66% of my daughters reception class are in school this week

[Crazyoldmaurice]

We live in a very affluent part of South West London, avg house price 750k+

Turns out that 66% of my daughters reception class are due to attend school this week. There are 75 kids in her year group and all 48 keyworker child places have been taken (I was too late to book her on so have had to send an email!).

Hardly seems worth keeping the 25 other kids off at this point.

So the consensus seems to be that too many people are taking the piss by sending their kids in, even where both parents aren't keyworker and/or are able to wfh and/or aren't key enough for some posters.

Some schools will have a big proportion of keyworker children and have to ration to those with 2 out of the house keyworker parents, others won't. Some key workers will have tried to manage last time round and seen the adverse impact that had on them and their kids and their ability to carry out their key role.

I am not a key worker. Mine and my child's mental health really suffered last time from trying (and failing) to juggle everything. I was not able to be furloughed. I work in accounts - no-one would have been paid.

If I was eligible to send my child in this time, I would leap at the chance. And if the school decided he was eligible, who would anyone on this thread be to judge us and say he shouldn't?

I can't quite believe that there are teachers on here saying that other posters are putting their parents at risk by abusing the spaces. If at your school, people are abusing the privilege, take it up with your head who is placed to do something about it. If you are concerned about the risk to your parents, send your kids to school as keyworker places rather than place your parents at risk. Don't rant at anonymous people who are doing the best they can in the circumstances.

@flamebox

I'm a key worker. In tomorrow but off the rest of the week. Don't need to send kids into school but they said it's all or nothing. So they're going in and I will be home alone

See I don't get get that.

Last lockdown we had parents saying they worked 3 days and could they have that space?

It meant we were able to offer the other 2 days to another child for whatever reason they'd benefit.

I can leave the house to go shopping for essentials. I plan to do a little bit of shopping in every single one supermarket in the 'local' area.

one

I know plenty of keyworkers who were screaming for schools to be closed and are now sending their kids in...apparently they're thrilled that school will now be safer for their dc.

Shameless

Schoolchoicesucks
Did u want schools to shut?

My DD has a keyworker place but I definitely wasn't screaming for schools to close.

However I do wonder if some parents cottoned on to the fact that this time they are meant to be actually taught in the keyworker bubbles so it will be like private school class sizes and a bit less chance of covid being spread.

However I do wonder if some parents cottoned on to the fact that this time they are meant to be actually taught in the keyworker bubbles so it will be like private school class sizes and a bit less chance of covid being spread.

Do you think they've also cottoned onto the fact their behaviour is a bit, well, cuntish?

I don't know, I'm just typing my thoughts. It could be seen as an attractive proposition.

It's an attractive proposition for me to piss off to Dubai at the moment. It's an attractive proposition for me to have a support bubble which is different from my childcare bubble. It's an attractive proposition to get out of my house and interact with people as much as possible, so I could go to every single supermarket and pick up one item of food in each, every single day under the 'shopping for essentials' allowance.

Yes I get that. I'm not saying they should do it I'm just wondering aloud if that could have contributed to numbers being high this morning.

Nik yep
State as private class size for the few certainly is an attractive proposition indeed. Inequitable as it gets.

Thanks Sasha yeh agree last time people thought oh a few weeks I’ll just keep them home. After learning the reality of it no way this time.

Manteo I think it’s learning from last time and grabbing a place asap

Nik yep
State as private class size for the few certainly is an attractive proposition indeed. Inequitable as it gets.

Opportunistic parenting in a pandemic. How embarrassing. If they want a private education, they should bloody well pay for it.

Where are the teachers and unions in all this? Why are they not shouting louder and complaining that this is making them unsafe in their jobs?

I got an email from our school saying too many key worker parents have applied and the school cannot accommodate them all. They are now asking for evidence.

Is it possible that the majority of the school are key workers?

As mentioned in the op, what if someone is a childminder? Should they be entitled to a key worker place?

They are at our school Former

DfE guidance for critical workers includes the statement 'parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus response' and then goes on to list occupations.
This is difficult for schools to determine.
Honest parents will assess this themselves and take some responsibility.
For instance schools with large military cohorts...all children have a critical worker parent , but in fact only some of them are directly supporting the work around COVID. The MOD have supported identification of critical workers, supporting the COVID effort, rather than say a soldier who is employed to 'build bridges'.

@MarshaBradyo

They are at our school Former

Seems a bit bizarre to me. They're at home looking after children

Dh insists that he is a key worker. He could work from home but took dc to school. He was required to show evidence, which he did but I still think it's grey area.

We have been asked to give our Line Manager’s contact details!!

To verify keyworker status

@formerbabe

I'm feeling really bitter about this. Loads of kids in my dcs school going in under the key worker scheme. Right now I feel like my DC is one of the few being excluded to make it safer for the rest. Lots of people taking the piss to be honest.

People in this country are brilliant at bending the rules to suit them.

We won't get this under control if the schools are still packed out.

There is quite a lot of selfishness around KW places. We have had families applying where mum WFH a few hours a week as a charity coordinator and the kids are all over 13 with good access to technology.

If the rates don’t go down then there will be tougher measures.

I am teaching a full time table from my kitchen AND homeschooling DD at the same time. Is it tough, yes. Does she need to be in school- almost certainly. But I don’t actually need the place. Someone else probably does. So I’m not sending her in.

Honestly, it’s the totally entitlement of some people that has led to this mess.

Last time we were given letters from HR Director and told we were expected to access the keyworker provision (NHS)

I'm not sure why it wasn't set as "critical workers where both parents (or one where it's a single parent household) are working outside of the home. And justification and evidence needs to be provided for those who are working at home and only in extreme circumstances, by exception"

so for example, the poster who talked about being involved in calls regarding child sexual abuse, clearly that is not acceptable for children to hear and they should be given a critical worker space. But those who are doing admin roles and just need to concentrate () should absolutely not be getting one.

Schools absolutely should be asking for evidence.

I’m sure working in accounts is considered a KW role, if nobody gets paid if you don’t do it.

Some people will always take the piss. They can’t help it; it’s in their DNA.

Yes, you have obviously contributed to the numbers if you took your DC in this morning. Question is: Did you really need to?

We’ve now had confirmation of 2 places, but won’t be using them as we don’t want to catch the new strain. We will monitor and review this in a couple of weeks, but doubt we’ll be sending our kids to mix with all and sundry for a while yet.