Who qualified for school last time?

[Wednesdayafternoon]

This is a completely hypothetical/information only query. Not scare mongering before I get accused!

My son wasn't in school in the last lockdown so it never applied to me so I don't know what the rules were.
My exH works in a children's home and I work in a call Center in the finance/insurance sector. My colleagues told me that last time they were provided with a letter to give to school to secure a place for them to go. Although we can wfh, there's no possible way we could watch children as we take incoming calls all day. I'm currently working in the office as I am having technical issues with my equipment.
I am living with my parents but my mum watched my 1 year old. She's late 60s, she wouldn't be able to do the home schooling etc.
Ds1 behaviour can be difficult and I'm very concerned what lack of school would impact on him.
How likely would all of the above secure him his school spot in schools did close from your own experience?/what do I need to do to ensure he goes?

Like I said, no scare mongering just after experience

Pretty much everyone and I hope it’s reformulated if there is a next time. It sounds like your employer took the view it fell under the finance section so ask them.

Should have added - not being able to wfh isn’t the test. A lot of people last time could wfh in tenuous sectors

Also just worth knowing/ preparing ds that school for keyworkers is not the same as normal school. He’s unlikely to have his teacher/ class for example because they have to adjust staffing levels to provide home learning too. In a lot of schools it was just supervised home learning rather than teaching. But only one parent was ever required to qualify as keyworker so sounds like he would be eligible

My ex husband is a train driver and I work in a factory - I am not a key worker as what we do isn't classed as "essential" but I can't work from home. DS got a school place based on the fact that his dad is a key worker, sounds like your ex is a key worker too?

I work from home but my calls involve talking about really sensitive info that children couldn't listen to. I was given a letter to send mine in.

You may be able to guess my profession. Last time my kids school decided that both parents had to be key workers for them to go in. This time if it happens I am going to insist they go in. It almost broke me having them at home and teaching a full timetable. Luckily my school were very understanding and didn't make me go in for the keyworker kids. This time if it happens I will have to. My kids are primary and I teach secondary. There are certain things that I was teaching that were unsuitable for my primary school kids to be exposed to.

Last time round practically everyone was a ‘key worker’. I could have got places and nothing I do is ‘key’ in any sense of the word.

Financial services is specially named as an industry so you will be fine.

Here it was both had to be key workers who couldn't work from home.

If it happens again we will be sending the kids in. I home schooled whilst working through all the previous bouts with DH deployed, this time I work in a different critical government sector (highly sensitive) it simply will not be possible to WFH and hone school, I will feel no shame sending them in. I could have last time with the ridiculous 1 x key worker parent rule, I didn't, it was awful but it felt like the right thing to do, this time for my kids and my employer I will need to.

If it comes to that.

So because the rules are quite lax, I think it's a moral question as well as one of rule interpretation.

My ds school said both parents had to be key workers to qualify. I work in finance (quite senior) and didn't qualify as a key worker as could wfh.

Both parents had to be key workers where I am as well and they were very picky about what they classed as a key worker. It caused a lot of problems for my staff and we are in a supermarket so we were on the list.

Every LA and every school has different policies depending on the staff and places they have available.

In Wales, schools have already closed early on Friday (should have been this Wednesday) and won't be returning until 10/01/2022 at the earliest. We've been told to prepare for online learning in January.

We were able to send our DC to a childminder last time which we are not able to do this time, so I'm interested to see what the school say when we ask to send the DC in this time. DH is a HGV driver and I work for the emergency services, so both come under key workers.

I know from other parents at the school, that they were being asked to provide proof from their employers and shift patterns onto the school. DH does weekend work, so our DC only need to be in half the week. I think our school have been able to take more because of that.

Both my kids 'could' have been in school as both have sen. I chose to get up early, do my job (which I do remotely) before the online lessons started and then was on hand to assist my children. I helped with project work and thoroughly enjoyed it all. I did this to ensure front line keyworkers children were catered for at school and on the understanding that we were trying to keep those in attendance at school to a minimum.. how wrong was I. If we lockdown again I'll embrace having my children home and the school work/online lessons and morning registration can piss off

We had around 23 out of 30 in our year trying to get their child a place. We only took 18 though. Locking down was pointless because school was still very much open anyway.

Our school ran a two tier system where NHS keyworkers were welcomed and the rest of us were made to feel awful for taking up keyworker places. Both of us have letters from our employers, plus one child with ASD, and another who fell behind in the last lockdown. I would say I’m indirectly a keyworker, I’m not on the front line and can wfh but what I do is strategic/back office work that enables those key services to run, across government and also in the NHS. I have some projects directly related to covid, but it’s probably hard for most people to realise that from the outside, and I’m under confidentiality agreements for most things so can’t go into specifics with schools.

Both had to be key workers here too, DH is military and I am a prison officer so we were fine.

Lockdown 1 you'd have had to struggle on. No school. Lockdown 2 you'd have got them in.

My DCs had a place last time as DH and I are teachers. We couldn’t accept the place in lockdown 1 as no wraparound was provided and DH had to be in school for KW children and I was teaching live to timetable.

I imagine schools are going to be very strict on the criteria this time eg both parents need to be on the essential list which was published March 2000.

Our primary could only open 6 bubbles of 15 whilst still keeping everyone safe. They said both parents had to be key workers to get a space. It was a nightmare. In the first lockdown they had fewer than 30 children whose parents said they were key workers, the following Jan it was over 150.

Although I doubt schools will close. I imagine a ‘lockdown’ similar to Autumn last year where I was at work all day but nothing else was open (Tier 3).

DH and I can both WFH and we have 3 primary aged kids.

We are not key workers but my oldest child has ASD and has a full EHCP and he went in and was taught by his LSA.

I have two other DC.

We've got things ready for home learning again. I've sorted an area for each child, made sure we have plenty of printer paper and ink, got all the passwords to hand. Ugh.

My dc went in lockdown 1 and 2. In lockdown 1 she was the only dc in, in her class. In lockdown 2 half the class were in. I’m sure even more people will try to send their kids in if there is a 3rd.

It’s going to totally depend on the school, how many spaces they can make available and how many people are trying to get one.

I think you are right @motherrunner BoJo could barely scrape a vaccine passport/proof of negative lft past the backbenchers, how on earth would he get school closures through. I think it’s more likely to be like the November 2020 lockdown, pretty much everything closed except schools.