What are schools doing about vulnerable staff and those without childcare?

[WowLucky]

We have 6 with official shielding letters - they will be wfh for the foreseeable.

We have 3 with seriously ill shielding partners. Whilst guidance is that the healthy partner does not need to shield, being at work would cause them considerable anxiety and likely result in them being signed off by GP. Atm we are allowing them to wfh too. What are other schools doing?

We have a further 12 who have declared vulnerabilities but are not officially shielded. We are asking them to return with individual RAs if they want them, some will clearly be too anxious to do so, resulting in GP certificate.

Then we have 14 with no childcare of their own. They have no "right" to stay at home but what else are they supposed to do? It frustrates me that they are all women (ie it is automatically assumed that the mother's work will suffer) but I can't do anything about that. So, we have said we will be as flexible as possible for those, but it does make planning very difficult when you have to work around husbands shifts etc.

We are keen to be fair and keep people safe. As the available staff are required I school more, how is the "fairness" issue being dealt with?

Are you applying the same principals to teachers and other staff? Some roles are easier to do effectively from home, some remote teaching is still required so teachers came be useful at home, difficult for a site manager or catering staff to wfh, for example.

I think we have a plan but interested to hear how other schools are managing it.

Well, this rather puts paid to the more widely held MN views that SLTs are a bunch of union sacred softies who are trying very hard not to open schools.

Quite the opposite of many schools staff's experiences.

My head told me to take my own child into our school if I couldn't get any other cover but wanted to work. She did this knowing that I was also concerned about my child being alone all the time, so it might be fun for her to be in school. I didn't in the end, but it was all discussed in an adult way with some understanding of all situations.

My school have said that you can bring your own children in as childcare if they have nowhere else to go- I think they are thinking of primary aged children, rather than nursery age though! They go in with keyworkers children in the library, rather than coming into Y10/12 classes of course!

They are allowing all vulnerable, shielding and
people who live with those who are sheilding to work from home. If you're vulnerable and desperate to come in, they will do an individual risk assessment. For partners of people who are vulnerable, I believe they have done individual risk assessments.

I don't think "giving them groups most likely to socially distance" is really acceptable- they are still being put at risk by having to spend time with students in an enclosed space, that's not safe, just safer. I think safer roles in school include things like supervising break/lunch (so the teachers teaching the bubbles can have a break) or dealing with individual students who perhaps need to come out of the classroom for some reason. It might also include working one-to-one with a child with SEN needs, where appropriate.

As a very last resort, in my school I think supervising key worker children is safer than being in a teaching bubble- these students are in a larger space, and they are used to the system. If I was vulnerable, I think I would refuse to work with a bubble of 15 Y10s, for example.

I know childcare is really difficult for people right now, but I think getting those teachers back in is probably a higher priority than the vulnerable ones.

My school has a staff of a similar size, and there are more than 20 staff continuing to work from home- perhaps you need to rethink your plans to work with the staff you have available?

A view from Victoria where all schools are back:

Childcare issues thoroughly in the court of the parents, as are those who are in households of the vulnerable. The union is still going in to bat on the part of the latter, but no dice so far.

Staff who are vulnerable have to fall into four strict categories and teach from home.

Social distancing is concentrated on staff. Other than that, lots of hand washing and hand sanitiser.

@echt are schools there back full time/full capacity?

If so, are you mixing/combining/setting classes for eg assemblies/play times/phonics sets/wraparound care?

Appuskidu

Yes. All in and full to the gunnels. I teach in a 1200 secondary school.
No assemblies, contact sports, excursions, camps, exams, etc. but other than that classes as normal. Timetable normal but pickups monitored - parents not allowed in without an appointment.

We had a staggered start: Years 11 and 12 in from 26th May, everyone else from 9th June. We're on the winter holiday for a fortnight from end of next week, so will be interesting to see if there's a spike.

Very strict on spotting the ill, straight to medical and phone home.

The playgrounds looks as per normal.

They're relying on the very low and rapidly traced infections, e.g. 4 people in ICU, 17 in hospital across the state at the moment. You can get a test at the local big shopping centre.

We need the advice in the BAME report that we know they/the gov/PHE are sitting on.

I came looking for this thread or to start another as I'm concerned about the inconsistency of practice here. Some schools are naming BAME groups alongside other vulnerable groups in their RAs but many others aren't and in the absence of any government guidance it's impossible to make a decent risk assessment.

Excuse my tinfoil hat because I really don't go in for conspiracy theories but I am very concerned that the unreleased report essentially concludes that being of a BAME heritage is a risk factor in itself and that it remains unpublished so as not to decimate the workforce even further. I'm involved with schools where the staff body is 50%+ BAME.

My school sent an email asking us what our limitations where and nicely but very firmly pointed out that childcare was not the sole responsibility of the teacher parent (obviously aimed at those with partners) which I agree with. I have not used a key worker space till now as we have managed without, mine are back in but 2 days a week on short days or half days so its been a bit of a juggle but it is most definitely not all down to me, I am lucky I only teach yr 12 no yr 10 so my commitment in the next few weeks is low but husband is doing as much childcare as needed.

We’ve been told we have to take unpaid parental leave for childcare reasons. Currently we’re managing to cover for each other in my department but not sure what’ll happen in September if primaries aren’t fully back but secondaries are doing more in-school lessons.

Nightmare for childcare for pre schoolers at the moment. School being good so far and arranging days around my DH. Genuinely don't know what will happen in Sept though.