Am I eligible to send my child to school as a critical worker but WFH?

[RachelSq]

Hi

I’m so confused about whether I’d be expected to be in a position to send my son to school if primary schools were shut and the ‘contingency’ element was brought in like back in March. My son just started in September so I didn’t get the opportunity to look into this back in spring.

Both me and my DH are classed as critical workers, although it is possible for me to work at home (although this must still cover core hours, when DH is out at work). Without going into too much detail, it’s just not possible for me to maintain doing the job whilst stopping a four year old hurting himself/wrecking the house/watching TV all day in a different room. Trying to juggle this in lockdown 1 led to me having fairly significant mental health issues, which I’m still dealing with.

From what I gather, if it is possible for me to WFH I can’t send my son to school. Is this correct and does anyone have any links to support this?

If not, I have 3 options:

1. Use clinically vulnerable relatives as childcare
2. Ask my work to require me to attend our site
3. Get signed off sick

None of these appeal to me and I’ve already used my full holiday and parental leave entitlement and work will not furlough me.

Stressed beyond belief right now because everything is clear as muck!

If it’s not possible can you send your DC to school? How did you manage in March?

I'm sorry, I don't know for sure or have any links but I'd imagine that you would fit the criteria for sending your son to school as a key worker. Regardless of where you work (home or office/on site), you can't carry out your role whilst providing childcare so I'd think, in your case, it's a necessity.

How would the school know?

I think you’re probably best sending to school if you feel comfortable doing so. What is it that you do? Are you consistently working from home? If so you may have less risk to your relatives if you used them from the get go rather than in school and out if unwell.

It doesn’t matter if you are working from home or not, you are a critical worker so can send your child to school

I have a friend who works from home, and is a key worker - her children certainly went to school in the first lockdown. A lot of keyworkers do work from home, think about all the teachers who were at home doing the online lessons last time. I wouldn’t raise it as a question with the school tbh, just inform them you are a key worker so your child will be attending. They don’t need to know where you do your work.

You need to contact your son's school. If you're a critical worker and cannot do your job if your son is in the home, it's likely he would be able to attend the critical worker provision. It might be a good idea to ask your line manager, and for your DH to ask his, to provide you with a letter stating your working hours and confirming your status as a critical worker in case it's required by the school.

@PartoftheProbl3m what an awful response to someone who is struggling mentally. I think you are the weirdo

I would be really interested to here if there is universal government guidance on this one.

DH and I are both critical workers, but I can WFH some of the time. I was given a very hard time by our head teacher for sending my DC in even on my hospital-based on-call days, and was guilt-tripped into keeping her home when WFH even though this was at times wildly inappropriate given the nature of what I do.

Just further to my previous post. My friend is a social worker, she’s senior so normally office/ court based. Last time she initially kept her boys home but as she was then doing virtual visits and other confidential video calls, she sent the boys to school but continued working from home.

I would send your child to school. It's hard at the moment, especially if you've had mental health problems, which I identify with, I think it makes decision making harder and you agonise over every decision. Send your child to school. X

Send him to school. There were certainly people wfh accessing it last time at our school.

You can absolutely send him to school if you're a key worker working from home. A friend who is a teacher (so works a mix of wfh and working in the school to cover key worker children) sends her kids to school.

And ignore the bellends on this thread who are just plain rude or didn't RTFT - it was clear to me that as your son only started reception in September, this is new to you.

We have plenty of key workers doing this here. It's not like you'll be able to get your critical work done if you're also trying to care for a Reception-age child.

Some schools took a really (unfairly) hard line in the first lockdown with 2 key workers only, not able to WFH.

In your shoes I'd just inform the school of your key worker role and not even mention the WFH bit as it isn't actually relevant at this point and will only stress you out.

Send your child to school - you are a key worker and it's not possible to properly work with a 4 year old! I would have done the same had DS been that age.

Just don't mention to the school that you can wfh. It's none of their business and I don't know how the Head would even have a view of whether your employer enables working from home?

Although some of my civil service roles have allowed wfh, not all of them have as you just can't access some security systems from home just because of the risks.

My dsis has key worker status, but can WFH. Her dh is also a key worker and has to be in work.

She asked and pushed hard for her 5 year old ds to be in school, even wrote to her MP, her work contacted the school etc. But as one parent could WFH (even though it would impact her ability to work) she was still not given a place.

Not sure if that has changed, it might also be school dependant on key worker places available.

Her dh eventually managed to get his shifts changed to back shift so she could start early and at least have morning/early afternoons free to work uninterrupted. Her work were very supportive and understanding.

Some schools took a really (unfairly) hard line in the first lockdown with 2 key workers only, not able to WFH

Harsh I think. The message was always 'work at home if you can'. Head teachers were trying to balance numbers of KW and vulnerable children in school, with supporting those at home and keeping the children of KW's safe to. Your children are always safer from COVID whilst at home. We also appealed to parents to where possible support the cause by keeping your children at home.

As the pandemic continued numbers of KW children ( and vulnerable) increased significantly as parents pushed for a place. Applying the rules was a nightmare...retail worker...so food sales... yes? Gift shop..no? Is a new really candle essential?
Parents who tried to switch between schools and used LA call centre contacts to try and bypass the checks on KW status.

In some schools, if the 2 key worker rule wasn't followed, we would have had over primary 400 pupils in school with a knock on to year groups (reception/Y6) who should have been invited back but due to space couldn't be.

Surely it depends what kind of proof the school want? My dds secondary want a letter on workplace headed paper stating that parents job can't be done from home.

If school don't require that kind of proof, send him in.

Thanks everyone - based on the responses it seems as though it’s a bit of a lottery which isn’t great, especially as planning is very important to keeping me in a good mental state. At least I know it’s not entirely unreasonable to hope that a place may be available and I’m not taking the proverbial by applying.

Assuming primary schools do close to the masses, I’m inclined to follow the thought process of completing the forms honestly on the basis we are both key workers but not expand on WFH if it doesn’t explicitly ask.

And for those asking how I managed during lockdown one, the answer is that I didn’t. I had what would probably be classed as a mental breakdown and required relatives to provide childcare as I got to the point where I could neither work or provide childcare due to complete burnout. Obviously this is something I’m keen to avoid a repeat of, especially as the only relatives we could count on are no longer in a position to be able to help at the drop of a hat due to their own medical reasons.

@ByersRd

Some schools took a really (unfairly) hard line in the first lockdown with 2 key workers only, not able to WFH

Harsh I think. The message was always 'work at home if you can'. Head teachers were trying to balance numbers of KW and vulnerable children in school, with supporting those at home and keeping the children of KW's safe to. Your children are always safer from COVID whilst at home. We also appealed to parents to where possible support the cause by keeping your children at home.

As the pandemic continued numbers of KW children ( and vulnerable) increased significantly as parents pushed for a place. Applying the rules was a nightmare...retail worker...so food sales... yes? Gift shop..no? Is a new really candle essential?
Parents who tried to switch between schools and used LA call centre contacts to try and bypass the checks on KW status.

In some schools, if the 2 key worker rule wasn't followed, we would have had over primary 400 pupils in school with a knock on to year groups (reception/Y6) who should have been invited back but due to space couldn't be.

I still think that both needing to be key workers out of home was very unfair. My sister was a nurse trying to talk to highly vulnerable (socially /mentally, not covid) service users on the phone, with two young primary children at home and no other adult there, she ended up signed off from stress because she could not keep both her clients and children safe, let alone properly supported. Others were trying to keep utilities running or manage local government services, but because they could be at home it didn't matter if their child was 4 years old, or had ADHD and dyslexia and found online learning impossible without support, they were expected to cope. That's not gift shop employees.

We're in a similar position- both social workers. DP has been working out of the home the entire time, I was mainly at home. We live in a small flat and I'm frequently on zoom calls discussing confidential cases and also things not at all appropriate for DD to hear regarding abuse and homicide. We sent her to school - no evidence was requested.

I know other social workers who were trying to balance kids at home and case work, and it was really, really hard.

There was no school work/ teaching at school, but this may change this time round