Table 2

Quotes on concern about risk of COVID-19 (using pseudonyms and S: school)

Not concerned about COVID-19/risk outweighed by risk of school campuses not reopening	Concerns about COVID-19
‘I’m not worried about spreading it…I don’t really come in contact with anyone who would be worried’ (Emma, yr 8, S1) ‘I’m not worried about illness(Covid-19), per se, I don’t think…That’s not something that worries me. I’d rather they got… got back to normal, to be honest’ (Jess, Mum, S3) ‘if you want the kids back at school, you, you have to accept that… there are risks associated with that’ (Georgina, Mum, S3) ‘Resigned acceptance [about school opening] that, that the world has changed and, um, that we kind of just have to get on with things’ (Anna, SENCO, S1)	‘I’m worried about um—because Jo’s Dad is in the kind of very, what’s the word I’m looking for? Vulnerable, like medical category ‘cause he’s only got one functioning lung and my Dad is…has dementia so I’m worried about [Jo] bringing coronavirus home’ (Kelly, Mum, S4) ‘I’m a bit concerned. Um, what precaution they’re going to take and as Asian background we come on the high risk’ (Fatima, Mum, S10) ‘I still would feel awful if I got my partner really ill, you know, um, from my work, when he’s allowed to work from home and he’s, you know, following all the guidance’ (Clare, Teacher, S8) ‘teachers that I’ve spoken to that have expressed anxieties are teachers who, you know, with things like low-level asthma and, er, other conditions that put them in a position where they may not be COVID fit’ (John, Teacher, S3)

Not concerned about COVID-19/risk outweighed by risk of school campuses not reopening

Concerns about COVID-19

‘I’m not worried about spreading it…I don’t really come in contact with anyone who would be worried’ (Emma, yr 8, S1)
‘I’m not worried about illness(Covid-19), per se, I don’t think…That’s not something that worries me. I’d rather they got… got back to normal, to be honest’ (Jess, Mum, S3)
‘if you want the kids back at school, you, you have to accept that… there are risks associated with that’ (Georgina, Mum, S3)
‘Resigned acceptance [about school opening] that, that the world has changed and, um, that we kind of just have to get on with things’ (Anna, SENCO, S1)

‘I’m worried about um—because Jo’s Dad is in the kind of very, what’s the word I’m looking for? Vulnerable, like medical category ‘cause he’s only got one functioning lung and my Dad is…has dementia so I’m worried about [Jo] bringing coronavirus home’ (Kelly, Mum, S4)
‘I’m a bit concerned. Um, what precaution they’re going to take and as Asian background we come on the high risk’ (Fatima, Mum, S10)
‘I still would feel awful if I got my partner really ill, you know, um, from my work, when he’s allowed to work from home and he’s, you know, following all the guidance’ (Clare, Teacher, S8)
‘teachers that I’ve spoken to that have expressed anxieties are teachers who, you know, with things like low-level asthma and, er, other conditions that put them in a position where they may not be COVID fit’ (John, Teacher, S3)