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TV/YouTube at before and after school club....

7 replies

crazychemist · 01/11/2019 21:44

DD started at a new preschool 2 weeks before half term. DH has been doing the school run, but I did this week. DD normally does a bit of breakfast club and after school club as we can’t do without some level of wrap-around (we’re both teachers, so there’s just no way to leave before the end of the school day).

During the breakfast club, they seem to have a big projector to project CBeebies onto the wall. This morning she didn’t do breakfast club (I’m on half term) and when I took her to her classroom there was something video-like projected onto the board which DD immediately gravitated towards. When I picked her up from the after school club, the staff member had out his phone on the desk so the kids could watch cartoons.

This seems like way too much screen time to me!

Should I raise this with someone at the school? It’s 3 different staff members, so I wonder if each one thinks that they are the only one so it’s ok? In total it feels like way too much for me, and to be honest I’m amazed that they just stick CBeebies on for something that we pay for! Or am I over reacting?

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BackforGood · 01/11/2019 22:57

I would raise it with the managers at the wraparound care, yes. (Not often the school's responsibility)

If you have dc there until 6.30 x 5 nights a week, then I don't have an issue with them settling to watch a film or bit of TV every now and then, but it shouldn't be on all the time. Certainly no need for it before school - dc are unlikely to be there that long.

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purpleme12 · 01/11/2019 23:02

I don't know personally I agree however I do think watching screens are quite common at before and after school clubs. People says it's a way for the children to chill.

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GleamInYourEyes · 01/11/2019 23:07

If the after school club is cheap and cheerful, lots of kids and not many adults, then I would expect screen time.

I wouldn't be happy with watching cartoons on an adult's personal phone though, that seems highly inappropriate.

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crazychemist · 02/11/2019 08:37

@BackforGood it ends at 5.30, and we usually pick up DD before 5pm. They had already watched The Snowman and then at least half an hour of cartoons last night, I think I wouldn’t have minded if it was just for a little while. I thought she’d be playing with the other children or singing or something, that’s the sort of thing her previous nursery used to do after tea, something nice and chilled.

@GleamInYourEyes I’m not sure if I’d call it cheap and cheerful, I don’t know what these things usually cost. It works out at abou £7 per hour per child, they do get a small cheese sandwich for that. There are quite a lot of kids for the first hour. I wasn’t sure expecting lots of expensive crafts or anything, but some paper to scribble on or some circle time with stories or songs or something costs almost nothing.

How do I find out who manages the wraparound care? If it is managed separately I suspect I won’t get anywhere with this, I feel like if it’s a matter for the school they might agree with me, but I doubt the wraparound people will care much about my opinions

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itsaboojum · 02/11/2019 09:05

If you’re not happy with it, then speak to the manager.

I find a lot of before/after schools do similar. I’d be concerned if it were the only thing on offer, but the vast majority of settings have plenty of other things going on, and it’s down to the children to choose. From what I’ve seen, children are most likely to choose screens ahead of play/craft if they are used to screens at home. If they can’t self-manage to what you regard as an appropriate amount of tv, then just ask the staff to ensure they do something different.

Independent economic research in 2018 found £7.35 to be the minimum hourly rate needed for childcare settings to achieve reasonable standards and financial sustainability. That was before politicians started promising to put up running costs by raising the minimum wage and demanding more training. So £7ph is just on the low side in that context.

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GleamInYourEyes · 02/11/2019 12:09

£7 an hour sounds expensive to me - ours is £4 an hour or £10 for 3pm-6pm and they get a hot snack and no TV (though there is a games console). It's just Reception onwards though and an adult:child ratio of around 1:10.

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crazychemist · 05/11/2019 17:35

@itsaboojum, thanks I’ll probably speak to the manager. We rarely have screens at home, we don’t have a TV lisence or use anything like YouTube, but DD does have some DVDs that we watch stuff from occasionally. We’re not really that into screens at home, we keep them all in one room and only really use it for work. That’s kind of how I picked up that she must be watching a lot at school - she kept mentioning things that I knew she hadn’t seen at home, and it seemed a huge amount to have picked up in only 2 weeks.

Wow @GleamInYourEyes that does sound cheap! Wonderful value! I don’t think ours has enough kids to run that cheaply, it’s a small school.

DH will be picking her up today (as is usually the case, last week was unusual), he said he’d have a word with the supervisor if she was watching it again when he went. I guess if it doesn’t change then we’ll ask to speak to the management about it.

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