Childcare being removed for key workers

[Mia1415]

My DS has been going to school and his childminder during lockdown.

I was informed yesterday that from 1st June you are only allowed to send children to 1 setting a week (so school or childminder).

Whilst I can understand the logic of not wanting children to mix bubbles I am really annoyed about this as:

• giving key workers 1 weeks notice that they will be loosing childcare isn't really acceptable
• are key workers no longer deemed important?
• It can take up to 14 days to display covid symptoms so allowing 1 week in school, following by a week with a childminder doesn't really prevent anything
• One of the key points of getting children back to schools is so that parents can get back to work. At my school the years that are going back in initially are only doing 2 days a week, so if wraparound care is banned how is that helping people get back to work?
• I can understand this rule a bit more for children that are just returning to school, but not for children that have been going to both throughout lockdown.

(I have emailed my MP and local council about this and I'm awaiting a response).

AIBU?

The dfe states that children should attend 1 setting wherever possible, if a child is at school then they need picking up so not possible to attend 1 setting.
Some schools have refused childminders to collect the child.

The way some services are cherry picking from the guidance to make their own rules is really annoying me. I have experienced this with my child's carers in supported living. I am a teacher and I know this is difficult, but I can't see why a socially distanced after school club can't be staffed. After school clubs are staffed by TAs or other staff who are paid extra for the service or by outside companies.Whilst there are very limited numbers in school, the number of kids in the after school club would be tiny. On the childminder issue, the guidance from the govmt does not say that a child cannot be cared for by a childminder and school, it just says to avoid multiple settings if possible. In the OPs case, it isn't possible therefore her child should go to the childminder. OP I am facing similar problems for my youngest child and it is one headache that I could do without too.

I think even with social distancing in place, the tiny numbers won't pay for the staffing costs. My DC's school club is run by an outside provider. It's such a headache and I can't see the solution. If I can't be in school to teach, that has a knock-on effect of the families at my school being able to work.

The government I'm sure are unwilling to put out more guidance as they've put out the message that the school re-opening is all about education, not enabling people to get back to work.

If this goes on longer-term I'll have to advertise for a local person who will hopefully be willing to either have my children in their home or come to my house. I live in a small village though so I just hope I can find a willing and trustworthy person.

I live in an area where there are a lot of doctors. I'd say around half of the children at the school have at least one parent who is a healthcare professional. My children's school has been providing full wrap around care for key workers for the past few weeks, using the same model as they usually provide wrap around care to everyone. From 1 June they are withdrawing all wrap around care for everyone. There are a lot of families attending school where both parents are GPs, NHS consultants etc. The parents I know are having to reduce their hours, cancel surgeries, operations, consultations etc so that they can leave on time to collect their children from school. All attempts to discuss with the headteacher have been met with hostility. I hope she doesn't get ill and need their services as from 1 June they'll be at home providing childcare rather than in hospital caring for patients.

I'm just bracing myself for this message as my DD's school is only open to KW and vulnerable children next week as they don't think they have enough room to open to more children and are awaiting the 28th May announcement.

With the KW/vulnerable they ARE opening after school care; DH is a KW and while we can pick up both DCs, DS has SEN and is in his specialist school with no after school care, and it is very challenging to pick them both up (essentially at the same time though both settings would in current times release one early), get them both home and get them both to change their clothes and wash.
I did one day put DD on the landing naked with the iPad while I tried to persuade DS to get washed more quickly; another day I had to take DS to pick up DD and that's definitely not going to be allowed in the future.

@drspouse it’s all very stressful isn’t it!

I noticed the bit in your OP about getting them changed and washed when they come in? Is that because of CV?
Is that a thing people are doing? Hasn’t crossed my mind with DS to be honest and he’s being go to school everyday......

Is everyone else doing the same?

My DCs school have gone from providing childcare for key worker children 9-3pm to only offering them 9.30-12.30 as of June 8th. They closed this week at last minute.

@Placesrobe76 the school asks that their clothes are washed daily, so we're getting them to take them off at the door. We thought we might as well do bath and hair wash straight after.

@drspouse good idea! Ours haven’t stipulated that thank god, he has terrible eczema and psoriasis which are managing - but with weekly baths! so it would havoc for him!

Well, we are skanky parents who relied on the weekly shower and hair wash at the swimming pool, they are only in 2x a week (DS has just gone up to 3x) so it's probably best we try and wash them at least once or twice!

So I've been contacted this evening by DCs headteacher to say that they cannot guarantee my y6 dd a place in her year group bubble ( there are only 12 in the year) as she is in keyworker provision at present and the other year groups go back on the 8th and they can't mix bubbles. There in only my two children ( other ds is in y3) and two other y2 children in keyworker provision, she was devastated as had been so looking forward to seeing her friends again before transitioning to high school in September.
So my option is to pull her out of keyworker bubble now, leave her home alone whilst I go to work and then she can return to school with year 6 on 8th June.
Every day there is something honestly, I'm done in with the whole thing......

Oh that's really hard milkys. Have you got any days off or could you take a few till the Y6 go back? Use someone in her class's parent as childcare till then (as you are allowed to use home-based childcare if a KW)?

I've taken this week off with both of them as the school is shut for half term, so it's just next week week really. I can't take another week off, I'm already worrying about summer holidays and what provision might be in place for that! So other people are allowed to look after my DC because I'm a keyworker? Is that right, I'll be honest I didn't know that and I'm not sure how many people would.

There are various people with under-70 grandparents using them as childcare, so yes, it doesn't have to be paid childcare.

Just an update on my personal situation.

The council wrote back to me and said backtracked somewhat. They are now saying it is up to the provider and parent to assess and do what they think is best (rather than a blanket ban). As my DS will be the only one going to the childminder and I am comfortable with it she is happy to keep having him.

Interestingly the school sent out updated guidance about partial re-opening next week and with just reception, Y1, Y6 and key workers they could have up to 19 bubbles of children! The children are only going back a few days a week. There is no way this is sustainable and I really can't see how on earth they are expecting all primary children to be back a month before the summer holidays.

Hi @milkysmum they updated the 'guidance' on May 14th that says critical workers can use others for childcare if they are not vulnerable category.

Just heard from DD school - she's in Y1 and has been in 2 full days including after school club.
Now they are still running after school but only for KW/vulnerable.
So she can be in her Y1 bubble (mornings only or, which would be a huge pain for us, afternoon only) or she can be in the KW bubble including after school club.

Well all the plans at our school for R, Y1, Y6 to start back next week have been postponed. We have just received an email tonight to say as Lancashire County Council are not supporting schools to re- open as they do not feel it is yet safe. School have said they will obviously only open when the local authority advises them to, when that will be nobody knows.
Keyworker provision ( but with no breakfast or after school club) to remain but apart from that nobody is returning yet.

It is very very unhelpful for parents where both parents work full time and the practical effect is that parents (most likely mothers) are going to be more likely to lose their jobs and be selected for redundancy once furlough options etc cease.

It will be interesting to see how many nurseries open for babies to age 4 on 1 June which is obviously vital for those with much smaller children who have to work.

I work for private Playclub and we would normally do breakfast club for around 30-40 children then anything up to 50-60 - we are full and have a waiting list- we were told that we won’t be open until September at least- so we won’t be able to provide holiday club either-,our room has been turned into a classroom and as we take 3-11 yrs and they can’t mix- then we have no option-I feel terribly sorry and awful because all those parents need us as they didn’t have any childcare to start with so relied on us heavily.

The loss of wraparound care for key workers has caused problems for a lot of people. At my school wraparound key worker care is from 8-6 but now that rec, yr 1 and 6 are returning any key worker children need to go in their class group and cannot be in a key worker group. Classes start and finish earlier than the key worker groups so people have lost a few hours child care. Not the school’s fault as groups can’t be mixed. I’m staffing the key worker provision (which we’ve been told now needs to be teaching lessons and not child care between 9-3:15) but can’t have that for my child. I don’t know what the solution is to be honest.

It is all a shambles
We need to get the country back to work and we cannot do that until we get the kids back to school/childcare
We need some positivity and blue sky thinking around that

It reminds me of when our children when small started 3 or 5 mornings a week of nursery school - not enough to let that really be the childcare. I remember one point we were paying someone full time 8 -= 6pm to look after the twins but they were in nursery school from 9 - 12 noon every day except school holidays so we were paying someone full time just to ensure we both could work full time. To her credit she was very good at taking and collecting them and she did their washing and tidying up in our house in the mornings (and probably deserved a break in the mornings) but it is still very expensive for parents.