Wraparound care at school cancelled

I hate the whole "school isn't childcare" thing too btw, you'd need one person to earn £75k to get a mortgage for the average house price, which is almost double the average wage. Hence in most families both parents need to work.

(And my fairly modest 3 bed terraced house in an average suburban non-London area would need a salary of £150k if I were to buy it today)

Children need to go to school, so any childcare needed beyond that needs to work AROUND school which has a huge impact on how it all works.

Id look and see if the other school was doable over losing a job.

Also try and find out if the other users would help in anyway? If you could have thier children once a week and they had yours on a different day, thats one day less impact on work. I used to do a swap with my neighbours children to save money. I had them Monday and she had mine on Friday. (although I guess if you have 3 and they have 1 its a bit unfair)

Is there any possible way the person who was running the club would become an afterschool nanny.

Oh interesting, because that's the opposite of what I'd thought. Maybe it is worth asking whether it could be viable if more were charged then. Do you know how many other kids go regularly?

Can you get in touch with the school and see if there is any option for them to reinstate it if they upped the fees or put in place a different provision?

It's incredibly hard to find staff for after school provision even in cities, they often run unprofitably and many are at risk of closing.

Living rurally AND nowhere near family is always a risky choice, to be fair.

I would also look at your nearest town which has a sixth form or university as often students can offer childcare. They probably won't want to travel though.

@Citytocountry1 they may be making some redundancies, cutting contracts? I assume the school has mixed years if only 5 came into reception.

Also rural, also no wraparound. They’ll have been promoting it trying to increase the numbers attending …

how many children actually attended ? Numbers must have been low.

I think facebook best bet and asking everyone you know. Two girls in my DD’s primary class had a ‘nanny’ - one was a retired lady, another a sahm with a baby. Both were easy jobs - pick up one well behaved girl take her to activities and feed her an easy tea. Might suit a student too.

Not sure about that, as putting the provision out to tender for private companies doesn't mean any will come forward. It's a tiny rural school with falling rolls and there aren't actually that many people wanting to work those hours. Even in cities where there are many more potential employees available, some schools are struggling to staff the provision.

I do hope OP can sort something out, but I'm not sure it's going to be an after school club.

Yes this could be the issue - the OP has 3 children using ASC so is disproportionately affected. How many other families use it and every day? Based on the description of it being a small school and low intake in reception I am guessing it may just be the OP and one or two other families which is not sustainable and not going to significantly impact many others across the school by closing it.

I would also disagree with putting the costs up. This won't attract more people and as a school is it worth having an ASC to benefit one family?

School finding had been an issue for years. If they had an I take of only 5 reception, the funding won't even cover the staffing for that group. Falling numbers and years of under funding are now starting to have impacts that parents are feeling, teachers have been warning about this for years and the media general public have not taken it seriously. I don't understand how school funding has not been a major issue in general and local elections.

It is extremely inconvenient for you but I think it's the reality that schools are cut to the bone so it's an extra that would most likely be cut. I would also say with a reception intake of 5, roll numbers may put the school in a very precarious position and it may be worth looking into what your options may be for alternative schooling that meets your needs better.

No parent should be forced to work part time or not work to facilitate schooling,

Ideally not, but someone has to be willing to work the hours needed for the childcare & for the money offered.

School budgets are shit, birth rates falling so numbers at school are falling so money given to school is falling. Some schools may run ASC at a loss for awhile, but at some point they may have to say enough is enough. It is possible that the parent running the club wants to leave and the school realised this is the time to pull it as they really can’t afford to keep it going, or the school is looking at their budget and realise they just can’t afford it as not enough parents are using it.

It’s a pity they didn’t put out a survey or something to see if more parents would use it, but that doesn’t mean it would end up being viable. If they are making a loss on it then that means something else in the school is missing out on funds.

I assume they have been provisionally notified of their numbers for reception in September and can see their budgets falling even more.

You might be able to see governor minutes on the school website which might include discussion on closure of ASC

Just come to send my sympathy OP. I hope you manage to find a solution. We would be absolutely up the creek if our school couldn’t do the wrap around and holiday club.
Youve had a couple of posters telling you school isn’t childcare but many families have both parents working now and rely on their school wraparound services, and do not expect them to be pulled away without warning or notice.

That is exactly what I was going to say. Finding staff that only want a few hours in the morning and afterschool is difficult. Having been involved in this a few times it’s really challenging, schools often have to outsource and these companies definitely will not run at a loss. Schools are running in tightrope budgets and so just can’t afford to lose money.
I’m not without sympathy, I would be in a med without wraparound care so completely understand, but not sure blaming the school is necessarily fair. They quite possible have no choice.

This.

Hope you can find a solution OP, such late notice of the closure.
Both my children are at special school with zero wraparound care. My DH and I are both now working part time to cover all the drop offs and pick ups. It’s tough.

OP you have my sympathy as this happened to us last summer, the wraparound care next to the school (which also ran a school holiday club) was privately run they told parents it was closing last July.

Because it was heavily used, enough parents spoke to the school headteacher and governors and they were able to reinstate it from September, it’s now run by some of the TAs and dinner ladies who are doing a fab job. They only do before and after school care but it was an absolute life saver.

Could you contact the school and see if there’s anything they are able to do. It’s a shame you aren’t on a class WhatsApp group as there was a lot of us freaking out about it who all went to the school to voice our concerns about what we would do.

I know people say that school isn’t childcare but trying to work a full time job alongside 9-3 school drop off and pick ups is very difficult if you can’t work from home, don’t have other help available.

Our wrap around had a three year waiting list at our school and they won't let you use all the days.
I have literally had to change to a work from home job, I am now in debt too due to salary cut. And completely buggering up my career.
Sorry OP it is shit. Whay about an au pair?

I think we’re going to see more of this happening, sadly.

The reality is that many, many ASC run at a loss but the school/governors feel it’s important to absorb.

But as funding continues to be tight, costs increasing and birth rate reducing, it’s going to get worse and less justifiable.

Got to be a fair chance it's because they know they can't staff it? If nobody wants the work then it isn't viable, and in a small rural school there must be a greater risk of that.

Hope you can sort something out soon though.

It depends where you are, but a similar thing happened to me though it was more to do with times.
it ended up being cheaper to send mine to a private school than to pay a childminder. Madness but it worked for us.