to think it's not fair only key workers can get a school place now have to go back into work?

[mywayhighway]

Work are wanting us back in the office. It's been hard enough home schooling whilst wfh, soon we will be in an impossible situation. We are valuable members of society too, paying taxes so why can only key workers send their dc to school?

Totally agree with your point. Also in many cases it just serves to widen the gap between children.

I completely agree. There shouldn’t have been the blanket re opening for R, 1 and 6, just a wider opening for children whose parents have to go back to work and need a place.

From Monday more people who can't work from home (but are not key workers) will be required to attend work by their employers. Absolutely key worker children must have space in school but very real questions need to answered about what should be expected to happen to the children of non key workers who are now expected to return to work. I have seen signs on Fatface and Costa near us saying they are opening soon. What should families where both parents (or single parents) are non key workers but are required to return to these roles be expected to do? It is all such a sad mess

@whatshappeninginthisworld

In hindsight. There was probably scope for NHS nurses and many other front line workers to choose to whether they were prepared to work through this pandemic or be redeployed to safer areas.

There is no oath, it's goodwill and a commitment to their career to be exposed to the pandemic.

Well of course key workers children should come first. Without keyworkers (nhs staff, teachers, carers, refuse collectors, shop workers, food distribution staff etc) our food, education and health would be negatively affected. I'd rather see Sue the bread baker go to work, rather than Alan who power washes drives. Key workers are more important than other job roles.

Omg @Beautiful3 i can't believe you just said that!!! Are you retired? WFH on a big wage? Or just completely ignorant.

As I said before: vital / non vital :-/

Kids need to be back in school with limited social distancing, lots of hand washing, wiping down their own desks before moving classrooms, prepacked meals; name marked sealed drinks bottles and be outside as much as possible.
Mobilise the Army to help erect outside shelters for eating meals or use as extra classrooms in good weather. Whats wrong with the army setting up some 40ft shipping containers on a school site, they can be kitted out as temporary classrooms. People build homes from them so surely we can be inventive/ flexible.
Its time to get back to work and help the country recover or our kids are going to be carrying the educational and financial burden for a long time. Just take care with hygiene as best we can.

@Beautiful3 do you work for the gov? Thank god you don't get to choose who returns to work

Now that the economy is trashed, probably beyond all repair, every single worker is critical to try and get it back on its feet. Yes, fine while we were at the peak we needed to be certain that healthcare workers had school places. These days it's an arbitrary judgement about whose children get to have an education since anyone with the 'key worker' golden ticket is exercising their rights, no matter how much they had to stretch that definition to define themselves that way

My kids school is only open to children of key workers. Demand went from 5 places per week to 90 places after half term!
I think the school should be open to all children. Their right to an education has been taken away. Probably could have stayed open throughout in fact.

Key workers do need to be prioritised, as our jobs are key currently!

I'm a junior doctor. I have worked on the covid wards during the peak. It wouldn't have been much use for me to be at home at a time of such high need.

I do understand your frustration though, and I think schools should be returning to normal opening as soon as possible, both for the welfare of children, and the economy.

I’m really interested to see when the government decides that this switch can happen.

But there’s won’t be a switch. The key workers don’t stop being key workers because the number of cases has died down for a bit. It was always a case of finding a way to increase pupil numbers somehow. The failure to come up with any sort of plan as to how to do that is a cock up of epic proportions.

I honestly can’t believe some of the BS on this thread.

Yes of course many people are desperate for childcare and desperate to keep their jobs secure.

Let’s not pretend that all jobs have the same importance to society though eh. I know who I’d want to be at work if My kid got hit by a car tomorrow.

It’s frustrating for everyone some of the comments about NHS staff here are really depressing.

@ LittleGem28 In England all childminders and nurserys, preschools etc were allowed to re open to all families from 1st June and not just for keyworkers children like they were during the main lock down.

@Apple40
DS preschool is open however they can only take 15 kids at a time due to social distancing. The key workers children occupy all these places.

@whatshappeninginthisworld how would you allocate nursery school places?
I agree that there should be strict criteria around who is a key worker (have known a few people who stretchWe it) but how else would you prioritise?

YABU to pitch keyworkers against non keyworkers. But YANBU to think working parents who aren't keyworkers have been completely forgotten.

I'm in NI and the Executive literally hasn't mentioned childcare for non keyworkers. We're both wfh full-time with a two year old. At first we just worked fewer hours and alterated days looking after DD. But that wasn't feasible long-term, so we quickly found ourselves working all hours, including past midnight. Something had to give, so we have hired one of the women from nursery to come and babysit a few days a week, but obviously that's not an option for every family.

I'm not asking for special treatment or for anything unsafe, but after three months I don't think information and an approximate timescale are too much to ask.

We're not keyworkers, but that doesn't mean we can just take parental leave and leave our work undone. In our case, we're both university lecturers. I'm imagining if you or your children were due to sit finals this May, you would've expected those assessments to be set and marked in a reasonable timescale, not postponed til August because we have childcare issues.

@AIMD social distancing in preschool/ nursery is impossible. I suspect they furloughed half of their staff and therefore there aren't enough members of staff to care for more than 15 children.
It's just another way to take advantage of the furlough scheme. Parents have no choice but to comply.

The government guidance says nursery settings can't take more than 16 children per space so many have had to limit the numbers and the guidance says they should give priority to key workers. The guidance also states there are certain space requirements for small children.

I don't think nurseries are only opening to 15 children as a way to take advantage of the furlough scheme - they are simply following the guidance they have been given.

It states:

Providers are expected to ensure that there are no more than 16 children in a group in early years settings.

And

Providers must meet the following indoor space requirements:

•	children under 2 years need 3.5 m² per child
•	2 year olds need 2.5 m² per child
•	children aged 3 to 5 years need 2.3 m² per child

They can take up to 16 so an additional child per setting.

Well then the gov has again fucked up

@Bluebell1995 I am in a similar situation to you, working full-time in a hospital and DH working from home full-time and attempting to look after our 3 DC. Our Trust agreed to allow staff to take paid parental leave (allowance of up to 14 days per year) and to split it over a number of weeks, rather than take it in a block. Do I am taking a days parental leave a week until I have used up my allowance, which has been invaluable for mine and DH’s sanity. Might be worth discussing with your manager?

No, but because Non Keyworkers' circumstances aren't catered for

Our school does not have spare teachers; we have the space, but not the staff at the moment to take more than we're already taking.