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.

If it is deemed to be ok to have 66% of children in school then the places need to be offered on a rota basis, as it was from June onwards at our school. 15 students in for 2 days, deep clean on a Wednesday and then the other half of the class come in.
If it's not ok to have this level of mixing then the rules need to change.
What is happening at the moment is not ok. How can it be fair for the kids who are not in school.

@formerbabe I honestly don't understand why you are so obtuse?

Some childminders will need a place over some accountants because the childminder will facilitate other job roles.

We're in a lockdown, what's the point of closing schools if only children with a sahp stay at home.

?
For one plenty of people who are wfh don't have kids or have older kids so there is zero point of them being off public transport & home?
Some people can wfh with school age kids.
There is some benefit to reducing school numbers even if attendance isn't zero.

So...there's plenty of people struggling to home and wfh.

What's that got to do with your point about why CMs don't need to homeschool over the summer?

I strongly suggest you phone your primary & request a place. You may learn something...

@MarshaBradyo

That's fine for a day or a week but not for 6 weeks plus

Do people get this is the situation they are expecting others to put themselves in?

Exactly , we are all having to do this but for so many it seems it’s unacceptable . Why unacceptable for yours and jot everyone else’s?

Why unacceptable for yours and jot everyone else’s?

Tbf a lot of people in this country have no issue with things that impact others but benefit themselves hence Tories/Brexit/BTLs/2nd homes etc.

Tbf a lot of people in this country have no issue with things that impact others but benefit themselves hence Tories/Brexit/BTLs/2nd homes etc

Yes, this. The problem is the government's guidance draws the net for critical worker so widely that in many schools the majority could claim to fall within it. Which obviously means that schools - if they followed DfE to the letter - are open pretty much as normal and not safe for teachers or children (so unions should be on this - lack of workplace safety) .

DH is supposedly a critical worker (he's really, really not and he's WFH all the time with a lot of flexibility about how he structures his day - his employer has written and said he's a 'critical worker' and it frankly makes a mockery of the whole thing).

This very wide definition means that pushy, selfish people will shout the loudest and get a place and the truly vulnerable kids, without a parent who can advocate loudly for them, will miss out.

Yet another fuck up by Gav and the DfE. They should let Heads decide, they know their families and who really needs a place and who doesn't.

According to the DfE we qualify for a place. i'm going to be honest it's shit homeschooling and it's far less good for my daughter who has some SEN. But you know, if no-one accepts that they maybe need to work together and accept some disadvantages to get this virus down, we're going to end up with mass graves. I'm not asking for a place, even though it's not ideal, but I will complain if I feel others in a similar situation to us are sending their children in as it is of direct disadvantage to us as well as directly creating higher risk for the teachers and the NHS medic kids.

I can't believe the utter selfishness of some people in this country, I suspect we're doomed.

What do people think to this?
My friend is in Lincolnshire and this came from the headteacher today basically saying if you can keep children home please do but lots of keyworkers literally have no choice

What do people think to this?

I think it’s a well meaning but misguided way of dealing with it. All it means is people who don’t mind taking the piss will continue to and others who probably should be using a place will feel they can’t.

If they need to set a limit (and I’d imagine they do) then they should set it and then come up with some criteria. Our school you have to show that both parents are key workers for example.

My niece has a key worker space at her primary school (year 1). Both my brother and his wife are working from home but apparently my sister in law is a key worker so that makes it ok!

My niece has a key worker space at her primary school (year 1). Both my brother and his wife are working from home but apparently my sister in law is a key worker so that makes it ok!

Prize piss taker!
Meanwhile I’m working 12 hours a day trying to home school and do a full time job from home.

Fucks me right off that some think it’s only for others to make these sacrifices and not themselves.

To all those who are using a place where there's only one keyworker partner, because their child needs the place because their mental health suffers/they don't do well with remote learning/the non keyworker parent would be snowed under otherwise.....what do you think is the case for those of us without keyworker status? I have a child who was out of school from March until the end of the academic year - his mental health really suffered, he's due an ed psych assessment that now won't happen for months and months, he needs a lot of input with home learning, I can't fit my work in - he doesn't get a place: tough shit. We have to manage.

Honestly, it's neither here nor there whether it's better for your individual child to take up a place that you could manage without (even with difficulty), esp if you're choosing to send one kid in but not all of them, as in some of these posts - the point of what we're all doing is to suppress the spread. I've really had it. Very few people seem to be thinking beyond themselves now.

@IloveJKRowling thank you - glad it's not just me feeling this way!

@IloveJKRowling

Tbf a lot of people in this country have no issue with things that impact others but benefit themselves hence Tories/Brexit/BTLs/2nd homes etc

Yes, this. The problem is the government's guidance draws the net for critical worker so widely that in many schools the majority could claim to fall within it. Which obviously means that schools - if they followed DfE to the letter - are open pretty much as normal and not safe for teachers or children (so unions should be on this - lack of workplace safety) .

DH is supposedly a critical worker (he's really, really not and he's WFH all the time with a lot of flexibility about how he structures his day - his employer has written and said he's a 'critical worker' and it frankly makes a mockery of the whole thing).

This very wide definition means that pushy, selfish people will shout the loudest and get a place and the truly vulnerable kids, without a parent who can advocate loudly for them, will miss out.

Yet another fuck up by Gav and the DfE. They should let Heads decide, they know their families and who really needs a place and who doesn't.

According to the DfE we qualify for a place. i'm going to be honest it's shit homeschooling and it's far less good for my daughter who has some SEN. But you know, if no-one accepts that they maybe need to work together and accept some disadvantages to get this virus down, we're going to end up with mass graves. I'm not asking for a place, even though it's not ideal, but I will complain if I feel others in a similar situation to us are sending their children in as it is of direct disadvantage to us as well as directly creating higher risk for the teachers and the NHS medic kids.

I can't believe the utter selfishness of some people in this country, I suspect we're doomed.

Totally agree.

I am technically a key worker but I'm similar to your DH, working at home with lot of flex in my day (ok sometimes online meetings are at awkward times children wise but it's ok and everyone is used to seeing a kid wander into shot these days) so really I'm not. My husband is also working from home. He could be classed as a key worker but I think that would be stretching it. Of course it would be easier not to have the kids at home getting under our feet while we work, but they can be so they are.

My 'friend' is in a similar role to me, apart from 3 days a week rather than full time. Her husband is not a key worker but unlike mine has a rather high powered job though from home. She's putting her kids in key worker full times. She's so shameless. She doesn't need it. It just makes her life easier. It's increasing the risk and lengthening the lockdown for others.

It's pretty typical of her. She's always twisted the system for her own advantage, eg taking max student loan available even though she didn't need it and then putting it in a high interest account (back when that was a thing!). I'm through with hearing about her selfishness.

Seems totally bizarre that a single parent wfh but not a key worker would not be entitled to a school place but if she suddenly had a key worker partner, she would. Makes no sense

@formerbabe

Seems totally bizarre that a single parent wfh but not a key worker would not be entitled to a school place but if she suddenly had a key worker partner, she would. Makes no sense

I agree

Ridiculous amounts of flexibility with the term ‘essential worker’. Both me and my husband could use this term and get spaces for our children as keyworkers. We aren’t as it’s not fair and won’t help lower the death rate. And this is the most important thing. I don’t want blood on my hands. I am struggling to work and go to work and keep my kids on track with online learning. But I will continue and I won’t take a space unnecessarily.

So much piss taking and people taking key worker spaces when they are not. I’m so angry about it. When we are trying to work full time and homeschool at the same time. They are happily working from home in peace and quiet and seemingly don’t give a shit about the stress the hospitals are under.
Yes it’s shit working and homeschooling. Of course it is!

@JeanMichelBisquiat We are a 1 key worker family. As @Maryann1975 said earlier in the thread, my husband earns 4x what i do as an NHS frontline worker. He has to work out of the home but his job is not essential. If i didn't get a place for my reception aged child i would have to quit work so that we could continue to pay the mortgage and bills. So as much as everyone thinks i am selfish to take the school place I don't feel guilty at all because 1. I love my job and don't want to quit 2. It makes no sense for the main breadwinner to stop working leaving us in financial dire straits.

[quote Bemoreme21]**@JeanMichelBisquiat* We are a 1 key worker family. As @Maryann1975* said earlier in the thread, my husband earns 4x what i do as an NHS frontline worker. He has to work out of the home but his job is not essential. If i didn't get a place for my reception aged child i would have to quit work so that we could continue to pay the mortgage and bills. So as much as everyone thinks i am selfish to take the school place I don't feel guilty at all because 1. I love my job and don't want to quit 2. It makes no sense for the main breadwinner to stop working leaving us in financial dire straits.

[/quote]
What if he was a single dad and you weren't around...then the children wouldn't get a place and he'd have to cope like everyone else without a key worker partner?

Am I the only one who has absolutely no idea how many kids are in school? How do you find this out?

@formerbabe If i wasn't around presumably because i'm dead my mortgage would be paid off because i have life insurance plus my job pays out a lump sum so yeah easier to work around the financial implications. If i'm not around because we're divorced then i would once again apply for the key worker place. So your argument is flawed.

So answer me this, you think I should risk myself going in to be in confined spaces treating you and your family if you need medical care, yet my family should suffer financially in the meanwhile for the privilege to do it?

@Bemoreme21 yours isn't really the kind of situation I'm talking about - yours is probably why places are open where there's only one keyworker in the family. I'm talking about loads of people I know in non-keyworker jobs where they already work from home, dealing with non-confidential stuff, strolling back from the school run to an empty house, when (with considerably more stress, I acknowledge), they could keep their kids at home like many of the rest of us have to. I'm not talking about one keyworker families where both cannot possibly work from home - I'm sure that's what this drafting is targeted at.

[quote Bemoreme21]@formerbabe If i wasn't around presumably because i'm dead my mortgage would be paid off because i have life insurance plus my job pays out a lump sum so yeah easier to work around the financial implications. If i'm not around because we're divorced then i would once again apply for the key worker place. So your argument is flawed.

So answer me this, you think I should risk myself going in to be in confined spaces treating you and your family if you need medical care, yet my family should suffer financially in the meanwhile for the privilege to do it? [/quote]
Its irrelevant as is your financial situation. You're situation is no different from a single parent wfh but not a keyworker...yes it's hard but are you saying all children should be in school unless they have a sahp?

@formerbabe exactly!

I'm a single parent and work full time and am doing 3-4 hours of learning with DD everyday at the minute. If I had a DH who was a postman or receptionist in a GP surgery DD would get a school place...

@JeanMichelBisquiat That's fair enough. However obviously as a PP has suggested above I am still being unreasonable sending my kids in because if i was dead my husband wouldn't have the perk of being married to a keyworker and would have to keep them at home.

I just want to point out that people complaining to schools that the places should only be for two key workers should think twice. If a bunch of us leave our badly paid jobs because of a u turn, then you may not be able to access the essential services you take for granted because there will be considerably less staff!