school start delay threat - am I alone being worried and annoyed at the prospect of childcare nightmare for working parents?

[exrebel]

I am so worried at the prospect of school start delayed until November. I am screaming insside with worry. How are we going to find childcare? Because some of us will have to go to work. I am applying for jobs at the moment and the last thing I want to say to a new employer is: sorry but there is no school until November so I cant come into work because I cannot find childcare.

I hope it does not come to this, I want to scream at the scientists who are promoting the idea to curb the spread. we are not going to keep our children in quARANTINE are we? They will still be mixing with other children in the park, in play areas, in playdates, and everywhere we take them to keep them entertained. Or for those that can find childcare, with the other children in the group.

has anyone started to think how they are going to cope if they go ahead with the closure?

any contingency plans ideas?

There should be government childcare vouchers for parents who have to go to work at this time. Or, compensation of some kind for lost earnings.
I don't undertand this craziness.

Calm down,

A high proportion of people who are working (ft and pt) have school age children. I am sure that measures will be put in place if the government/authorities insist on a very delayed school start.

There is no way that they can sack everybody.

I heard this. TBH I am lucky in that DH is a teacher (or will be in Sept) so presumably he won't be going on either, or at least not all the time. And if neccessary I can work from home.

But it will cause massive upheaval to may industries I am sure.

Exrebel, is this really a serious idea from the govt?

Surely there will be childcare available like there is during normal school holidays?

MIL will have to step into the breach and have the DCs, they will be 10 & 4 , so less difficutl than babies or toddlers.

the country and economy will grind to a halt, businesses will go the wall, people will lose jobs and it will have horrific repercussions

am concerned

The childcare voucher system possibly wouldn't work - there won't suddenly be thousands of cms available. Also if dcs are being put into a childcare setting then (imo) they may as well be at school tbh.

I am concerned too lulu. This reminds me a little of the late 70s when the union (NUPE at the time) had the workers out on strike for many weeks...our school was shut for 4 weeks iirc. (I imagine it was less stressful for most parents back then as there were a lot more SAHM)

quite, and will play centres be closed? so you will be stuck inside with your children for weeks

no cinema then, no play places, no places where large groups of children can gather

because it's all very well closing schools, but there are plenty of other places that children get together

Surely there won't be a ban on families sharing the childcare/playdates etc? (obviously without payment)

Thankfully I work shifts so will request all the rubbish lates/weekends if it comes to it...

exaclty.. where would the additional childminders come from? they have not thought this through, and how optimistic is the idea of childcare sorted out by the government? wouldnt this mean that children will still be mixing with their friends? what would be the point of stopping them from going to school then?

I am ANNOYED because the option of school start in November has not been totally dismissed and the radio and news are still mentioning it.

i don't understand how delaying schools going back is going to contain swine flu

Perhaps it would be better if the schools employed nursing/medical agency staff. At the beginning of the day they can patrol the classrooms and check that no one has active symptoms. Obviously this would require parental permission to check dc's temperature etc if needed.

Afaik unless the dcs have active symptoms, they won't be spreading it anyway.

lucykate the theory is that it will continue to spread over the summer. Then around October there will be the usual seasonal increase in flu, which this year may be the swine flu strain. So they are trying to avoid large groups of people, such as 30 odd children in a classroom, gathering together in close proximity, snotting and sneezing all over each other.

no I dont understand it either lucykate. They will have to go back at some point with the same problem of spreading,

And what if your dc has already had it. What's the point of keeping them off. In any given school there'd be enough children by then who've had it to make mixed age classes up.

It would definitely help - that's why there have been fewer cases in Scotland as schools broke up so much earlier.

It is ridiculous. My DD2 is really excited to be starting school in September.
How do I explain to her that school is closed because the media has nothing more interesting to report and the government is more concered with creating headlines, to make it look like they are doing something, rather than sitting on their arses being incompetant.

Sorry it is all way out of proportion.
People die of flu every single year. Every year.
Children die from measles do they shut the schools/collages? No they dont.

I wonder who started this "rumour" originally. We hear so much about what might happen via the media. It makes you wonder if some journalist is just making some of it up to keep up the sensationalism?

Schools not being in does seem to have an effect on the spread, here in Scotland we are half way through summer hols and the spread seems to have calmed down from what is was in the last 2 weeks of term but dare say it will ramp up again mid August when schools go back.

just heard on radio (LBC in London) the government is seriously reviewing their position against closure after WHO issued some advise in favour of school closure

It just won't work, which is why they probably won't put it into action. There'd be no point in keeping children out of school if they went into childcare instead, or mixed with friends. I assumed the proposed school closures were as much to do with teachers being off sick too, but apparently not.

Liam Donaldson's on R4 at the moment and has said that school closures are extremely unlikely, but 'we're not ruling anything out at this stage'.

x-post with ronshar.

I am sure that most of us could come up with much better solutions than some of these so called experts.

sounds like the government clutching at straws, trying to make themselves sound like they've got everything under control and yet talking about something that is going to cause a lot of panic and worry for working parents, and it's something the government don't actually have to make a decision about for another 6 weeks

I suspect it is only one of many contingency proposals to be brought in if the situation gets worse than anticipated and a nationwide epidemic is declared. If schools are not in session I doubt that any significant childcare settings would be either since presumably it would be intended to limit spread by contact. There are obvious repercussions for the economy, security and healthcare if that happens, short and long term. Parliament is about to go on 2 months' break so it would have to be a very serious situation for it to reconvene in time for September.