PRIVATE SCHOOLS allowed to open reception year?! How is this fair? Why aren't all reception classes open then?

[Worriedlyworried]

All schools closed... unless you are paying privately and in reception that is!

Just heard a close family member is sending their child in to reception in their public school which is allowed to open as reception is EYFS.

How is this fair?

Nurseries are allowed to open as EYFS but shouldn't all reception classes in all schools be closed in primaries to only the vulnerable and keyworker children?

Seems there is a handy little loophole for the well off parents of public schooled children. Either they all should be closed or all early years should be open, not just to the privileged elite.

My son is in private but Im not well off. He has funding from the school, I use his DLA to pay my share of the fees and his dad and grandparents also pay a big share. Im in a HA home and get tax credits due to being self employed and a carer for my eldest disabled daughter. But private was essential for my son's wellbeing and mental health. But I dont drink, dont smoke, dont buy new clothes, etc. We all make our choices.
So Im gutted by the schools closing - he started in year 9 in Sept '19 and has spent as much time at home as he has in schoo due to lockdownl. But I dont begrudge those who are allowed to go in.

Life isn’t fair....never has been, never will be.

@Worriedlyworried

But surely it boils down to that when children and adults can stay at home, they should be doing so to limit the spread? Numbers, classrooms and facilities asides it should purely be about ensuring as many people as possible stay at home?

I agree and it's the 'should stay at home and all in it together' aspect that sticks in the craw. I'm getting very short shrift on a thread I've started in anger at my 82 yo mil invigilating this morning

Let's be honest.

Kids who are not vulnerable do not NEED an education at age 4.

Now, as a parent of a 4-year-old, I'd love some childcare as I work from home, but that is a separate issue. Private school kids are not really advantaged if they an extra term of reception. The others will catch up easily.

barbarahanson I assume you are joking? Children are the least able to social distance. I teach teenagers. They constantly forget they can't touch each others stuff, borrow a pen, grab their phone to show them how to access an app, shove each other down the path, pick up someone else's bag, squeeze through a door at the same time... The pictures you see on BBC news of social distanced classrooms are fantasy. Having said all that, I still have no issue with reception being in.

Resentment is a cancer in this country.
Resentment isn’t good. But the UK has vast income and lifestyle disparities between regions. For a developed and wealthy country it is also a very unequal one. If you put France, Germany, the UK, Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Scandinavia together, and then picked the poorest regions from that group, research shows they are virtually all in the UK. Research has shown that the poorest areas in the UK are akin to Romania, Slovakia or Lithuania. The important ting to remember is this by design. “Trickle down” wealth creation theory has repeatedly been proven to be a crock of shit. A government either actively slows absolute levels of wealth inequality - IE takes measures to keep, say the top 20% at no more than four times the bottom 20% (in the UK this is currently five times+) or it just lets the market rip - you can call this “Trickle up” as that is exactly what has happened. No guessing which path Britain has chosen thanks to its election of 65% Tory government since WW2.

We've just had a letter from the private school actually (it's for ages 3-18), and they are quoting the guidance as Reception in all schools having to close.

@hamstersarse

I don't know how people have not realised yet that private schools are doing a MUCH better job than state schools

And I say this as a parent of private school kids

It's a disgrace

The state sector offer to pupils, along with lack of PPE in schools and the care home tragedy are going to be the three of the biggest scandals that come out of this mess.

Chucking up links to Oak Academy and Twinkl is not a fucking curriculum.

Not teacher bashing - where was the government minimum guidance?!

Of course if you take the very, very soft Labour Blair government out of the equation (during which wealth and income inequality continued to rise at an unaffected speed) you could say 80%.

I would imagine that state schools are not opening because:

• they have more vulnerable pupils so have to keep the staff who are in school for those pupils in later years
• they have more staff who are vulnerable/who have exercised their right not to work in an unsafe environment
• they may have more KW staff (low paid e.g. nurses, food workers)

I’m actually in the top 1% or 2% income bracket, but I just call it as I see it. As Buffet says, there’s class war all right, and one side is getting their asses kicked. I think the con is also slowly dawning on the middle classes who are now providing the next course for the elite.

where was the government minimum guidance?!

There is none. Some of my friends with state school children last time were telling me what their children were getting and mostly it was appalling.

Literally chucking out a worksheet once a week....for kids in GCSE year.

Mine had full online lessons within a week, homework marked overnight, a weekly report to me about what work was missing/ general performance, one to one online meetings with form teachers.

It isn't fair at all

Jesus, at least make your mind up what you want to bitch about
Ha ha. We all want to moan about everything right?!

So yes, technically State schools are allowed to open reception to all children as it falls under early years provision but many cannot have that group in school and still provide the much-needed spaces for key worker and vulnerable children.

Our state school has also shut the nursery for this reason.

The local private nursery is open, to all children who normally attend, as it is allowed to be under current guidance.

You win some you lose some.

Chill OP. My DC attend two different private schools. Neither is opening their Reception years. So you’ll be relieved to know those children will be as bored, sad and lonely as everyone else’s.

I work in a private pre prep. I’m in the nursery class so we will obviously remain open. Our Reception class contains a lot of keyworkers kids so they would have to come in anyway. Head teacher hasn’t made a decision yet but I suspect she will keep Reception open.
Interesting to hear a member of Sage on BBC news this morning saying he couldn’t defend the decision to keep Early Years open. He stated that it was a purely political decision and not based on Science.

Parents pay huge amounts of money to send their kids to private schools so those schools can probably afford to have all the necessary safeguards and PPE for school staff. The parents of private school kids also pay tax for schooling their children don't get.

You have the choice OP to send you kids to private school and have them educated but you will have to pay extra for it. Perhaps everyone else will get a refund in the taxes they pay towards the non-existent education most state school kids are now getting

Interesting that state are not taking chance to remain open. I suppose numbers to KW etc in reception will be roughly same to private size in some cases.

My kids go to private school and they have closed the nursery too, it’s in a completely separate part of the building and completely isolated - with only ten kids in it!

Nightmare.

@Seasaltyhair

My kids go to private school and they have closed the nursery too, it’s in a completely separate part of the building and completely isolated - with only ten kids in it!

Nightmare.

That’s odd! Did they give a reason? I’d ask why

NettleTea

My son is in private but Im not well off. He has funding from the school, I use his DLA to pay my share of the fees and his dad and grandparents also pay a big share. Im in a HA home and get tax credits due to being self employed and a carer for my eldest disabled daughter. But private was essential for my son's wellbeing and mental health. But I dont drink, dont smoke, dont buy new clothes, etc. We all make our choices.
So Im gutted by the schools closing - he started in year 9 in Sept '19 and has spent as much time at home as he has in schoo due to lockdownl. But I dont begrudge those who are allowed to go in.
Bookmark

We all make our choices? Really? You get money and housing handed to you for gods sake!!

Our state school have opened reception as it's early years - my son will be going in.

Not at our private school

@Seasaltyhair

My kids go to private school and they have closed the nursery too, it’s in a completely separate part of the building and completely isolated - with only ten kids in it!

Nightmare.

Presumably a tiny school To keep the school open for 10 pupils - I totally get why they would close

It's in the guidance. EYFS can open. It's down to the school whether they do or not:

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/949187/Contingencyframework__implementationguidance.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/949187/Contingencyy<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/949187/Contingencyframework__implementationguidance.pdf" target="_blank">frameworkimplementationn_n<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/949187/Contingencyframework__implementationguidance.pdf" target="_blank">guidance.pdf

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021

Literally days ago everyone was complaining that Eton wasn't opening so why should any state schools have to open. Now we've got private schools open and people complaining that their state schools aren't?

The massive chip on your shoulder must be exhausting.