Coronavirus

[aintforever]

  On 20/01/2021 at 11:30, Whitey Grandad said:

My daughter is a dinner lady assistant at our local infant school. She says that over half the children are going in at the moment, presumably because they are classed as children of key workers. She knows for a fact that one of the mothers is working from home.

So half the kids are getting a classroom education whilst the rest are staring at a screen.

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You can be a key worker and work from home.

[View From The Top]

  On 20/01/2021 at 08:45, Born In The 80s said:

I know it's a rag, but the Daily Mail today talking about the lockdown easing on Good Friday, apart from schools which will start going back after half term. Good Friday feels like a hell of a long way off. 

 

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I've just come out of a meeting where it's suggested it will be a rolling reopening based on the infection rates within LEA areas.

With exams cancelled there is certainly less urgency from that perspective.

We are preparing for a week in/week out re-start for our students after 1/2 term and don't expect a full return until after Easter, if at all in this academic year.

[Sheaf Saint]

  On 20/01/2021 at 12:04, aintforever said:

You can be a key worker and work from home.

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Exactly. As in my case. My wife works in a hospital so is out on the front line, and if I had to have my daughter at home then I wouldn't be able to get any actual work done, because she would require my constant attention.

[hypochondriac]

  On 20/01/2021 at 12:55, Sheaf Saint said:

Exactly. As in my case. My wife works in a hospital so is out on the front line, and if I had to have my daughter at home then I wouldn't be able to get any actual work done, because she would require my constant attention.

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That doesn't make you a key worker. Your daughter should be at home. 

[Turkish]

  On 20/01/2021 at 12:55, Sheaf Saint said:

Exactly. As in my case. My wife works in a hospital so is out on the front line, and if I had to have my daughter at home then I wouldn't be able to get any actual work done, because she would require my constant attention.

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My son is at home and i'm working full time in a very senior role and also home schooling. I guess some people just cant manage more than one thing at a time.

[Lighthouse]

Another 1,800 deaths today. We’re really paying for that sh*t show in December.

[aintforever]

  On 20/01/2021 at 15:38, hypochondriac said:

That doesn't make you a key worker. Your daughter should be at home. 

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No, you can be classed as a critical worker and still work from home.

 

 

[Lighthouse]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:40, aintforever said:

No, you can be classed as a critical worker and still work from home.

 

 

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You can, however the point is that simply having your daughter home as a distraction doesn’t make you a critical worker in itself. 

[Turkish]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:44, Lighthouse said:

You can, however the point is that simply having your daughter home as a distraction doesn’t make you a critical worker in itself. 

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I expect quite a few people are in the same boat and just getting on with it

[aintforever]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:44, Lighthouse said:

You can, however the point is that simply having your daughter home as a distraction doesn’t make you a critical worker in itself. 

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Of course it doesn’t, your job does.

[whelk]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:07, Turkish said:

My son is at home and i'm working full time in a very senior role and also home schooling. I guess some people just cant manage more than one thing at a time.

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What does your home schooling involve?  Mine are old enough to look after themselves so don’t know how hands on it is and the impact.

[hypochondriac]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:40, aintforever said:

No, you can be classed as a critical worker and still work from home.

 

 

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Obviously. The implication of the post I replied to though was that the reason he was classing himself as a key worker was because his child would prevent him from doing his work at home. That clearly doesn't make him a key worker. If he's a key worker working from home then the bit about his child is irrelevant. 

[Turkish]

  On 20/01/2021 at 17:59, whelk said:

What does your home schooling involve?  Mine are old enough to look after themselves so don’t know how hands on it is and the impact.

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he has an 8.30 and 2pm teacher lesson on teams, they are then set work for the day which they need help with. At first he found it all very exciting "working from home" with Daddy, now it's not such a novelty and as i spend 4-5 hours a day on video conference calls he slips off at the first chance he gets to do something else. So there is the element of me managing my diary so i'm not on calls when he needs my help and making sure he stays interested when i'm on a call and cant be available to help straight away. 

[aintforever]

  On 20/01/2021 at 18:12, hypochondriac said:

Obviously. The implication of the post I replied to though was that the reason he was classing himself as a key worker was because his child would prevent him from doing his work at home. That clearly doesn't make him a key worker. If he's a key worker working from home then the bit about his child is irrelevant. 

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I see what you mean but it’s not completely irrelevant, it’s one of the reasons why only one of the parents need to be a key worker for the child to get a place.

[Whitey Grandad]

  On 20/01/2021 at 12:04, aintforever said:

You can be a key worker and work from home.

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Indeed, but over half of the classroom seems like a lot to me.

[The Kraken]

  On 20/01/2021 at 19:20, Whitey Grandad said:

Indeed, but over half of the classroom seems like a lot to me.

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It does. But the system is ripe for manipulation. What classifies a critical worker is at this link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Importantly, there’s a stipulation that a child can be considered “vulnerable” and therefore eligible for school if they are classed as “those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home (for example due to a lack of devices or quiet space to study)”. Really, you could likely make that argument for many families where the parents WFH.

[Tamesaint]

Having a £1,000 per day charge out rate for each of their 900 consultants - I bet the Deloitte partners don't want the pandemic to end.

 

[whelk]

Deloitte have a ‘land and expand’ approach whenever called upon by the Public Sector. Their expertise is in how to rip off clients with little commercial acumen. I know people who work there and they will give graduates wet behind the ears ‘consultancy’ roles and they mainly just rely on template reports - expertise my arse and trade on the name.

My niece landed a graduate role with them but jacked it  after a few months - i was pleased as whilst no doubt would have had lucrative career,  life is too short to be swallowed up by that corporate machine at 21.

Edited 21 January, 2021 by whelk

[Sheaf Saint]

  On 20/01/2021 at 15:38, hypochondriac said:

That doesn't make you a key worker. Your daughter should be at home. 

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No, the fact that I work in an incident response role for a category 1 responder makes me a key worker. 

[Sheaf Saint]

  On 20/01/2021 at 18:12, hypochondriac said:

Obviously. The implication of the post I replied to though was that the reason he was classing himself as a key worker was because his child would prevent him from doing his work at home. That clearly doesn't make him a key worker. If he's a key worker working from home then the bit about his child is irrelevant. 

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That's just the way you read it. That wasn't what I was trying to imply.

I am a key worker because of the demands of my job (see previous post). Having sole responsibility for my daughter at home, while my wife is out at work in a hospital, would leave me unable to fulfil my duties. So yes, I am working from home, but I am also completely justified in putting my daughter into school.

I was really responding to WG's statement that his daughter knows for a fact that the mum of one of the kids in her school is working from home. The implication from this is that this mum is taking the piss and should have her child at home. But without knowing exactly what that mum does for her job, it's unfair to make that kind of judgement.

[Lighthouse]

  On 21/01/2021 at 10:09, Sheaf Saint said:

That's just the way you read it. That wasn't what I was trying to imply.

I am a key worker because of the demands of my job (see previous post). Having sole responsibility for my daughter at home, while my wife is out at work in a hospital, would leave me unable to fulfil my duties. So yes, I am working from home, but I am also completely justified in putting my daughter into school.

I was really responding to WG's statement that his daughter knows for a fact that the mum of one of the kids in her school is working from home. The implication from this is that this mum is taking the piss and should have her child at home. But without knowing exactly what that mum does for her job, it's unfair to make that kind of judgement.

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I think the confusion stems from you conflating two separate points; being a key worker and being unable to work with your daughter at home. For example you could be a professional sex doll tester like I er...  a friend of mine and the latter would apply but not the former, so you wouldn’t be justified in sending your child to school. Anyway, you are a key worker so it’s all academic.

[hypochondriac]

  On 21/01/2021 at 10:29, Lighthouse said:

I think the confusion stems from you conflating two separate points; being a key worker and being unable to work with your daughter at home. For example you could be a professional sex doll tester like I er...  a friend of mine and the latter would apply but not the former, so you wouldn’t be justified in sending your child to school. Anyway, you are a key worker so it’s all academic.

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Indeed. Bit of a non point to state that your child is at school because you're a key worker. 

[sadoldgit]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:07, Turkish said:

My son is at home and i'm working full time in a very senior role and also home schooling. I guess some people just cant manage more than one thing at a time.

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I hate to break it to you Turkish, but being an internet WUM doesn’t not qualify as a “very senior role.”  

[Turkish]

  On 21/01/2021 at 21:22, sadoldgit said:

I hate to break it to you Turkish, but being an internet WUM doesn’t not qualify as a “very senior role.”  

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I thought you stopped posting on here because of me? Can’t help it can you. 

[Sheaf Saint]

  On 21/01/2021 at 18:34, hypochondriac said:

Indeed. Bit of a non point to state that your child is at school because you're a key worker. 

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Eh?

Whitey said his daughter told him there are kids in school whose parents are WFH, as if to say they shouldn't be in school.

Aintforever pointed out that people can be key workers and still be WFH, making it impractical/impossible for them to also have kids off school and at home with them.

I simply agreed and said that this is the situation I am in. I am a key worker, working from home, and I could not do my job if I could not put my daughter in school.

To say that no kids should be at school if one of their parents is WFH is just wrong if you don't take the parent's job into account.

What is it about this you don't get?

[Weston Super Saint]

  On 22/01/2021 at 12:38, Sheaf Saint said:

 

I simply agreed and said that this is the situation I am in. I am a key worker, working from home, and I could not do my job if I could not put my daughter in school.

 

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To be fair, your original post wasn't really that clear...

  On 20/01/2021 at 12:55, Sheaf Saint said:

Exactly. As in my case. My wife works in a hospital so is out on the front line, and if I had to have my daughter at home then I wouldn't be able to get any actual work done, because she would require my constant attention.

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You've stated that your wife works in an hospital and is out on the front line which would make her a key worker, however, you didn't orignally state that you are also a key worker, merely that you wouldn't get anything done if your daughter was home.

The assumption that I guess most of us made was that your wife is a key worker but that you aren't - until you clarified it later on....

[CB Fry]

For once we all agree that Sheaf's original post was massively misleading and it looks like we all read it like he had a non essential WFH job (like the one i am not doing right now as I write this).

Well done for achieving Saints Web unity, Sheaf Saint 👍👍👍👍👍

 

[Turkish]

  On 22/01/2021 at 13:26, CB Fry said:

For once we all agree that Sheaf's original post was massively misleading and it looks like we all read it like he had a non essential WFH job (like the one i am not doing right now as I write this).

Well done for achieving Saints Web unity, Sheaf Saint 👍👍👍👍👍

 

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First poster to ever do this? Covid has achieved something.

[Sheaf Saint]

  On 22/01/2021 at 13:10, Weston Super Saint said:

To be fair, your original post wasn't really that clear...

You've stated that your wife works in an hospital and is out on the front line which would make her a key worker, however, you didn't orignally state that you are also a key worker, merely that you wouldn't get anything done if your daughter was home.

The assumption that I guess most of us made was that your wife is a key worker but that you aren't - until you clarified it later on....

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It really was very clear...

  On 20/01/2021 at 12:04, aintforever said:

You can be a key worker and work from home.

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  On 20/01/2021 at 12:55, Sheaf Saint said:

Exactly. As in my case.

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As in my case. I am a key worker and I work from home.

What's so confusing to everyone about that?

Maybe I could have added the next bit on a separate line, but I wasn't saying I'm justified in putting my daughter in school solely because I wouldn't get any work done. Because I'm not an idiot and I know that's not the case.

I was just making the point that simply being at home doesn't automatically mean someone is capable of full time childcare as well, which is what Whitey appeared to be suggesting.

[Plastic]

  On 20/01/2021 at 16:07, Turkish said:

My son is at home and i'm working full time in a very senior role and also home schooling. I guess some people just cant manage more than one thing at a time.

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I am also a key worker, working from home in a fairly critical role. My daughter (12) is completely self managing and just gets on with her tasks. My son (9) is not able to self manage, and I cannot dedicate time to teaching him, so he goes to school. Different strokes and all that.

Edited 22 January, 2021 by Plastic

[Plastic]

  On 21/01/2021 at 06:49, whelk said:

Deloitte have a ‘land and expand’ approach whenever called upon by the Public Sector. Their expertise is in how to rip off clients with little commercial acumen. I know people who work there and they will give graduates wet behind the ears ‘consultancy’ roles and they mainly just rely on template reports - expertise my arse and trade on the name.

My niece landed a graduate role with them but jacked it  after a few months - i was pleased as whilst no doubt would have had lucrative career,  life is too short to be swallowed up by that corporate machine at 21.

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Fully agree with that, add Gartner & PWC to the list.

Edited 22 January, 2021 by Plastic

[Weston Super Saint]

  On 22/01/2021 at 13:56, Turkish said:

First poster to ever do this? Covid has achieved something.

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Not any more - it would appear that Sheaf Saint doesn't agree that his post was misleading 

[Whitey Grandad]

  On 22/01/2021 at 14:04, Sheaf Saint said:

It really was very clear...

 

As in my case. I am a key worker and I work from home.

What's so confusing to everyone about that?

Maybe I could have added the next bit on a separate line, but I wasn't saying I'm justified in putting my daughter in school solely because I wouldn't get any work done. Because I'm not an idiot and I know that's not the case.

I was just making the point that simply being at home doesn't automatically mean someone is capable of full time childcare as well, which is what Whitey appeared to be suggesting.

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I wouldn’t want to get too worked up over just one example but when most of the class is going in then it makes you raise your eyebrows. Are all the parents key workers who are working from home?

It also raises the question as to why the school has bothered to close anyway. This is playing havoc with the development of those young kids who are not going to school.

[buctootim]

  On 22/01/2021 at 17:50, Whitey Grandad said:

I wouldn’t want to get too worked up over just one example but when most of the class is going in then it makes you raise your eyebrows. Are all the parents key workers who are working from home?

It also raises the question as to why the school has bothered to close anyway. This is playing havoc with the development of those young kids who are not going to school.

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About half the kids in my daughters school are going, including her - and not because I've claimed any exemption. I don't even know why she's going apart from the fact they have offered her 'tailored educational support' probably because she is in year 11.    

[aintforever]

  On 22/01/2021 at 17:50, Whitey Grandad said:

I wouldn’t want to get too worked up over just one example but when most of the class is going in then it makes you raise your eyebrows. Are all the parents key workers who are working from home?

It also raises the question as to why the school has bothered to close anyway. This is playing havoc with the development of those young kids who are not going to school.

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The list of key workers is long so they probably are, our little one’s school is about half full so to say they are closed is a bit of a stretch.

We qualify but pulled her out anyway because we were concerned about the new strain and the class size. Trying to work and home school is hard work though, will probably send her back if the numbers come down enough.

[View From The Top]

We have approx 10% in.

 

Same at my wife's school and it's 15% at my kids school.

 

That's about what it should be.

[Whitey Grandad]

Ironically my daughter herself is classified as a key worker and she has to leave her three kids at home for the two hours a day that she goes in.

[The Cat]

  On 21/01/2021 at 06:49, whelk said:

Deloitte have a ‘land and expand’ approach whenever called upon by the Public Sector. Their expertise is in how to rip off clients with little commercial acumen. I know people who work there and they will give graduates wet behind the ears ‘consultancy’ roles and they mainly just rely on template reports - expertise my arse and trade on the name.

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We had them in as part of a department review. Some guy in his early 20's swanned in occasionally, said "synergy" a lot and left after a few weeks without really doing anything.

We did had have one meeting with a woman from Deloittes who was the most beautiful person I've ever seen in the flesh. At least this least provided some value for the £30k we paid them for suggesting we implement largely the same plan we'd already favoured. 

[benjii]

  On 22/01/2021 at 23:07, The Cat said:

We had them in as part of a department review. Some guy in his early 20's swanned in occasionally, said "synergy" a lot and left after a few weeks without really doing anything.

We did had have one meeting with a woman from Deloittes who was the most beautiful person I've ever seen in the flesh. At least this least provided some value for the £30k we paid them for suggesting we implement largely the same plan we'd already favoured. 

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Rule 1? Or her name, at least.

[whelk]

  On 22/01/2021 at 23:07, The Cat said:

We had them in as part of a department review. Some guy in his early 20's swanned in occasionally, said "synergy" a lot and left after a few weeks without really doing anything.

We did had have one meeting with a woman from Deloittes who was the most beautiful person I've ever seen in the flesh. At least this least provided some value for the £30k we paid them for suggesting we implement largely the same plan we'd already favoured. 

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You did well to get away with just £30k. That will normally only get you a report mentioning ‘digital’ and ‘transformation’ many times with lots of ‘outputs’

[buctootim]

  On 22/01/2021 at 19:23, Whitey Grandad said:

Ironically my daughter herself is classified as a key worker and she has to leave her three kids at home for the two hours a day that she goes in.

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Latchkey worker 

[whelk]

We have been pretty good adhering to stay at home rules during lockdown.

However went for a local walk today but drove about a mile to get there. Fck me the traffic on the roads was crazy. No fucker is staying in it would seem

[View From The Top]

  On 23/01/2021 at 22:00, whelk said:

We have been pretty good adhering to stay at home rules during lockdown.

However went for a local walk today but drove about a mile to get there. Fck me the traffic on the roads was crazy. No fucker is staying in it would seem

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We've been commenting on it where I live.

Clearly more people are working but also more people are driving to the shops etc due to the shit weather where as in LD1 they would walk.

 

[whelk]

Who on earth thinks you can get away with a wedding this big?

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-police-break-up-400-strong-wedding-at-north-london-school-12195311

 

[ecuk268]

Heathrow departures  on Friday

Where were this lot off to?

[View From The Top]

For those with school age kids.

They're not going to be back before Easter. Expect an announcement late this week or next but certainly before Feb' half term.

When they do go back it's likely to be week in/week out at all levels.

Also expected adjusted exams in 2022 allowing for how much face 2 face teacher has been lost for Y10/Y12.

 

[aintforever]

I’ve got a horrible feeling these new strains are worse than we thought.

[Born In The 80s]

  On 24/01/2021 at 18:42, View From The Top said:

For those with school age kids.

They're not going to be back before Easter. Expect an announcement late this week or next but certainly before Feb' half term.

When they do go back it's likely to be week in/week out at all levels.

Also expected adjusted exams in 2022 allowing for how much face 2 face teacher has been lost for Y10/Y12.

 

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How do you know this? After half-term i get, but surely it's too early to make a call until Easter?

My two are 7 and 10 and are desperately missing school. Keeping Primary children off until Easter seems ridiculous to me. 

[Weston Super Saint]

No win for the Government when it comes to schools!

Before Xmas people were shouting from the rooftops that it was unsafe for kids to be in school and the Government had blood on its hands keeping them in.

Now, just over a month later with infections still higher than they were pre Xmas and deaths rising daily people are clamouring for the kids to go back!

Returning after Easter (based on current figures) makes more sense than mid February!

[whelk]

  On 25/01/2021 at 10:58, Weston Super Saint said:

No win for the Government when it comes to schools!

Before Xmas people were shouting from the rooftops that it was unsafe for kids to be in school and the Government had blood on its hands keeping them in.

Now, just over a month later with infections still higher than they were pre Xmas and deaths rising daily people are clamouring for the kids to go back!

Returning after Easter (based on current figures) makes more sense than mid February!

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Have you considered boat schools?