Sir Keir Starmer calling for nursery closure!

[Boogie5678]

Sorry I’m not sure how to link this but it’s on BBC news.

@Chestnutacorns123

A quick Google tells me that 3.86% of the population are under 5 in 2019. I'm guessing that many won't be attending nursery (SAHM or Dad, mat leave etc). So, even if 3% do, which I suspect is too high a figure but don't have the actual numbers (couldn't see this), then I suspect closing them would have little impact on overall transmission. Better looking at the other 97% of the population.

My experience is that most of our children have a SAHM. They are nearly all still in nursery.

If the nurseries close I would have to stop working. I would get a key worker place as my oh and I are frontline NHS but my nursery wouldn’t have enough key workers to open, she would have to go to another nursery and I wouldn’t be prepared to start her in a new setting.
I’m a nurse working with covid patients but my role is bank and we are very very busy but my pay is not sufficient to live on and so I would stay at home and my oh would continue to work as it’s his wage that pays for our mortgage and bills.
I hope they keep them open.

Closing nurseries, if it happens, must be combined with stricter measures all round. Some schools have so many KWV children attending that it wouldn't be worth closing nurseries without sorting out the school place entitlement. The DfE have suspended their data collection on attendance ( I wonder why??...another 'head in the sand' decision)

Over 1000 deaths for four days running, more and more people dying. The young mum on the news talking from her hospital bed of how ill she and her children have been, was horrific. She had been close to death.
Lockdown is going to last so much longer and have so many more deaths if the government don't get a grip.

@Ilovegreentomatoes

Thank goodness ppl are finally speaking up for us nursery staff. None of us feel safe .If worst case scenario we shut for good I'll go on benefits till I can get something else my health and safety are more important than working for NMW.

Let’s hope that the economy isn’t too fucked after all this and we still actually have a benefits system!

[quote BustopherPonsonbyJones]@TheKeatingFive
I believe that the new rules of furloughing allows it to be far more flexible. I think some members of staff (perhaps those who are willing) could therefore go into work to provide care for genuine key worker children, whilst the others are furloughed. When workplaces open after the pandemic, the furloughed nursery workers return to provide childcare. No redundancies.

@wonderup @Hardbackwriter
It seems that a lot of you on here are happy to let the nursery workers take the hit to make your lives easier, even when it puts them in danger and many of them are scared. To me that is wrong. I am not a nursery worker so I am not trying to make my own life better.

All of our thoughts are immaterial anyway as the government will decide whether to keep nurseries open based purely on community transmission and whether the NHS can cope with more patients. They are not bothered that someone’s child suffered mild speech delay and they are not bothered about Jane, aged 52, working in the nursery.[/quote]
Great post.

Same experience at our nursery.Plenty of SAHM still sending kids in for a "break".

@GoldenOmber
But if enough of the nursery workers make the decision to hand in their notice (like a previous poster said was happening), you will find yourself in the same position anyway.

Be kind to the people so many of you seem to find indispensable.

@IloveJKRowling the only thing I’ve been able to claim is the self employment grant which has been a god send. Last week i received funding for a child I have half a day after school nursery but this child is now in the school nursery all day during lockdown so I’m going to have to pay this £500 straight back. Just as I was getting back on top of things. Fortunately my dh is still working full time so we will be okay. Hopefully all the kids will come back after lockdown.

@IloveJKRowling

there is already a scheme for early years providers to claim a grant. It is calculated per places of closure. For example our nursery of 60 places closed for 10 days - there will be a set amount of the 60 places which I think is £5500

Interesting thanks @SendHelp30

For those of you who are childminders / nurseries - is this easy to access and does it cover your costs?

Childminders can't claim it. We can claim the SEISS - currently at 80% of profits made, but many childminders aren't entitled to that, either. It also has a lot of qualifiers this time: we have to prove that we've made a significant loss that is directly linked to Covid.

@Ilovegreentomatoes

Same experience at our nursery.Plenty of SAHM still sending kids in for a "break".

But they are still paying and its not like school where its kw only

@Ilovegreentomatoes

Same experience at our nursery.Plenty of SAHM still sending kids in for a "break".

I don’t know about you but it makes me really sad to think that these parents are not considering our well-being at all. We have a few who openly admit they don’t believe in coronavirus and a few more that do not follow the rules about seeing other households.

I, too, had no cases during last lockdown.

I will have three Early Years children off next week because either they or a family member has tested positive.

Yeh thanks Tanith 🙄

Re furlough for childcare reasons and 'The TUC are recommending this is offered to all parents

The complete lack of understanding from A TRADE UNION about how this will impact on the caring professions, mostly dominated by women is gobsmacking.

Most are classed as key and critical workers but as others have pointed out, once nurseries are only open to key worker children they won't be financially viable and will close anyway.

Leaving the nation's care workers, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, doctors, hospital cleaners without childcare. The vast majority of those are public sector workers WHO CANNOT BE FURLOUGHED so their options will be to take special leave or use annual leave, reduce hours, use grandparents etc. It directly reduces the availability of critical workers at a time the national needs them most.

I am already in this position. Both DH and I are critical workers, we have two preschoolers and the small rural preschool they go to attached to the local school is shut, even though technically it could be open. It isn't.

We are instead using a grandparent in their 60s for childcare. We have no other choice. We haven't got a range of childcare options available to us because it's a rural area. If that is stopped too then one of us will have to stop working in our critical worker job, putting more pressure on an already overwhelmed public service, putting other people's families at more risk from non covid related needs.

There is no right answer. It's a horrific situation.

But lots of men making all the decisions which will mostly impact on women shouldn't be allowed to happen either.

@idontbelieveit12 you may be right but as preschool children are such a small part of our society the social interactions they are driving is small on a population basis. If you assume that SAHM sending children into nursery, do so, in the knowledge of a full lockdown on the back of rising case rates, it would be interesting to see what they were doing in private. I suspect but can't prove that this would be more relevant to spread.

@Tanith

I, too, had no cases during last lockdown.

I will have three Early Years children off next week because either they or a family member has tested positive.

Do you send dc to school?

PaddingtonsSister they all get 15 hours funding. And drop off in their Range Rovers. So it’s ok if I die 🤷🏼‍♀️

@MarshaBradyo

Yeh thanks Tanith 🙄

You don't know much about childminders if you genuinely thought it was easier for a nursery to "set up outside".

[quote Chestnutacorns123]@idontbelieveit12 you may be right but as preschool children are such a small part of our society the social interactions they are driving is small on a population basis. If you assume that SAHM sending children into nursery, do so, in the knowledge of a full lockdown on the back of rising case rates, it would be interesting to see what they were doing in private. I suspect but can't prove that this would be more relevant to spread.[/quote]
Some of them openly admit they aren’t following the rules! And then I get coughed on or sneezed at by their kids and am expected to be happy about it.

Every business has risks, though. Unless you shut down the entire country, there will always be risk. Most people couldn't work and look after young toddlers and babies, I certainly couldn't. I'm on mat leave atm, but will be returning to a genuine key worker role in a few months. I cannot work from home (and I mean that, not "can't work from home but I really could if I wanted to"). My partner is also a key worker who cannot WFH. We can cover most of my shifts ourselves by tag teaming and a bit of inconvenience. My other shift will be covered by my mum who is in my bubble (child under 1). So no nurseries here, but not everyone can do that. Of course, some could... but they can't be arsed.

There's far too many people taking the piss with key worker definitions, and whether they can work from home or not. The whole thing needs tightened up massively. If nurseries genuinely had a handful of children, most people would be a lot happier about it. Far too many people also daren't experience any inconvenience, either. Everyone in the country needs to start pulling their weight, not just some of us.

Closing everything down doesn't make sense. You'd have to shut food retail, for example, and you can imagine the scenes if last year was anything to go by (toilet rolls, panic buying).

We really need to strip it back to pharmacies, food retail, petrol stations, emergency services and hospitals. Skeleton public transport running. Schools and nurseries only open to those who both work front line in those sectors, and to vulnerable children or kids with SN who would hugely benefit from their routine remaining unchanged/for medical reasons. Everyone else either on furlough or working from home. One exercise a day. No exceptions. The gov needs to put up the appropriate funds and we need to see the streets absolutely abandoned. During this time they fire out the vaccines 24h a day. Non stop. Get as many people vaccinated as possible. If you have a 3am appointment for a vaccine? You accept or you wait longer. It needs to be run with military precision.

We need to get this shit show over, already. People need to all chip in so we can get back to normal ASAP and start paying this debt off.

Or we can keep fucking around and still dealing with this in 2022...

If nurseries remain open and schools don’t limit the number of key worker children allowed , then all other children who should be in school will be stuck at home for months and months having minimal interaction with their peers and getting a second rate education.

Marsha Yes, my DD attends school. Is that what you meant?

Be kind to the people so many of you seem to find indispensable.

Thank you.
I feel sick with fear having to be there, and every sniffle and cough puts us all on edge, only to be met with 'they're teething' or 'it's just a cold' - and of course these children are wanting extra affection.

I just feel so unappreciated, even more so after reading some of the posts on here.

Kier starmer should first campaign for half the dc who are still in schools to stay at home tbh.

Too many at our school who should be at home (lots of sahm and some with only one dc more concerned they'll miss their Netflix binge time than help society for example)

@Ilovegreentomatoes

Thank goodness ppl are finally speaking up for us nursery staff. None of us feel safe .If worst case scenario we shut for good I'll go on benefits till I can get something else my health and safety are more important than working for NMW.

How old are you? When are you due vaccine