General Election. How many of your childrens schools are closing for the day?

[VincentVanGoughandhisear]

So with a General Election being called for December, is the school that your child/children attends due to close?

If you are a teacher or work in a school, do you have to work that day or is it a day off for you too?

My childrens school is.
They have also had to cancel trips and events that were scheduled for that day.

My daughters school is and I start a new job eleven days before so can’t have time off, so I don’t actually no what I’m going to do tbh!

It's really hard for working parents when there are extra unexpected days thrown in!

Is there anyone that could help, family, a friend maybe?

Ours is. The headmaster is clearly unhappy as this is the third time this year, and our school is more affected than others. Luckily I have a spare day of leave but many won't.

Our school will be shut again. Teachers have to be in school.

DD’s nursery is, but she isn’t in on that day usually.

My school doesn't but previous schools I've worked in have. Staff have to be in or they don't get paid but children are off. A real pain for parents!

Ours is shut too, it's always at the village hall so not sure why they're using the school this time, they've had to swap the Nativity play to a different day.

We are shut (and we aren’t happy about it). The caretaker will work (and his overtime will be claimed back from the election people) but the rest of us won’t be in school, with safety & security being the reason given.

Teachers will work from home (their PPA) the rest of us will make up the hours instead of claiming overtime for things like after hours training and parent evenings.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou

That is really rubbish because surely if you CAN'T go in then it's not your fault!

I wonder why it is not safe for you to be in work?

Gertie75

Its rally bad that nativitys etc have to be changed because that is another day that has to be booked off for parents.

DD’s school will be closed, even though there is a perfectly suitable community/sports centre RIGHT NEXT DOOR

Mine is shut usually (teacher) and I also get the day off, which is good because my dc’s school is shut too!

Safety and security reasons are something to do with ensuring staff aren't open to election related allegations of tampering...

We are shut. No word on whether our staff are in or not. No idea what task we will have - we usually have the normal one as reports in lieu. No one is happy about the school shutting though as it will be hard to claw back attendance afterwards as it's so close to Christmas.

Our school is closed, but read this play warning over school polling stations [[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-50317690 BBC News Link]] today saying that the government is covering costs to find alternative places for polling stations to reduce the impact at an already busy time of year for schools. I’m assuming as education is a devolved issue, this will only apply to England, so won’t actually affect us here in NI, but might change things for a lot of MNetters

Yes, my DC's school is closed. I need to see if I can swap my work shift that day to another day, but probably not because most of the people I could swap with also have school-aged kids and so would probably have the same problem as me. I also don't know what days I could swap to because I don't know how the school will rearrange nativity etc. Hopefully DH can take the day off work instead.

Sorry - no idea what happened to the link there! Let’s try again here

Good link.
I had read that there was to be minimum disruption which clearly isn't the case.

I wonder why schools are used if there is another suitable space nearby.

Our school for instance has a village hall and a British legion on the same road.

Is it cost for the government? Would they have to pay these vacant centres whereas they can use schools for free?

I wonder why it is not safe for you to be in work?

The caretaker has to ensure that ONLY the toilets and hall are accessible by the public which means locking off the other parts, thus having no way in (only one entrance) for staff and actually locking us into classrooms and office....not safe.

Our authority is paying for 'security' cover to manage visitors so that school can stay open despite voters being on the premises.

My DS's school is likely to be closed. They said it hasn't been confirmed but they've rearranged things in case.

The schools that are closed are local authority ones aren't they? Local authority buildings can be forced to be available for an election whatever else they have planned whereas a privately owned building doesn't, so its basically easier for the local authority to close a school than it is persuade a booked venue they should cancel their existing booking to be an election polling station.

And ours aren't closed but one of the local preschools will be.

DD’s will be closed. I’m annoyed to be missing a day’s work/Xmas shopping/prep so close to Xmas.

Just one of many reasons why I’d cheerfully string Boris up. Twat.

My dd's school the nursery is closed but not the main school. At their old school it was used as a polling station but they can use a room with a door from the outside which does not give access to the rest of the school. The clerks even get a school lunch.

My polling station is in a learning centre.

The infants is closed but the juniors is opened. So ds2 is going to be walking lots that day - 6 miles in total! They can’t guarantee pupil safety as they can’t separate them from the voting public.