By Jessica Bashir-Stone
As the United Kingdom starts to gradually move out of lockdown, secondary school and primary school children are the first to go back. Schools re-opened on March 8th, and the reactions from parents and students has been nothing but varied.
Many parents across the country are worried about their child contracting coronavirus whilst being in such big groups with other people. Some teachers have even said that they don’t think this is a good idea.
However, others believe this is a good thing due to young children being able to socialize and get the face-to-face teaching that they have missed out on for months now.
Harrison Bashir-Stone, a 14-year-old student from Surrey, was happy to attend school again. “I am excited to go back, obviously I am! I get to see my friends and have some structure and routine to my day. I do struggle socially, but I’m almost relieved to be getting out and having something new to do.”
Without friends for months
Harrison has not been able to see his friends since September 2020, and before that was only allowed to see six at a time whilst in lessons at school.
The school he attends is looking to put in place a year group rule. This means that each year group in the school will have their lessons on designated floors. At lunch time, the playground and outdoor areas will be broken into year groups, with strictly no mixing allowed.
“This didn’t work last time, so I don’t know why they think it’s going to again. I got so scared last time and I’m going to be just as scared this time. I don’t want to catch it, and I really don’t want my friends and family to catch it either.
“The news has said people can be asymptomatic right? I don’t like that! What if we’re all giving it to each other and we don’t know?” says Bashir-Stone.
Thankfully, Bashir-Stone’s friends and their families, the schools have said that due to official advice there will be at least two tests a week for students – and there are talks on parents even being eligible for one.
This means that even if there are children who show no symptoms they will be tested as soon as possible and hopefully noticed before the spread becomes too large.
“As I said, I am excited but I’m worried. I haven’t had to get up that early in months. I want to go back, but I don’t think we should. The government should be stricter with social rules. No one stuck to them in my school last time,” Bashir-Stone said.
Mixed feelings
Schoolchildren are not the only ones with mixed feelings about going to school. Many parents across the United Kingdom are worried about their children being back in such close quarters with other children.
Steph Luckas, a mother at Broadwater Secondary School, said: “The world is re-opening and of course me and my partner love the gradual freedom. However, my whole family have managed to stay healthy during this pandemic and I don’t want to jeopardise my daughters education just because I’m scared of catching coronavirus.”
Many parents worry that their child could bring the virus home with them, and what measures the schools are taking in order to prevent the spread widening ever more. “I have considered just keeping my little one at home, but I don’t know if I can get fined for that? Currently I’m just making sure that when she gets home from school we shower straight away and wash her clothes,” said Luckas.
A parent who is a little less concerned about the virus is Matthew Swan, a dad of three who all attend the school. Matthew, like many others, is on the side of opening schools and all other public areas as soon as possible.
“I don’t think it’s real, I’m gonna be honest, I don’t! Not one person I know has had it, and people can be shady about stuff like this. I have stuck to the guidelines in place but it’s just because the quicker more people listen to it all then the quicker the country will go back to normal.”
Swan goes on to say “I’m actually fine sending the kids back, what’s the worst that could happen? They’ll catch a cold. It really is not a big deal and I’m not sure why so many people think it is.”
Swan is not alone. From the very start there have been rumours surrounding 5G towers and tracking devices, however these have all been debunked. In fact, a study from Statista shows just how often people come across fake news surrounding the pandemic. The question asked was ‘How often have you come across information/news about coronavirus that was false or misleading in the last week?
The results said:
Students and families all hope that returning to school will be as safe as possible for all the children and teachers. With the R rate dropping and the number of cases slowly declining each week, the rest of the UK are behind them in this hopeful mindset.
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