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

@Waxonwaxoff0 really? We are quite grateful for the part time students as it is helping keep numbers down! But we are secondary so perhaps easier to manage the part time -ness? With our part timers it is same set days every week so it isn’t random days here and there.

Nah people think someone else is getting something they aren't & it annoys them. The piss takers are probably the same % as benefit cheats, ie not the majority.

@cadburyegg

We have worked and homeschooled for months in the last lockdown and pushed our mental health to the brink, and are about to do it again

I think "we" is the key thing here. Assuming you have a partner also wfh that you can split the day with. Entirely different as a single parent

THIS.

Sharing the load with another adult is a game changer. Even if the is emotional support and not much else.

Don't get me started on those aligning partners of key workers with single partners. Completely different. Totally.

Competitive pity

@Esmerelda01 it's not people like yourself with work not accommodating I have a problem with. It's the parent I know who is a keyworker and is only working 2 days a week on rota that is sending get child in full time. It's the sahm who is sending her 3 children in full time because hubby is a keyworker. It's another parent who works 3 days a week sending their child in full time. It's the parent using the MH card (don't flame I know some children need to be in school because of this), but some not. As a TA working in a school everyday leaving my own children at home, this bugs me.

It is incredibly frustrating for people who do not need key worker places (read: one SAHP and no vulnerabilities) to take them up.
Also, not the same situation but I have to say all the people saying “well I am a key worker but DP isn’t and he is wfh but I am sending them in anyway because it’s easier” - do you not realise that what you’re describing is the issue facing all wfh non-key workers? The provision isn’t in place to just make life easier for the parent who is wfh. Take up the place if you want to, no one can stop you, but only you can know if you’re taking the piss.

Parents who wfh but who are not key workers just have to manage, they have no other choice. So do single parents in the same position. I think I’d feel annoyed if I was one of them and knowing that key worker parents were taking up places that they didn’t absolutely need.

I completely understand it’s inconvenient but like... it is for literally every parent and what is inconvenient for us as individuals just is not the priority right now if we want a functioning health care system. We have GOT to look past our individual situation. It’s not my first choice to be going into work to teach a large group of children right now but I need to because otherwise it’s a nightmare for school, we’re understaffed and stretched as it is. That is for the greater good right now.

If your child is vulnerable or you have MH issues or there is SEN then it’s different, and of course if your job deals with safeguarding then fine. But schools genuinely may as well be open at this point because we have SO many key worker children in and I can guarantee you that they don’t all need to be.

@whittystitties

Competitive pity

Please explain your comment

I do think though that if the wfh parent would lose their job if they had to do childcare then that’s also different.

Thebearschair

We are all suffering, single parents don't Trump two working parents, two working parents don't Trump a working parent and sahp combo...

We are all Different

Empathy required

@whittystitties

Thebearschair

We are all suffering, single parents don't Trump two working parents, two working parents don't Trump a working parent and sahp combo...

We are all Different

Empathy required

Right ho 😂

It's the parent I know who is a keyworker and is only working 2 days a week on rota that is sending get child in full time

Some schools are insisting on f/t places though, my school is.

It is incredibly frustrating for people who do not need key worker places (read: one SAHP and no vulnerabilities) to take them up.

How many examples of there is this 10%, 20%? I just can't understand why you would chose this option unless you had a real need.

I think most understand it's difficult for all parents trying to juggle working & education. I'm just not sure why so much vitriol is directed at key workers. It's similar to the furlough are scroungers threads, would I like to have that option? yes. However I can't but I dont begrudge those that did.

We actually originally requested 2.5 days but were told it was easier for them to keep DS for the whole day than pull him out at lunchtime, as then they’d need to unlock the gates and have someone hand him over to one of us.

@wonderup

It is incredibly frustrating for people who do not need key worker places (read: one SAHP and no vulnerabilities) to take them up.

How many examples of there is this 10%, 20%? I just can't understand why you would chose this option unless you had a real need.

Oh probably only a small amount! Some in my class, though, but that’s on the school for letting them have a place.

@wonderup

I think most understand it's difficult for all parents trying to juggle working & education. I'm just not sure why so much vitriol is directed at key workers. It's similar to the furlough are scroungers threads, would I like to have that option? yes. However I can't but I dont begrudge those that did.

This, I would have loved to have been furloughed last year but my work is simply too busy and hasn't shut down with Covid, in fact it's busier.

I don't begrudge the furloughed as I can see they are in industries suffering and if not furloughed would be unemployed. The country is helping them in the only way it can.

I have to work, but I can access school through key worker status, the country is helping us as we do vital roles that keep the infrastructure of the country afloat.

@wonderup my school doesn't. My 4 children (primary and secondary) are at home with my WFH husband. He is not a keyworker but our main income. He has to work all day so basically just available for making lunch and making sure they stay alive 😂. The older ones have to oversee and help the younger and I will help them when I get home. I could cry poor us we need to have 4 keyworker places but I don't.

But you just said you don't need them so why would you want them?

That's my point, lots of people saying they need places because they are whf. It's hard I agree but if everyone in that situation sent it their children school would be full.

"I have been talking about the huge numbers of admin and standard office workers not childminders. Some people need to read."

Some people need to make their posts clearer.
You may have been talking about admin and office workers previously; your post didn't make any distinction at all, it simply said "keyworkers working from home".

I’m doing a mixture of home and office as we have a rota of whose in to reduce risk there.
So if they are going to enforce this strictly I will probably just have to ask to be rota’d into the office all the time.

I think there's so many different levels.

1. You've got the obvious Nurse, Dr, Cleaner, Porter, Care Worker roles that are clearly vital and impossible to do from home.

1. Then you have more senior medics in less hands on specialties who might spend the majority of their time at home but are "on call" to go in urgently, or GPs, vets who can do a lot of phone based stuff but still will need to go out to do some work.

1. Then you have purely home based but sensitive roles (social workers, criminal lawyers etc) who might be able to work from home if there is an isolated office and some cover most of the time. If their partner is a type 1 they clearly could not juggle caring for kids from home. Level 2 would depend on the balance of their and their partner's roles, the likelihood of being called out or on a time critical job and the ages of the children involved - older kids who could be plonked in front of TV for an hour vs toddlers (in Scotland nursery provision is only available for keyworkers).

Medics might well be in a position to fiddle shifts around to limit contacts for children if they're on a shift pattern. 9-5 industries can't do this

To make this work the government needs to compel employers to be more flexible and provide better support for parents. My employer is refusing all furlough and flexible working requests because they say we are entitled to have our children in school. They won't change this position unless they are forced to.

@Runawaynow you are completely right. Unfortunately these companies are going to ruin it for themselves.

For those saying you need a place for your DC’s in school. What are your plans if the bubble gets sent home due to Covid cases or if you get Covid because your DC brings it home from school?
In these cases, which were very common before the latest lockdown and are already happening again, your DC’s will be at home with you regardless of whether you believe you can or can’t work from home.