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?

@KeepYourDistance2m there are many people in my situation and think the same as me. But many people are scared to say what they really think because of people like you who think they know better.
You know what they say: if You're doing well why would You care about the person next to you?

Only read op but my nurse colleague in a covid ward can't get a key worker place for DC as her ex isn't a key worker. He is a lazy feckless shite who is offering nothing to his children but she's still not applicable. So that's a specialist respiratory fucked with no child care!

Keepyourdistance - yes we have hall rooms etc. But the logistics of having the space to provide staggered lunches and outside break times, use of toilets whilst keeping to social distancing rules, etc, means we cannot get anywhere near full capacity. It's just not possible.

@TitianaTitsling this is fucked up too!

All jobs can't neatly be divided into keyworkers and office workers, so not sure why there are so many cries of "speak to your employer". If you work in retail and your shop is reopening in the coming weeks, working from home is obviously not going to be feasible.

whatshappeninginthisworld surely the existence of the furlough scheme demonstrates that some jobs are less vital in a pandemic than others?

My brother works in advertising. He’s been on furlough for two months now. Some adverts haven’t been made. Society has struggled on. DH works in software design. He is working (pitching for new business), but 30% of his company is on furlough. Some apps have not been updated. The world has continued to turn.

If an ITU closes down due to lack of staff, people die. Can you really not see the difference? Would you really have been clapping and cheering if hospitals had shut due to lack of staff at the height of the pandemic, just because that made it fair on everyone else? Do you think cancer scans and hospital appointments should be cancelled now, in the recovery period, just so that you can get back to your office job instead? Don’t be so ridiculous.

If we are talking about war, I assume you are aware that there were protected industries during the war, and that men who worked in those industries were exempt from conscription? People working in munitions factories, down mines, and in agriculture. I expect you think that was completely unfair too, rather than essential to winning the war.

I think it would be far more sensible if they relaxed the social side of lockdown slowly first, and once that's done then they start looking at sending kids back to school and freeing up the workers.

DH works in software design. He is working (pitching for new business), but 30% of his company is on furlough. Some apps have not been updated. The world has continued to turn.

This is such a shit take.

Without software the NHS would literally not function. If we stopped developing software, the systems we have currently would stop working. It's not something that you do once and leave.

You've just demonstrated that you have a loose understanding of what people you know do for a living, not that those roles aren't needed.

I’m talking about a three month furlough, in the middle of a pandemic. Not the complete eradication of those industries.

Demonstrably, society has coped.

I don't understand why we are being discriminated against.

whatshappeninginthisworld you are not being discriminated against. This is not discrimination.

Key workers aren't being given school places as some kind of reward for being wonderful people, or being privileged in any way. They are being given school places so that when any of us on this thread are ambulanced into hospital, there will be people present to treat us, rather than those people having to stay home to look after their kids.

@MissDollyMix If it's any consolation we have been refused a place because only one of us is a key worker. Like other people we are struggling to manage this.

I think it's just hard.

It's really hard if you are an NHS nurse or doctor couple whose kids are in school when no-one else is, worried about the dangers, plus struggling to manage shifts between you.

It's really hard if you're a teacher single mum who has to set and mark work whilst attempting to care for your toddler.

It's really hard if you're working parents who are now facing unemployment because your employer is unreasonably requiring you to come into the office.

It's really hard if you're a sahm, isolated and lonely with no adult interaction at all, home schooling or caring for babies.

It's really hard if you work in a shop, your kids are at school and customers are rude.

Let's just have some empathy and demand the government considers parents and children (full stop).

Schools where I am are not providing wraparound care. I'm a teacher in a different school to my grandson (I parent him). His hours are 9-3 and my hours are 8.30 - 2.30 (head only wants us in with the kids and then out of the building for cleaning) plus 1/2 an hour commute. Arranging drop off and pick ups for him is a nightmare. Either I break the rules in order to get a friend to do it or I don't go to work.

You need to direct anger at your employer who has proved it can be possible for you to work from home

However we are coming up for summer holidays, how would you have managed that?

But people who can wfh are still expected to do so, your work is BU to want people to return to the office.

Im a keyworker , so is my DH.

We cant use the keyworker spaces as our DD is classed as vulnerable ( not extremely).

Its a nightmare.

No my DC arent toddlers but they DO require support for their emotional wellbeing & secondary work .

Leaving them weeks on end , for me , is not an option.

Just because they can be left, it doesn't mean I should leave them.

It will start to become more of a live issue as employers lose patience with employees and childcare. I think key workers should absolutely be prioritised but that isn’t enough and there needs to be some real thought given to how the hell parents are going to manage to work with flexi schooling or possibly even no schooling in the medium term. I’m still desperately hoping cases will have dropped low enough by September for everything to just open as normal.

Yabu. Schools can't wave a magic wand and get new classrooms and staff. If you have children then childcare is your responsibility, school is not childcare.

[quote whatshappeninginthisworld]@TitianaTitsling this is fucked up too!
[/quote]
It is our local authority will only give child care if BOTH parents are key workers. We're on the verge of sticking a 3 yo in the family visiting lounge to ensure she can work..

DH and I are both key workers outside the home so our children are in school, but I must admit I think the guidance that now encourages schools to allow DC with one key worker into school regardless of whether there is another adult at home is silly. They should have prioritised families where both parents (or the one parent in the case of single parent families) have to work outside the home.

Everyone, worker or not, is important. But there are some roles that are ESSENTIAL to keep us all alive, safe and as well as possible. It’s not rocket science.

Not having access to my hairdresser won’t be dangerous for me, not having access to a doctor could. That doesn’t mean a hairdresser isn’t a valued member of society.

This is a GLOBAL PANDEMIC ffs. Some sacrifices need to be made. It’s shit. Shit in some ways for most and in most ways for some. But it is what it is and with tolerance, kindness, acceptance and strength we will get through it. Jealousy, resentment, anger and frustration are totally understandable but not very helpful.

@Supergran58

Schools where I am are not providing wraparound care. I'm a teacher in a different school to my grandson (I parent him). His hours are 9-3 and my hours are 8.30 - 2.30 (head only wants us in with the kids and then out of the building for cleaning) plus 1/2 an hour commute. Arranging drop off and pick ups for him is a nightmare. Either I break the rules in order to get a friend to do it or I don't go to work.

I'm in the same position. My school are letting me start late or finish early but I can't keep on doing it if there's no wraparound in September. I'm going to advertise for a local person to pick them up but I don't know if that will be allowed.

@KeepYourDistance2m my sister works in a nursery and she has told me that keeping the social distancing is a nightmare.
It's literally impossible at times. Kids will be kids and will come in contact with each other one way or another.

The social distancing should be relaxed in nurseries/preschools/schools and people be given the choice. If they are not comfortable with sending their children to school then they shouldn't. If teachers think they are in the high risk category then they should stay at home.

It seems to vary from school to school, as to the criteria under which children are being offered places. DP & I are key workers, he works shifts & I work 2 days, now from home. I kept DS 9 years old at home. School sent a questionnaire to all families asking for their circumstances during the May half term. They then offered DS a place for my 2 work days, knowing I am working from home. I've taken it up as of last week as there is talk of a possible rota for returning to the office next month. My work have said they will allow anyone that cannot come to the office for childcare reasons to continue wfh until September. I know some of my colleagues cannot get school places so I can help them by taking one for DS that was offered then I can go in if needed.

Please educate yourself on your completely ignorant post. Schools do not have the resources to take children back, there is still a risk and the goverenment and schools are expecting teachers to become baby sitters and put themselves and their families at risk which they legally have no obligation to do so.