Summer holidays childcare

[DebbieFiderer]

It's just hit me that there are only 5 weeks or so of 'school' left and I need to figure out what to do about childcare for the summer, except I don't have enough information to be able to plan properly. If lock down restrictions are basically finished then my parents can have them as normal, but if not, then will the schools be open? Will there be holiday clubs? Will the schools provide holiday clubs for keyworker like they did over Easter/May HT? Will I need to ask my sister to come and stay with us for the summer (she is single, has been staying with my parents since a week in to lock down)? It feels like I should have all of this in place but I can't because no one knows what will happen, and it is starting to bother me.

First place you should ask is your DC school. They will know more about whether they will be open over summer/whether holiday club will run etc. than anyone on Mumsnet. They might not know 100%, but they can give you a better idea than any of us.

Also, speak to your family and see what they're happy/not happy to do.

I can't see social distancing being completely removed though.

I would assume that schools won’t be open and plan accordingly. I doubt many teachers will be up for 6 weeks of unpaid work.

My dd’s school have categorically stated it is nothing to do with them. Everyone is expected to make their own arrangements.

The schools won't know what they are expected to do until the government tell them, which will be at the same time as they tell the rest of us, like with all these announcements. There's nothing I can do about it at the moment, I just have to wait and see, but the uncertainty is frustrating. I do at least have the back up plan of getting my sister to move in (or my parents' idea of having the kids move in to their house) so I am in a better position than most people, I just like to plan ahead and I don't like not being able to do that.

Schools are not opening for keyworkers so almost certainly they won’t open for anyone else. I wouldn’t bank on holiday clubs being open. I would get your sister down if I were you. She can move in and be part of the household.

The school will have a better idea of where they are than anyone else will. What the government says will influence what happens, but will not be the full story. Like with re-opening to certain year groups, the schools knew whether it was workable for them or not and acted in line with that. Your school will know what their space is like/how many key worker children they have/what staff levels are like etc.

I agree it's not full information, but it will be the best and most reliable at the moment.

Didn’t Boris say there would be an army of retired teachers to help those students to catch up?

Let’s see where that goes

We are keyworker so if there is any provision at all we will be included. They were told they had to make provision for keyworker over Easter and May so they arranged for a holiday club to provide that provision at no cost to us. If they are told they have to do something for summer then they will but they won't otherwise. I do wonder though what this 'summer catch up' programme will look like. But yes, I think my sister will be the best bet, even if she won't be happy about it. Unless we are allowed to 'bubble' with another household then it's all good for my parents to have them.

Downing Street have confirmed today that schools will be closed over the Summer. I really don't know what we will do- holiday clubs won't be running in my area apparently and my parents live in a different part of the country and are shielding anyway

I am a teacher and I can tell you that it is highly unlikely that schools will be open over the summer, unless they're arranging to let out their buildings for some sort of play-scheme and as you say, who knows if they're running.
But anyway, Boris has said today that they're not running for KW kids, so why would they for others?

Ah, thanks for the info from today, I hadn't heard that, so at least that's one concrete answer. Family childcare it is - parents if we can bubble, sister if not!