Bank Holiday Working

[CouldBeOuting]

So we have been told that we have to keep our school open during the Easter holidays - including the Bank Holidays. I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest.

I know that the day will be much the same as any other but now "they" are also hinting that we may have to start opening seven days a week....

I am admin staff and there are things for me to do at the moment and I only have real contact with the children when doing lunch duty or providing first aid but I still worry about exposing my own family to the virus.

Are any other schools getting their staff to work bank holidays and weekends?

I each school in your are opening for its own keyworkers' children or is there a hub where they all go. We have a hub school which serves 8 primary schools in the area and is staffed by volunteers from any type of council staff, so they could be teachers, PSAs, admin, leisure staff, libraries etc. The hub school is open 8-6, Monday to Friday. The next 2 weeks are our Easter holidays so it would be open on Bank Holidays.

Hubs are currently open 5 days a week 8 -6. There is talk that if the situation gets much worse they will be 24/7.

All holiday are cancelled indefinitely, I have raised the fact that TAs are paid term time only and how would this be accounted for and am yet to receive an answer.

We are expected to be in a hub, available online for our children all day, undertaking online learning ourselves, phoning families to check they are ok and volunteering in the community.

At some point we can look after ourselves and our own families.

I each school in your are opening for its own keyworkers' children

At the moment schools are open individually. We only actually have one keyworker child coming in at the moment, all the others are vulnerable children so it is important that they are kept in familiar surroundings with familiar people. We are currently open normal school hours only. I have heard of one school under our LA that has refused to be open but I don’t know what has happened with their keyworker/vulnerable children.

Even if schools are over the BH there's no earthly reason admin staff need to be in. I have all my admin staff working from home, following advice that if any employee can work from home, they should do so.

Even if schools are over the BH there's no earthly reason admin staff need to be in. I have all my admin staff working from home, following advice that if any employee can work from home, they should do so.

I can’t work from home. The school needs admin to record the figures on the ridiculously repetitive DfE forms. Recording the school meals (packed lunches) taken. Sending out the vouchers to FSM families. I’m also a first aider. Our phone is still ringing. We are still getting post.

We aren’t opening in the Easter holidays for vulnerable children as they wouldn’t normally be in then. We are opening for KW children though-we really don’t have many, so it’s actually more staff than children!

We have phones forwards to mobiles, fsm vouchers and DFE figures are all being done at home.

We don’t have access to SIMS from home. I suspect you are sending FSM vouchers by email? We are posting ours as many of our families don’t have internet access. We have several families that can’t read or write and a high proportion of FSM families.

Our SLT have agreed that we’re all in this together and we are all doing an equal amount of time on the rota. None of us are in EVERY day but we are “on call” in case anyone gets sick. So far not a single member of staff has been unable to work.

Our county (in Wales) isn't doing vouchers. The school kitchen in the hub is cooking all the dinners and they are then being delivered to the homes of the kids who get them.

You raise an interesting point @CouldBeOuting. My secondary school has said that inline with the DFE request, they will be open during the easter break. My DC's primary school have repeatedly sidestepped this question when I have asked if they are open. I am only required one day a week and our team leader is hoping this will only be one week in 3 while we have a large number of healthy staff. But until I know, I am unable to tell my children's school I won't need to send them in. Dh is also a key worker. What I might have to suggest to my team leader is if I am needed in, can they ask if another member of staff will swap with me for those two weeks and I will cover their day the following weeks to return the favour.

As the wife of a (to us) higher tier key worker, I know how valuable schools opening is. Without it, there would be a lot more staff off than are currently just sick. But it seems to be a hastily thought out idea which has been chucked to schools to work out how to implement, with a wide variety of responses nationwide. For example, mine is not providing its usual breakfast and after school clubs, even though most of those who attend are key worker children. So I am already asking to work a reduced day on the ones I am in. But other schools have chosen to open earlier and finish later to accommodate key worker families.

We have asked teachers not to send their children to school, but to bring them in with them when they are on duty. Otherwise the home is getting two different lots of exposure

We are not asking any staff to work if it means their own child would have to attend another school. It just seems crazy to be adding children into the childcare at another school to staff our own provision.