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?

Split, DS year 6 in a few days a week, DD year 9 at home doing online learning. We're both key workers. If you're both key workers then you're entitled to a place. No one in our family is vulnerable and we have no contact with vulnerable relatives currently, we're rarely going to the shops and we mostly go for walks outside when it's quiet. There were no positive cases or school closures last term at DS school.

Re the key worker list I think most of the professions listed are essential workers, particularly those behind the scenes people who keep the countries infrastructure going (DH). However are bank managers and personal injury lawyers key workers?!

@Level75 I don’t assume that at all. I assume something has to give as we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. I am a KW - corporate banking managing a portfolio of large hospitality and leisure clients I have spent the last 9 months nursing them through this crisis, arranging CBILS funding and basically trying to make sure they still have a business when this all ends. I work early and late and weekends to make it all fit. I’ve also got an 8yr old (and 13yr old but she’s very self sufficient). My 8yr old plays a lot of minecraft, does a lot of reading and bbc bite size/worksheets sat next to me and yes watches more tv than I would be happy with in normal times. Would it be easier for her and for me to be at school - of course it would but it’s not essential so we muddle through!

From the comments on this thread there seem to be many many people sending kids to school because it’s easier not because it’s essential and this will make this whole shit show last a lot longer for all us!

We are both on the key workers list. I was unemployed last lockdown, so was at home and did the schooling.
The 11 year old has done so many isolations we are confident he can work while DH is downstairs working.
We are going to try with the 9 year old at home too. I've got tomorrow off to get him started with everything, and fingers crossed we (well, DH and the kids, I can't work from home) can make it work. School needs to be as quiet as possible to give the workers who cant stay at home the best possible chance of schools staying open and bubbles not bursting.

It seems a lot of key workers around. Many, many more than last time. It is almost as there is no point of the school lockdown .

@Whatevertheweather do you have a problem with key workers wfh who take a place?

I also think age of the child is important

I didn’t last time but have done this time
Difference is that we’re allowing even less in the office so I’m wfh more dealing urgent care crises which is pretty impossible with the kids around. Also my team has been more affected by covid than last time so things are more pressured.

Of course it's better for everybody's mental health and wellbeing for their kids to be in school, but we're a bit beyond that now, aren't we? Numbers are horrendous, hospitals are under massive pressure, and no one knows yet how bad things might get. Every child in school increases the risk - partly because of infection coming into school (even an occasional trip to the supermarket increases risk), and partly because every additional child reduces the social distancing possible in school.

It is almost as there is no point of the school lockdown

I'm pretty sure once the LAs have released the attendance info it won't be 80% of the school body as a lot of MNs posters would suggest.

No. I'm a childminder and thankfully I'm able to work this time (last time couldn't as had no key workers). This time I have 2DS at school so felt more pressure to keep up with school work but I have spoken to the school and they've been very accepting: little and often, do what I can. If I don't work, we can't afford our life. If I do work, we are bringing people into our home. If I send my children to school on top of that, it doesn't make sense to me. We will stay home, as directed.

We’re both key workers, school emailed a form for us to fill out but we haven’t taken the space. I’m on mat leave so o couldn’t justify it and I wouldn’t want to send her.

@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?

I personally would but maybe not straightaway. I would look how the situation is being handled.

A few students I know who are doing placements at uni are also able to send their children to school.

@rolliy I’ll be honest before this thread I genuinely had no idea that schools would take children when they had a parent at home even if they were classed as a key worker! I genuinely thought it was if there was literally no other option due to parents being out of the home working

But some GPs and police have been working from home, I'm sure there are others.

The guidance is also to work from home. A GP could go into work in order to "legitimise" his/her dcs place but that potentially increases spread, eg other staff, transport etc.

Likewise a lot of posters are assuming school & nhs & support staff are all wfh but that's not always the case.

But one of the expectations as a KW is that the work is done. You can't request furlough, you can't be furloughed if you're public sector. The expectation from my public sector employer is that we use the KW space available to us and do our jobs. We're in an original T4 area and a new batch of letters for the school were made available to us last week. They don't care that I'm WFH.

That's the end of it really.

The age of the child matters too- I'd keep a secondary child with no SN home. I'm sure they could crack on with things wonderfully and make themselves lunch.

I massively empathise with everyone struggling with this, we kept ours home last time and it was awful- but that's no reason not to take a place if you need it.

Yes. Both me and DH work at universities so are classed as key workers this time. We can wfh but will be teaching a full timetable and can't do that and look after a 6 year old - never mind do any home learning.
School have made it perfectly clear that they expect work to be completed this time and that just wouldn't have been possible if he stayed at home.
We're very relieved and grateful.

@EwDavid

Yes, husband is a CPN and I'm an inpatient MH nurse. We do have some flexibility with shifts/working patterns but there will always be some overlap. Our school have said full time or nothing for children of key workers so they'll be going full time, despite probably only needing 2-3 days a week max.

I don't agree with this.

Your were doing the right thing trying to limit contact. But you have no choice to send j. fT then you have no choiceZ

Some decisions made this pandemic by people never cease to amaze me!

There are a lot of martyrs on this thread that seem to be shaming people who have accepted school places.

If you have nobody at home clinically vulnerable, a young child that will require a lot of attention and home schooling and you will be working from home, then bloody well send them in, or at the very least don't judge people who are. That's what they are open for

Obviously if it's all easily manageable then that's different but if you are going to be busting a gut stressed out trying to fit it all in why put yourself through it?! We are talking weeks, possibly months of this lockdown, not days. It's a long slog and people need to remember while covid is a terrible disease and we all need to minimise risk, our mental health needs to be balanced too.

If I wasn't able to give my kids the attention they need due to work I wouldn't want them to be housebound all day every day with nothing to do aswell as not seeing people or going anywhere.

My daughter has SEN and has been offered a place as she thrives on routine and gets extremely distressed when things aren't as she expects. They also offered her sibling a place as they don't want families having problems at home between kids especially where SEN are concerned.

As I am a stay at home parent I am keeping the eldest at home as I can easily home school and I know there will be no issues between the kids. It was very kind of them to offer though and I really appreciated the thought.

But I refuse to feel guilty for accepting a place for my daughter as I believe the covid risk to us all
isn't comparable to god knows how many weeks of meltdowns and the emotional stress it will put on the whole family.

Yes community nurse and farmer both can't wfh last time my two only ones at school see what happens this time

@Whatevertheweather

I can’t believe what I’m reading - parents who are WFH are sending their kids to school?! Because last time ‘homeschooling nearly broke them’ and ‘it’s better for the kids to be in school’ well of course it is!! But what about all the thousands of people who are keeping their kids at home and juggling (key) work and homeschooling because that’s what we’ve been asked to do!

KWS should be only for those children whose parent(s) cannot WFH not because it’s more convenient for them to be in school! If everyone took that attitude 80-90% of kids would still be going to school and the whole bloody lockdown would be pointless. I fear it may be anyway with the amount of people who kept them at home in the last lockdown but found it hard so aren’t going to do it again!!

I'd love to know how I'm supposed to teach pretty much a full day of lectures while looking after and teaching a 6 year old at the same time?? Wfh doesn't automatically mean you can look after young children and homeschool.

^I'd love to know how I'm supposed to teach pretty much a full day of lectures while looking after and teaching a 6 year old at the same time??
Wfh doesn't automatically mean you can look after young children and homeschool.^

It doesn't! Mines will be babysat by TV & tablets. And schoolwork will be done in evenings and weekends I'm sure.

But what is the alternative if I want schools to reopen as soon as they possibly can?

@Wakeupin2022
know it will probably add a few months on to lockdown and school closures and will definitely increase the deaths, but why should my kids be the only ones missing out? And plonked in front of a tablet all day as I am working and in meeting majority of time.....
How about stop being a selfish prat and also think of the increased number of school staff that will have to be in to care for the children like yours who don’t HAVE to be in, but who have been sent in as there parents are jealous of those who DO need a place. 🤬🤬

@Level75
From the comments on this thread there seem to be many many people sending kids to school because it’s easier not because it’s essential and this will make this whole shit show last a lot longer for all us!
Absolutely this! Plus I hope parents like this also feel some bloody remorse when there are more education staff seriously ill and dying from Covid just because they were selfish tests and sent their children in when they didn’t really need to.

Yes. DS 4.5 years in reception and DS 19 months in a private nursery. I am a nursery teacher and OH is a postman currently working very long hours, so both keyworkers.

I’m so torn because we don't have the option of choosing to keep them at home. In one way, I don’t want him in school but then I feel like he’ll miss so much if he doesn’t go.

Last time lockdown happened I was still on maternity leave/verge of going back to work, DS1 was in the nursery class and they offered to have him in but he would have been in a Year 2 classroom in another building with a mix of staff and children he didn't know (no other nursery or reception) so I had to take unpaid leave from work for a couple of weeks before the summer holidays.

I don't have that option this time and no option of furlough for either of us.

So anxious about it all.

I’m teaching a full day online with a 7 and a 9 year old at home but I’m trying my best to keep them at hone because otherwise what’s the bloody point?