Nurseries staying open

[meow1989]

To coin a mn phrase: is Boris on glue?!

So now I will have to pay to keep my toddler off to keep him (and us) safe?!

I think there's something to be said for considering closures on a case-by-case basis. Furlough should be given to nursery staff in vulnerable groups.

But the choice for many families is not work from home and care for their young children. It is quit/unpaid leave. Everyone who works with young children will know that you cannot simultaneously care for them and work - it is impossible. So please don't pretend that it is an easy matter for parents to work from home and care for their children and they are just being selfish not to do so. How can it be right, for example, to leave a two year old unattended for 2-3 hours due to an online meeting or conference call?

People talk about children not being at risk, but the consequences of parental inattention can be fatal, as they were in this case: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/01/baby-drowned-hot-tub-mother-working-home-inquest-hears/

I have a lot of sympathy for nursery staff, but I will not put my child's safety at risk. I will not leave him screaming in his cot for hours because I am in a work meeting or risk him jumping off the sofa and hurting himself because I am trying to teach from the next room. Or not give him lunch or let him soil himself because I am too busy with work to make food or help him with toileting. Looking after young children is a full-time job...I can't do that and another job.

@notevenat20

Our nursery shut down. Are there really nurseries that will be open?

It’s a shame your nursery is closing against government advice. Have you they given you their rationale? I’m very grateful that ours is staying open given the decision taken by some to close

I really appreciate everything nursery staff do. However, if they closed they would be furloughed and able to pay their bills, whereas I would lose my job and home.
They may find they have no children to look after when they reopen again.

What a relief, though I’m a key worker so would probably retain a place regardless, though this would likely be in a nursery DS hasn’t been to before - I know that last time that they opened one of their three nurseries and staffed it on a rotational basis. I don’t know whether I could send DS into such an uncertain situation at just 18 months.

If I was a parent with nursery age children I’m sure I’d be thrilled I could send them in. As it is I work in one and it does feel completely like nobody gives a shit about us. We’re not all young, wtf was that comment about? In my nursery the majority of staff are over 40, half are over 50 and some over 60. Only a very small percentage are under 30.

But also... surprise surprise, we have our own families too, who we put at risk by spending all day with loads of other people’s children. I don’t mind, it’s my job, I enjoy it a lot, but if school isn’t deemed safe then why is nursery?

Honestly, I cried with happiness when they announced nurseries were open - my baby is one and the two weeks they’ve been going have also coincided with a dramatic increase in development. Plus they no longer screams at other kids their own age which is nice. And I really didn’t want to juggle SAHP with a demanding toddler.

However, in light of the new announcement we’ve decided that, to protect the staff, we’re disbanding our support and childcare bubbles so they’re now going full time instead of part time. We’re also moving to only online shopping. Hoping to show a little solidarity and appreciation for the staff by almost self isolating (aside from walks in large open spaces) to limit the risk that he will take something in. Hubby and I can survive with work and zoom as our social outlet if it means our baby gets the social time he desperately needs.

Me me me. We are all in this together eh? Obviously not by the look of these comments. Stay safe in your homes

Does everyone who uses a nursery WFH? Or are there some you deem more worthy of keeping their jobs?

[quote GoldenPoppy]@Tumbleweed101 yes, we have been told that disiplinary action will be taken as it means that staff havent been distancing properly. If too many people are off it affects the running of nursery. Even during the summer months it became policy that staff were not allowed to meet up outside of work (within government distancing guidelines) or for a bubble with any other staff or family who used the nursery, even if related. Our immediate management are quite anti testing as it means staff would be off. Also no payment for isolating. It's shit.[/quote]
This is awful. I’m so sorry you are in this position - is there a way for you to whistleblow, even if anonymously?

I run a nursery and a staff member has a family member who works in another nursery and she was told to come in to work even after being told by NHS test and trace to self isolate. She had spent half a day in the company of someone who then tested positive so it wasn’t a false alarm notification but the nursery management didn’t care and expected her in.

On other occasions they had also asked her and other members of staff who had symptoms and had gone for a covid test to come in an work up until the results were back.

Awful, unforgivable behaviour with no regard to staff or community safety. Do try to challenge it if you can, although I appreciate it is hard to do.

Angelofdeath yes that seems your nursery is closed except to key workers and vulnerable children. Nurseries attached to schools can decide whether to stay open or to close- it does seem that all I hear of are closing. Sorry

Ours isn’t opening. It’s on a school site but doesn’t feed in to the school or anything, but they’re treating it the same as the school. Very sad for my little boy, he is desperate for some other child interaction

I am so grateful to nursery workers and I really do feel for you. It's a horrible situation and distancing is impossible with tiny children. However I am so relieved they are staying open. I have an 11 month old and a 2.5 year old, the younger one is too young even to dump in front of the television while I work.

In return, parents should do everything they feasibly can to mitigate risk - I'm not a keyword so I haven't been out even to the supermarket since before Christmas other than for local walks, and I pulled my toddler out of the preschool he attends once a week so there isn't a transmission risk between two different settings. Our nursery are implementing 5 minute drop off time slots which of course we'll follow.

For everyone saying nurseries are safe, please have a think about this. At my nursery, 70 percent of the staff caught covid recently. Almost all of those staff then unfortunately transmitted that virus to their own families, including their children. Whilst most children might get only mild symptoms, please spare a thought for all the staff that are putting their lives at risk working in early years settings.

Not SAHP - WFH.

I do think nurseries wil be safe.

Parents wfh / older siblings not at school

There reallly isn't anywhere they can catch it from if we are in lockdown and being sensible.

@GoldenPoppy

I work in early years, Im over 45 and clunically vunerable. Today I was in a room with 42 children from 40 households. 1 staff member tested positive on friday. Another( her best friend) is in today with a bad cough and temperature. She was asked by management if she felt she needed to go for a test, she refused as she is terrified of the disiplinary action we face if more than 1 person gets covid. I have rocked a poorly child in my arms, been sneezed on, had a nose wiped on my uniform and had children coughing in my face. I am terrified.

So sad for nursery/early years staff that no one -on here or in the government - gives a stuff about.

All these people saying they need their children to go to nursery for their mental health - why did you have them if you dont like having them at home?

There reallly isn't anywhere they can catch it from if we are in lockdown and being sensible.

Parents who are nurses/bus drivers/shop staff?

What a horrible post below. I think you'll find that people said it was hard to cope at home with children under 5 and a full time job which is hardly the same as not wanting your kids at home. You must be in a very privileged position to not understand how difficult this would be.

Thank you to all frontline early years staff, you are critical and appreciated.

I think it’s great. Nurseries are a completely different kettle of fish. I speak only from my own experience of two with my small kids but the bubbles are far smaller and even in a high risk area we haven’t had any cases in ours. I understand primaries as the classes are bigger and there’s likely to be more mixing outside of the classroom. It’s allowed many mothers parents the ability to continue working and safeguard their jobs and finances. I think it’s the right decision.

Sorry when I said below I meant lockeddownandcrazy's post

@BorisandHarriet it's the same in my nursery where I work. Half the staff are over 40, 1/4 over 30 and the rest over 20.

I'm due back tomorrow and my 15 year old will have to look after my 5 year old whilst I go to work-normally I'd use a breakfast club and after school club and school during working hours.
My 15 year old will have school work to do herself via the school app.
I've asked for furlough, they said they will let me know.
Last time around numbers in nursery dropped massively so I didn't have to work and was placed on furlough.
I just don't know what to do. For now I'm expected to go in even though I have no childcare.

@ArtichokeAardvark

I am so grateful to nursery workers and I really do feel for you. It's a horrible situation and distancing is impossible with tiny children. However I am so relieved they are staying open. I have an 11 month old and a 2.5 year old, the younger one is too young even to dump in front of the television while I work.

In return, parents should do everything they feasibly can to mitigate risk - I'm not a keyword so I haven't been out even to the supermarket since before Christmas other than for local walks, and I pulled my toddler out of the preschool he attends once a week so there isn't a transmission risk between two different settings. Our nursery are implementing 5 minute drop off time slots which of course we'll follow.

That is lovely and really considerate of you, although it’s obviously not legally required.

The parents keeping their children off at my nursery have been the ones we predicted would and ironically are the ones I’d feel safest with coming in as I am the most confident that they are abiding by the restrictions and not mixing with other people where it’s not allowed.

Obviously it’s not the case that everyone who is still coming in is a gung-ho rule breaker (!) but a large portion of the families have not been adhering to the guidelines (their children speak of sleepovers, play dates, parties etc) and there’s very little we can do about it. It’s this behaviour that worries my staff the most as they feel their health and that of their families is being gambled with.

Seriously if nursery staff are worried and annoyed there is no staying at home on furlough... genuinely i suggest looking for another job.

I work in a nursery and am not happy with this news. My nursery is located in london and currently at full capacity and no doubt majority of children will still come. In December we had a few cases of covid and had to shut..we have only just returned and the staff are visiting anxious. If the schools are shut we should be too..I'm hoping they will review this as i understand its being challenged.

@Eternia

What a horrible post below. I think you'll find that people said it was hard to cope at home with children under 5 and a full time job which is hardly the same as not wanting your kids at home. You must be in a very privileged position to not understand how difficult this would be.

Thank you to all frontline early years staff, you are critical and appreciated.

So its ok to put nursery staff and their family at risk? For people like the comment "I am so grateful. I was dreading it and don't know how my mental health would have coped"