Keyworker uptake.

[jojoandgrangran]

How many key worker children do you have in your school?
Last lock down out of just under 700 children there were 22 key worker children attending.
The numbers of key worker children attending tomorrow will be 200.
I was surprised by the high uptake. Just under a third of children will be in as usual.

We have about 360 children in the school. 121 were on the list as having been offered a place, probably about half of them turned up today. We had 17 in total in Y6, and I think we were one of the biggest year groups.

Just under 50% of the school are in.

It's the worst of both worlds - we don't have enough staff to run effective remote learning and look after those who are in. We are stretched very thinly.

@FirTree31

It makes sense to me too, the increase in uptake. This time parents know what lays ahead, there is less trust in the government in respect to when schools may reopen, organisations will not be as flexible this time round, some children that were not previously considered vulnerable may be now, and generally less tolerance. Also, not all those children Will be in on the same days.

Yes, I also think a lot of organisations will be less flexible. I noticed that my employer (a university) immediately sent out lots of 'we understand that this is unprecedented times for parents, people are expected to do what they can not necessarily their full jobs, talk to your line manager about what can be put on pause' stuff when schools were closed in March - it didn't always turn out that way on the ground (it didn't really for me as the only one in my team with young children) but the messaging was there. Today's email was a lot more muted and made a lot fewer promises about how no one would be penalised if they were struggling etc

I think unfortunately because
under 50s wont be vax any time soon.
We all forced to take the risk with full schools with cases
Lots of parents in primary 30-40s
Some will have kids in nursery anyway.
Others believe cases are the ones we are told about not the 1/50 that are currently infected.
Someof ours taking places were breaking t3 rules having play dates in houses and cars etc with multiple families at least 1/child.
If they are key workers they are at risk anyway.
Once the priority are vax the rest have to take their chances anyway.
Certainly 1 parent sending theirs is pretty overweight (not judgement) so a little concerned they dont realise their risk probably bmi 35 maybe.
Lots of these people had the gp collecting the kids from schools.
Once people decided they personally werent at risk they went back to normal.
Kids do t even have a vax yet.

We have about 37% attending.

We do have a lot of hcp. and teachers.
I supoose i think if it's gojng to be so many then maybe a complete rota system would have been better/fairer. Not just educationalally but virus wise as that would have been r of 0.2 rather than 0.4 and 0.4 was obviously too much so We are stuck in a cycle.

Some kids will have had say 12 terms 2019/jul 2021
Others 5/12 so far. Im sure they will be back before easter though.

Around 400.

My schools number of KW children has more than quadrupled. It will be interesting to see the effects.

I think the fact that it’s the second time round and it’s not the season to be out walking and using the garden etc has a lot to do with it. Due to staff numbers my school has had to get quite strict (ie parents have to provide proof, two key worker parents prioritised and days of week truly needed looked at) Not fun for the Head to make that choice.

I think it’s a combination of second time (so people are reluctant to put themselves through it again if they’ve got an escape card (and who can really blame), employers are (I imagine) less tolerable this time round, furlough has new rules attached I believe, and it’s straight after a fortnight or more off.

My local junior school had about 10% in today.

Makes zero sense to me when people know the new variant is more transmissible amongst younger people. I don't think parents have actually thought this through, they've just thought of the practical needs rather than the health risks to the kids and thus their own families like they did at first last time.

The practical needs aren’t nothing, I’m worried about sending my kids to school - I’d much rather not but my kids need food on the table and a roof over their head. I literally can’t do my job in any meaningful way with my kids at home. It’s an awful balance but I need to weigh the risk of the virus against the very real impact of me boy being able to work, before I even get to the needs of the children and families I work with who actually need me to be able to do my job.

Makes zero sense to me when people know the new variant is more transmissible amongst younger people. I don't think parents have actually thought this through, they've just thought of the practical needs rather than the health risks to the kids and thus their own families like they did at first last time.

How patronising. Do you really think the vast majority of parents are sending their kids in without a thought??

Maybe it's because some of us have jobs that are very difficult to with young children around who need educating. Trying work and home school last time was an unmitigated disaster and nearly broke me. I'm very grateful we've been offered a key worker place.

Lots of employers aren't able to offer the same level of flexibility as the were in March. My employer ( a university) sent an email to all staff making sure we knew we were classed as key workers.

I'm not surprised. Last time parents were a bit more willing, weren't expecting it to last this long, happy to have the kids home more etc.

Now they are all wiser from the experience and the general consensus seems to be "fuck that shit". DH and I didn't send DC last time and have decided to keep them home again this time. But DH thought they should go.

We are a large primary of 450 kids. Last time we had maybe 20-30 key worker/vulnerable children in each day. This time round we will have over 200.....
When we went over our plans today and how to incorporate online learning I think most of us were left feeling we might as well just be open as normal.

I'm a TA in a primary school that has about 450 children.
Last lockdown we had 15 children in, this time its 130.

How patronising. Do you really think the vast majority of parents are sending their kids in without a thought??

Well, no, not the vast majority. I didn't think that would need specifying.

So how many parents do you think have sent their kids in without a thought to risk? All the parents I know are walking a tightrope, but are also under pressure from employers to take up key worker places because they are needed to do their job.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

How patronising. Do you really think the vast majority of parents are sending their kids in without a thought??

Well, no, not the vast majority. I didn't think that would need specifying.

It was still a very patronising post.

You sound like the annoying people on our class WhatsApp spouting 'health before wealth' when they've never had to try working f/t while attempting to homeschool.

I had three choices:

Neglect my child
Quit/be sacked from my job
Take up a key worker place at school

It was an obvious decision really , especially as the number of cases is very low where we live.

I've got 17 and rising in my class. I'm shocked!

Why are you shocked?

My Head has had to do the following-

Even though the requirement is one key worker parent, some days have gone over our legal capacity based on staff. So after the initial “bring the paperwork for one parent” business, my school prioritised like this:

• EHCP / Vulnerable / Children on Child protection register (this includes a couple of our children with severely disabled siblings / a young carer)
• families where both or the only parent in the house is a key worker
• One Key worker parent with second parent working out of home (and can’t WFH)
• One Key Worker parent where second parent does WFH
• one key worker parent and one non working parent

Based on days actually required, everyone bar the final category was squeezed in (of anyone goes off sick we are stuffed) so 99% were happy.

The Key worker and one stay at home parent families were mostly accepting of the situation even though they do qualify. A couple kicked off majorly and last I heard Head was trying to give them a couple of days. So hard though and (I’ll get flamed I’m sure) not fair that two parents working for their family but aren’t considered critical have been denied access whereas a SAHP who doesn’t have to manage work can send their child in based on their spouse. Non critical to the fight is still critical to a roof over your head.

Please be reassured that the children who are in are not getting any more academic education than those at home. I was in my school today, doing the work I had set online with the children who were in. I didn’t do any extensions, no extra. I’m covering the work so parents don’t have to, but school for Key Workers is essentially child care and work supervision. I know this doesn’t make anything better because I get it’s Hell, it’s just if there’s anything that can be said to ease some of the anxiety.

@Jellycatspyjamas

Why are you shocked?

Because during the previous lockdown it was 2! My classroom is small and I'm in early years, so ppe is non existent. I'm not exactly young and have people in my household vulnerable to covid.

Our school had 250 applications. Couldn’t all be accepted but that’s just under half the school ...

Because during the previous lockdown it was 2!

I can understand, but I think there were a lot of factors last time round that impact folks ability to keep kids home this time round.

They increased the list of key workers so last time my profession wasnt listed but this time it is.

I was on mat leave last time round but if they close nurseries I will definitely take up a key worker place as it is not possible for me to do my job with a baby around and my DP works out of the house.
Alot of people dont have a choice it's either quit their job ( which would be my job in our case) or send kids in. We cant afford to live of 1 salary and if I quit at the moment it would be incredibly difficult for me to get another when this is over.
I think people who are judging need to realise that not everyone is in the same position and alot of people dont have a choice.

Don't know yet - school opens tomorrow. Got an email from work effectively saying to parents 'you did it (WFH and homeschooling) last time, we expect you to do it again and assume business continuity and effectiveness won't be disrupted.' Nice.

20 out of 30 in my class so far. No social distancing for me!

I have almost a full class. The list has been expanded so massively I am now teaching a bubble twice as large as last time. There is little point in shutting. Now I am teaching all day and running online classes without even being safer.

I give up. Infect me now and be done with it. I'm days away from 50, clinically vulnerable and i'd rather get it now than in a few days when there will be no beds left in my local hospital.