Who with DCs starting reception in September are sending to nursery 1st June

[Yankeedoodle123]

Just trying to get a feel, as very torn myself. Would be great if those with DCs starting reception in September could answer the following:-
Are you sending them to nursery/pre-school on 1st June?
If not then when?
What’s yours and DPs situation e.g are you both wfh, out at work etc?
Thanks so much

I'm torn too. DP is wfh & I'm currently furloughed but it looks like we're reopening early June. We ⁶have 2DCs DC1 (aged 4) starts school in Sept & DC2 (almost 2) is home with me. I usually work nights but work are only opening condensed hours so there's a chance I'll be scheduled day shifts (if any as I'm on zero hours contract). Leaving both kids home with DP is not an option as he gets called in to site most days with very little notice & is not able to take the kids with him. (Needs security clearance). My mum is also furloughed & has offered to have them if necessary but she lives 30mins drive away (1hr+ round trip twice a day).
I don't know what to do for the best. DC1 thrives when at preschool & is a handful (like most others I'm sure) atm. I'm at my wits end with the bad behaviour.

Having read the guidance I don't think I'll be sending him. He struggles with school anyway and being in a potentially different classroom with different teacher and less resources will only make it less enjoyable and less likely for him to learn.

However I'm a SAHM and ex early years teacher. Come September I'm not sure what I'll do. I'll reassess considering I'm pregnant and due October but if I need to I'll homeschool him.
My decision isn't really based on him catching the virus, more about the quality of schooling he will be able to access as for him it's the social and emotional side he needs to be spot on.

I'm in two minds about it too. I'm working from home with 3 kids so I'll still be off until their school years go back to school. I will probably keep her off until my other two go back and send her in for the last couple of weeks just to get use to being around other kids again.

Yes, assuming it’s open. I’m on maternity leave so not childcare related.

I'm torn about what to do. My son goes to nursery for two mornings a week (15 hours funded place). He is really missing nursery and loves going. Also he is due to start reception in September, and he has delays in some areas of development which nursery was really helping with. (We are doing what we can but obviously we can't do as much as nursery can, especially with interaction with others which was a big part of what they were working on).
Part of me wants him to go back ASAP but the other part isn't sure if it's for the best. Also others will need nurseries in order to work, I'm a SAHM so technically I don't need my son to go to nursery, he goes for his benefit. So would it be unfair of me to send him in in June? Or at all? I'm really not sure at the moment. Think I'll wait and see what the nursery say before I make any decision.

Really difficult decision.

DC1(4) is usually in nursery 3 days while I work (NHS), DC2 (1) was looked after by my mum, who is now shielding - she would also pick up DC1 from nursery until I got home an hour later.

DH is working from home since lockdown, he has been juggling this with childcare on the days I work, party flexing his hours and partly using leave.

Although I'm a key worker, we haven't been sending DC1 to nursery during lockdown, mostly because our nursery combined with another local branch to cover care for keyworker's children, so it would have been a new location and some new people to get used to as well as everything else being upside down, and as DH had to look after DC2 anyway, it seemed easier.

So I'm torn - I don't want DC1 to be at risk, but I think going back would be really good for him, particularly thinking forward to starting reception in September (if that happens!). I was very unwell with suspected Covid-19 in march (no tests then!), DH a few symptoms, children nothing but highly unlikely they didn't have it, but there's no guarantee of immunity, and we can't know for sure if we did have it.

We've had notice our nursery will be back from June 1st, and I need to tell them what we're doing and I just don't know. DH's work have been reasonably understanding, but he's running out of leave, and he can't keep working from home and doing childcare at the same time. We need to find childcare for DC2 as well now, so totally unsure what to do there, if we can get her into nursery and DH can keep working from home he could do pickup, but it's such a worry if we're doing the right thing. I have crazy ideas about quitting work to keep them safe, but then I know we'd be screwed as couldn't pay the bills.

Really interested in what other people are doing.

If you need to work, yes, I would. I don't think it makes much difference at all if they are starting reception in September. Some kids go to preschool, some don't. They all do fine in school. If you are a SAHP, I'd probably keep them off until things settle, particularly if school is just a few months away. You won't get this sort of time with them again and this kind of flexibility once you are confined to term times and the structure of the school day. If you need to work and can't do it well with your dc home with you, yes, I'd send them.

Mine isn't starting school in September, but yes, I would send him back next month. Even though my school age one won't be going back to school until probably July, if at all, before summer holidays (no clear idea when her year might start back). It means I can get my work done and get on top of all the things that I haven't been able to do. And it means dh can stop taking time off unpaid (self-employed) so I'm able to work a couple full days a week.

Thanks everyone, it’s really tricky isn’t it! I wfh, DP is out at work so I juggle my part time work around my only DC, but this is a challenge, and I feel my work is suffering and i’ll have to up my game over the summer. DC is in the pre-school room at a nursery, they want childcare needs by end of week so feel I have to make some sort of decision. He needs socialisation as had slow speech development and this has resulted in him not making friends very easily, but I want to make sure I do the best by him whatever that is! I may ask if I can delay him starting back til end of June as he can run through over the summer???

@Yankeedoodle123 I have the same concern with speech. I'm doing all I can though and his speech wasn't improving much in school nursery. Just the activities speech and language therapy gave us.

I will be sending my daughter, she is missing nursery and while we are doing as much as we can with her at home it isn't the same as nursery and they know how to word and present things so that the children understand easier.

We won't be taking her back to preschool on 1st June. Our older child is in year 3 so she won't be going back to school on 1st June either. We haven't made any definite decisions about the rest of the summer term and will see how things go over the next few weeks. If our older child is invited back to school later in the term and the transmission rate is low with good testing/tracing, we would send them both in. If not, we will keep both at home and reassess in September. I'm a SAHM so this makes the decision less complicated. I would dearly love both my children to see their friends and teachers before the summer holidays and am hoping, against all the odds, that things improve over the coming weeks.

Both myself and my husband are wfh, my husband in a demanding finance job.
We can manage but we want her back for her wellbeing, she keeps saying she misses her friends/learning/nursery games etc :-(

I thought it was reception, Y1 and Y6 who could go back? I didn't realise nursery could yet.

My reception child isn't going back, I'm a teacher, the government might be able to use me as a guinea pig but I'm not letting them do that to my child.

I think being protected from a virus that is still prevalent is more important. My kids are missing their friends and their routines but returning to school won't help with that, they can't play and will end up in different classrooms with different teachers and will have to get used to a new way of working. There is no point putting them through that for a sake of a few weeks, if they feel scared by it then they'll be worrying the whole summer about going back to school. I'd rather they looked forward to it.

Hopefully September will show a different picture where we can be sure that the risk is lower. So I'm waiting until then.

Me.

My dd3 has taken a massive step back. She used to be so confident and excited for school now she cries at the thought of going.

I’m so worried about her starting school.

@ScubaSteven I thought the same until yesterday when we had the local authority guidance sent to us by the school.
I looked online and gov.uk say nursery and nurseries in schools can open too.

I have one asthmatic DC in Y1 and one DC in nursery. Oldest won't be going back to school yet and I'd prefer to send youngest back to nursery - he's summer born and I feel he isn't ready for school anyway. I'd prefer him to have more time at nursery but the risk to my oldest's health isn't worth it for me.

If he's going to nursery, she may as well go to school.

It's a bloody horrible decision to make as it feels like keeping him out if nursery will keep him behind, and although I'm sure that school will factor that in, he'll still be the youngest in his class. Nursery also would have helped prepare him for school, with regards to structure, a learning environment, attention etc.

I will definitely be sending my DS assuming our nursery (in school) opens. He is missing his friends and teachers a lot, and I think the transition to reception -- which he is already saying he doesn't want to do because he likes nursery so much - will be easier if he has a chance to finish the year, say goodbye etc.

DH and I are both WFH (I am part-time but busy, DH is full time but not busy) and we have a DD in year 2. It's very hard trying to meet both of their needs and get our work done, and it will take the pressure off a lot if DS goes back. It will also mean that DH and I can give DD more one-to-one attention for a while, which I think she really needs more of.

Yes, my almost 4 year old will be going back unless there is a dramatic turn for the worse between now and June. He starts reception in September and as one of the younger ones I’m keen for him to have as much prep as possible.

With a current estimate of 136,000 active infections in a population of 66 million I feel as though the risk level is ok. It should be lower still in a few weeks. If R rises or things seem to be going in the wrong direction I will reassess. Although if that happens I suspect they will postpone opening things up again anyway.

My 12 month old will be starting with the childminder too. We will both be working 4 days a week from home in client facing roles that are incompatible with looking after young children. If I was a sahp or furloughed I might wait a bit but as it is they are both going back.

I think i won't send either of mine until both can go. 1 is nursery, he's September born so he has actually already done a year of nursery so it's purely for social reasons. My other ds is year 3. I fully expect that neither will go until September and am treating it as a bonus if they actually do. It would be nice if ds could go into reception and see his classroom and his teacher before September but he's a fairly robust chap and I think he would actually be ok and would settle well even if he didn't.

It's a big school with 15 classrooms and a big hall so I think it would be possible for them to bring in small year groups and achieve social distancing to an extent. However as I am currently working from home I would rather the facility was used for keyworkers children and those that need childcare to work. I appreciate my dc are lucky that they have each other to play with, and we have a garden/space to play. I imagine it is very difficult for some families right now and they should take priority.

I'm sending mine.

DH is currently WFH, I am having to take a reduced amount of work (part time, self employed and don't qualify for grant) so that I can homeschool my three older children (one is really missing school and requires almost constant supervision).

Even without work, I find it really hard to have the time for my 4 year old. He ends up watching tv whilst the others are working - loves playing with his 8 YO brother when he isn't working but could really do with time with children his own age. Not least to be reminded how to behave nicely (it's very different with older siblings at times).

We have no one at risk in our household and I am comfortable with all of them going back - am extended lay off is doing them no good. DC4 is definitely the one who will benefit most and I would be really worried about how he'd settle into school otherwise. Not least as school will probably be very different in September.

All this is probably entirely academic as I am still not convinced the required conditions will be satisfied by 1 June.

Probably not. My ds has never really liked preschool, he has tolerated it, but it would be a huge effort to settle him again. As it's a preschool it closes early July anyway so it would seem a lot of effort for just over a month. Have not totally decided yet. I work very part time and can do it evenings so not an issue with care.

Absolutely, yes, she will be back as soon as they open. The risk is low, we are both full time wfh and we are all suffering now with juggling it all. Key worker children have been going in since lockdown and if there was one group of children who would likely get it, it would be them but I don’t think there has been a spike in cases in this (or related to this) cohort (correct me if I’m wrong), so science stacks up that they are a low risk group. The risk to my families mental health is very real and a lot higher so on balance, it makes sense for us.