P-05-988 Give key worker children equal access to their schools and teachers, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 29.08.20

Thanks you for forwarding the Minister's response. Unfortunately it doesn't address my concerns at all. 

Going back to the situation in June, I was told, three working days before school reopening, that as I needed to use key worker childcare to do my own work as a teacher, my children could not have contact with their class teachers or their friends. It later transpired that children in this situation would be sent to the local leisure centre, which wouldn't be staffed by teachers. Later still, I learned that the children of school staff only (which didn't make epidemiological sense) could attend school to do their online learning supervised by a TA, but still without access to their teacher or opportunities to mix with friends. 

Kirsty Williams has not addressed any of this in her letter, which seems to be a convoluted overview of the guidance to schools. She makes no reference at all to the exclusion of key worker children from their classroom settings. 

I teach in England and will remove my children from their school if this happens again, in the event of reopening after local or regional lockdown. I was able to teach key worker children alongside their classmates during the phased return so I would seek for my children to be afforded the same over the border. 

Please consider asking the Minister to be more specific about whether or not headteachers will be allowed to exclude the children of key workers who need to use childcare, in the event of phased reopening after future lockdown. 

With thanks

Catherine