What is it really like out there (keyworkers and schools)

[ToCaden]

BBC news has said most schools only have 20 percent of its pupils, but the keyworker parents I've talked to say they have much more than that and even with some keyworker parents choosing not to send their children to school, children are still being turned away at the school gates.

So what's the real situation with schools?

And there seems to be a lot of key workers out there. Including many who could be working from home but are not being allowed to. Any insights on this?

For my contribution I'm an admin worker for the government. My role is solely computer based and could be done from home. There are hundreds of thousands of staff across the UK with my job role in the same position. None of us are being allowed to work from home and no satisfactory answer as to why has been given.

Our village primary of 120 pupils has 5 in. I am eligible along with lots of others but we are making it work at home as much as we can. Head has said if we have the odd day we can't do it let her know, but I don't want to take advantage.

I honestly didn't realise there was no teaching going on! I'm obviously a twat

Only my youngest is still school age (yr1) and i'm lucky enough to be able to have her at home with me. I don't know anyone who is a key-worker and using the village school. I just pictured schooling going on.

This week out of 540 we had 4 which is 0.007% By Friday it was 0.

@Babymamamama Schools have been left to have very difficult conversations with parents because of confusion over the government guidance. I know that the government have asked schools to provide child care for children of key workers but as with all services at the moment, schools have had to check that this is essential care. If more children come in to school, who could be cared for at home, the risk is higher.

There is no teaching going on because schools don't currently have the continuity of teachers to ensure effective teaching and some child care is being staffed by teaching assistants. Not to mention the unsettled nature of children in school at the moment.

Schools are having these difficult conversations and checking that children really need to be in school in order to protect the children of key workers who genuinely have nowhere else to go.

I know you've said that you feel 'unwelcome' and 'challenged and questioned' but I think that schools are doing this for the right reasons.

The best place for everyone right now is at home.

Our school has closed. The academy didn't like Risking their teachers.
As a consequence any children from the rural schools are now to go to a leisure centre en masse, staffed by leisure staff that were going to be sacked/furloughed.

3.5% of keyworkers children entitled to a place in my county. We start Monday (Scotland) so wether than number will actually take it up remains to be seen.

It's maybe a slightly higher percentage than Nicola Sturgeon indicated (think she said was around 1.5% ?) due to us having 2 military bases in close proximity.

Although that figure includes 0-5yrs as well I should add.

I read that the kids in school were just doing the the same stuff that is being set for the kids who are at home.

We can't teach, it would put the children who attended at an academic advantage.

Schools are not teaching at all. We have now dropped down to minimal staff per government guidelines so it would be impossible anyway.

This makes me sad that parents think schools are being difficult when they are being questioned and challenged.

Schools are working in very difficult circumstances and trying to protect their staff whilst keeping things as normal as possible for the children.

I hope no school feels at all guilty after all this has happened.

Are staff trying to keep the children 2m apart from each other while at school?

Yes, we are. It's miserable, to be honest. The kids are fed up, they can't do proper lessons because they're such a wide age range and they know they're just passing the time until they can be picked up. All the activities that would make things a bit more fun are off the table because of social distancing. They're bored and they're scared and their hands are sore and they miss their friends and routine. We had 15 of them in the day I was there, mostly boys. The girls wanted to talk about their worries. One cried, she wanted a hug and I couldn't give it.

One parent picked their two kids up and asked whether they'd had fun, "I've been bored at home all day!" they said. So then I had to pass that on to SLT. It's horrible, I wish I'd never heard it. Another is sending their kid in because they don't get on with their sibling and so it's a pain having them both at home at the same time. Truly, it's been the longest and hardest week of my career and I can't see it getting better any time soon. And I can't imagine what it's been like for the leadership team.

We have 241 children registered.

Of those 241 between 4-10 have been turning up each day. It really depends on shift patterns.

Way more tried to get in but our head teacher was very firm and cracked down on parents trying it on.

The children stay in the large hall during the day and can either sit at a table or a mat, both of which are a good 4m away from anyone. We've also marked the play ground into zones and showed the children two, metre-sticks put together to demonstrate how far they should be social distancing.

Staff wear gloves and things like surfaces, laptops and ipads are wiped down after use.

All staff are keeping apart. We now have a rota so if you're not in you're WFH. Even if you're in we now do staff briefings over video call in separate rooms.

We're all doing our bit but it's incredibly hard and eerie. It's really difficult keeping away from the kids when they want hugs or affection. Before all this you'd think nothing of giving a hug or sitting a little one on you're knee when they're crying, but obviously we can't now and it's very unnatural.

So yes, while the kids are safe and we're doing our best, it's really not a great place to be.

ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule

I hope you work at my school, although I suspect not. You summed up the situation at our school perfectly. The amount of children, their worries, sore hands, social distancing, lack of fun and enjoyment. If you work elsewhere, then it's a depressing thought that there's another staff team going through the exact same situation as us.

I send my children with the worksheets they got given in a teaching pack and they do some but don’t follow a plan. They play outside a lot which they like.

Two local primary schools with a combined roll of close to 700 and 3-10 kids using key worker access in total. If entitled to FSM kids can come in for lunch only - no one accessing this.

My kids are having fun and are happy but they are happy by nature.

Wow. It's so interesting seeing everyone's experiences.

I wasn't quite sure what was happening in schools in terms of education and social distancing so that's eye opening. Must be difficult not to think up fun little lesson plans to entertain the kids and stick to the rule of not teaching. When I worked as a TA I noticed the kids needed some brain stimulation to keep them happy.

And I can't imagine how you are managing to stop young kids from tackle hugging each other or getting close to you. My hats off to you. If they were going to set up an impossible task in hell for eternal punishment it would be trying to keep a bunch of kids 2m away from each other.

My heart would break trying to explain to a crying child that she couldn't go to anyone for physical comfort. Children are so tactile and the younger ones seem to need some kind of contact at the best of times to feel safe.

On the better side of things there seem to be less children in school than the ones I talked to (one a parent turned away because the school was over capacity, and the other a teacher who said about 60 percent of her class continued attending as their parents were keyworkers).

Dds school closed on Friday as they didn't have enough children going in to justify it remaining open. Secondary school in West London. It's sister school has closed too.

DD1'a secondary had about 30 at the start of the week, she said they were down to less than 10 on Friday. They are doing the online work that has been set in the morning then sports in the afternoon. DD2's primary is about the same in terms of numbers, I think there were 8 kids on Friday but two of those were the head's kids who normally go to a different school. For Easter they are joining up with another local primary and paying an outside provider to run a sports camp. That's going to cause me issues as she won't be able to walk home so I'm going to have to find a way of picking her up. Secondary are offering 9-12 only during the holidays, so she'll have to be on her own in the afternoon which ok but not ideal. Trying to decide if I'm comfortable with her getting the bus to pick her little sister up, they just seem to young to have to have so much responsibility 😢

Thank you for this thread- am a key worker and was debating whether to send my 2 youngest to nursery still but have decided not to, sounds horrible for everyone. Well done to all you teachers, you should be getting a clap across the country too

Our secondary school sent a letter out to all parents explaining what they’d be doing during the day with key worker’s dc. Timetable included core subjects/topic work and creative enrichment.

I’m not sure how many dc have attended this week but there has been lessons going on as there has been photos tweeted.

Those of us who aren’t keyworkers have had lots of work set for our dc, we’ve had an email explaining that if our dc need help in a subject they can email their teacher. This has worked very well this week, Ds emailed one of his teachers with a question and received an almost immediate response. Thought that was wonderful. We’ve had a testing wk with Ds adjusting to school life at home, it’s not been easy but yesterday was better.

I think given the current circumstances teachers deserve a medal.

11 kids that dropped down to 6 (secondary schools) and 20 teachers on site "using resources"

secondary 1500 students

200 students eligible to show up
Last weekend about 60 had registered interest
20 showed on Monday
About 10 on Wednesday

Rota has had to change regularly to reflect this so that a minimum amount of staff are working

Our school was in group with other small rural primarys, uptake fell to 0 so no longer offering. We have to go into a pool to go somewhere random with space if /when I am asked to do additional days (Nhs) . My DS has high ASD emotional needs and anxiety - this is NOT going to work.

My (teacher) friend's London school has on average 30 pupils (large primary) and a ridiculous 26 members of staff in each day. The children are being kept 2m away but it's hard when the classrooms just aren't big enough. It makes no sense to me to have that amount of staff in each day, all travelling from within a five mile radius, some using public transport.

I'm told there's very much a feeling of guilt amongst those with with health conditions. They're being made to feel bad by the daily emails lauding those still able to 'do their bit' by coming in.

Those at home are being asked to do a lot of extra, often unecessary work on top of planning lessons, online task setting and emailing kids/ parents. Friend said most spent 9 hours a day at home getting through all the tasks been set every couple of days.

Friend is worried that when things do get back to normal, it'll be very much a them and us situation, where those who WFH and those who went in feel pitted against each other. All perpetrated by management.

Other school I know, isn't like this so it does depend.

I took my kids out the week before the schools closed as the attempts to begin social distancing even then were affecting their mental health. Schools were doing their best and trying to keep it at an appropriate level for the kids but the changes, and the move from a previously very welcoming and open school was visibly stressing them out. Hell I've been thrown by the change in the nature of the place and I'm a grown adult - not a very tactile and easily worried infant kid!

I think there's around 10 kids in their school going in, but the head has taken a lot of abuse from some parents for trying to keep numbers as low as they can for safety.

The staff are doing a great job trying to still engage with the kids on Google classroom so the kids still feel connected but it's just a hard situation all around from every angle caught up with it.