If you think the key worker guidance should tighten up for school attendance please sign this petition

[swooby]

I can see from other threads that people are just as infuriated as I am about the current key worker guidance leading to schools being half full whilst the other half of kids get excluded.

So I made this petition. It basically suggest that:

1.If there is a non key worker parent at home then that family cannot send their children in to school

1. The keyworker definition needs to be tightened. It is currently far too broad and open to abuse.

I just can't get my head around how a non key worker has to home school kids UNLESS they happen to have a key worker partner.

If you feel the same please sign this petition at change.org on the link below:

chng.it/g4Zjg792Gn

Please share the link too

@studychick81

Hyacinth- I understand that and in that situation a KW place would be ok IMO. These friends do not work for the nhs. They work in finance/tech/high education/ government bodies. I have not said no one who works from home needs a KW place. I understand there are some exceptions- but not many I imagine.

This is what has bothered me about this whole debate.

You don't know the intricate details of every job. You are judging people on your perception of their job when in reality you can't possibly know enough to form an informed opinion.

@studychick81 Some are dcs at a selective private school so definitely not SN
Worrying that you don't think clever children can have 'SN'. Especially as you say you're a teacher.

You don't know the intricate details of every job. You are judging people on your perception of their job when in reality you can't possibly know enough to form an informed opinion.

This!!!

I was flamed on another thread because my friend who is in school finance is still working on site. Apparently she should be able to wfh because Big 4 accountants can. No awareness of the fact that systems within the public sector are often quite inefficient & more paper heavy. Plus she is also helping with on site testing.
It's quite astounding how so many people have such narrow views.

Some are dcs at a selective private school so definitely not SN

WOW

@studychick81 - many higher education employees are critical workers, because they are either providing remote learning to students to a set timetable (impossible with kids in the room and covered under the education portion of keyworker), or providing key scientific research capability that needs to happen in a laboratory setting (where do you think the research underpinning the covid vaccines came from).

Government bodies also have plenty of critical workers, some of my colleagues produce information that underpins things like the covid map, feeds into the statistics used in daily briefings, plenty more keep vital services running.

Also I was wondering how long before the “lazy university sector” would be implicated in this.

It's quite astounding how so many people have such narrow views.

Absolutely this.
I've been really surprised how many people have been unable to see things from a different perspective.

I'm a university lecturer ( I specialise in women's career development so this topic really bothers me!!) and I teach three days a week. Some days I'm teaching for 6 hours. My DH works at another university and is responsible for the team who support students so is in meetings constantly and dealing with some really distressing situations. Yes we both wfh but on my teaching days it really isn't possible to work and care for a 6 year old. However, I've been told numerous times on similar threads that we should have DS at home and either leave him to fend for himself or let him interrupt us. Or I should move my lectures to evenings and weekends!! Like that can just happen! Utterly ridiculous

Also I was wondering how long before the “lazy university sector” would be implicated in this.

It's alway inevitable isn't it?? So depressing

I can see why people use it but also feel for any young dc left to it.

Which will be happening in many cases in non KW families. Many non KW know it’s tough to impossible but no option out.

I was flamed on another thread because my friend who is in school finance is still working on site. Apparently she should be able to wfh because Big 4 accountants can. No awareness of the fact that systems within the public sector are often quite inefficient & more paper heavy. Plus she is also helping with on site testing.
It's quite astounding how so many people have such narrow views
I agree. Our finance manager is coordinating free school meals vouchers, helping with home deliveries, staffing the reception on a rota, helping with testing and has also been kind enough to put some of our work booklets through so we can deliver packs of work to those who don't have reliable access to online materials.
I honestly don't think some people realise that schools wouldn't run without support staff.

and don't forget in 2019 if you dared wfh with a dc around you would be letting your employer & dc down.

or my personal fave you should give up your job if you can't juggle childcare & work because it's wrong to be furloughed for that reason (nope) & you shouldn't have kids if you can't look after them.

I can see why people use it but also feel for any young dc left to it.

100%

I honestly don't think some people realise that schools wouldn't run without support staff.

yep

I honestly don't think some people realise that schools wouldn't run without support staff.

Absolutely.
It's the same at universities. Those support jobs often include intricate, detailed work and need full concentration. Very difficult ( impossible?) with young children around.

Never thought I'd see the day where people were campaigning to keep kids out of school.

Twilight zone.

Yes @SueEllenMishke at least not all of us feel like that.

or my personal fave you should give up your job if you can't juggle childcare & work because it's wrong to be furloughed for that reason (nope) & you shouldn't have kids if you can't look after them.

Oh yes. Like we could predict a global pandemic which would remove all childcare and education......

@marbellamarc

Yes *@SueEllenMishke* at least not all of us feel like that.

Thankfully! MN feels like an alternate universe sometimes!

So misogynistic as well

@studychick81

Hyacinth- I understand that and in that situation a KW place would be ok IMO. These friends do not work for the nhs. They work in finance/tech/high education/ government bodies. I have not said no one who works from home needs a KW place. I understand there are some exceptions- but not many I imagine.

tech - working tirelessly so that everyone in the UK has the tech to WFH, home school, stay on touch virtually, do you online banking and son on.

higher education -
University students pay thousands of £££ per academic year and all leaning is online now. Are you saying students who have paid their fees and are enrolled in Uni should not be receiving the education they paid for? Or only medical students?

government bodies -
dealing with education, Brexit, security, the law, health, and the general running of the country.

Do some people have no idea how things work?

Hyacincth on the grounds that I am wfh (as from the start of term. Before that I was in the office 5 days a week, and can be called back in at any time at short notice) and because the school doesn't understand that DH working FROM home is not the same as him working AT home. He is out of the house every day. Also because although DC has additional needs, Covid has delayed his getting an EHCP so the school do not class him as vulnerable. Their criteria for critical worker is basically "teacher or Covid nurse".
Someone else said people don't understand other people's circumstances, that's definitely true in our case.

@swooby

No-one I know who is homeschooling and works has taken time off work. They're all struggling along doing both. Either kids in front of TV whilst they work. Or doing the 12 hour day shift of childcare and homeschooling then an evening shift at home to get the work done.

So I guess I don't follow the argument that the covid nurse would have to stop work to homeschool when there's higher paid partner at home. Why wouldn't the partner suck it up? It's hard, I get it, but it's what everyone else has to do if they aren't married to a key worker.

Because kw have been doing this for almost a year now when many non kw were furloughed.

Kw are starting out on this Lockdown from a point of utter exhaustion already.

Partners are supporting their kw after work not starting out on Homeschool.

Some Families have two kw Parents.

Do some people have no idea how things work?

🤷🏼‍♀️

@Reachersloveinterest that's shit

If gov says schools have to be "shut" to reduce infection rates then surely them being this full extends the wave and it'll be longer til they get to reopen to the rest of us

It’s a fine balance between economy and infection rates.

Some Schools are not following the government guidance and denying kw places which makes some people resent kw and start Petitions to make life even harder for kw.