Early years are being expected to stay open whilst all other schools and education settings close. Early years workers are being completely forgotten about whilst this pandemic is going on and it’s taking its toll on the workers.

We demand to be protected whilst this is going on and we have all seen how COVID 19 affects our settings, it’s not fair on the people, we don’t wear masks because it frightens our children, we are not protected whilst most of the children attending these settings are children of parents working from home!

How can you expect the numbers to fall if we are expected to mingle as normal, it should be key workers only it is not our responsibly to take the weight of the lockdown due to governments failed efforts.

The early years are important but without feeling respected and valued there won’t be many people left in the world that’ll happily stand up and go for it. We deserve to be supported and treated as equals, how can it not be safe to sit in Parliament,
but it's safe for us to sit in a nursery? The only people the government care about are the ones that everyone can see, the ones that reflect well on their image. Nurseries need to close, and now!

But not only do they need to close, the owners and managers of these settings need security and support to help them through this challenging time, they need options and means to survive.

I don’t expect everybody to completely understand and maybe some will say it’s selfish of us to not want to stay open during these times but honestly it’s a world and for all too long Early Years workers have been ignored, underpaid and undervalued and honestly this situation just makes us feel ‘expendable’. We don’t blame the owners or directors; they fear for their livelihoods, the government needs to take action to protect everyone, not just those in the public eye.