What about nursery staff?

[Wherediditgo]

It may just be me, but they seem to rarely get a mention in all this? Aren’t their jobs just as unsafe as a teacher’s? Potentially more so due to the higher level of care required for pre-schoolers?

I am part of an education union and they recommended early years educators didnt go to work on Monday. My DD is in 2 mornings a week and I am thinking of keeping her home (i am on mat leave. She is booked in to keep her place). I think it's very difficult for nursery workers. They are so important but nobody counts them the same as teachers. I feel like putting my DD in when we dont need to (even though it's the key to my sanity) is a bit selfish. I know it would be chaos for so many families but I hope they close the nurseries if they close the schools, which it looks like they will. This virus is rampant. I didnt worry much through lockdown 1, but this one has made me a lot more cautious.

Obviously this is completely anecdotal. My DS is 18 months and caught Covid at nursery before Christmas. No symptoms at all. We only tested him because one of the nursery workers had a confirmed contact with a positive adult and subsequently tested positive.

She passed it on to 3 babies and they all tested positive but did not display any symptoms or infect their families. In our case we never stopped gigs, kisses or any of the affection and we still didn't catch it from him.

I'm early years and can't work as my 5 year old can't go to school so it has a knock on effect.

Aren't you able to get a key worker place? In Scotland (or at least my LA) those providing care for key worker children (ie nursery and school staff) are in the highest category for keyworker eligibility

Similar at my son's nursery. They've had 1 positive case, asymptomatic and none of the other children or staff caught it. My son plays with this little girl every day but was fine.

Just for the record my friend's son caught covid at pre school and passed it on to his family and they were all ill with it over Christmas. If it hadnt have been the Christmas break goodness knows who else would have got infected. It would have been passed off as bronchitis if it wasn't for his baby sister not showing symptoms and suspicions arising it was something more.

Nursery staff often get forgotten in this debate, so thanks for highlighting the issues and risks they face. Even with appropriate safely measures in place, you cannot socially distance from very young children as they need lots of support.
I'm in early years and caught covid from the setting, so did 70 percent of the staff, who then took it back to their families unfortunately. I feel very nervous for all nursery workers and worry about the risks.

My Dd 18 is doing a childcare course. She has to stay at home and continue with online learning Wednesday Thursday and Friday but is expected at her nursery placement tomorrow morning as usual. She's worried , I'm worried, the lack of information just makes it worse.

Thanks op, for thinking of us
My nursery has been open throughout
We have a very extensive covid policy and have made changes, which are costing a fortune, but it's still very much business as usual.
Social distancing is impossible in my workplace, children and adults both

I am a union member, some staff are most aren't. When I've talked to the staff who aren't about joining they all say it comes down to the cost of being a member.

I've heard nothing from my union.

There were 4 cases, staff and children, at my daughter’s nursery just before they closed for Christmas. Luckily I was off from the 16th so she was at home at the time. Also, we have friends who live locally and all four caught it when one of their daughters brought it home from a (different) nursery.

I think people think the measures put in place at nursery are enough. They aren’t. “We’re spending lots of time outside”. No we’re not, it’s too cold. Same for ventilation.
“We are cleaning regularly”. It’s not enough, children lick toys in pretend play, they chew things constantly, sneeze on things, wipe their noses with their hands and touch things. Then the next child picks it up, or the adults who tidy
Up constantly. It’s really bad. Cleaning can not happen as much as people think, and if it did it still wouldn’t be enough.
“Staff wear ppe at collection/drop off”. But in the room children literally sneeze and cough in your face whilst sitting on your lap.
“Lots of hand washing”. Not possible to supervise every child that washes their hands. They do it so poorly they might as well not bother.

@midnightstar66
Last time they didn't offer me a place as they said it was for emergency workers only - NHS as they'd had too many enquiries. Think every parent was saying they were a key worker.
After 5 weeks they called me to see if I wanted a place. I said no as I'd been put on furlough anyway due to lack of children at the nursery.
I normally work 7am-5pm and a keyworker place was 930-230 with no breakfast club or after school club so expect it to be the same this time.

@MondeoFan no I didn't get a place last time either but they were sending dc to hub schools which they were managing to staff with those able so I wasn't needed . This time round dc will go to their own schools and these will need staffed therefore raising the criteria level for childcare staff

Just checked local rates, following a link on another thread.

900 per 100k here. London Borough, Tier 4.

Expected to return to work in my early years setting this week, whilst my primary aged DD will be cared for at school on a critical worker placement. Emphasis on "cared for". I will still be expected to home-educate her after work.

Not going to lie, I'm anxious and resigned to the fact that despite my best efforts I am going to catch this through work, where there are zero mitigating measures in place. As a single parent, I just pray I will be well enough to look after DD if/when it happens.

It does feel like Early Years staff are often forgotten in this debate. They are extremely at risk due to the lack of social distancing. As a nursery worker who caught covid at work, I know first hand how risky it is, even with safety measures in place!

Seems as though the Early Years Alliance have written to Gavin Williamson and are meeting with senior DfE officials tomorrow, so hopefully something good will come from it.

www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2021/01/alliance-writes-gavin-williamson-over-appalling-exclusion-early-years-schools-reopening

Just to add, it may be that our nursery is unique in this, but some parents really aren’t helping. I picked up DD at normal time just once, I usually pick her up a bit earlier as she is still settling in. I couldn’t believe what I saw- parents waiting at the gate with barely a foot between them, let alone 2 metres. For the majority, couples were picking one child, and a few also had grandparents in tow. Several children’s parents had arrived and then went back in groups. General nattering outside the gate. I had to wait across the road for ages for the crowd to disperse before I went forward to pick her up. I was not impressed.

The nursery I work in has over half the children not coming in as parents are choosing to keep them at home (we are tier 4 and schools are closed in our area). We have 3 staff off so fortunately having less children works for us, but we have no idea if the government will agree funding for his term for those children who don’t attend, if they don’t then we may not survive

DD goes to pre-school, it's a very small rural one so most days it's less than 6/7 children. If they aren't bringing in any money, they might not survive or be able to open once things get "better". They have said they will be open.

DD gets the 30 hours - so we are considering not sending her as it doesn't cost us anything anyway - but can the pre-school still claim the 30 hours if we keep her off? I don't want them to be financially disadvantaged!