If schools don’t reopen after Christmas….

[Thatswhathappens]

I know it’s a big hypothetical if, but if schools don’t reopen after Christmas is there generally a provision for key worker children in year seven?

Yes

I think they'll open. Perhaps a couple of days later in secondary for lateral flow tests (ours is doing this) but when they did close, there were definitely still secondary children attending.

Yes, in our school they follow the same homeschooling as the children at home so they'll be doing everything online rather than normal face to face teaching.

Yes but previously it was for less than a full school day, 2pm or 2.15 finish. We couldn't use it last time as his school bus didn't run. As a key worker, I couldn't leave work at 2pm every day to pick him up.

The year 11 and 13 who have mocks are more of an issue than year 7.

I don't think they'll open. Most teachers I know have finished Christmas term thus week being told to be prepared for on line teaching in Jan.

It's not a big issue to me. I've talked about it to ds's and they don't care.

Yes, our high school was open for all keyworkers' children last time. Of course, many of the older ones were able to stay home by themselves but I believe quite a few year 7s went in. I'm hoping they open but my year 7 has been sent home with all her books, so I'm doubtful.

This kind of thread is really pointless. There has been absolutely no indication that schools will close. If schools did close it is highly likely to be localised and dependent on staffing. All these threads do is become a bunfight and anxiety fest.

I wasn’t asking for debates on whether schools should be or shouldn’t be open or what year group will have it worse! Just wondering if year seven tends to have provision as we are both key workers and I don’t yet feel comfortable leaving her all day by herself.

cansu I think the OP is just trying to mentally prepare, she's obviously new to secondary schooling if her DC is in year 7. I'm sure it's reassuring for her to hear that there will be a provision for key workers children.

My DD was y7 last year and was eligible as a key worker child. She decided to stay at home but DH was WFH 2 days and my work was 5 mins away.

If schools are closed as part of a lockdown then I expect there will be space for keyworker children, like previous lockdowns.

If schools are closed due to staffing problems, then there's a chance they won't be able offer places.

@Thatswhathappens

I know it’s a big hypothetical if, but if schools don’t reopen after Christmas is there generally a provision for key worker children in year seven?

Freedom day has been and gone. Boris made it very clear that there was not going back to the restrictions that existed before.

I’m a secondary teacher. My school does provide places but they are few and far between as teaching staff are having to teach live from home. The cover supervisors were used on rota to provide childcare in school but the most we could accommodate were 30 pupils. As children are deemed responsible enough from 12 to be home alone, you’ll find childcare at secondary difficult to access.

We had year 7s during lockdown but they were in a computer room supervised by non teaching staff doing online learning with those at home

Yes there should be keyworker provision for year 7 but the nature of that will vary.

Schools won’t get told if they’re opening as normal until it’s announced on the news. We find out the exact same time as everyone else.

The only reason some schools are preparing is because last year we found out we were moving online at 8pm the night before. No time to get ready and working overnight.

@Thatswhathappens

I wasn’t asking for debates on whether schools should be or shouldn’t be open or what year group will have it worse! Just wondering if year seven tends to have provision as we are both key workers and I don’t yet feel comfortable leaving her all day by herself.

No one can tell you what a particular school will do in a hypothetical situation

There's no tending about it, each school would make their own decision.

My son was year 8 in January and his school had a year 8 bubble. I think there were abut 15 of them in it (out of about 120). The year 7 bubble was bigger As there was more demand and They operated as 2 classes.

Up at the high school, they had dc in from year 9, 10 and 11. I think they were more vulnerable/SEN children, but I think some of them were critical worker dc too so there was definitely provision all the way through.

My dd was in year seven in jan 21 when schools closed, she went in as a key worker child but to be honest she didn't like it as they have very few that go in at secondary (25 out of a school of 600) and they were all put on laptops in the library with a dinner lady or teaching assistant supervising. It was very much babysitting which I know for childcare reasons is still really important but nothing like normal school .

Jesus there is really no need to be so arsey and nasty, I was just asking one question, does year seven generally offer a provision, my daughter was in year six last year and therefore I didn’t have to think about this. There is no need to fill in some kind of narrative in your head, it was one question about one specific year group, I was just asking incase anything happens and I was trying to put together a rough plan of if I need to go on to nights again so that I can look after dd in the day.

Hi OP, you're asking a sensible and reasonable question.
We provided keyworker care to every family that needed it during the previous lockdown. They were supervised by teaching and support staff for the normal school day, the students accessed the same lessons as the students at home.

Yr 7s unless sen should be fine at home, it was ridiculous how many secondary kids were in due to “key worker” parents last time inc those with one parent on shift but around most of the time, one parent doing 3 hours per day and a full time grandparent- no wonder the virus kept transmitting.

You cannot put a blanket statement on yr7 should be fine to be left alone, my dd has never been in the house by herself and I’m not going to start by saying for the first time your ever staying alone it will be from 7.30-16.30 every day, you no nothing about the area I live in or how safe or unsafe it is for my yr7 child to be at home by herself.

@catchingzzzeds Thankyou, seriously I’m just trying to formulate a loose plan in my mind and I’m being grilled for it!

We were in the same situation last January. Secondary were very supportive and offered a place for the days I needed it as a key worker for my Year 7 (at the time) son.