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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

So parents now have 5 days to...

320 replies

Tanaria · 30/12/2020 17:07

... find appropriate childcare?

The announcement that secondaries are not going back until w/b 11th with exam classes and w/b 18th for all other years, together with the very vague "some" primaries will be shut in high-infection areas.

Given that most of us have been plunged into Tier 4, how will we actually find out whether our children can go back to school?

OP posts:
HugeAckmansWife · 30/12/2020 17:40

My summer born y7 boy most certainly could not be home alone all day. He wouldn't hurt himself but would feed himself cereal and chocolate and be on one screen or another all day. I'm a teacher, so not currently sure what the bollocking hell I'm going to be asked to do with regard to in school teaching exam groups or distance learning for everyone else. Throw in two tweens in different schools and I think my head will explode. This could and should have been decided 3/4 weeks ago.

LegoAndLolDolls · 30/12/2020 17:40

I think for some kids parents it's going to be choice of neglect or pay the bills.

I'm a sahm right now as I got made redundant while waiting for my son to be placed in a SEN setting and it's been too much stress juggling childcare with his needs.

But if he was NT and I needed to keep my job? My kids would be home alone.

The thing that gets to me is the last minute nature of everything. I wanted to go back to work last year. I think I'm going to leave it until the kids are in secondary after this year

Belladonna12 · 30/12/2020 17:40

The majority of parents won't need to find childcare as most secondary school children stay at home by themselves.

loulouljh · 30/12/2020 17:41

i wouldn't leave my 12 year old at home all day alone. And certainly not an 11 year old! So yes it leaves very limited time, again, to balance work and childcare...

StealthPolarBear · 30/12/2020 17:42

I have a very mature, September born year six, so probably days younger than your boy. If I left her alone all day she'd probably make dinner and hoover round. But I still wouldn't be at all comfortable doing it. Whereas my slightly immature year nine would be fine. Completely agree

Original poster
Tanaria · 30/12/2020 17:43

The majority of parents won't need to find childcare as most secondary school children stay at home by themselves.

...looking after their 4-10y.o. silblings, in many cases in our school...

OP posts:
Bathroom12345 · 30/12/2020 17:44

Yes, secondary school age are likely to be able to manage either without a parent being at home or because lots of us are wfh be able to manage themselves.

They should not be allowed out to meet friends, and claim they are bored etc, we all feel like this.

idril · 30/12/2020 17:44

Redbridge also not on the list which is extremely odd with one of the highest rates in the country!

supersonicginandtonic · 30/12/2020 17:44

My year 7 aged child would certainly not be safe left at home whilst I was at work. He definitely would not do any school work.
I can trust my older ones but definitely not him.

kowari · 30/12/2020 17:45

@Plussizejumpsuit

Can the secondary school age children not be left alone in most cases?
All day every day for 11 and 12 year old children? I don't trust it will only be a couple of weeks. Then you have the 13 to 15 year old teens who could be left if their mental health hadn't been affected by weeks alone in lockdown one.
Bathroom12345 · 30/12/2020 17:47

Maybe eating chocolate and cereal isn’t the end of the world in the middle of a pandemic. If that is the worst of the issues you face it really isn’t that bad.

Velvian · 30/12/2020 17:47

@nancy75, Gavin Williamson should have been sacked for that ridulous comment about Britain getting a vaccine approved first, because it is a much better country.

I mean, there is misreading the room and then there's Gavin Williamson.

SimonJT · 30/12/2020 17:48

How is Hackney not on the list?

Belladonna12 · 30/12/2020 17:48

All day every day for 11 and 12 year old children? I don't trust it will only be a couple of weeks. Then you have the 13 to 15 year old teens who could be left if their mental health hadn't been affected by weeks alone in lockdown one.

That's what happened in school holidays when my children were that age. The same was true of their friends and my colleagues children .

SilkiesnowchicksandXmastreecat · 30/12/2020 17:49

My y9 is SN but no EHCP so no help. He requires me to do 90% and 3 attempts with lots of throwing self on floor, screaming, growling and stomping so not been able to work since March and no government support as started self-employment in 2018. But hospitals are over 100% capacity here so not much alternative but would be nice if the government offered a bit of help.

Babyroobs · 30/12/2020 17:49

@britnay

but surely most secondary age students don't need parents to stay at home?
Many will have at least one parent working from home, or if parent/s are key workers they can still go to school.
BringPizza · 30/12/2020 17:49

This was foreseeable. Mixing at Christmas (cancelled too late for far too many to have impact), schools begging to be able to shut early to prevent the same chaos after the break and being penalised if they made that decision. The new strain, which, as published days ago, spreads faster among young people also. Winter in general. It's not rocket science to see what should have happened weeks ago.
This absolutely and with bells on. Anyone who is genuinely surprised by this must have been living in a cave. I'm no fan of Boris et al but if they give days of warning they're condemned as being too slow to act, if they act promptly they're condemned as not giving enough notice. We are all grown ups here.

Sarahandduck18 · 30/12/2020 17:50

Secondary pupils do t need childcare.

TragedyHands · 30/12/2020 17:50

It's a mess for so many people, but why are you saying no notice?
It's been a year now, no provision is certain atm.

kowari · 30/12/2020 17:50

@Tanaria

The majority of parents won't need to find childcare as most secondary school children stay at home by themselves.

...looking after their 4-10y.o. silblings, in many cases in our school...

I think I would have been in a better position at 14 looking after my much younger sibling than my DS 14 home on his own. At least I'd have had company.
Belladonna12 · 30/12/2020 17:50

@loulouljh

i wouldn't leave my 12 year old at home all day alone. And certainly not an 11 year old! So yes it leaves very limited time, again, to balance work and childcare...
What you do in the school holidays then? Do not have a job or are you teacher? Most people have to leave them alone because there is no childcare usually once a secondary school.
Belladonna12 · 30/12/2020 17:51

@Sarahandduck18

Secondary pupils do t need childcare.
I am sure that there are some who are too immature but most don't need it.
niceupthedance · 30/12/2020 17:52

Redbridge has 9th highest cases in England but not on the list 🤷‍♀️

Didthatreallyhappen2 · 30/12/2020 17:52

I assume that these measures apply to ALL schools, both private and state? Anyone know for sure?

Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum · 30/12/2020 17:52

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay

I know things are constantly changing, but it certainly demonstrates what a willywaving arse Gavin Williamson was, ignoring Greenwich council's decision to close schools a week early before Christmas.
The schools should have chosen to close if cases were high. My secondary in London did this a couple of weeks before term ending. You just have to work with public health England and regional regulator.

What Greenwich and two other boroughs did was make a political dig. Yes the government should have closed schools nationwide two weeks before Christmas. However as there are systems in place to deal with high numbers of cases in schools these councils were playing games.

The sensible schools in my own borough ignored our council when they tried to copy Greenwich. Only the schools with a serious problem stayed shut.