I am a key worker should my kids go to school?

[Keepgoing88]

The guidance was that they should only go to school if they cannot be looked after at home. Has this guidance changed? Mine only go to school when I'm working but what I don't understand is that are they now/from 1st June allowed to go full time or is it only when I'm working?! Confused!

The Govt said the earliest that certain years would go back is 1st June and that is conditional on the situation with infections and the R rate then. Have you actually been informed your DC are to go into full- time education from that date as a key worker?

Yes, the guidance has changed this week. I'll be sending my year 7 child in after term, and my reception child in hopefully with his cohort, but if not with the other keyworker kids.

The emphasis has changed to encouraging all key worker children to go in, but that doesn’t mean you have to.

Send them. We've been sending ours in 3 or 4 days a week since the very start, even though technically I COULD look after them at home as only DP is a keyworker. But the provision was there and we took it. The school have only had a handful of kids in each day (max 20 out of 600) and they were totally cool with only one of us being a key worker.

Both me and DH are key workers. We are able to work from home, so kids aren't going to school and aren't in school years due to go in

Yes, the guidance has changed to encouraging them to go in, from now. Doesn't mean you have to send them, but is a definite change from "only send them if you absolutely have to." I am considering sending mine in Y7 and Y9 back soon.

My school is only having keyworkers children on the days you are working. As we are only there as childcare so you can do your essential work. We have sent children home when it's come to light parents are in the garden enjoying the sunshine most days. The same applies after 1st of June. The only children we are encouraged to get into school apart from r yr1 and yr6 are vulnerable children.

@toolatetooearly what was your rationale for sending them in? Colleagues of mine who are sending them in (because both parents are key workers and are out of the home) are then having to do homeschooling with them after pick up time. I genuinely don't see the benefit!

I think you should continue to send as needed. That's what our key workers are expected to do. We will only open our school to small groups at a time until we feel they are safe and ready to follow new rules and behaviours so no one is just heading in to school full time. But that is our school.

My 13 year old has been going in two days a week. I may increase to three after half term as I work full time. I'd send them in

Mine have been going once a week for the last few weeks. We're both keyworkers, able to mostly work from home, but we both needed to be more available to go into our workplaces, and we're luckily able to organise it for the same day, so only needing one day of school. I'm not increasing it at the moment as we don't need to, but plan to send them back fully as and when their year groups return.

Mine go on my work days, which are usually 4 days a week. I am planning to continue this.

In our area only those without childcare for key workers are going in

As such the high school only had about a dozen in total

I admit it makes me mad when I hear 14 year olds are in

They do not need childcare (issues aside that is)

toolatetooearly our school told us both parents had to be keyworkers, after initially offering us a spot (DH is a keyworker).

Both key workers here that cannot work from home but we won’t be sending our older one back to school until his year opens to everyone else and the younger at nursery won’t be going because we don’t need her to to be able to work (shifts).