Mum fined after keeping son, 8, home from school while he had 'Covid symptoms'

A mum says she was fined for keeping her eight-year-old son off school as he had Covid symptoms including feeling weak and having a cough.

Annette Connolly, of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, has now removed her son Harrison, from Lawrence View Primary School after they gave the fine.

"They had no sympathetic views," said the 44-year-old mother-of-four told NottinghamshireLive.

"He will not be coming back to the school after this."

Lawrence View said fines were only issued as a "last resort after many attempts to address low attendance with a family."

The school says a child can return if he or she is well enough, and has received a negative PCR test result (stock photo) (Getty)

Ms Connolly said she kept Harrison out of school on November 3, after she caught Covid and he began to develop symptoms.

Harrison felt sick, weak and had a cough, she claimed, but then later received a negative PCR test result.

Despite this negative result, Ms Connolly kept her son off for another day, saying he developed further symptoms - specifically a lack of taste and smell.

"I didn't know if he had got it but he might have had, I was keeping him away from others and trying to protect them," she said.

With Harrison kept at home she then received a call from the school telling her that unless Harrison attended she would get a fine.

Ms Connolly said: "Things have been hard enough for me this year and things are tight. They have no empathy or sympathy when all I've tried to do is be a mum.

"It's a shame as we had a good relationship with the school. Harrison has a good circle of friends that he will really miss. It's sad that it's had to end this way."

Emma McGrenaghan, headteacher at Lawrence View Primary School, based in Walker Street, said: "Our school continues to follow the latest government guidance in relation to Covid and I’d like to reassure parents that we continue to have additional protective measures in place in school to keep pupils and staff safe.

"If a child is well enough, and has received a negative PCR test result, they can return to school. We would not knowingly put our families in school at risk.

“The school is committed to providing a high quality education for our pupils and where there are barriers to regular attendance we will always try to work with families."