To take school keyworker place

[Fudgewhizz]

DD's school has said they can't accommodate all the year groups the government recommends due to space issues and it's therefore highly unlikely DD will be back before the summer. DH is technically a key worker but can work mostly from home so we haven't used a place. I am due an ELCS next week and on mat leave from this weekend.

I am so, so worried about recovering from surgery and looking after two kids on my own on the days DH has to go into work. We technically qualify for a keyworker place at school, I think DD would benefit, but I absolutely don't want to take up a place if it's not absolutely necessary. I can't work out if it would be reasonable or not. Normally GPs would help but obviously can't at the moment - one in very high risk group and the other has my grandma living with them who is also very high risk.

Please help me work out whether it's reasonable to ask for a place! We have about four hours to decide...

Totally reasonable. You need to do what you need to do for the sake of your own health and that of your family.
Good luck with the new arrival!

I think you may have missed the boat and all places will have been allocated by now.

If it’s the best thing for your child. Do it. Don’t feel bad about it. That is a lot to deal with.

Sounds totally reasonable to me considering you're circumstances.

As one random internet person to another, I think it's reasonable. You will be incapacitated, your partner will be working in a key role. I'd ring the school and tell them you need a place for at least a week

I don't think you would get a place now to be honest

Yes, as long as there's a place and they can take her then of course. My friends children who have been going throughout have really enjoyed it, and even though there are now more children back and so more measures, they've still found it fine. I'm sure she will be fine and it sounds like it's a good solution for you too.

Do it but contact the school asap. We were told today that if we thought we would require a place at all this term we had to let the school know by tomorrow. Myself and my daughter's Dad are both teachers waiting to hear the plans for secondary schools and so I had to tell them we might need a space in a few weeks.

Just talk to your school and see what they say. It’s not automatically ‘taking up a keyworker space’ in the sense that they’d have to say no to other families. Some schools won’t offer a place at all even to keyworker children if there’s a parent at home. You need to speak to your school and see what they say, they will say no if they can’t accommodate you.

Key worker places weren’t “allocated” at our school - parents rang up as their situations changed and they required childcare, and we accommodated. We have different children in on different days depending on the shifts their parents are working. I don’t think there’ll be any missing of the boat until schools are no longer required to provide this care, which will presumably be when they are fully reopen.

If they are full then I would imagine that will also mean for key workers children now.

Will your DH be able to take paternity leave?

I would.

I wouldn’t want to contract the virus from my child who had been in school whilst recovering from a csection

You can ask, but I don’t think you’d get one at our school. Good luck though!

@CarrieBlue yes that did cross my mind too...

To clarify - the school has only just announced their plans (nobody went back yesterday as our county isn't doing it til at least next week) and want to know how many key workers spaces they need. They are allocating for the whole half term as due to the 'bubbles' they can't swap kids in and out. Once they've found out keyworker spaces they can start asking year groups in priority order, ready to open next week or week after.

Remembering what it felt like doing the school run after a c-section, I wouldn’t have wanted to be doing that if I didn’t have to! I would also worry about the school age child bringing back the virus from the child of a KW. Most of ours are hospital workers.

Won't the school have criteria to decide who gets the places? Apply and leave it up to them to decide if you are eligible

Does your DH not have paternity leave? My experience was that a toddler, newborn and cs wound was manageable after 2 weeks of my DH being at home, elcs was far easier than the emcs first time round. Whilst the GPs were around, they didn’t help much and I wouldn’t have missed them if they hadn’t been able to help. Lots of meal prep now, even lunches that you get out of the freezer in the morning, forget cleaning/tidying as it’ll be there when your DH gets home.

Check the eligibility criteria. In my area (and others I have heard of), both parents need to be key workers and actually working to secure a place

To clarify - the school has only just announced their plans (nobody went back yesterday as our county isn't doing it til at least next week)

They've left it very late if you've only just heard about it. Sorting out staffing, bubbles, key worker groups, and then working out if they have space for others in less than a week is madness.

You can ask, but your school does seem unusual in being so behind on the planning. Most schools will have been working on this for weeks.

Assuming dd is above 5 then I'd rather keep her at home than be doing school runs and having to get her ready every morning.

I think you're being reasonable in the circumstances. Bear in mind about school picks ups and drop off though, if DH is at work will you be able to do those? Good luck with everything x

When your husband goes back to work when the baby is two weeks old will he also be able to get your child ready and drop them at school? Surely unless school is very close to walk to you will struggle with that.

If they're only allocating now then there is a good chance your DD would get a space. I commented to say I didn't think she'd get a keyworker space on the assumption that they allocated them ages a go but it seems logical that they keep the spaces open to apply for but this might be the final 'before summer' call to apply for a space?

@GrimmsFairyTales They've been working on plans for a while, they're just getting the numbers now. They had to wait for official line from the council (and were waiting for the PM's promised announcement on 29th which never actually happened as far as I can see...). It's definitely not that they've only just started thinking about it! I am in one of the areas of the country though that is ignoring the government directive to open today and is doing it at their own pace!

DH is taking 1 week paternity as we can't afford for him to take 2. I imagine his work will be flexible enough for him to do drop off and pick up - they tend to be really good about stuff like this, and then he can make up the hours from home.