I'm annoyed that they got a school place.

[eeliie]

I requested a space for my ds at school when this lockdown started. I was told as I wasn't a key worker I couldn't have a space. I was still expected to go into work even though I had no other childcare option.

I saw a friend today, when I was out shopping, and she told me her dd is at school ( same class as ds) on the basis that they don't own a laptop.
She said her dd was relying on using her mobile to do schoolwork.

My ds is also using my phone as we don't have a laptop.

I have been furloughed and will probably be top on the redundancy list. Friend and her boyfriend are both unemployed and were just browsing in the shop today, together.

Am I right to feel annoyed?

[cardibach]

@WhydoesItAlwaysRainMe

I'd be pissed off too op. I struggled to get a place at dc school, I had to get a letter from employer with dates I work etc (NHS) but I know for a fact there are children attending who shouldn't be, makes me wonder how they got a place

Now do you know it ‘for a fact’? You don’t know the grounds on which a school has given a place. You know what you’ve been told, either by the parents or gossips. No school would give out that information.

[LizFlowers]

Don't be annoyed for goodness sake, what will that achieve? it's just how things work out sometimes.

Look online for second hand refurbished laptops, you can sometimes get a bargain.

[WorraLiberty]

It showed me that you really can’t know another person’s situation, best just to get on with making the best of your own and be supportive where you can. There could be alsorts else going on and the laptop thing is an excuse.

That's the point I make on every single thread like this (and God there's been loads).

"We don't have a laptop" could well be because the child has a chaotic home life, is at risk, or for any other reason that the parents would choose not to tell people whose business it isn't.

[Canwecancel2020]

This has to be the most divisive issue with parents and school entitlement... I have massively put my foot in it with colleagues I assumed would want (and have childcare grounds) to be furloughed but have useless partners and very precarious finances and have had to twist like a pretzel to get a kw space and are terrified of the critical worker criteria tightening up on them. It (almost) always seems to be mums tying themselves up in knots trying to pay the bills and get their kids educated. It showed me that you really can’t know another person’s situation, best just to get on with making the best of your own and be supportive where you can. There could be alsorts else going on and the laptop thing is an excuse.

[Kitcat122]

Loads of families don't have laptops. I have 4 children working from home. I don't have 4 laptops we just have to do the best we can. Does your child have a tablet? Can you borrow? We borrowed a crappy, slow, old laptop from a family member.

[IrisAtwood]

Schools are under tremendous pressure. If you can have your kids at home and homeschool then you should.

[MadameButterface]

"I bet the feckless bastards were eyeing up the loo roll - trying to work out if their stockpile will drop below 100 before they get their next dole money."

looking for a new bracket for their 60 inch plasma

[GrumblyMumblyisnotJumbly]

It is a tough situation all round OP and probably doesn't help to look for people we think have it 'better' than us. We are fortunate that we have devices but don't actually have 3 laptops at home for me to work on & 2 dcs so we alternate. Not many families will have a home office set up for each family member! It must be incredibly hard without access to a laptop/tablet & a printer at all.

On the basis of not having a laptop or being a critical worker so many people could now request a school place. My sector has classified all its employees as critical workers - but I absolutely know my work is not essential to combatting Covid! So am sucking it up like so very many other people and juggling homeschool and wfh, let's hope it's not for too long.

[WorraLiberty]

I bet the feckless bastards were eyeing up the loo roll - trying to work out if their stockpile will drop below 100 before they get their next dole money.

[SnickersnotMArs]

@MadameButterface haha I agree. I’m shocked how people seem to know others circumstances so well.

Can you ask school for a laptop OP?

[OppsUpsSide]

The fact they are both unemployed may have made the difference, it is generally presumed the children of the unemployed are in some way vulnerable and the state/schools etc need to step in.

[MadameButterface]

mumsnet is a parallel universe, where people have friends they cannot stand and yet know all the intimate personal and financial circumstances of, where everyone with a child in school is a blagging piss taker, and so on and so forth. I don't know anyone irl like this.

[Fembot123]

@MadameButterface

I'm afraid I don't agree that it's normal or human to resent other people who don't have much just because you're going through stuff. punching down, which is what these threads hinting at unemployed people being lazy, feckless and on the take do, is neither necessary nor inevitable.

Ok

[category12]

You can be annoyed with them for browsing. Or any reason at all.

But if they're both unemployed, then their situation is worse than yours as someone with a job, even if furloughed and at risk. So you weren't considered priority.

[eeliie]

@MsHedgehog

I'm still confused at the dig that they were shopping, when that's exactly what OP was there for.... Why was it ok for you to be in the shops OP, but not them?

The reality is you know nothing about their situation. And ultimately, why they managed to get their child into school is not really your concern, as you don't need to know everything about their personal life.

How many times do I have to say this?

They were browsing. Not shopping for essential items!

[Lippyheaven]

I have been furloughed, thankfully because I would have to take unpaid leave an I am not a keyworker. I feel so sorry for people who have to take unpaid leave, then watching kids taking so called key worker spaces, when their parents have blagged a place eg sahp or saying they have no quiet space for kids to study. People who are taking the piss should be ashamed. As I feel sorry for the teachers, which was the whole point in closing the schools

[eeliie]

@WorraLiberty

It's a case of you snooze, you lose I'm afraid.

I contacted the school on the Tuesday. They knew I needed a place.

[eeliie]

@mortensmike

Let me make sure I that I am understanding this:

They have no laptop. They have told the school they have no laptop.

They were out shopping. When you were out shopping you saw them shopping and was annoyed that they were shopping when they weren't on their own.

Yes?

So you haven't told the school that you don't have laptop.

When you were out shopping with your children you saw somebody else out shopping with other people?

No. You've got it wrong.
They were not shopping they were browsing because they were bored and had nothing to do.

[WorraLiberty]

It's a case of you snooze, you lose I'm afraid.

[Sethy38]

In that case you’re pissed off and angry you’re not entitled.

[eeliie]

@Sethy38

You are pissed off and angry with yourself.

For not getting in there first.

I enquired about a place that Tuesday morning!

[eeliie]

@Edgeoftheledge

Yabu. Tell school you don’t have a laptop.

I have. There isn't enough space for my ds now.

[Edgeoftheledge]

Yabu. Tell school you don’t have a laptop.

[ItsLoisSangersFault]

@peak2021

The government were fairly quick to include lack of laptop (or PC/Mac or other suitable electronic device) as a reason to ask for a child to be in school. OPs friend and checked and asked quickly, so why should they be criticised for doing their homework, to coin a phrase?

I reckon op's friends child didn't do any work in first week. School chased, they said they didn't have a laptop and lo - they got a place.

Id also bet this happened at the stsrt of last week, when the govt changed its definition of who needed a school place to include those without laptops.

But that was last week, and things have changed so if you contacted school now and said you didn't have a laptop they wouldn't offer you a place.

OP - hope you keep your job. This all sucks. Schools are doing their best, but it doesn't mean your situation doesn't suck.

[BornOnThe4thJuly]

@husbandcallsmepickle

If your friend and her partner are both unemployed then their child may be entitled to pupil premium/FSM which means they have the option to go to school

Where have you read that? I haven’t seen that anywhere.