Will you send your DC to school if they're open for keyworkers only?

[BlowDryRat]

Hopefully this won't happen but if it does (probably with hours' notice like last Jan )...

DH and I both qualified as keyworkers (medical supplies) for all the previous lockdowns. We could WFH though so kept the DC at home so they weren't taking up spaces really needed by others and to minimise the risk to the school staff. The DC got on with it but both struggled socially and DD in particular fell very behind academically.

Now that everyone who wants a vaccine has had at least 2, if there's another partial school closure I'll be prioritising my DC and sending them in.

What are you planning to do?

@MrsTophamHat unfortunately although schools would be on the front line, the only effective way of parents showing their anger to the government would be by demanding and forcing schools to take their children. I agree it’s not the schools fault but writing a letter to the government without direct action would do fuck all.

[quote MrsTophamHat]@Comedycook and your child should be in school in January, as should my child and every other child and I hope and believe that they will be. I don't believe that they will close again.

I simply disagree with you directing your anger at your child's school specifically, instead of at the policy. Your child's teacher does not have a responsibility whatsoever to care for your child when they are not required to.[/quote]
I'm not angry at the school particularly. I'm just saying I will be dropping my child off and they can decide what to do. If they want to call ss, they can. Then ss can decide what to do.

@cantkeepawayforever it sounds like your school put in a lot of effort, but for my year 1 and 4 children who had parents working a full 8 hour day at home they wouldn’t have been able to engage enough for it to be an adequate schooling. Which is why if this happens again they’ll be dropped off whether they have a place or not.

I have 2 children.

1 will stay home and actually does well with home learning- although she isn't really stretched enough by it and whizzes through everything as fast as possible.

My year 9 DD with SEN can not take any more home learning. I will aim to send her to school this time. Her engagement with learning in the second lockdown was pretty much zero with me not even being able to get her out of bed on some days let alone engage with any lessons.

Keeping them off last time didn't even save us from getting Covid as DH's job is high risk and we all got it in January through his work.

We've done everything we can in terms of vaccinations but I know we are still at risk of DH being exposed to Omicron. DD going to school isn't going to significantly increase our risk but it might save mine and her mental health and mother/daughter relationship.

@Hollyhead

I honestly think parents need to unite and just send our children in anyway. Collective action will derail the whole thing.

However, that does mean - given how well Covid transmits so well n schools with no mitigations - that sending children in in such numbers that classrooms are overcrowded once more means that more people will die. It also means that more teachers will fall ill, so more classes will close through staff absence and with no keyworker status at all.

Remember that a Head has Health and Safety responsibilities to their staff and pupils that CANNOT be over-ruled by Covid guidance. If the school is unsafe for the number of children sent in, then the Head has to take action.

However, that does mean - given how well Covid transmits so well n schools with no mitigations - that sending children in in such numbers that classrooms are overcrowded once more means that more people will die

I think at some point we just need to accept this.

(And the closure of schools by the Government would mean, by definition, that fully open schools are too unsafe so a Head has to consider the H&S law implications of that)

Yes. I'm not a key worker but I can't WFH. DS's dad is a key worker and also can't WFH. DS went in last time. I need to go to work to pay the bills.

I'd have to, lone parent community worker. However last time it was more just a play club than education. And then by 6pm I was trying to do school work with DS primary age and it was just battle after battle due to how exhausted we both were.

I have a some with severe dyslexia he's 7 and can't read, I'm so worried for his future and the support/education he has missed.

He will have to go, but I can see more falling back academically. It's a mess, but what can I do 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm not the only one in this boat I'm sure but it feels like it's sinking faster than I can bale the water.

Yup. DD is in primary and I work in a supermarket. I will be at home during the day but I work 10hour night shifts. So I'll be requesting a place for the 2 days I sleep post shift. The other three days I'll happily keep her at home

Yes because dh & I are both teachers and someone’s got to look after all the children in school!

However can’t express how much I am hoping this is not going to happen.

I struggled on during the first lock down myself and dh both keyworkers but we arranged he worked 6am - 2pm then me 3pm - 11pm but it wasn't manageable log term and would impossible in my current role. 2nd lock down I sent them in and would do if there was another one better for their mental wellbeing and mine.

@Pawprintpaper

It makes me wonder if there are government moles starting these threads about homeschool and lockdowns to gauge the public mood

Probably, but I'm not one of them.

I think at some point we just need to accept this.

As a teacher, I know this. I know that everyone considers the risk to teachers - amongst the most infected sectors over the Delta wave - is worth it.

The point at which parents decide that, despite the government declaring schools unsafe and closing them, they will send their children until the school is unsafely full, regardless of the risk to others - that's when I walk. Experienced, excellent teacher (my last year's class achieved in line with historical norms despite home learning) - but older and CV. I'd be off.

@cantkeepawayforever

Last time, the school - in conjunction with local public health - decided on our maximum safe capacity, based on space. It was about 35-40% of our normal capacity.

80-90% of our pupils were eligible for keyworker status, due to the peculiarities of local employers. However, the vast majority of those keyworker parents were working at home, and many only had a single keyworker parent with another at home.

We prioritised rigorously - we pro-actively offered places to all EHCP children, all who were known or suspected to be vulnerable, and all who didn't engage with home learning in the first lockdown ( luckily, we had kept detailed records of every child's work). We then asked all parents to submit evidence of keyworker status and whether they wfh or not, and prioritised, offering what we could up to our maximum capacity.

We also worked extremely hard on equity for both groups - all teachers taught planned and taught remotely, children in school just had that presented on the class IWB. Children in school were supervised by support staff (ranging from TAs to lunchtime supervisors) but were not taught. All marking of work was done by the teachers remotely, as all children's work was uploaded to the same system, and teachers followed up through small group catch-up via Teams. Children in school were kept socially distanced and bubbled indoors, with no access to communal areas of the school. Outdoors, yes, they could play (and eat) within their bubbles, while children at home had a social meet on Teams with the class teacher every day, which the in-school children didn't join. There was a real push to get equipment out to children at home - things like art equipment etc was put out in bags for families to collect while walking past.

As a result, quite a few families initially thinking 'school would be best' ended up keeping children at home as it was clear they were getting nothing 'extra' from being in school.

If all schools have huge numbers of people wanting keyworker places, then it is very likely that public health will step in again and there will have to be a priority system.

This sounds really well planned out.

Unfortunately, some of my local primaries were posting loads of pics on social media of children doing lots of activities with teachers, bringing the work to life etc. the same work stressed out parents were trying to do at home with kids. The kw status was being employed by everybody from NHS staff to local beauticians (and, arguably, as pp said, how do you define kw when there are mortgages to pay?)

It built lots of resentment with parents that while the 'offer' was supposed to be paralell work for those at school/home, not much more than childcare, those in school were clearly benefitting from being with friends, engaging in activities and play. This was up to 20 pupils too out of 30, the poor 10 at home, their parents watched on. It must have felt exclusionary, even though the schools were probably posting so much to try to include those at home. And I agree that those same 10 kids should not be the ones missing out again.

@cantkeepawayforever I’m sure it’s horrible, but I think you’re massively underestimating the effect that full time working from home and providing a full time learning experience for 2 primary age children has on families. There was one day I actually wished I was dead, I slapped my 9 year old in frustration when he wouldn’t do the work in the 30 mins I’d negotiated away from work, I got up at 4.30am every day to get 2 hours quality work before the madness started, I yelled at my 5 year old he’d be stupid and end up in prison. And I am normally a very calm level headed child centric parent. I hated myself and my children. It was an awful awful time and I cannot ever do it again, for their good and mine.

Some people seem to be completely missing the point. If schools are closed it will be because there aren’t enough staff to open them. Staff absence is higher than ever (because, surprise surprise, schools aren’t safe) and there’s no supply to be found (because they were treated appallingly during the first lockdown so found other jobs, and really, who in their right mind would sign up for supply at the moment?) Dropping your kid off somewhere where there’s no one there to look after them would be neglect.

@cantkeepawayforever

I think at some point we just need to accept this.

As a teacher, I know this. I know that everyone considers the risk to teachers - amongst the most infected sectors over the Delta wave - is worth it.

The point at which parents decide that, despite the government declaring schools unsafe and closing them, they will send their children until the school is unsafely full, regardless of the risk to others - that's when I walk. Experienced, excellent teacher (my last year's class achieved in line with historical norms despite home learning) - but older and CV. I'd be off.

So what are we going to do then? Wait till there is zero covid before we let our children go to school? @cantkeepawayforever

Make schools safer.

Yes. She's safer at school and she can't work at home.

So what are we going to do then?

Put mitigations in place in schools!

[quote Hollyhead]@cantkeepawayforever I’m sure it’s horrible, but I think you’re massively underestimating the effect that full time working from home and providing a full time learning experience for 2 primary age children has on families. There was one day I actually wished I was dead, I slapped my 9 year old in frustration when he wouldn’t do the work in the 30 mins I’d negotiated away from work, I got up at 4.30am every day to get 2 hours quality work before the madness started, I yelled at my 5 year old he’d be stupid and end up in prison. And I am normally a very calm level headed child centric parent. I hated myself and my children. It was an awful awful time and I cannot ever do it again, for their good and mine.[/quote]
Given the response on the thread from those who can get a place and will take it knowing the opposite is bad, you are right to try to do the same.

The issues for dc and parents don’t go away because someone isn’t a KW

I think you’re massively underestimating the effect that full time working from home and providing a full time learning experience for 2 primary age children has on families.

@Hollyhead, I agree it was awful, but do you realise that tens of thousands of teachers are in exactly the same position? School staff are not the enemy here.

@MsJaneAusten

Some people seem to be completely missing the point. If schools are closed it will be because there aren’t enough staff to open them. Staff absence is higher than ever (because, surprise surprise, schools aren’t safe) and there’s no supply to be found (because they were treated appallingly during the first lockdown so found other jobs, and really, who in their right mind would sign up for supply at the moment?) Dropping your kid off somewhere where there’s no one there to look after them would be neglect.

I mean, I and many others are talking about a wholesale closure of all schools the way we saw in previous lockdowns. That was about reducing cases not anything to do with individual schools’ staffing levels. Individual schools having to close due to not having enough staff to be able to safely open is a different thing altogether.

if we look at how closely the peaks match school holidays etc (and how little the Nov lockdown last year achieved as schools were open), we KNOW how much infection is driven through schools. Making schools safer will keep staff in schools, will keep infections low, will help schools to stay open.

Oh, and pay parents who have to stay at home with Covid-positive children. That way, parents will be more willing to test and we won't have the situation of a case growing into 10-20 per class.