If your child qualifies for a school place through keyworker status have you taken it up?

[yefh]

I'm a keyworker but fortunately can wfh. Dh is not a keyworker but both our jobs are incredibly stressful and busier than ever. We have one child. Last lockdown we muddled through but dd yr2 was largely ignored whilst we worked all hours day and night and were on calls all day. We felt so guilty. Essentially the tv babysat. We nearly made ourselves ill with the hours worked and I am sure dd suffered too.

There is no chance of furlough for either of us.

We have contacted the school and they say we qualify for a keyworker place for dd but we are so torn as to whether to send her in. On one hand it will be good for her as she needs interaction with other children and she wants to go in and the alternative of being on her own all day whilst we both work is pretty miserable ( even with one hour of zoom lesson) on the other hand we are so worried about exposing her and us to risk. We are early 40s and in ok health.

We have no alternative support. GPS are far away and in vulnerable category

Just wondered if anyone else in this situation and what you did?

Yes I would agree with that & the government decision to ensure X hours of online lessons is not particularly beneficial for younger dc & very difficult for the teachers to manage.

In this situation if you can stay at home, not work but receive a salary, & therefore have time to dedicate to your dcs home learning you really are in a much better position then many others.

No one said otherwise but the fact remains public sector which comprises a lot of the places cannot be.
I would happily be furloughed & be able to stay at home. Don't you think most working parents who are trying to homeschool young dc would take that option if available?

You asked if public sector workers could be furloughed and I answered. I'm not the person who has been furloughed.

Every school is different our lessons require the children to interact & answer questions, discuss topics etc.

So does ours, but I can't provide the support needed for that, so they can't do it. I suspect lots of people are in the same boat. I dictate lots of medical notes and have telephone conversations about private medical information, so can't have my child on a live lesson whilst I do it.

Yes , one of my DCs has an EHCP and we have decided not to send him in. I hate home schooling and find it very stressful with us both working , on calls all day. But that's what we should all be doing at the moment given how serious things are for the NHS.

Sadly, many people are to self centred to see beyond the end of their nose and have used the government's extensive 'critical workers'list to their advantage. No thiught for the school staff, I doubt very much any of those people would want to spend all day in a classroom with a load of children with the windows open as the only protection!

Sadly, many people are to self centred to see beyond the end of their nose and have used the government's extensive 'critical workers'list to their advantage. No thiught for the school staff, I doubt very much any of those people would want to spend all day in a classroom with a load of children with the windows open as the only protection!

This

At the end of the day if you need to send your child then do but the whole idea of school closed except to keyworker and vulnerable is to have as few children as possible in, to help reduce community infection. I have so many children in my school that don't need to be there everyday. I feel just as at risk as before plus absolutely freezing all day with windows open. My own children (who I would love to be at school) are at home warm!

I'm a nurse and a care home manager. I have sent my ds in ( age 9) and he'll be in full time like last time as I'm a single parent. I'll reduce my hours to school hours to drop off and pick up as obviously wrap around care no longer available. My dd I had started high school since last lock down ( she's age 12) - she is sensible and studious so will to her home learning from home. I would struggle to physically get her into the school any way as it's some distance away and the school bus is obviously cancelled.

No, we are both keyworkers but have tweaked things do one or other is at home at all times so we don't have to send them in.

Yes, 2KW DD is reception age, school offered us a place and we accepted.
But we were against all school closures, the rate here is low and her school have lots of measures in place.

The thing that gets me is these people who are on the critical workers list, but not frontline staff and can WAH. Ie, 'Financial services ' that could be someone doing something relevant to covid like ensuring PPE gets into hospitals or it could be someone doing bookkeeping for small businesses with absolutely no relevance to Covid.

But as they're on 'the list' they look for any reason to justify it. Normally 'I'm a KW, and I WAH, last time it was sooo tricky., I just cant do it again. I have to take calls and my child gets ignored. But I'm a KW you see, so it's ok for me to take a school place' .

We all find home schooling difficult, many of us have deadlines to meet and calls to make. That is not a reason for you to send your child to school which will increase the risk to the staff looking after your child, and the wider effect on the NHS.

Schools need to crack down on this and say no.

@MororwayDiva. What are these 'many measures'? Because the fact rates are low where you are does not mean the staff looking after your child are not taking a risk no matter what you try and tell yourself. All schools have taken 'measures', they are not enough to have stopped Covid

No. We've been offered a place but turned it down for now. DD hates school and is pretty good at working on stuff athome (aged 10). DSes all online and happy to crack on and around to look after DD if needed. Worried to much about the rising numbers and if keeping them at home helps then will do it.

No we are keeping DS home.

DH is a keyworker, I'm not but both in full on roles. DH will also be out the home working once a week, where I'll be home alone with 4yr old plus trying to work FT. Due to the fact we're both at home 4 days out of the 5 we are keeping him home with us. DH works in primary and honestly the number of KW children in each bubble now is quite staggering (e.g. 17 kids in his KW year group bubble instead of 3 from lockdown 1) and given rates here I assume bubbles will be bursting.

I'm doing some early hours before DS wakes, hours during the day when I can (if DS is entertaining himself for a bit) and then logging on later after bedtime too. It's hard work for us both but it's not impossible for us right now.

im a single parent part time keyworker and yes op my dd can have a place and iv taken it up and shes starting back next monday , to be honest theres always a risk , if you are a key worker that cant work from home there is a chance you are going to catch this virus and pass it to your kid anyway so i honestly dont see the point in preventing your child from continuing their ed in school rather than wrapping them in cotton wool to stay at home whilst you go out to work . one of my co workers is same as me and when she came floating up to me on mon to say oh chaos the schools are closed what are you going to do now ? i got the shocked look when i replied well shes going in , we can send them in you know , soon floated off back whence shed came . if a child can be left with a responsible adult its one thing ,but i know my workmate leaves her 4 alone and unsupervised until she gets back and the eldest is only 13 , maybe some would say its not the best parenting to send your child in during a pandemic , but is leaving them alone at the mercy of an emergency and dossing about doing what they want all day when they could be learning the best either , i dont thing so . btw op this is not in realtion to you , im just saying it in relation to me

I've had to send mine in because i'm in school teaching practically a full class of keyworker children myself. Not one doctor, nurse or utilities worker among them. Mist of them have one parent at home. Thanks to Gav widening the keyworker term i'm now forced to expose my own kids and myself more. It's ridiculous. About 75% of my school is in. Farcical. We'll get it (one in 40 in my area has it) and close soon. Had they kept the bubble small, our prognosis for remaining open would be much better. As it is, with cases in our area leaping by over 200% in one day, I give us a few weeks. This government are thick as pigshit.

Agree @phlebasconsidered

I’ve taken up places for my foster children.
We’re not key workers and are currently working from home, but are offered places because they’re classed as vulnerable.

No doubt someone will be along to call this ‘selfish’

Send her in OP. Sounds like it would be better for both of you. Feel bad for people being made to feel guilty about places they are entitled to.

DH is a key worker and I’m apparently now a critical worker (not quite sure what that is!) but we haven’t but just because DC is 13 and so happy at home and quite responsible and so I can still work fine. DH out of house.

I'm a keyworker, single parent and can wfh issuing video & telephone consultations. I have not sent in any of my children , I am CEV but also I didn't want to use up key worker space that others could use or fill up school meaning they needed more staff to come in. I asked my DC (year 7 upwards) who all said no Thankyou to going into school!

It's been a challenge and tiring for me, as quite often I'm helping DC during any breaks in my work (quick 10 mins here and there, lunch break, coffee breaks) with online school work and at least 3-4 hours after tea into the evening and youngest DD interspersed playing during school hours so we aim to achieve 6 hours day online school work (times) over the whole waking hours. That was plenty and we stopped sometimes - drawing a line to say that's enough on this subject- for any demoralising long boring assignments if DD became fed up. DD has kept up well.

But what I heard from keyworker collleqgues of what their DCs were doing in school was no different to what all other DCs were asked to do at home, working from online work preset by subject teachers, it's not like they were actively teaching them in school, it was more Childcare oversight with adults watching them.

Primary school may be different and I would have to send in much younger DCs, but I think secondary school age if you can wfh then you have choice whether to take up place or not.

@HelloMissus

I’ve taken up places for my foster children. We’re not key workers and are currently working from home, but are offered places because they’re classed as vulnerable.

No doubt someone will be along to call this ‘selfish’

not selfish , if you have been offered the places then its fair and square , its not like you have pretended to be keyworkers or anything , i think a lot of ppl just have sour grapes because they are not able to send their kids in

You asked if public sector workers could be furloughed and I answered. I'm not the person who has been furloughed

I didn't say you were furloughed. I was replying to a poster who had asked to be furloughed & saying not sending them in was the right decision. No shit!

I would happily not send my dc in if I was furloughed, surely that's not a revelation?

HelloMissus your Dc are exactly who should be in school. And I don't thinknanyonebwould say otherwise.

chaos its not sour grapes on my part as I could probably have my kids in. I am frustrated though that so many are sending in when they are in a position to provide childcare, albeit, not at an ideal level. I don't want any child to be off school a day longer than needed, but thats what's going to happen because so many children are still in school.

wakeup well we could easily keep them off if we wanted.
But we don’t want to.
We’re not prepared to risk our businesses any more than necessary.
So I have complete understanding of any parent who can’t or won’t risk their livelihood whether they are a key worker or not.

@Wakeupin2022

HelloMissus your Dc are exactly who should be in school. And I don't thinknanyonebwould say otherwise.

chaos its not sour grapes on my part as I could probably have my kids in. I am frustrated though that so many are sending in when they are in a position to provide childcare, albeit, not at an ideal level. I don't want any child to be off school a day longer than needed, but thats what's going to happen because so many children are still in school.

hear what your saying wake up , to be fair , im not so sure its really parents faults so much as it is the goverments tho at the list of keyworkers jobs being so extensive , i mean garden centres really !! these were not open in the last lockdown so of course just one centre might have 15 staff with kids who are now eligible for a place so its put a strain on things for sure , i did read a comment on here , dont know if it was this thread or not , but shes a single parent key worker with a vulnerable autistic child and school are saying no to her . and this may be where the strain is coming in from . even mine have got funny and although i provided them with the letter from my company saying im kw , they didnt even take it off dd to see ! but iv been firmly told she must bring it in this time on mon as they are looking to see whos clinical and whos just a key worker ,so this leads me to think they have more than a few kids needing places than the first lockdown

Someone covid positive from the hub at one of our schools (trust) some kids and teachers now isolating for 10 days