75% of my school are in

[ReginaPhalangee]

That's it in a nutshell. Three quarters of my school are classed as keyworker or vulnerable. Might as well chuck the other 50 in and be done with it.

Lockdown 1... 12 children.

No PPE and we've got to double our workload for the ones needing remote learning whilst we are teaching our classes. And then making phone calls to check on them.

It's the same for every school in my area.

@TheKeatingFive

Seriously? An accountant is not a critical worker!

Yes they are, they’re on the list.

And we certainly can’t afford for accountants to stop working for months on end to homeschool their children. How would companies get audited? How would tax be processed, and so on?

My entire (very large!) firm is basically accountants - we audit a hell of a lot of companies. Everyone has their kids at home as far as I know. I’m sure the auditing standards board will complain if audits are not up to scratch but not make the link. Parents expected to make all of the sacrifices here, so not sleeping or working crazy hours, with no flex. Or do as we do, and use grandparents.

"My children are learning and their teachers are teaching"

This absolutely should not happen. It's very unfair on parents who are "playing the game"; keeping kids at home, trying to juggle work and school, in order to keep us all safe in this bloody shitshow. I have 4 kids here including an autistic one, trying to do my own work is bloody hard. With the best will, my kids won't be getting proper teaching. I would be fuming if I found out that others in their classes were getting to work unhindered and have their kids be taught in smaller groups face to face. In 3 months' time my kids, and 95 percent of kids stuck at home by nature of their parents' work, would be miles behind. Absolutely unfair.

@Mumoftwoinprimary

Similar to the school my kids go to.

Lockdown 1 - less than 5% of kids in. Lockdown 3 - 45% of kids have applied.

Technically I think mine are eligible (I work in finance) but we are both working from home so it would be ridiculous.

Working in finance makes you a key worker ??????

If people were able to WFH in the first lockdown and are still doing the same job they should be WFH again. That is what the guidance says WFH if you can only go into work if you can’t WFH

That’s not necessarily how employers see it.

Also, some could only wfh in a limited capacity, so understandably, employers need them to fulfil their whole role now.

the starting point is different now, even .any office staff previously WFH have had to go onsite.

Why? If they were able to WFH before then surely there's no need to have them onsite now.

Parents expected to make all of the sacrifices here, so not sleeping or working crazy hours, with no flex

Many people saw what that did to their families last time and will do anything to avoid it again. It’s not just parents making sacrifices, kids are also.

Or do as we do, and use grandparents.

Well bully for you, but that’s not an option for everyone,

Yes, financial services are on the list. It was in March too.

People need to understand that last March, employers thought they were accommodating staff and facilitating wfh for a brief emergency period.

Not a lasting situation that would drag out for months/years.

What could be facilitated in the short term is not necessarily a long term possibility.

Just why are 'financial services' there? Ridiculous.

The schools can ask for proof the parents are key workers surely?
How hard is it to scan over a letter of employment ( for example)
If so many children are in , it's not fair on the support staff who are having to go into primary schools ( which is what is happening in our local primary)
I know people are desperate , but unless the government bring in a different system to help working parents in the form of money or UBI then we will never get out of this mess and it seems the vaccine roll out isn't going to be speeded up anytime soon either.

Well, how would you feel if your payroll wasn’t processed?

We don't have too many key worker children - a couple in most year groups - but next week once the vulnerable are in I imagine it will be much the same as you (larger school though). We've just got too many to assess and place this week. The bubble sizes are class size so 25 -30 depending on year. Last time it was 6. This makes no sense to me at all when things are meant to be worse and this strain spreading through children more.

They would have to plan their work around their children like we all do. It's a once monthly task surely?

What are all these key workers who WFH but couldn’t possibly have the children home too going to do when the school bubble keeps bursting and their child has to isolate at home?

This makes me mad. It's over half at our school.

How is it fair to the others who juggle and stress the threat of job loss or work all hours to observe the lockdown?

I hope teachers arent having to extend themselves further to look after 'kw' kids. They should receive the same PowerPoint stuff kids at home get. It's really just free childcare. No problem for genuine hospital worker children etc, but really miffed with all the others who use it based on lies or very liberal interpretation of the key worker list.

If we were both working at home I would consider keeping my school age and nursery age children off, but my partner is working with many different people every day so we can't do that.
Have taken some leave to keep them off temporarily while I decide whether to use a key worker space or lose one of our jobs I guess!

They would have to plan their work around their children like we all do. It's a once monthly task surely?

Eh, not everyone is paid monthly.

Perhaps systems aren’t sufficiently secure from home I don’t know.

But you are now blurring the line between ‘essential’ and ‘can be done from home’. Plenty of nhs roles are being done from home right now (including clinical). Should they not get a school place either.

Living within a stone's throw of a major hospital we actaully have a high number of medics children and thus they are in. We also deliver to secondary age children all in the same way ie. those in will log in to the same lessons as those sat at home.

For the primary school they do the same lessons as those at home but have a number of activities thread throughout the day too.

"What are all these key workers who WFH but couldn’t possibly have the children home too going to do when the school bubble keeps bursting and their child has to isolate at home?"

My work are more understanding in that case (and I have been in that situation a couple of times), as they know there isn't another option. As it is, they know I could be using a key worker space.

What are all these key workers who WFH but couldn’t possibly have the children home too going to do when the school bubble keeps bursting and their child has to isolate at home?

Two weeks of isolation looks a bit different to no guarantees school will open before the summer.

Surely that’s obvious?

My DS school is only due back tomorrow so we haven't heard confirmation about key worker places yet. However, from the emails, I imagine they've been very strict. It has asked for confirmation of key worker status from both employers, and you have to tick a box to say you work out of the home. My DH works for NHS, mainly out of home but on call at other times. I work for police - I manage school liaison (more important during lockdown as the kids that are in high school tend to be vulnerable and dv etc ramps up), the covid response for my division and knife crime, including organised crime gang activity. The majority of my video calls are highly sensitive and cannot be overheard (disciplinary offence). Plus I don't want my 7 year old to overhear details of gang related murder, rape and child abuse. We've moved some of our shifts around and I've got some flexibility to cover calls Mon-Wed but I can't cover Thurs-Fri so have requested key worker place for those days. Dh will be working weekends to cover days in the week where he can, but he is at university Thurs-Fri. I don't expect a place tbh, but have had to inform school that DS will not be engaging in online lessons those days (we have a full online schedule with register etc and expectations that we are there for every class) as I can't supervise him and I cant risk my calls being overheard. I'm paying for a private tutor each Friday evening to try and make up for this.

My siblings school is the same just the vulnerable kids list is a quarter of pupils nevermind the keyworkers. More is open so more people want places.

All staff in school. So doesn’t really change anything apart from a few kids out of each class. If the bubbles pop they all are off anyway. Nothings changed in safety wise.

Vaccinating staff would help. But nah that would be sensible.

I feel sorry for parents who say they "can't do this again" trying to balance home-schooling and work. I really do. It's shit. But at the same time I feel "I can't do this again" about putting myself at risk by going into classrooms that are still too full and where social-distancing is just not possible. I'm in a higher risk group due to age and bmi and feel that my mental health has really tanked over the last few weeks. It's really not fair for school staff, who have had to fight for their safety in the workplace only to find that actually very little has changed.

That is high. I don’t get the 16 year old from pp

But in general I can see why people go for it if the system allows it. Last time many thought oh I can do this for a few weeks and it went on for a term. This time many who can have not made same mistake and taken place asap to not miss out.

@TheKeatingFive

They would have to plan their work around their children like we all do. It's a once monthly task surely?

Eh, not everyone is paid monthly.

Perhaps systems aren’t sufficiently secure from home I don’t know.

But you are now blurring the line between ‘essential’ and ‘can be done from home’. Plenty of nhs roles are being done from home right now (including clinical). Should they not get a school place either.

Not if their child is safe at home, no.

If a GP works from home and has a 12+ typical child and a separate room they can work in, why would they send that child to school? Their child is safe at home (including from the harm of hearing inappropriate personal info).