Is the world and their dog key workers!!!

[anxiouscrazymum]

So I am not a key worker, I work 3 days a week and have 2 KS1 children.
I am having to adapt my hours around my children's school work and will just have to run myself ragged over the next few months like many others!
AIBU to think that some parents are taking the P@@s and using Key worker benefits to be bloody lazy.
Why are the allowed to send children 5 days if they only work 2/3?
Why are they allowed to send in if their partner is furloughed or working from home?
Why are they allowed to send children in of the just work weekends in a supermarket normally?
We have 14 out of 30 children in my DS class at school, they have the class teacher with them and also have each other.
I feel my children are being penalised and will miss out on school and social interaction all because I am not a key worker:
If there were less children in, the teacher would be able to undertake zoom classes and online interactions. Because of the number of children in we just get set daily tasks!
Sorry for my rant AIBU x

I'm a key worker who is home schooling her children. Your point?

@GeordieGreigsButtButtZoom and your contribution is "Loads of people are cheating the system" with zero evidence to back up the claim.

What are you even trying to achieve anyway? And who makes you the judge of other peoples circumstances. Mind your own business.

I think some Head Teachers need to take a good look at which children they allow to have a place

Parents are absolutely taking the piss. it's defeating the entire purpose of trying to cut down on people interacting in small enclosed spaces and stopping the virus from spreading. It's infuriating.

Does seem like some people are swinging it.

I think schools need to be taking a tougher stance and requesting evidence from parents such as a letter from employer which confirms they are a key worker and whether they're full or part time.
Just had this very conversation today with deputy head at our school.
The point of partially closing schools is to allow staff numbers on site to be lower, student numbers to be lower, people travelling on public transport to school to be lower and generally to help ease the rate of transmission so our poor NHS workers can catch a break sometime in the future.

Key workers are not just nurses.

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the Covid-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those working in prisons, probation, courts and tribunals staff, judiciary, religious staff, charities and workers delivering critical frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, journalists and broadcasters covering coronavirus or providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the Covid-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision and movement of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the Covid-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the Covid-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the Covid-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

Theyve now stated it also includes children without internet access and those without a quiet place to study.

Just because the teacher is in class supervising students it does not mean they are getting face to face teaching provision. In my school, students who are in school are working on exactly the same remote learning tasks as everybody else at home. The teacher supervises, doesn’t teach. This is because the teacher is run ragged dealing with multiple queries from all students about the work that has been set.

Not sure what other schools are doing. I am in secondary, so may be different in primaries.

OP - are you a single parent and your ex has no contact with his children? Or is your partner in an industry which is still working (and can't work from home)? If not, why is it all falling to you?

It all fell to me last lockdown because my husband is a keyworker and was out of the house, including some evenings and weekends - I was trying to wfh whilst homeschooling, completely on my own. I kept the children at home because of the hysteria about how dangerous setting foot out of the house was. Never again.

From what I can see, people are questioning any roles being designated as keyworkers other than NHS staff or teachers - I think we've ended up in this situation because of the beatification of the NHS and all who work in her during the first lockdown. We've managed to convince half the population that unless you work for the NHS or possibly if you are a teacher (or an Amazon delivery driver!), you aren't worthy of respect. And I know people on here would question whether teachers are respected.

I don't blame anyone for trying to get their children into school although I don't think anyone should be lying to get them in.

From my own experience employers (mine/dental). are much more keen on getting us in so they can continue trading - a lot of dentists are facing financial issues
We’ve been told that we must push for a key worker place - they will provide proof if needed
Basically it’s come to work or get fired
There’s no option of furlough this time either

In March the government closed our industry down So a lot of us weren’t classed as key workers and we were at home anyway so didn’t need the school place

We aren’t the only ones in this position
That’s at least one reason why there’s more kids needing school

Oh and those of us not supervising in school are also doing virtual lessons so students in school can also take advantage of this.

It is not ideal but as blended as possible.

The definition is very wide of vulnerable children. If you have 3 children and only 1 device or without individual bedrooms or desks then it looks like you could send your children in

I’ve heard this is happening in schools in my area. Even Year 11 kids (not vulnerable or SEN) in because their parent is a key worker. I wonder what’s happened to the masses who were screaming for schools to be closed because they are not safe 🤔

The problem is some parents are taking the piss but many aren't. Next door neighbour said a lot of the children at his kids school have a SAHP or parents who work weekends but also there are nurses and police whose children go there.
My children at secondary school. Youngest has 14 out of 23 in her class but eldest has just 6. I wanted to send them part time (and keep them home when not working) but I didn't have the option of part time.

But as a key worker I work weekends so have to do shopping etc on week days so it’s safer for my children to be in school those days then dragged round a shop

At the start of last month Mumsnet was full of people who clearly didn't understand the bubble rules over Christmas planning on mixing with lots of people, then people who were getting their Christmas shop delivered panicked that their broccoli would be stuck on the other side of Europe so all rushed to the shops as well as getting a home delivery, then last week we had 'my friends having a NYE party at an air B&B for 50 people should I report them' followed by lots of people telling them to mind their own business.
Why is that deemed to be okay by Mumsnet but parents legitimately sending their children to school - the school allocate the places afterall, not okay?

I'm a nurse so a key worker my ds 3 is going to nursey 2 morning as a week so I can get sleep after my night shifts. I could of sent him 5 days but did not want to be greedy . My teenagers so. Had chosen to do school online.

I am glad that at least some kids are getting high continuity.

It’s not about being jealous, it’s he fact that if schools are full of piss takers’ children, they might as well be open to all for all the good it’ll do. Someone on my FB’s children are going in and her husband is an elite sports person in a niche field that isn’t currently competing and so no benefit to anyone. DS’s old primary school are literally having to beg people to keep those children at hole and check up on people’s claims. That wouldn’t happen to actual critical workers if people weren’t taking the piss.

If schools have more kids in than they want, then they're not checking parents' status properly.

I know the government has changed the definition this time, but presumably not to make it easier to qualify.

And some people have said on here that schools are making their own minds up about who they will consider a key worker, so it's in the headteacher's hands to decide who they will offer places to.

Someone on my FB’s children are going in and her husband is an elite sports person in a niche field that isn’t currently competing and so no benefit to anyone

Elite sport isn't critical work so why is the school allowing it?

If there's a parent or parents at home, the kids should be at home.

Yes it's hard. Yes it drives you insane. Yes it's an almost impossible juggle and it's rough on the kids. But it's what hundreds of thousands of WFH parents are doing every single day.

I'm a 'key worker' but I work from home. My partner (not KW) works from home. I wouldn't dream of sending the kids to school.

The KW places aren't a reward for being a key worker, nor are they to make life easier for KW parents working from home, or so that non-KW dads with 'big jobs' can work in peace (which seems to be the subtext of many of the posts justifying sending kids to school).

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Viewing MN yesterday and today, it does come across like that.

Lots of selfish entitled people bending the rules because they "have to work". This being, they are WFH and aren't keyworkers but want their DCs in school - so they are lying to get school places.

& They're actually here trying to justify that because rules must apply to everyone else, but they've loftily afforded themselves some kind of special dispensation for taking the piss.

Nice for employers - they can get away with not making provision for school closures, change in hours, adapting etc because so many employees fully expect schools and teachers to be the catch-all to make employers' and their lives easier. Musn't bother the boss...

I've no doubt some of them are the same ones with Covid monitor/vigilante attitudes but as soon as they're inonvenienced in any way, their arrogant individualist attitude comes to the fore.

I know MANY families who have a KW but do not actually require their children to go into school 5 days a week but are sending them anyway for their own ease - which they have admitted to me.

Me and my DH are both key workers (him from home) and we are near enough running ourselves ragged around my shifts, his work, home schooling and a looking after our three year old.......but we are doing it because we know schools are closed for a reason (a very good reason considering today’s death rate) and if we can keep our son away from others then we shall. If circumstances got too difficult then we would have to send him in but at the minute we can manage.

I 100% agree that if key workers need to send their children in to school then of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but I do know many who are taking advantage of the situation.