Nurseries back before schools?

[Russell19]

A friend of mine keeps saying nurseries and early years will be the first to go back.

AIBU in thinking this can't be right?!

Why would the smallest people who have no idea about social distancing and share saliva, toys etc. all the time be the first to go back? I get childcare problems but if we are looking at it from a health perspective surely older children would be best to go back first?

Our nursery have said they are opening on 1 June.

I agree with you

No, it'll be years 10 and 12, and maybe year 6, first.

YABU to listen to things friends say.

Nobody has the definite answers as to how schools and nurseries will phase their return yet - because it's not been decided or announced. Just roll with it as it comes. Getting worked up over things other people say about Covid will have no positive effect on your life at all.

@mycatsmellsbad where have they got that from? Nobody knows what the plans are for re-opening never mind the time scales.

Here in Ireland they will be..It was announced yesterday

Ireland have set out their plans for exiting lockdown and I imagine we'll follow a similar plan. Nurseries and pre-schools will be phased back before schools.

I think its possible
The country needs people to get back to work,and that can't happen until kids get back to nursery (and school)

What you say is completely true and can hardly be called unreasonable, but how can the nation get back to work if nurseries are shut? I'm currently WFH with my 3 yo at home and at it's just about doable because business is a slower. It's just not sustainable though. Maybe nurseries could open but people continue to WFH where possible? It's a real quandary and I have no answers!

@mycatsmellsbad well they must know something more than the general public.

I'm in a tricky situation really because I'm a teacher and finished my mat leave in march and my baby was due to start private nursery then but obviously was put on hold. I'm unsure how I'll go back to work if I don't have time to do settling in sessions etc. If nurseries and schools open at the same time I'll be a bit stuck. So it probably would suit me for nurseries to open first but I don't really agree with it but have no choice.

5,6, 10, 12 will be back first though private nurseries May open then too-less likely school nurseries.

@Cam2020 completely agree with you! I'm thinking along very similar lines.

I live in The Netherlands and crèches and primary are open from 11th May and secondary go back on 1st June.

The reasoning is that parents of primary age children and younger can go back to work sooner and primary aged children tend to live closer to school so getting to school wouldn’t overburden the public transport system.

If you look at what Ireland have set out, nurseries are before schools. I think schools being open for all pupils are in the last step of the 5 step plan - they plan to open from the beginning of the next academic year, with a staggered start. (They’re going to begin opening for key worker children earlier in the plan)

That might be what they’re referring to. The U.K. won’t necessarily follow a similar pattern. We’ve made some very different decisions to the rest of the world.

We haven’t been told anything, but I would not be surprised if childcare was the first to open.
There was speculation that we wouldn’t close at all, then we thought that childminders would stay open for all.

It is going to be a muddle when we do reopen, though.
One of my keyworker families is adamant they’re not going back to their original setting after the way they behaved. Will we be expected to keep new keyworker children or unsettle them further by moving them again?
Will we have after school children as well, or just Early Years?
And then there are those settings that have gone out of business.

It’s not just a case of reopening and everything back to normal and I suspect we’ll have to work it all out for ourselves.

There needs to be more childcare options soon or a lot of people are going to destruct. I can't cope as a LP locked up with 2 small boys 24/7. I'm having dark thoughts. I need at least the GPs or their dad (lives 100 miles away with his mum - a Nurse) to be able to look after them soon. I honestly, hand on heart cannot cope anymore without getting some of my own personal space.

I hope nurseries open soon. Please please open soon.

In Europe primary school and nurseries have gone back first and then secondary schools. Its not about transmission - its about getting working parents back to work.

You’re assuming it has anything to do with safety for children and their teachers/nursery workers. It’s all about getting people back to work and health measures are far down the list.

Straycatstrut I'm with you. I'm struggling working full time and homeschooling 2 primary children.. I just need a veg out.

CarrieBlue you're being alarmist here. In our ward population of over 3000, 1 person has died. And average age is well over 45. You have to see it in perspective. If we don't get people back to work soon it will be detrimental for children, detrimental for those with mental health issues, abusive partners as well as the economy. We cant wait indefinitely for a vaccine with everyone in lockdown.

Well I won,t be going back before the may half term. Basically I am told will go back when schools go back.

Nurseries won’t do social distancing. It’s impossible to look after babies and toddlers whilst social distancing (cuddles, feeding, nappy changes) and they won’t stay away from each other. It would be more harmful for little ones to try and enforce that. I imagine parents won’t be allowed in.

@straycatstrut I hope you are okay

@MrPickles73 - you’ll be volunteering to work in schools and nurseries then? There will be no social distancing, no ppe, inadequate washing facilities, inadequate cleaning regimes, overcrowded corridors, and crowded public and school transport. I’ll await the second peak. And one ward is not evidence that all is ok.