Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Aren't teachers key workers and therefore ..........

55 replies

chopc · 30/05/2020 19:51

Haven't they been able to access childcare at schools?

Here I was sympathetic to all teachers having to deliver lessons whilst looking after their own kids and this just dawned on me.........

OP posts:
dragonmummy17 · 30/05/2020 19:54

Only when actually in school themselves... when at home, children also are at home

Natalie6543321 · 30/05/2020 19:56

I am working from home and haven't sent my daughter in as her nursery is closed. I have had to balance setting lessons and childcare like others. Some people won't send their child in as they are vulnerable or live with people who are vulnerable.

ConnellWaldronsChain · 30/05/2020 19:57

IME keyworkers have only accessed the childcare if they have been unable to WFH (which is the advice we were given) so I doubt that many teachers will have been using it except on days when they have been rota'd to actually be in school

The provision of childcare is for those who genuinely need it (i.e. no parent WFH/SAH and children too young to be left alone) and isn't just a perk that keyworkers can choose to use regardless of whether they have an alternative solution

I'm not a teacher but I am a keyworker

Italiandreams · 30/05/2020 19:57

As dragon mum said, and most nurseries around here have been closed so no good for preschool age , but that gets in the way of a chance to moan about lazy teachers .

Serafinaaa · 30/05/2020 19:59

Nope. I'm a single parent and teacher. I've been working from home with a preschool aged child, whose nursery is closed, and a five year old who can only go to school if I'm in too.

Snuggles81 · 30/05/2020 19:59

My children have been with me all the way through. When I'm working from home they are with me and when I've been in school they have been with me due their schools key worker provision not offering wrap around care and I can't get them to school and be at my job in another town at the same time. Once DH was furloughed I had a few weeks where he had them but now he is back at work.

Not sure what I will do when my class are back in two weeks as still no wrap around care available. This week and next they will be coming in with me.

pfrench · 30/05/2020 20:00

Here I was sympathetic to all teachers having to deliver lessons whilst looking after their own kids and this just dawned on me

Just dawned on you what? That you shouldn't have sympathy? That you should have been having a go at them like most people on here?

My school didn't have place for my child as a key worker, it had to be BOTH parents, despite what the gov said. So guess what, the school situation didn't suit me either - I had to record lessons around my child and around my partner doing his full time hours too. But there we go, national emergency, I didn't have a go at her teachers about that, I just sucked it up. I would have only have sent my child if I absolutely needed to anyway, because global pandemic without known guaranteed transmission details for children - so that would have been one day a week for the days I was in looking after other peoples key worker children. In my school, you could have a place if only one of the adults was a KW, so we had children of vicars, children of carers, children of police staff who were working from home.

Nothing 'dawned on me', I just accepted the situation and made the best of it. Meanwhile half the population and a big chunk of the media decided I was lazy and cowardly.

Littlebelina · 30/05/2020 20:01

Our school said both parents had to be key workers and you should only send them in if you couldn't keep them at home. After mentally counting the number of kids in ds class who had a key worker parent (and I missed at least 2 including ds as didn't realise I counted until I saw the list) I can understand why as it would have been most of his class.

FabulouslyElegantTits · 30/05/2020 20:03

Nope, we're classed as WFH so don't get childcare.

It's just dawned on me, you'll have to find another reason to lose 'sympathy' for us!

shellysheridan · 30/05/2020 20:06

I'm a teacher. My 3 year olds nursery has closed and is soon to offer me one day. My 7 year olds school could only manage one day a week key worker place. It was a different day. I've worked from home or when in work on a key worker rota myself my key worker husband has had them and wfh too.

thunderthighsohwoe · 30/05/2020 20:06

If their child is of school age then possibly yes. However many rely on grandparents, private nurseries or childminders for care of under 5s.

Luckily our 18 mo daughter is going back to my in laws during the day as of next week, but I know a few people whose childminders have not been working and they haven’t been able to get a place at any of these fabled childcare ‘hubs’.

thunderthighsohwoe · 30/05/2020 20:08

And as for childcare while WFH, the nursery that we use one day a week was only taking key workers’ children where neither parent could WFH.

CallmeAngelina · 30/05/2020 20:08

Oh, here we go again.
Us lazy fucker teachers moaning about things again.

Original poster
chopc · 30/05/2020 20:11

Didn't think the teachers would get so defensive but thanks for clarifying the key worker provisions

OP posts:
mondaywine · 30/05/2020 20:12

Nope. Got to be both parents as key workers. DD at home while I’m wfh and also no access to a space while I’m working in the hub.

IncrediblySadToo · 30/05/2020 20:20

@chopc

Didn't think the teachers would get so defensive but thanks for clarifying the key worker provisions
Really

I'd have thought being a GF, that was exactly the response you were looking for...

It must be at least 10 minutes since the last teacher bashing AKA 'genuine question' thread.

(And no I'm not a teacher - thank fuck)

LaurieFairyCake · 30/05/2020 20:28

Teachers don't get to send their kids in while working from home

It's basically a total nightmare

fruitpastille · 30/05/2020 20:31

We are both teachers but the children's school made it clear I should only take a school place if I had no other alternative and that the safest place for them was at home. As dh and I are both at home most days and I'm part time we manage. When I was on the rota to go in to work I was lucky that usually dh was at home.

Chickoletta · 30/05/2020 20:36

Teaching 9 hrs a day whilst also home schooling DCs 6 & 9.

fortunatelynot · 30/05/2020 20:37

A couple of teachers at my school were able to get their own kids into their schools. Not as easy as you might think though as one was offering part time care and another from 9 until 3. This meant the teacher could work from 9.30 until 2.30 which, despite what papers like the Daily Fail might report, isn’t as many hours as a teacher puts in each day.

Another two teachers have young children but are also on the shielding list as one has just recovered from blood cancer and another in recent months had an organ transplant. They were obviously back at work but due to these fairly recent conditions they fell into the shielding bracket and were heavily advised that their children didn’t attend any settings.

Maybe OP, it will soon dawn on you that ‘teachers’ are also human beings with their own individual circumstances, health issues and childcare problems that everyone has.

Original poster
chopc · 30/05/2020 20:40

@IncrediblySadToo nope it was actually a genuine question and I didn't know the answer

OP posts:
Original poster
chopc · 30/05/2020 20:41

@fortunatelynot absolutely which is why I have not said anything to the school about their home learning provisions.

OP posts:
IHateCoronavirus · 30/05/2020 20:56

@chopc

Didn't think the teachers would get so defensive but thanks for clarifying the key worker provisions
Yes, clearly you didn’t think. Glad we got that cleared up.

Another “defensive” teacher here clarifying her DCs have been at home while I WFH throughout. They have even been home when I have been in with the key worker children. It hasn’t been easy but we’ve got on with it, just like the majority of the nation.

But glad it “just occurred” to you to get worked up about our working conditions. Hmm

StaffAssociationRepresentative · 30/05/2020 21:03

Teachers at my secondary were turned down primary places as the primary schools knew that they were at home. Key worker places went to police, nhs and fire services

ShinyFootball · 30/05/2020 21:06

DH is a keyworker and at the start loads of people said oh will you send them to school.

I said no, I'm WFH, the places are for people who really need them.

I was surprised they even asked tbh but there you have it.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread