School breaking COVID restrictions

[Rosieposielaw]

I’m a key worker and so my DC have been attending school. I have booked them onto holiday club for the February half term.

I have since found out that the school has opened this holiday club up to any child, not just those who are vulnerable or children of key workers.

I am very worried that my children will be mixing with many more households. I also think the school are breaking COVID restrictions, as other children are required to work from home. The school have told be that it is fine and allowed. Are they correct?

If not, Who can I report this to?

@Greysparkles

Its bad enough that they are allowed to continue as normal, but then it's an absolute kick in the teeth that they are also being left out of fun activities

Can we stop with the "continue as normal" bollocks. My 10yo DD is at school, with only 3 boys she doesn't like in her bubble. Stuck in front of a laptop all day, with the door & windows open, supervised by a rotation of TA's.
None of that is normal. She miserable, lonely, and cold.

Life isn't all unicorns and sparkles for kids at school

I think it depends on your situation, my DS is the only one of his friend group that isn't in school. I don't hold out much hope for his friendships to have survived this - he's already being forgotten about and all of his friends have parents who refuse to let their children meet a friend for a walk, so he has no one

Whilst he isn't an only child, his sibling is on the verge of adult hood so not much cop for company either

It might get sound like a normal day for your school, but it isn't a normal day for our school. School have informed us that they are not accessing the curriculum and that my children (I don't know about others) are only being provided with child care which I am incredibly grateful for.

.

@Updatemate some of the teachers on here might be able to clarify but I thought the provision had to be the same for children at home and at school?

What are your school providing for KS1 children working at home?

Get over yourself OP. Let some other kids have a bit of interaction for god sakes. Your kids are already exposed via other keyworker kids and I speak for my own in that category.

I wouldn’t start begrudging other kids the opportunity to come in.

@Rosieposielaw

I understand why the kids are at home. Therefore they should stay at home if thats the current rules. It’s not just about my children. It’s all those attending, the staff and consequences this can have.

We are so close to getting a control with the vaccine. I think silly mistakes now could cause problems, especially with the new variants

You’re sending your children in so risking staff and others yourself, or doesn’t that count?

Selfish.

I suspect this might be in my area, as there is a similar amount of horror from 'key worker' parents about the holiday club here. Our school district has been very strict on only allowing kids with 2 key worker parents into school. The holiday club is run by an external company. They have advertised to everyone. Ultimately, some parents who did not get a place in school have booked their kids in. In a lot of cases - most I suspect - they do actually have a parent who is on the critical workers list but have either had to keep the kids at home becuase there is no school place, or have just chosen to because they are trying to do the right thing, and now, fairly, would like their kids to actually see some other children and would like a few days to actually just do their job and not worry about getting fired. Some of the parents whose kids are in school are kicking off because they think only the kids who are in school should get places. But the club is not going to run just for those kids, and if they carry on kicking off, all it will do is make the parents who didn't get a school place start demanding one, as they're being penalised all over again!!!!

But the OP establishes in the first line she is a Key Worker. She’s permitted by law to send her children to school and has chosen to do so.

Isn’t that ok anymore?

@needadvice54321
i think it depends on your situation, my DS is the only one of his friend group that isn't in school. I don't hold out much hope for his friendships to have survived this - he's already being forgotten about and all of his friends have parents who refuse to let their children meet a friend for a walk, so he has no one sad

This is so sad.
Dd was in a similarish situation last summer when her year group (yr1) went back to school. She was in one bubble and her 5 closest friends were in another. It was awful especially as she got to watch them all play together twice a day in a different section of the playground. Dd was terrified they would never want to play with her ever again. The term was 7 weeks and she was crying daily and counting down the days.
The dynamics did change slightly, but on the whole when the class reformed in September, they all got on as well as ever. I hope your son finds the same when he is back with his friends.

Sorry, that was to a PP who derided OP putting others at risk.

Seriously do people not understand why we went into lockdown in the first place?! OP is not unreasonable or selfish!
The whole reason schools were closed to the majority of children was to reduce the spread of the virus between large, non-socially distanced groups of asymptomatic children to the wider community! It had little to do with children and teacher’s safety and more to do with people outside of school.

Example: child A goes to school, catches the virus from another child as they are showing no symptoms. child A then goes home and mixes with family, who then catch the virus and show no symptoms. Dad then goes to the supermarket and passes virus to 10 people in the supermarket, etc etc. Hence leading to lockdown.

So no holiday club should be open to all and sundry. They should have limited numbers and be practicing social distancing like we are now doing in school. And places should be prioritised for key workers and the vulnerable. Otherwise we’ll end up in lockdown for even longer!!

@DoYouRememberTheInnMiranda

When someone talks about a hairdresser staying open despite the law it is very rare for people to argue that we should consider how tough the clients who are illegally using them must find it to not have their hair done and how we should be sympathetic to that and let them continue.

Unfortunately, this is a similar risky situation, if the school is opening for a holiday club and if that's illegal (which some of the posters on here seem to think) then it's illegal for a reason, not just to spite us non key worker parents with kids at home. It's raising the risk to key worker kids and ultimately everyone to allow mixing, just as hairdressers are.

I know it's easier for the OP to sound smug because she's had a school place all along and so many people want one, but the rules are still there for the benefit of us all

This.

Everyone's situation is different.

Keyworker WOH and at risk whole way through.
Furloughed and homeschooling and feeling trapped.
WFH and homeschooling and finding it hard to juggle.

But the rules are there for a reason. Everyone has it hard for personal reasons but it's true if more mix and then keyworker children have to isolate as a result it affects lots of people. These staff maybe nhs, care, teachers etc.

As hard as it is for everyone we do need to stick by the rules for just a few more weeks because the better we are at that the quicker life can return to some sort of normality.

What are your school providing for KS1 children working at home?

They're providing 3 hours of lessons a day - 1 hour live (3x 20 minutes) 1 hour recorded and 1 hour of activities related to the live and recorded lessons. Plus reading books which parents can swap at school weekly.

Yes, the children in school are supposed have the same, but if there are too many children for the resources available in reality it can't happen. I'm ok with that, it's just life. It isn't fair but I have much bigger things to worry about and I'm glad that my children are being cared for in a safe and friendly environment. It's not ideal, they only have 1 other child in their group so whilst yes, that's 1 more peer than they'd play with at home (though there's 2 younger children at home as well), it can be a bit tug of war with regard to child 3s friendship. There's a 4th child sometimes, depending on their parents shifts which is nice.

Some very emotional reactions on here
OP is factually correct in that holiday clubs are not allowed to open for any child who would not be eligible for a school place ie key worker or vulnerable. Whether people agree with it or not, that is a fact

Absolutely agree. No wonder the pandemic roles on based on some of the inaccurate rubbish being spouted here!

@ladyvimes

Seriously do people not understand why we went into lockdown in the first place?! OP is not unreasonable or selfish! The whole reason schools were closed to the majority of children was to reduce the spread of the virus between large, non-socially distanced groups of asymptomatic children to the wider community! It had little to do with children and teacher’s safety and more to do with people outside of school.

Example: child A goes to school, catches the virus from another child as they are showing no symptoms. child A then goes home and mixes with family, who then catch the virus and show no symptoms. Dad then goes to the supermarket and passes virus to 10 people in the supermarket, etc etc. Hence leading to lockdown.

So no holiday club should be open to all and sundry. They should have limited numbers and be practicing social distancing like we are now doing in school. And places should be prioritised for key workers and the vulnerable. Otherwise we’ll end up in lockdown for even longer!!

Oh MY GOD, why weren’t we told!! Thank god for a supercilious stranger on the internet

@WinstonmissesXmas

*Some very emotional reactions on here OP is factually correct in that holiday clubs are not allowed to open for any child who would not be eligible for a school place ie key worker or vulnerable. Whether people agree with it or not, that is a fact*

Absolutely agree. No wonder the pandemic roles on based on some of the inaccurate rubbish being spouted here!

Inaccurate like roles on 😂😂

to be fair maybe the people asking are key workers? Its mainly key workers at work now- almost all jobs can be classed as key work if you look at the list

i dont use schools now but could if i choose

guidance actually says critical workers - not key work

anyone working now is a critical worker or they'd not be on site

yes i know not all should call themselves crtical workers - im not- but i still have letter from employer saying i am

Holiday clubs can run, it's up to you if you send your kids. The clubs have bubbles the same as school. To be honest your kids don't have much Covid restrictions at school. It all sounds good on paper but it is impossible to keep children SD.

Not everyone that works is classed as a key worker. Those kids at home are surely more at risk than those who have been in school during lockdown. My kids are so isolated and fed up. I work full time but I’m not classed as a key worker. If I had the opportunity to send them to a holiday club I would and it’d be fantastic for them.

the gov guidance around childcare is not key worker - its been changed to critical worker - anyone at work now is a critical worker and entitled to a place

@Pastanred

the gov guidance around childcare is not key worker - its been changed to critical worker - anyone at work now is a critical worker and entitled to a place

It hasn’t. The guidance still only defines critical workers as those who work in the sectors that appear on the published list which has not been updated since 8 January...

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

It's childcare not education so it's allowed 🤷‍♀️

i get that but that covers almost all currently open sectors so if your boss says you are required then you are critical