To think a 3:20 finish is absurd?

I couldn't agree more. I wish someone would tell the DWP "school isn't childcare", because the moment your child turns 5 they expect you to work 30 hours a week. I guess it would be do- able if you worked at your kids' actual school (except then you'd have to find some extra work in the holidays to satisfy their requirements).

Oh, but it's OK, you can use some of this magical wrap around care! Which sometimes exists and....sometimes doesn't. There's not a single childminder in our village, or nearby.

But as a low income single mum you soon learn you don't count as a person, so hey 🤷‍♀️ Feminism doesn't concern itself with the likes of us, obviously.

There needs to be better wraparound care provision. We are still on the waiting list for after-school club in Y1 - last time I checked I was 13th in the queue for a Wednesday. Thank goodness I managed to find a childminder before mine started Reception, but many weren't so lucky. I know three women in my son's class who aren't working the hours they want/need to because of the lack of childcare.

Yet when we visited the school they didn't mention the waiting list at all - just said to call as soon as we had confirmation he had a place. Which we did. They also say there isn't much call for wraparound care 🤯

Wasn't that theory blown apart by the pandemic? School absolutely is childcare and it's just snobbery that makes teachers claim it isn't.

School was designed for a world where women didn't work and children worked on the land in the holidays and a serious look at the best way to revise the school year and day is long overdue.

My private school finished at 4.00 if we wanted to stay later they had extra activities like netball club etc but these where all extra and added onto the school bill. Prep was free but only until 5.30 and you had to be a certain age I seem to remember. We also had longer holidays but there was no holiday clubs when I was off school unless our holiday dates matched the local state schools. My parents worked in London and still had to arrange childcare to pick me up.

whoa whoa whoa teachers already work till 5 and beyond. So they may as well teach kids. Perhaps give the kids a 2 hour lunch and teachers can do prep work then.

It's also a self selecting group, in that people who don't want their DC in for longer days won't go private even if they can afford it.

This.
When you decide to have children you know for an absolute fact that in 4 years time they will be starting school. If you
A, don't have the means to be a SAHM
B, don't have grandparents/family members to help out
C, can't afford childcare
D, can't change your working hours
Then don't have children.

Generally the prep school day ends at 4:15pm and extra curricular clubs run until 5pm. After school clubs vary in end time. Both extra curriculars and ASC’s are charged in addition to the fees. So might not be cheaper than a state school with the same offerings?

Yep.June 30- 1 Sept up to age 12 then three mons I. secondary.

So if schools carried on until 5 who is paying for that? You can’t just ask people to work an extra hour and a half and not be paid?

Don't they have longer summer holidays in Ireland as well?

I think school should be more like daycare and actual school would start when the kids are older. The daycare would be from 7-5 or whatever is deemed the best timing. There would be school like activities during core hours. The other hours would be less formal. Kids would have to be in during the core hours but otherwise could be dropped off and picked up within opening hours. And when the kids are older and start formal school then they'd have after school club to those who need it and soon enough they'll be old enough to get themselves home from school.

But you are expecting free childcare.

The tax payer can’t fund everything for you.

You would lose your mind in Ireland for the first three years it's 1:20 and 2:20 after that.

I work full time I rely on after-school, childminders and nanny at different times.

My kids secondary school starts at 8.30 and finishes at 3. Earlier finish was decided because they appreciate that kids have extra curricular activities and homework to fit in.

Theres never going to be a one size fits all to this.

@cakeorwine 8-5pm would not have suited me or my husband to a tee.
Not everyone works traditional office hours. We never did.
We paid for a private school and extra provision.

Now Google how many weeks holiday they have and work out how you'd cover it.

After 3.20pm teachers should be able to get on with all the myriad of tasks that their SLT demand of them; as they do seem to post incessantly about it - although most problems seem to eminate from their SLT (teachers with promotion) so not really your mainstream working parents just tring to keep their own bosses happy and their dc educated, warm and fed.

No one has suggested that teachers lengthen their day working at the 'coal face' of education merely that the ordinary 3:20pm school finish doesn't co-exist so well with the widely-accepted 5-6pm finish that many employers demand.

And that's without throwing in the variations of shift workers and the restrictions on leave entitlement that many non-educational working parents endure/live with.

I think schools should only be closed for 25 days a year including bank holidays just so it fits in with the annual leave available to parents.

This plus the 8am - 5pm would suit working parents to a tee.

It might have some effect on pupils and teachers though,

Because kids would be absolutely shattered by then.

Teachers are there until 5 (and beyond) to prepare for following days and mark classwork. If they teach until 5pm, when do the teachers prepare their lessons for the following days? Are you willing to spend your evenings preparing for your next work days?
I'm not a teacher but I come from a family of teachers (2 grandparents, both parents, aunt and uncle, MIL) and I have a DD who has recently had to quit teaching due to severe anxiety

Because private schools are businesses that fund their operating model through raising funds via fees.

State schools are currently under funded and rely on the government. They work often in much more challenging catchment areas than schools in the private sector and the brings further drain on resources and then what they can offer as wrap around. For teachers, larger classes, more challenging children.

Private schools have longer school holidays too

So essentially you’re saying your child should do the typical 9-5 at school? I think not