Would the role of a midday assistant suit /entice you

[Mickeyfish]

Our school is applying for 2 midday assistant positions. 1 and half hours a day. Weve had not one response to the advert and no applicants have came in its made me think as to why is that ? Do people not find the job ideal if you had children of school age

Pointless for anyone that actually needs money from a job and if they don’t why take something that has such an enormous impact on your day and what else you can achieve.
Could you tag on some eg admin hours at the start to make the hours up a bit or even at the end so the finish time coincides with school pick up so a parent could take it as PT work that actually pays enough to be viable?

People these days retire much later than they did before and to be honest after retiring I'm not surprised people wouldn't want to be restricted to such tight hours. If retired people wanted something to do with their time literally any other job or volunteering would be preferable.

Yep, this.

Basically, the group of people whose requirements this would meet now have more options than they did a few years back. The captive audience has gone.

It is a very time consuming job ( i.e right in the middle of the day) for not a lot of money. Try making it 16 hours a week and you might find someone.

Retirees are often looking after grandchildren to save their parents nursery fees.
Also if I were a bit older I would have retired at 60 now I’m supposed to work til I’m 67, I actually live within 10/15 mins walk of 2 different primary schools and might be otherwise be considered an ideal candidate but I’m still going to be working my full time job.

Why would any role other than that be preferable?

Because of the vast assortment of reasons pointed out in this thread multiple times by multiple posters?

Even volunteering in a school would be better as they wouldn't be beholden to such restrictive hours and they could do other stuff on week days if desired.

Why would a retired person want to spend a few hours in the middle of each day working for not much more than a weekly shop once they'd finally got the freedom retirement brings?

Because it’s a poorly paid job which is an hour and a half right over lunchtime that stops you doing much else in the day. It’s also loud, frantic, on your feet and often freezing cold-it’s certainly not for everyone.

I can’t believe there aren’t local people who spend a lot of time milling about the house and gardening etc. my thoughts are the advert just hasn’t reached the right people. Where has the position been advertised?

That's a lot of commitment for very little pay. The travel alone won't make it worth it.

Why can't you believe it? The only neighbour on my street I know of who spends his time milling around the house and garden most days is in his 90's.

If people wanted a job for pocket money type pay then even one day a week in a shop would be better paid and give them more flexibility during the week.

Because you’re implying that all retired people are super busy, out all day type of people and I don’t believe it.

I'm not implying they are super busy out all day but it's a very restrictive job with little to no benefit to the one doing it.

Your comment also doesn't correlate to my statement that literally any other volunteer position or job would be preferable.

You're making it sound like there's tons of retired people sitting at home dying of boredom who would be grateful for a few hours a day in the middle of the day which simply isn't my experience.

1.5 hours work a day is nothing. It's not worth leaving the house for.

Bending over small children serving endless dinners and cleaning tables at a fast pace and then overseeing classes running around at speed out on a a massive cold playground whilst doing first aid, isn’t what most retired folk want to be doing over their lunchtime for minimum wage.

Suggested candidates:-

• retired people - retiring later in life and probably doing unpaid childcare for their grandkids
• mums looking to get back into work - few and far between, all the women I know went back to their normal job (albeit some went PT). I know not s single woman who has been out of the workforce so long she would need a job like this
• the unemployed and on benefits - not enough hours to be able to claim any top ups

Who would actually want this job?

Well, it wouldn't be enough hours for me as a single parent.

It's a horrid job because you can't do anything fro the whole day and yet it's what £20 a day?

If you really needed money I guess someone will do it who has a child there .

What's the demographic of the area ?

What's the benefit to me as a SAHP?

The cost is, I am stuck not being able to do anything all week because I can't do anything between pick up and going into work nor do I have time after work before school pick up. It writes off the entire week for little money. If it was 2 or 3 or even 4 days a week it'd be less of an issue and ironically I'd be more tempted even though its less money. The problem is the sheer level of commitment over five days required for little financial benefit. I'd have more freedom and flexibility working one or two evenings or one day at the weekend.

Then there's the issue with the level of responsibility. We are having issues with the current dinner ladies doing fuck all and not dealing with bullying or fights. Im not surprised. They don't want to get hurt in the cross fire or leave themselves open to accusations when they are getting paid so little. I couldn't work with other staff like this. It'd be a source of conflict for actually making an effort - y'know the whole 'why are you making us look bad' or general dumping everything on others who do by those who don't. The problem is the pay is too low to attract people who are going to give a shit a lot of the time and that's toxic. The reason there is a high turnover of staff is that those who give a shit don't last long at all. They go on to find other jobs because they are better motivated and don't want to put up with it.

And finally given DS has been having so many issues at school, I'm not doing him any favours by taking that job. If anything it would just add a layer of complications that would be against his best interests. Never mind the potential 'embarrassment' factor as he gets older.

I don't understand why schools think this is an attractive job. There's so few SAHPs in our area to begin with, and I think they think it's a 'good little job' because it's in school hours. Except it's too little to be worth the commitment and too much politics and effort for the money.

As a teacher, I'd never recommend anyone go for a SMSA role.
Not only is it a lot of hard work for minimum pay at the most inconvenient time of day, but also because the children are always much more badly behaved and disrespectful towards the lunchtime staff.
It would be far too much stress for far too little reward.

I am retired with a couple of primary school within walking distance and I wouldn't be interested. I don't need the money is the most important reason ... and if I did need to earn to top up my pension I would much rather work in a shop, cafe, local attraction .. or even informal babysitting preferably at night when the child is asleep . Supervising children eating their lunch or standing around doing crowd control has very little appeal.
And the hours are hopeless .. I use my 'leisure time' to care for my elderly DM and to volunteer at projects that interest me. Yes, in theory I would have the time to be a midday supervisor but I have absolutely no interest in doing it. I did years and years of volunteering in schools and PTA etc when my DC were young ... I don't want to go back into a school!

DC school is always looking for welfare assistant it's so inflexible. It's 1-2 hours a day but obviously slap bang in the middle of the day so not really any time to do anything before or after. Or go out for the day etc. plus wet play days being stuck in a classroom with 30 bored children who really should be outside letting off steam!

I did this role for a year, and it felt like it took up the whole school day with travelling and not being able to do much before or afterwards it and its terrible pay.

Did it for 3 months. It tied my day up. Example
Drop dcs home, quick shopping back for work. Home after quick bite to eat, school run

And was literally peanuts pay. Tieing my whole day for back then under £10 an hr.

I did this job as a stepping stone after leaving secondary teaching, being a SAHM and wanting to get primary experience. I'd been out of education for a while til my kids were toddlers and having not worked in primary before, it was great for me to transition from the older age group to the younger.

My school was absolutely lovely so no behavioural issues, it was just helping cut up lunches and organise lines. They also offered overtime doing an hour of reading support before and/or after the lunch shift so you could make it just the 1.5 hours or longer if you wished. That made it much more appealing. I did love it and while I was there, in conversation with the others, I found the role was often filled with either older ladies adding to their pensions, and mums of young babies who were looking to get back into work around specific nursery times.