PARENTS have welcomed a new direction from schools on when children should be sent home because of health fears amid concerns that the Covid-19 testing centres are becoming overburdened.

The National Parent Forum of Scotland described the situation since the re-opening of schools a fortnight ago after five months as “confusing”.

Chair Joanna Murphy revealed that she had received a letter from her school setting out when children will be removed from class.

She said: “The situation was slightly confused and people were erring on the side of caution and the issue of children having maybe runny noses, a kind of cold symptom without maybe a fever.”

“And understandably to a certain extent schools were being a bit heavy-handed.

“And maybe parents were deciding to keep children home or schools were a bit overkeen to send kids home.

“Today I received a letter from my own children’s school saying that if it is a runny nose then you have to use your own judgment as a parent.

“So I think there was a bit of confusion and that we were going to run the risk that there were never any children in school if they all had the cold.”

The new advice came after some angry parents complained children with mild symptoms had been sent home from school with any siblings at the same school and told to stay off school until they had tested negative for Covid.

Parents were being told they had to travel for hours to get their children tested.

For parents without a car that proved almost impossible.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last week revealed a spike in the number of children being presented for testing. She pointed to an eight-fold increase in the number of children aged between two and 17 being tested since mid-July, including 17,500 the week before last – only 49 of whom tested positive.

The First Minister has been clear on the distinction between Covid symptoms and other ailments.

She said: “While it is understandable that people – parents in particular – want to err on the side of caution, it is also important to remember the symptoms of Covid that trigger the need for a test. These are any one of a new persistent cough, a fever or a loss of or change in sense of taste or smell.

“Other symptoms, like a runny nose, if they are not accompanied by one of the Covid symptoms, should not lead to a test.”

Parents, children and teachers have all been getting used to the new normal in schools.

And Murphy believes that it is taking time to adapt while at the same time learning about the virus.

She added: “So few people have really had a case of coronavirus in their family or their household that we don’t really know the symptoms.

“So I think that what we really need to do is reinforce that it is your judgment that if your children have a runny nose like a normal cold then that’s different than going in with a fever or a continuous kind of cough.

“Even err on the side of caution and keep them off just for a day. These things usually resolve themselves if they’re just a common cold.”

With the end of summer approaching and as we move into the autumn and winter months, Dr Gregor Smith, Scotland’s interim chief medical officer also reflected that seasonal ailments become more common.

He said: “I think it’s inevitable that as you bring people back together you get a rebound in the volume of respiratory symptoms. As a GP, this was very common when schools went back.”

Murphy has welcomed the greater trust that schools are now placing on parents to decide whether their child should be in school.

And she added: “I think schools aren’t the best places to see if it’s the norms for the child because they don’t know the norms for the child.

“I wouldn’t blame schools for saying they need to go home if they’re exhibiting coughing and sneezing then that’s fair enough but I think we’ve got to keep it in balance that every kid who coughs and sneezes doesn’t have the symptoms.

“We need to look at it compassionately that the kids need to go to school as well.”

Murphy believes that, while there has been a surge in the number of tests that has put a strain on the system, the onset of winter will require that we are better prepared to meet these – and new – challenges.

She said: “It has put a strain on everything but that’s going to be needed because these things are going to pop up all over the place.

“We need to remember that everybody who took their child for a test did so because they felt that that was the information that was being given to them and they did it for the best reasons. The testing service needs to rise to meet the need.

“There’s a very, very fine line here and we don’t want to be all running out the minute someone even blows their nose ... and the prevalence is low in Scotland.

“But if somebody feels they need to have a test they need to have a test.”

Murphy believes that the call for masks to be worn in schools and public transport will help – “this is becoming part of our lives” – but that it is right that this should be voluntary for children within classrooms.

She believes that staggered classes would “not really be workable because the first 20 minutes of class people would be moving about. After all they’re going to school to learn”.

While the children are the majority of those who make up the school population, Murphy also stressed that teachers also had to be considered.

“We have to think about how this suits everybody and make sure we don’t put anybody in danger, either the children or the teachers,” she said. “And we need to think out of the box about providing extra school staff to cover staff who are absent themselves.”

Murphy believes that parents must, in the first instance, set an example in the changed circumstances by heeding the guidelines for them.

“I’ve heard quite a few people saying that parents are hanging around the school gates forgetting that they’re not supposed to talk to each other, etcetera, and that’s probably going back to a learned habit.

“I see the same thing when I go to supermarkets. Just because we’ve got a mask on it doesn’t mean that this is us all back to life as normal.

I think there is a lot to be said for adults, wherever they are, remembering the rules themselves.

“The easiest way to spread this virus is through a group of adults standing talking, or in a supermarket or another building, so we need to be mindful wherever adults are that they’ve following the regulations and being mindful and keeping to social-distancing measures The school is just a part of that and I’ve seen worse behaviour than that at the school gates because you’re still outside at the school gates. To a certain extent they are safer outside but not in big gangs of people”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Children will be sent home from school if they are showing symptoms of coronavirus and everyone else in the household, including siblings, should isolate straight away and a test booked immediately for the child with symptoms.

“A runny nose, blocked nose or a sore throat are currently not recognised symptoms that would require a test and in such circumstances parents are advised to use their own judgement as to when to keep children off school.

“The Chief Nursing Officer has emphasised the need to use available support from your local pharmacy or your GP surgery where children appear to have a common cold.”