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?

Hope all the parents who take a keyworker place arnt on her complain about teachears in 3 months, or saying the bubble keeps bursting

DH is a KW, working out of the home full time. I’m not, & WFH 2.5 days/week.

Last time trying juggle a demanding job whilst simultaneously trying to homeschool both kids (then aged 5 & 9) & keep them from squabbling all day long nearly broke me, it was impossible. After a number of weeks at home we took up their key worker places & I went back to the office & everyone was much happier for it.

This time my youngest is just turned 6 so still needs lots of support & I just don’t feel I can do the whole WFH/home schooling again. DH can’t help so it’s all on me.

The kids have been offered a key worker place for the days I work (rural primary, area with much lower cases now than back in November) & I really want to accept it but part of me feels I am being selfish even considering it, since I am not a KW.

.Yet again it’s the children who parent are on benefits that miss out.

How so?

All these bubbles bursts because to many children then the nhs police firefighters have no child care. People need to look after there own children if working from home. Ffs

On the other thread you said schools should be only open for NHS staff so you now think adding police & firefighters is a good idea. Food production & delivery?

also you know some GPs and Police wfh during the last lockdown?

No I haven’t. I am a cat 1 key worker and Dp is an essential worker (engineer working in water supply). My youngest is 15 though so although home schooling is a pain (exam year) it’s not horrendous having him at home.

Yes.

We are both keyworkers but wfh. We will send the dc 6 and 8 in 3 days a week if we get a place. Last time we kept them home the first 6 weeks and it was bad for all of us. Dd1 has ASD and is better off at school.

KW WFH since March. 2 DC (6 & 9). Youngest has an EHCP. DP not a KW, a business owner, on the phone a lot and often in another room as noisy. Mainly me with DC whilst working, dealing with time sensitive referrals. DP covers during some of my phone-calls and meetings, which I have to take in another room due to delicate issues and confidentiality. We kept them off school last time and really struggled, esp. with youngest DC. My work is busier during term-time. I work school hours, but impossible to stick to contracted hours whilst juggling homeschooling. We focus on reading and Maths re. youngest. Anything else they do not refuse to do is a bonus. 9yr old DC is able to get on with their work mostly unaided but obvs needs supervision and is easily distracted. In hindsight, we wished we’d sent them in last time. Decided to not send them in this time due to new strain and higher numbers of children attending. Will continue to review, but likely to continue to keep them at home.

No I’m keeping my teachers safe, bubbles will burst and I want nhs key workers to still go to work.

But it isn't teachers who will be in school, its teaching assistants. The schools, at least primary, are run like after school clubs. Back in spring, teachers were not there. Or very few of them

We have teachers in, Flaxmeadow. Kids are being taught full curriculum, by teachers or HLTAs. It's not childcare, they're receiving proper teaching (primary).

Last time it was childcare but this time the MAT is expecting full delivery of the curriculum, as is DFE. We've had low takeup though, c.10%.

@MsAwesomeDragon

I'm a keyworker. A teacher. My dd is not going to school. I know how little social distancing goes on in a classroom. We will manage with keeping her at home. She won't do as much school work as she would in normal times. She'll come out of it even more of a recluse than she usually is. But we won't be taking up a KW place.

The more children are in school the more mixing there is, and the more chance one of them will catch it and bring it into school. Then the whole KW bubble pops, and the nurses and doctors who rely on being able to send their children to school will instead have to facilitate their child isolating.

This.

@Hellandcoldwater

We have teachers in, Flaxmeadow. Kids are being taught full curriculum, by teachers or HLTAs. It's not childcare, they're receiving proper teaching (primary).

Last time it was childcare but this time the MAT is expecting full delivery of the curriculum, as is DFE. We've had low takeup though, c.10%.

At the end of the day, some people have to "be" at work, nobody else's personal circumstances matter OP, do what is right for you, I wouldn't have asked here as there are always martyrs of the assorted kind who think you should go to hell and back before accepting any help.

I qualify, DH doesn't and is currently at home but is the main breadwinner. We haven't taken places but have told schools that we might need them if this continues beyond feb.

Both kids would do better at school regardless of what the provision is like. I'm more likely to catch covid at work (cannot fully wfh) than they are at school.

Both DH and I are key workers, but can work from home, and have very flexible roles.

DC2 going to nursery means we can juggle reception age DC1’s home learning with us. My SiL has formed a childcare bubble with us as she’s finished her job, (using up holidays) before she starts a new one in February.

No

Didn't last time and won't this time.

I am an NHS frontline worker but DH runs his own business from home and I am the higher earner.

It sucks for DH to have to bear the brunt of home schooling plus try to work but we agreed it wasn't right to take the places if we can manage at all because we will contribute to prolonging this outbreak and endangering the NHS.

DC are secondary and KS2. Secondary child can work independently. Primary child needs supervision but can do a bit himself when started off. He also watched a lot of screens last time. He would be better off and happier in school and it would be easier for us no doubt

I feel bad for DH. I try to do my bit prepping lunches before I go on shift, checking what kids have to do the night before, doing the shopping and housework when not at work. I am snowed under at work and exhausted. It's shit for all of us.

However it's still our belief that KW provision is only for people who cannot manage at all otherwise eg both work outside home. If there are lots of kids in and with the rates we've got and parents mixing at work it won't be long before bubbles burst and kids have to self isolate. Then there will be no childcare and the NHS will lose frontline workers it can ill afford.
So that's why in my view it's selfish to send your child to school if you are in a high COVID area and one of you can wfh at all even if difficult and disruptive and not ideal.

The country needs to pull together again and get through this last push even though we are all sick of it. Employers need to cut people some slack and higher earning DHs of keyworkers need to step up and be less selfish.

No. Yesterday my child was pretty much ignored and completed no school work as we can't both be on teams whilst I am live teaching, but I am not sending her in. I will have to make her more of a priority at some point during the day .

Our school also has all classes taught by teachers not TAs. About 30% of kids are in. And to those saying they're not too worried about catching Covid - again, that's not the point. The point is you unwittingly bringing it home from school and then asymptomatically passing it onto the checkout assistant in Tesco who lives with her 80 year old granny. Or catching it from your friend who you go on a walk with and then passing it back into school so that bubbles shut and doctors can't go to work. It's about community transmission, not personal risk.

Both key workers and no I've kept her home because I'm able to and I do not want to take a space that may be of greater to support to either another key worker family or a vulnerable family.
I find it ridiculous that I'm classed as a key worker anyway I'm a childminder so wfh anyway yes it's difficult trying to set up remote learning and doing my job but I know I'm doing my best to reduce our risks.
I've seen some pretty awful claims for key worker status like it's some sort of badge of honour or top trumps by families where there may be only one parent who qualifies for Key worker status whilst the other is a sahp and getting shirty with the school as they won't grant them a place.

2 X keyworkers here who can't WFH.

We are continuing to send her as normal, including when nursery days fall on our rest days. We are also using her grandparents for additional care when shifts fall on non nursery days.

CovoidOfAllHumanity
‘...The country needs to pull together again and get through this last push even though we are all sick of it. Employers need to cut people some slack and higher earning DHs of keyworkers need to step up and be less selfish.’

^100%

Teachers are teaching at DC’s school and also available online. The online offer was good last time but has improved as tighter deadlines have been set and work has to be submitted for checking.

Furlough not an option as public sector and Director.

@NemoRocksMyWorld

School rang today and offered places. I've said no, but I still think it might be the wrong decision.

I am a Dr, so a few acute shifts but mostly clinics. 1 day a week I go in. 2 days a week clinic from home. Husband works full time from home, I would say borderline keyworker.

We have 4dc. DS1 (11),DD1 (9), DS2 (6), DS3 (4). DS1 goes to private school and has a full day of zoom lessons so is fairly self sufficient. DD1 and DS2 both have three zoom calls a day plus work in between. Today I've been going for 14 hours and supervising their zoom calls in between patient appointments. Luckily DS2s classes fit perfectly in my gaps. DD1 I have to log in and send away to do her lesson. I have to banish them when I'm doing appointments because they are confidential, and it really isn't professional having your kids running round in the background. Meanwhile my 4 year old (preschool) is running feral. I've sat through a clinical governance meeting on mute this afternoon with my 6 year old one side and my nine year old on the other. We still didn't finish until gone 7.

I'm not entirely convinced this is sustainable. Also part of me still feels it is very wrong to have them at home, when I'm doing patient appointments. It feels very uncomfortable from a professionalism point of view. I still don't know what to do.

I said no because it looks a bit bleak in school. They are just being supervised by hcas as the teachers are all at home. They seem to be all sitting socially distanced with their computers and head phones. I asked the kids and they got pretty tearful but both said "we will go if you need us to, mummy". Also I feel guilty because DH isn't really a key worker (public sector though so no chance of furlough) and so if he was a single parent, we wouldn't qualify for a place. Plus part of the reason I'm so stretched is because he doesn't pull his weight with it at all, and that isn't schools fault.

Seriously.

Just send your kids to school.

This is not sustainable.

My thought on Nemos post was 'where is her DH?'

What's his job that's more important than a Dr in a pandemic?

To be fair she admits he doesn't do his bit but these are the people that need to be doing their bloody bit.

He's having to do it today. I've swanned off to my face to face clinic 😁. It's a relative treat.

[quote LadyPenelope68]@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. 🤬🤬[/quote]
👏👏👏👏👏👏

We qualify. We are not currently using the place as can just about cope. Defeats the object of the bloody lockdown if people who could keep their kids at home send them in anyway.

@NemoRocksMyWorld

He's having to do it today. I've swanned off to my face to face clinic 😁. It's a relative treat.

Is there a costa in your hospital? If so you have to utilise this - make it a proper treat

No, I haven't. DS13 really wanted me to, but I talked him out of it as it isn't fair on the school. Mine are all old enough to get on with their work without supervision so it seems silly to send them in and DH is mostly WFH so they won't be alone much (11,13 and 14) and I'm only working 3/4 days a week.