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.

I am encouraged by the steps school has taken. If most follow the rules we can only have the advice to blame!

I'm relieved. It's been short lived so far as lots of children have been off with minor colds - it's hard to know whether they should be at home or not and tests are hard to come by.

My kids have gone back to high school. They have been better for the routine structure and predictability. School obviously has measures in place however all children swop and change according to lesson, teachers move around accross the school and no one wears a mask when in class.

It's a very difficult task to COVID risk manage a school of that size, and as with many schools it does feel like a but of a shambles at times but I'm sure it's not for the lack of trying. All we can do at home is remind about social distancing and hygiene. My concern, and of equal importance, as well as COVID, is to have kids that are calm and able to cope with themselves during all of this, to include changing guidance and conflicting information.

Both my kids year 3 and year 6 are very happy to back to school.
It better for kids to be at school then home learning.

I know they are happy to be back and into a great routine. As a teacher, I’m a little nervous but I just want to be able to get on and do my job. Seeing the children again has been amazing .

I loved having my children at home, however there were times when it was very hard work. I am glad they have gone back to school, it is where they need to be. They need education and friends and normality.
The good hygiene practices they have put in place, such as hand washing and extra cleaning are reassuring for everyone.

Its easy to feel anxious about sending the children back to school during these testing times especially where safety guidance has been somewhat confusing. I find myself worrying about germs, sickness and general safety; However, fab sites such as Mumsnet are great in linking me to forums where I can share my thoughts and feelings with fellow mums and sites such as mumsnet offer me great tips / insights into products/services such as INEOS hand sanitiser that will help me cuddle with confidence and settle any fears I have about sending the children back to school.

I am still torn from a physical safety versus mental wellbeing issue for my daughter. We remained home during lock down for several weeks not even going to shops however when I had to work at home and home school it eventually became distressing as to did the home school not looking like school. My partner was a key worker so eventually after much discussion with the 3 of us she went back to school and she was happier than I had seen her for a while. The virus has not gone so fear is still there and it does make you momentarily feel like things are normal at school gates but the welfare of her mind and long term damage mentally now outweighs the risk of serious implications of the disease. School follows as much as they can to protect it but having to go to work to provide financially puts us at risk equally. No easy answer for anyone but it's about understanding your own situation and mitigating risks that you can.

DD is supposed to be starting nursery but still on the waiting list. And honestly I feel apprehensive. You just hear about all these cases now about kids catching corona from school and it does worry me.

I do feel excited about having alone time finally lol.

This September I had two children returning to school. One in year 4 the other in year 2. They both asked to stay at home and carry on having lessons at home as they said they preferred being one to one and felt they had learnt more this way.
We completed all of the work school sent and did extra activities from the twinkle website and the CGP books I have for them at home. We did mental arithmetic and spelling tests too.
Both were excited to see their friends - because I was in the shielding group we hadn't really seen anyone up to this point. I think they need social interaction with their peers and sporting activities.
I'm currently monitoring the situation and may well pull them out if school completely depending in the numbers locally infected. We are fairly rural here but our local hospital is dire. It serves a huge area and is smaller than the three it replaced that we're always full!.
Within a week one had a high fever and a nasty cough. We were fortunate to be given a coronavirus test by the school, as there were none available at all in our area. Even more fortunately the test was negative.

Well it’s a worry, but it’s got to happen. So we have made some adjustments and constantly monitoring these, with plenty of daily discussions about it. Having older family members we are well aware of the serious implications this can have, so they also understand how important sanitising, distancing, etc. is. Stay safe all!

We are not confident that schools have addressed the risks properly - varies greatly from school to school but not many seem to have addressed the risk of aerosol transmission. Having vulnerable members of the household, we haven't sent the kids back yet. They are doing well studying at home (better than at school in some cases for my kids) so will continue with this risk based approach that meets the needs of our family for now. We are very strict with hygiene anyway but even more so with covid.

Thanks to everyone who took part in this sponsored discussion. The winner of the prize draw is @Hannah4588 - congratulations!