a couple of months the infection rate with go sky high and we will be forced into lockdown again, just in time for Christmas. Obviously I’m hoping this won’t happen.

I’m delighted my kids are back as are they.

I'm happy my dc are back at school, they thrive being with their friends.

I worry about the health of the teachers, I feel they have been thrown to the wolves - their workplaces are definitely not 'Covid safe' and I hate the way the gov is just lying about it.

I pray teachers can get through this and there are no deaths/long term health consequences for them.

My son was so excited to get back to school. The holidays were more difficult this year as we usually rely on extended family for childcare whilst we work which was very different this year. My hours were reduced which, although I really enjoyed more time with my children, made my job more difficult to complete. My 6 year old couldnt more excited to socialise again with his friends. The drop off/pick up times are very different but not horrific. It's just the new normal we will have to get used to.

5 days in school and ds has brought home an absolutely stinking cold which I have caught and so has his baby brother... so it's just a matter of time really.

Not much has changed, we queue on the road waiting for the gates/doors to open instead of the massive play ground which makes little sense to me. The kids are all being moved round the classroom to see who works well togegher, combos to avoid etc so if we had to name closest kids it would be loads. While year say together at lunch & play together outside even though there is space to bubble by class.
They are washing their hands about 8 times a.day though!

I’m pleased they are going back. I am however worried about the disruption and financial implications of having to repeatedly isolate the kids.

For Dd the excitement of seeing friends & going back to school wore off by the morning of day 3.

She's mainly in a bubble of 30 & they mostly stay in their classroom for their lessons (apart from art, music, pe when they have to go to another room). Though she sees her friends from her year group (~200) at break & lunch, their time together is fairly limited. As far as I can see, the school is doing the best they can logistically & reviewing their risk assessment every week.

But given the national rise in Covid-19 cases, I think that it would be a miracle if Dd isn't sent home at least once as a precaution before half-term.

Glad to have my child starting school. shes the youngest in her class so she definitely missed out in the months they were off from preschool. Yes I am wary that the risks of her catching something is much higher but in my opinion the associated risks keeping her couped up at home are much higher. She also has a fairly good understanding of the importance of good hygiene.

My daughter is doing her GCSEs this year and it was essential she ho back, even though her private school provided full schedule of online learning it is nit the same. She needs to be back doing science experiments, artwork and socialising. Even more lecture based subjects like history are much more interactive and interesting in person. Kids can ask questions, teachers can elaborate and go off on interesting tangents, debates are better in person. Math teachers van see your workings and see where you may have gone wrong.
Though my daughter says the school day feels 'weird' with all the distancing and hygiene rules, it is much better to be there.
Our school has been exemplary in its efforts to continue the children's education during lockdown and have taken effective and serious measures to ensure the safety of staff and students. I'm paying for it, but worth every penny and more.

My DS is 16 so just starting in the sixth form. He was ready to go back and has missed his friends and just having some structure to his life. I am confident that he will follow covid guidelines as he's quite diligent in that respect! It's just nice to feel things are getting a bit more back to normal and lovely when he comes home happy as he really enjoys learning and absorbing knowledge, as well as being part of school life.

I was terrified when I sent my children back to school but the teacher did reassure me. Now since being back I am so relieved that my boys are in the school that they are in as they have all top measures/procedures in place.
First of all they all 2 meter distance in their "bubbles" when entering the building. They don't leave the class rooms other than for break times and these are all scattered to stop all/any bubbles clashing/mixing.
Lunch times are all scattered and most classes stay in their own class rooms to eat. No bubbles mix and no lunch times are the same.
When leaving the building, each class/bubble leaves one after the other without mixing with others.
I know of no other school doing it like this as most mix at lunch & break times and I am so proud my boys are being protected by such a dedicated caring school.
If my boys were in any other school I don't think they would have been as secure.

I'm glad they are going back because I have looked at the medical meta-analysis of infection rates in children as part of my work. I'm not concerned- and, if anything, the impact of not being at school is far worse for most children and young people. As for going back, we have talked about feeling worried about going back, and that being normal. We have talked about good hand hygiene, and then when they get home we have a bath or shower and change our clothes. I also said it would be likely they would go back to school and get another virus- but not the new COVID. With that many kids together- they'll all get ill soon!
But we have been honest, but calm. And we have talked a lot about normal, mixed emotions. It's so hard, managing change for them. But being away from their peers, education and routine is far worse. And really concerning for deprived families.

I am relieved they are back, it’s great to have them with their friends. My children are really tired by the time they come home and I’m having to wake them up every morning. I think my youngest is missing the others being at home too as she has had 6months of play buddies.

As I’ve had to work from home with the kids around, first homeschooling and then during the holidays, I was hugely relieved to have them go back. I’m not worried about them getting covid as the likelihood of complication in children is low but I am worried about them being symptomatic and not being able access tests or having a domino effect of them missing more of their education. It’s great to have some kind of routine back and I’m getting more work done

My children definitely need the routine of school but it doesn't stop me worrying. They are loving being back!!