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?!

Tellytubby, I agree it seems like Covid is here to stay. This does not explain why early years sector staff should be Guinea pigs! If that’s the reasoning behind there being no concern for this sectors safety, then lets throw caution to the wind and open all educational establishments and it’ll be survival of the fitness. So glad I don’t work in England and so sorry for English early years staff!

@LollyBeebee123 - realistically rates of Covid will go up in the spring not now...right now rates are controlled. once 15mil are vaccinated and restrictions are lifted - teachers and early years will all be sent it

Tellytubby, but until then teachers in England are safely tucked away at home and to hang with early years staff! How anyone thinks this is fair is beyond me. Early years staff in England need to take action!

I am keeping my child off preschool. I am a sahp and I don't think its worth risking sending my dc to preschool. Also, one less potential spreader. My dc has just turned 3 and will be entitled to 15 hours free . Does anyone know with experience if that will still continue or is my dc likely to lose their place as not attending ? I spoke to the preschool head last Friday and said dc won't be coming in this week and will see how things go fir the weeks after. She said OK, just let me know. But I didnt get a chsnce to ask about the security of dc''s place and funding? Can anyone with experience please advice me? I will be contacting the preschool in the next few days to say dc will not be going in for at least a few weeks (possibly until feb half-term) given the ever increasing cases ,so will ask the head then but I am q bit worried if dc might lose place and/or funding? Has anyone lost their place or funding for not sending their child in?

@bluebeck

I thought animal care did count as key worker?

It's shocking how many of you have either been refused a school place despite being a key worker, or have been unable to secure furlough from employers.

I blame Boris for not making it mandatory for employers to give parental furlough to anyone not KW who requested it. Fucking Wankbadger.

Animal care is not classed as a key worker. The girl that works for me has had to beg the school to let them go in.

Nursery bubbles are not smaller. Our bubble consisted of 25 today, 6 staff and 19 children in a classroom. We only spent 15 mins outside all day. We sit on the floors with children. So are face to face with them. At some points there will be 4-5 children all within less than 1 metre of me, all on floor level so not like I’m standing and they’re sitting. It’s not safe. Staff are taking it home but no children have shown symptoms.

@LollyBeebee123

Tellytubby, but until then teachers in England are safely tucked away at home and to hang with early years staff! How anyone thinks this is fair is beyond me. Early years staff in England need to take action!

I can assure you that teachers are not safely tucked away. My husband is in everyday teaching online and supporting key worker children.

@LollyBeebee123

Tellytubby, but until then teachers in England are safely tucked away at home and to hang with early years staff! How anyone thinks this is fair is beyond me. Early years staff in England need to take action!

Not at my school. All teachers and TA's are in. This time round there is no restriction on the number of key workers children and vulnerable you can have. Each teacher will be teaching their own class, providing online learning, plus some live teaching sessions online.

Yeah ok Vicky Ford. It’s clear for everyone to see that early years staff are regarded as dispensable and only there to herd the under 5’s away from the buses. Florence you are right about having no voice and having no supportive union. You all need to take action, now! They (Boris and his cronies) are assuming you’ll grumble and then just carry on with the job. Stand up for yourselves!!! Petition the government with your concerns, as this is an outrage! Anyone who thinks it’s fine for early years sector staff to continue working when it’s deemed unsafe for others who work with children should hang your heads in shame. It’s not safe just because it suits your personal circumstances.

@WaltzingTilda

When shut or not attending the pre school can carry on claiming your 15 free hours so they should hold your place.

Tcc81 but he’s not working with the usual number of children and in a small environment with lots of other adults, no social distancing and no PPE!

@LollyBeebee123 - no one thinks that early years teachers are dispensable. equally, they haven't shut things to save teachers. they have shut it to keep old people safe. once old people are vaccinated - rates of covid amongst the rest of the population will go up before they have a chance to vaccinate us all.

that means by the spring - both early years, school teachers and everyone else will be much more likely to catch it than now.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566718

Just putting this here for anyone who is concerned or wants to support us working in Early Years. Sorry if it has already been posted here. x

I work at a pre school, we get coughed on, sneezed on, change numerous wet changes, give hugs and cuddles when needed. Social distancing doesn't exist. We don't feel safe. Its been hard today when you've got parents dropping off say how happy they are that we are open so they can spend quality time doing home school with thier children, when inside were just thinking "well thats great for you I've just had to leave my young children trying to do home learning while thier dad is working full time from home and can't help them and goodness knows what I'm going to bring home!"

Oopsiedaisy1 ✔️ done! Good luck🍀

It’s awful leese26 so sorry you’ve had to experience this! Some people are just ‘I’m alright Jacks’. Sign oopsies petition and share share share!🍀

@LollyBeebee123

Thank you for supporting our sector. Have been quite tearful today worrying about mine and DD's situation (posted upthread)

Tellytubby early years staff also know old people and some are quite old themselves. Also I’m sure you’ll not be surprised to learn that ‘old people’ are very frequently the people who drop off and pick up nursery children. I don’t really understand what your point is.

Glad to help even in a tiny way dumbledory. I am a nursery teacher in Scotland. We’re being more supported/protected by government. So sorry this has happened to you all🍀

@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.

42 nursery/preschool children in one room!? even without covid, that sounds hellish!

my sons nursery has 3 buildings/5 rooms. no more than 16 in each room, masks at drop off, (even though i hardly ever arrive at the same time as another parent) and the first thing i hear them say is "go wash your hands" when I drop him off

I for one was giddy with relief at the news they were staying open, (partly for my own sanity) My monkey started in september, got closed for 3 months when he had not long settled in, went back for 3weeks before doing the room move that he should have done in the first lockdown, just settled in with his new keyworker in the new room after 4 months and had to move into the final preschool room, if they had shut for 6 weeks of pure mummy time (daddy is deployed) i think trying to get him to settle again would have been an absolutely nightmare. He is already clingy to me cos daddy isnt home consistently and before he started at 2 he was at home with me all day everyday. His 3 day days being independent at nursery are very important.

The risk is minimal at their age and spread to staff is massively less likely with schools closed - the only case in our nursery all year was traced back to an older sibling picking it up at school.

I do genuinely feel for nursery staff who are worried, more so if they themselves have school aged kids. But this has been one of Boris's only decisions that i agree with!

@dumbledory

For those who are interested, The Early Years Alliance have just posted the DfE's reasoning for keeping Early Years open as usual, when all other educational settings have been shut. In short, it is to allow parents to work from home distraction-free, so the economy ticks over. There is mention of under 5 year olds having the lowest confirmed covid rates. It fails to mention that the test itself is almost impossible to carry out on that age group and many parents would be unwilling to put their children through that. Understandably so, but I feel that this is misleading to use as a reason when we all know anecdotally that Covid does spread through Early Years settings, given that we are working face to face, with no distancing measures or PPE. We also legally cannot request test results from symptomatic children and staff are relying on parents being honest.

You can have a look at what was said here:

www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2021/01/dfe-provides-update-rationale-behind-decision-keep-early-years-providers-open

From a personal standpoint, I'm an early years worker. I'm also a single parent to DD9 who is currently being assessed for autism. We have been alone throughout this. There is nobody I can bubble with for childcare or otherwise. Her father and family have been mixing as normal, so that is not an option.

This means DD going into school as a keyworker's child, so I can work, albeit I will be considerably late for work each day, as wraparound care is not running.They won't be educating her (I'll be trying to homeschool her after work) and she will find the change in routine/familiar faces that have her such a mental health boost over the Autumn term incredibly upsetting...

I'll be working with open windows and cleaning of resources being the only mitigating factors. PPE is not allowed...two year olds (quite naturally) do not socially distance...or wipe their own noses...or cover their coughs. There is no way of knowing which families have or have not stuck to the guidelines. Our small team is made up of workers aged 30-60.

It is felt that our sector have been thrown under the proverbial bus, with little regard from government or parents for the fact that we are working in an unsafe environment. At this point, I personally feel that it is inevitable that I am going to catch this now and if/when I do, I just pray I will remain well enough to look after DD, or else we are stuffed.

I love my job - I truly do, but I love my daughter more and just want to be ok for her...feeling pretty sorry for myself right now, but am resigned to the fact that this is happening and there is nothing I can do except put my head down and get on with it.

Although I would be more comfortable if we only opened to keyworker and vulnerable children, I truly believe that every parent should do what is best for their child and family and if that means sending them to early years settings, as government permits, then go for it.

my 3 year old son has been tested twice and his nursery asked to see the results before allowing him back in....

@LollyBeebee123

So glad that you have Nicola Sturgeon following the science and looking out for you. Hope England follows suit, but I fear this is one u-turn they won't take.

@CateJW

Unfortunately, not all settings are equal, as several of my early years colleagues have emphasised on this thread. We are a preschool and our local authority is insistent that we follow department of education guidelines to the letter, or else risk out on funding. So although we could put similar measures in place, we legally couldn't enforce them if parents were unhappy/unwilling to cooperate. Financially, we are not in a position for parents to stop paying - bit of a catch 22. It's such a minefield...

I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if this is a repeat.

The gov.uk Coronavirus dashboard now has a heat map of cases by age split into 5 year portions. You can clearly see an increase in cases ages 15-19 from September onwards, 10-14 from about October-ish and 5-9 possibly from end of November. The 0-4 category has a fairly low case rate, albeit increasing slightly towards the end of December (192/100k) which may be why they were willing to keep the Early Years open? With the schools shut perhaps the rate will manage to stay below a particular threshold they deem to be the limit, and if not they can always close the nurseries at that stage?

Everyone is stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. The gov should have forced early years settings to close as it's much harder to justify not producing enough work to employers who know that the settings are open.

I WFH. I am also classed as a critical worker, I am responsible (as in my name is on a licence issued by the MHRA) for the product quality of nearly 800,000kgs of pharmaceutical distribution every month - this includes COVID vaccine distribution. My DD is 3 and her school nursery is remaining open, which was a surprise as I expected them to close due to being under the discretion of the school.

I really must send her to nursery. If I drop the ball at work, it could impact public health and I could end up in bloody jail. It's really not the case that we are palming our kids off on EY staff just because we can't be arsed looking after our kids. No doubt some people do but I believe that's the minority.

I am truly thankful for what you all do, but with the greatest of respect, what response do you expect from parents on here? We will agree to voluntarily keep our kids at home and continue to pay full fees? Or not pay? Surely you all have your own bills to pay?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53168714