Todays u-turn from DfE, key workers working from home should NOT send kids to school

[Esmerelda01]

In case you've not seen.

Could cause a lot of people issues on Monday

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/09/school-guidance-for-children-of-key-workers-changes-again?CMP=twt_a-education_b-gdnedu

And yet, Early Years education is still expected to open to all children without any mitigating measures or PPE in place. Makes perfect sense...

I'm glad for school staff, but am genuinely confused why Early Years are expected to continue as though we have a magical protection schools do not.

It's a shit show.

I talk to legal advocates and social workers about drug use, child abuse and domestic violence. I'm still at work but they are often working from home. They absolutely couldn't have children present.

Mrsterrypratchet welcome to my world! I work in safeguarding and the conversations are very adult themed. Nobody seems to appreciate the discussing rape, child abuse, violence and abuse is not a good idea with primary school children in earshot.

It's a difficult balance, isn't it? Many key workers with younger children will no longer be able to do their key work. I imagine many will be requesting leave to supervise home education.

@Crakeandoryx thats such a good point. Schools should be allowed to make the call on a case by case basis.
I definitely don't deserve a KW place at school for my dc as my job is not critical (although classed as such) but something like your job i would hope they would be more lenient about!

Doesn't it just say that if critical workers can work from home AND look after children, they should do so...?

"But otherwise this provision is in place to enable them to carry out vital services."

This is a good thing. Way too many people have been taking places they didn’t need. Not knocking those who really do need them but there’s loads of stay at home parents at our school who have blatantly taken the piss.

It says 'if possible', though. Doubtless some will try and stretch this definition, but no school is going to create a safeguarding concern by insisting on exposing children to those kinds of discussions. There are many many more KWs who could manage if necessary, and therefore should.

@Crakeandoryx I work in housing and there are maintenance, reception and other staff who are sometimes subjected to my job accidentally. They are horrified, never mind children!

Sorry that was in response to Crakeandoryx and MrsTerryP

I have had to fight for our place. We are both keyworkers, husband NHS and working at hospital. DC is ASD so has additional needs. The school has less than a quarter in attendance yet they say there is too many children 🙄. My dc is going despite me working from home for reasons I've explained. Sadly I am not alone in my battle.

No one can really wfh and care for primary aged children
At
The same time

We all know people with young children to home educate can't really work from home.

So what this really means is that their colleagues will have to cover for them as they try and fail to do both jobs simultaneously.

Let's hope there's no one coordinating the vaccine response or doing similar crucial work in this position.

@Flyingin

No one can really wfh and care for primary aged children At The same time

There's many many people doing exactly that and did during the first lockdown too. I did this in the first lockdown neither got my 100% dedication or commitment but somehow I, like many others, got through it the best I could

It actually says if keyworkers CAN keep their children at home and work, they should. I’m not sure how much this will affect numbers except for cases with one keyworker parent and one eg SAHP.

They aren't really being clear again are they. However they have said "critical workers should keep their children at home if they can,”. But this puts it down to the parent being reasonable and decide how much they are willing to be inconvenienced and how much the company will allow.

However I think there are options for people to wfh and homeschool if there is flexibility and depending on the age of the children.

I know at the school,I work at they would definitely be sympathetic to social workers and anything to do with safeguarding. We have had demands (not requests) from parents who have very flaky ‘key worker’ status who have made zero effort to keep their children at home. It’s madness, 50% of children in. I caught Covid at school, so did my immediate work colleagues.

but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can

‘If they can’ is open to interpretation. I wonder how many people will change on this.

Or on how much it’s possible to do their essential job while simultaneously doing six hours of home school for a six year old. DH and I can work from home but people could die if we’re not giving our jobs our full attention. Last lockdown I was signed off so could look after DC.

@chocafrolic

I know at the school,I work at they would definitely be sympathetic to social workers and anything to do with safeguarding. We have had demands (not requests) from parents who have very flaky ‘key worker’ status who have made zero effort to keep their children at home. It’s madness, 50% of children in. I caught Covid at school, so did my immediate work colleagues.

We have a parent, one is a keyworker and the other works for a supermarket in an office. Last lockdown they told the school they "might be called to work on the shop floor". Let's just say their house and garden had a lovely makeover whilst the kids were at school Full time. Some people have no shame.

The headline / sub heading in the article is misleading, so is the title of this thread.

“Critical workers should keep their child at home if they can” is not the same thing as “critical workers should not send their child into school if they are working from home”

The guidance does not say this. It doesn't mention working from home at all. It says parents should keep their children at home 'if they can'. That is completely open to interpretation and The Guardian have interpreted it one way. It's not a 'U-turn', the message even back in March was keep your kids at home if you can.

Puts schools in a tricky situation though as they know have to tell parents no and send pupils home. They will probably get some abuse. I hope they are strong enough. Wonder what my dcs school will do, they offered a place to everyone who applied and I think because it's a fee paying school it makes it more difficult as parents will complain about the home schooling when they are paying. I think it probably makes people feel more entitled.

This is typical fucking Guardian actually - deliberately misinterpret something and hope your readers won't bother looking past the headline or apply any critical thinking, so that everyone gets really riled up.