Mastodawn

Also worth noting that school rules – at least in my part of the UK (Tory run Hampshire) – are now insane. It is strongly recommended you do NOT test for covid. If you choose to, your child has a maximum of three days to return to school, even if testing positive, unless they have a high fever. Failure results in strikes against your child’s record. Ten half days unauthorised can lead to referral and prosecution. All going well on Normal Island…

From: @serichards
https://mas.to/@serichards/111000391249793687

Suzy Richards (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] Same. The age group with school age children are incredibly vulnerable and they're usually working age so that's a ton of people that will be too sick to work. It's utterly criminal frankly.

mas.to

BenRiceM Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell @serichards that’s a ridiculous way to handle any illness, let alone one so contagious

Craig Grannell Sep 3, 2023

@BenRiceM @serichards And yet if your kid throws up – at all – they are blocked from school for two full days. So there are rules in place to stop the spread of eg norovirus, but not covid.

Gary Parker Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell @serichards absolutely, school rules on this are insane. It's literally “ignore it and hope it goes away”

Mike Landers Sep 3, 2023

@witewulf @craiggrannell @serichards To be fair, that’s pretty much politics in this country anyway. If it isn’t affecting them, it’s not actually happening.

Kevin Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell @serichards it is a truth universally known that those who bleat loudest about individual freedoms, and oppressiveness of the state, when in power will be the worst kind of authoritarians.

James Jefferies Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell I thought I’d look up Sheffield advice

“Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people, where they can. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend.”

So they can go back to school, regardless of whether they are sharing a viral load with classmates? 🧐

Craig Grannell Sep 3, 2023

@jamesjefferies Yep. Fever: stay home. Massively infectious: whatevs.

David Thomson Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell jfc. I had whole weeks off school, are these rules regardless of illness?

Craig Grannell Sep 3, 2023

@dwlt The way it works is you get up to ten unauthorised strikes per term. The school determines whether something is authorised. Holidays, for example, are only rarely authorised. But illness tends to be. However, I imagine once a child has been off for any extended time, you’d be straying into doctor note territory.

Honestly, the broader covid policy at the school was dreadful anyway. Only after a LOT of complaints from parents did the school start issuing class alerts.

David Thomson Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell yeesh

13 barn owls in a trenchcoat Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell @serichards absolutely ridiculous.

Suzy Richards Sep 3, 2023

@craiggrannell Sounds like an advert for home schooling to me!

Craig Grannell Sep 3, 2023

@serichards We’d be tempted but as much as mini-G says she doesn’t like school and gets stressed by it, we’d have no luck at home dealing with this, because she lacks the motivation. It would be a fight to get her to do anything. (She’s smart and great when she puts her mind to something. But throughout the entire summer holiday, she picked up her guitar precisely once.)

Suzy Richards Sep 3, 2023

She sounds a bit like me really. If it's not interesting enough then minimum effort is put in!

Craig Grannell Sep 3, 2023

@serichards She wants to do what she wants to do, always. But she sometimes forgets how much fun the other stuff can be. One of those things. But homeschooling would be horrendous.