15 out of 20 children in ds class

[eeliie]

It's a reception class. So there are just 5 children who cannot attend. Is it this bad in your child's school?

This kind of 'what about meeeee' thread makes me so frustrated. How is it possible that people have so little empathy for vulnerable children?

You have no idea why those kids are in school. If you can't see why their parents might be key workers then they'll be vulnerable.

If one parent is not working (furloughed or SAHM) and you have a R/Y1 age child then do the learning with them! It's reading, and singing, and baking and nature walks. And play - lots and lots of play.

The vulnerable kids will possibly never recover from this. They'll be the lost generation. Your kids just might not be as far ahead of them as they would have been otherwise.

The only people who have a genuine gripe are those non-keyworkers who are expected to work. But the gripe should be with the government not with vulnerable children or key worker parents.

I know how many are attending our school because they tell us. The head teacher sent an email stating how many children were attending, because it was too many. 42% attending out of over 700. I know how many are attending in DD’s class too because they have a video call three times a day to do the register and the teacher calls out the names of the children in school. I can see which children are on the call from home too.

There are 6 out of ten in my little boys reception class. It makes him so sad every day when we have to log in for a lesson - he can’t understand why most of his friends are ‘allowed’ in school and he isn’t.

If one parent is not working (furloughed or SAHM) and you have a R/Y1 age child then do the learning with them! It's reading, and singing, and baking and nature walks. And play - lots and lots of play.

We do all that but play with other children at these ages can't really be replicated by parents.

. But the gripe should be with the government not with vulnerable children or key worker parents.

I agree.

@swooby under your plan many low paid critical key workers (Nurses for example) who live with higher paid non-keyworkers would not be able to send their children in. Very few families would be able to prioritise the lower paid worker as the one to stay in work.

If one parent is not working (furloughed or SAHM) and you have a R/Y1 age child then do the learning with them! It's reading, and singing, and baking and nature walks. And play - lots and lots of play.

You make it sound so easy!

My ds is expected to do 5x lessons a day reading, writing, English, maths and curriculum. On the one day we missed out curriculum, I received an email reminding me it needs sending in.

My other children also need assistance with their work.

@Olivia333

My 9 year old daughter has just started to have a 20 minute zoom call once a week with her class so that they can say hello to each other. Her Teacher announced that they had 16 out of 30 in school, they are being taught by her every day. Whilst my daughter struggles with the tasks that have been set, without her friends, whilst I work full time from home. My husband is a key worker so officially I could send her in, however I felt that wasn’t the right thing to do. It seems I have now put her at a huge disadvantage educationally and emotionally whilst other parents take advantage.

I feel this too, my DH is a keyworker & I could have sent the kids in, but I thought it was best we didn’t as we could juggle work without sending them in. But the provision from school is shit & the kids are bored & lonely, feel like I was a fool not to take the place.

@ParadiseLaundry completely agree on the play point, England should have followed Scotland's stance and allowed under 12s to play with their friends in outdoor environments.

245 kids in my kids school. Thats about 60-%.

We are both keyworkers but managing to juggle. So ours are at home.

I feel the same! Disadvantaged for doing tbw right thing.

I don't know the numbers of children at dc's school. But if they are in, they have reasons for it. And I don't envy them. Surely if more children are in, there are more chance of children and teacher getting ill and bigger possibility of class/school disruption by SI. If the provision isn't good or the children are struggling at home learning, right way to take is to talk to school/teacher for better solution, not slag off other parents for sending children to school or trying find a way to send yours as well.

It's a fucking joke. In part I blame the school for being too lax about it. This lockdown is never going to end if if people keep taking the piss. We are both key workers as I can work from home for quite a lot of it I keep my primary school child at home.

In DS's year group there are 15 out of 60. Don't know about the other year groups.

Infection rates are declining everywhere though so it's obviously working, no need to reduce class sizes.

50% in for DS class. We live in the same road as the school and see them all coming and going. He can hear them all playing at playtime too 😔

@FuckOffBorisYouTwat

It's a fucking joke. In part I blame the school for being too lax about it. This lockdown is never going to end if if people keep taking the piss. We are both key workers as I can work from home for quite a lot of it I keep my primary school child at home.

Infection rates everywhere are declining so that suggests otherwise.

Our primary school sent a letter asking parents to reconsider if their children really needed to be at school. Most classes are at 50%

My DD gets so upset, she sees her friends in school on the video calls and asks why she can’t be there. It’s a good question and I’m starting to feel annoyed about how many children are getting an education in school while nine is struggling at home. Plenty of the parents are not key workers.

My DD is in nursery, our school closed it in line with the rest of the school. A number of other local school nurseries are now open due to the funding issue.
I was more or less in tears to the teacher on the phone last week when she called for a catch up. DH is a keyworker, I'm not, I work in a stressful job, full time from home. I cannot work with DD as a lot of the job is taking phone calls from the public, DD goes to my parents every day (childcare bubble). This lockdown is having a massive issue with her mental health. She cries to see her friends. Her behaviour is deteriorating day by day. The teacher couldn't care less, I was offered no help or support. If it wasn't for the fact that the reception place deadline has passed I would be moving schools.
Imagine how pissed off I was to find the local busy body (she runs the local fb group, doesn't work apart from trying to sell mlm shite which she changes every couple of months, her husband is not a key worker as is off on long term sick) is sending her kids to school. This is the same person who was trying to organise a campaign to close the schools after xmas as she didn't think it was safe to send her children as her husband is clinically vulnerable, she had actually pulled her children out of school before we went into lockdown. People are taking the piss and the schools are allowing it.

It annoys me do much when I read about some schools allowing this level of attendance. I don't want schools to be closed at all and woukd happily bring them all in tomorrow. But it's going to drag on longer for those at home if we don't do it properly.

My school/DD3's school (approx)
Nursery - 6
YR - 6
Y1 - 5
Y2 - 3
Y3 - 3
Y4 - 2
Y5 - 5
Y6 - 1
Y7 - 2
Y8 - 2

Out of a school of about 280. About 50/50 key worker vs vulnerable.

DD1 and DD2's school has a small handful in across Years 6-13 But I don't know how many. Single figures, I think. Mostly boarders, either vulnerable or international.

Yes very similar - 9/13 of DS's reception class are going in at least one day a week. Feel utterly devastated for DS (who is stuck home with me & DH working and his toddler brother) every time he noticed someone else in the back of an uploaded video / on the zoom call from the classroom. He is fortunate that he's academically capable and DH & I will put the effort in to teach him, but we can't replicate the socialisation or discipline of being in a classroom with his peers and I'm really worried about him feeling like an outsider when he goes back. It's not like when they all started Reception as they were all new, this time only 4 of them will have to reintegrate with a group who've had ongoing contact throughout.

The definition is quite wide but actually back in March they were taking most kids whose parents made a case, except more parents were furloughed and people took lockdown more seriously. I was offered places for my kids by the council due to my job but my kids refused to attend on the grounds they were adults . The nurseries being open mean more parents can work too so need school places

It was about 20% at first. Now about 50%. I chatted to some of the other parents at drop off. One was on maternity leave and another worked part time but sent her daughter in full time.

I agree with you, OP. I’m so fed up. My DD is utterly miserable. She actually would be entitled to a vulnerable child place (adopted) but we’re not taking it up because we live in a high infection area and we actually believe in trying to bring those rates down.

And I do know the circumstances of lots of the kids who are in and they could be at home.

We should be asking questions about why they are so many children whose parents are financially, physically or mentally unable to provide for them. This pandemic has been quite an eye opener. Maybe we should support people who can’t manage to look after their children not to have children in the first place by allowing easier access to contraception and abortion or more public information. Maybe we should clamp down on employers effectively taking subsidies to low wages from the state in the form of tax credits to families. Maybe lots of things. But 75% of children shouldn’t be at risk of being at home with their parents.

15/30 in my DTs class including the children of a part furloughed BA pilot who is on the key worker list as he is in transport. He flies every 5th week apparently so for 4 weeks he’s at home and they are at school.

My children have gone back to school 2 days a week. I am a keyworker and could have put them in from the start. I didnt as i wanted to the right thing. However my youngest is a year behind her peers and struggling massively doing schoolwork normal maths and english that would probably take a parent 2hrs sitting with their child takes us 4. The eldest y6 confidence at rock bottom refused to do work unless i sat with her ontop of that i have a toddler running around and trying to fit my work in. The difference being in for 2 days has been incredible school are helping youngest understand the work and y6 is more confident. On the days they arent in they are more capable of doing the work. Everyones situation is different please dont judge. I never thought i'd be that parent who sends them in and have really struggled with the decision but for my children it has been the right thing to do.

Yep, same here in our previously tier 4 area. 27/39 in reception. Walked past one parents house the other day whilst on lunch break at work ( primary school staff) and they are digging up their garden and were sat having a cup of tea in the sun. Their 3 children are in all day, every day as critical worker children. Both apparently WFH too