Are nursery workers as vehemently against opening as primary school staff?

[TheGriffle]

All I’m hearing at the minute is how it’s not safe for schools to open, how all the teachers are against it etc.

What do nursery workers think? They will be going back with the age group least able to keep any distance whatsoever and with the possibility of reduced toys and reduced free flow to the outside space.

Are nursery workers as against starting back as schools are?

Our nursery has stated they will be opening towards the end of June and I will be sending my 3 year old. Me and Dh are key workers but our nursery shut completely and I didn’t feel it was fair on dd to have to send her to one of the hubs that was opened so we’ve tried to work around her being at home.

Our nursery staff are really missing the kids too and seem keen to go back. We live in an area where there aren't many cases so that might help.

I’m glad to hear the children will still get cuddled etc. I’ve read on here about some schools won’t comfort/patch up the kids if they’re hurt etc to stay safe and was a little worried that would carry through to nurseries as well.
Our nursery will be ringing in a couple of weeks to let us know how it will all work. The only sticking point I can see at ours is that two rooms share a free flow playground so I’m guessing they will have to have allocated times to be outside instead so they don’t mix the groups.

Most of our nursery staff are young women so low risk I guess which helps but it must still be worrying for them.

Please get this right - it’s not the teachers who are against going back, it’s the unions. They are the vocal ones. I work in a school with 50 teachers and all but one are desperate to be back.

My DD has been in nursery (baby room) throughout. Staff have been furloughed due to low demand, but apart from those that are shielding/vulnerable, most are coming back next week and they are opening to 50% capacity. The staff have been fab, no change in their care towards the children. In the baby room they say that they've made a few adjustments but they clean so much it hasn't been a huge upheaval. Some guidance they have is bizarre (cots for naps 2m apart, even though the children play/eat together for the rest of the day??) but they've cracked on with it. A couple of staff who came back from furlough (they did a month on/month off) seemed a bit anxious to start in conversation but that seems to have eased pretty quickly.

Letters going home saying children won't be comforted if hurt, not changed if wet etc

Is this actually happening? DD's nursery sent a letter specifically saying they would comfort children and basically not to send our kids back if we weren't happy with this - it wasn't worded like that but there was a long list of points we had to agree to such as parents not coming into the building on drop off/pick up, not sending child in if anyone in the house had symptoms, and one of the points was that staff may physically comfort upset children. If we don't confirm we are happy with the list then we can't send our child in.

It's lovely to read about the dedicated, resilient nursery workers who can't wait to get back to work, to care for and educate the children and get the economy moving again This country needs to start valuing EYFS and its staff more and paying them a salary that reflects the vital role they perform.