What would your life be like if your DC school was like this?

[IfYourSchool]

Feeling peeved at all the family comments yet again. What would your life look like if your DC's school was not set up as childcare?

Your DC starts school the autumn after they turn 4.
Yr1: Children start part time, meaning for the first 6 months they have M, T, Th, Fr mornings 815-1145. After Christmas this goes up to 5 mornings.
Last term they go full time - all mornings and one afternoon 1330-1500 either M, T or Th.

Yr 2 - Full time as above: all mornings plus one afternoon, not necessarily the same afternoon as last year.

Oh, whilst we're at it.
Breakfast club runs before school once a week (7-815)
Lunch club runs Mon, Tues, Thurs 1145-1330 priority to those who have school in the afternoon. Limited spaces. Children who count as 1.5 children (i.e. any form of SN or non native language skills) are lowest priority i.e. they don't accept them.
School is closed over lunch.
Afterschool club runs Mon, Tues and Thurs 1500-1800.

Yr 3 - All mornings 815-1145
One afternoon 1330-1600 unless your child doesn't need English as a foreign language extra lessons in which case afternoon school starts at 1415 (note lunch club ends at 1330 and after school starts at 1500 and your child is not allowed on the premises if they have no lessons...)
Two afternoons 1330-1500
No school W/F afternoons.

Yr4 - as Yr 3

Yr 5 - 2mornings 725-1145, 3 mornings 815-1145
One afternoon 1330-1600, two 1330-1500, no school W/F afternoons.

Yr6 - 3 mornings 725-1145, 2 mornings 815-1145
Two afternoons 1330-1600, one afternoon, 1330-1500, nothing W/F pm.

Yr7 - 4 mornings 725-1145, one 815-1145
Two afternoons 1330-1600, one afternoon, 1330-1500, nothing W/F pm.

Y8 as Yr 7

Obviously if you have more than one child in different classes that could mean that they have "opposite" early mornings and afternoons.

Would you still be able to work the job you do now?

What if your DC's secondary school closed at lunch (1140-1345)? What would your DC do at lunch time?

@YourNameGoesHere You call the next person on the list. If they don't pick up, you call the next person on the list and you tell them you couldn't get person 2 and pass on the message. They then call person 2 and if they don't answer person 3 calls person 4 and tells the message and says person 2 wasn't available.
etc. It all went to pot last year when the Person 1 called everybody on the list and no one answered. Got pissed off and complained to the school and set up a class what's app group 😂DC2 has a new, young teacher this year who uses WhatsApp.

@IfYourSchool

Is there no movement to stabilise things? What do teachers think of these ludicrous arrangements

I'm not even thinking of from a childcare point but for routine and consistency? What about school holidays?

I thought Switzerland was meant to be efficient?

It's fascinating and baffling in equal measure

So how do single parents cope? Because I am one and that kind of system would mean I would be unable to work until my child is old enough to be on their own.

Aren't lots of grandparents also at work? Or is it Grandmothers?

@IfYourSchool im curious which canton and Gemeinde you are in. It sounds particuly bad. Most schools - even in small villages have at least lunchtime and after school childcare and bigger places also have before school morning childcare. In most cantons it's a requirement to provide it.
I have experienced the Swiss school system both as parent and teacher and can tell you it has hugely improved since my kids were in primary.

We organised lunches with other parents, or people had childminders for lunch and after school. But I have to admit that my kids came home alone at lunchtime and after school from a very young age. They also really benefited from the quiet time away from school and other kids at lunchtime.
The telephoning around when a teacher is sick also isn't very common now. The schools I work in send emails, SMS or the school has an app to communicate with parents.
I didn't have a problem sending my kids off to school on their own. At 6 years old a small group of them took the public bus to school in the next village for a year. There were a few small incidents but they managed really well.
There was one incident in kindergarten when my DS was 5 years old. I sent him off to walk to school on his own and they didn't bother to let me know he hadn't arrived. They went off for the morning in the forest without waiting for him, so when he arrived noone was there.. I was driving home from shopping about 3 hours after I had sent him off and saw him playing in the snow by the side of the road by himself. I was furious.
Personally - as parent and teacher - I would prefer 5 full days of school and no homework. I think the homework is excessive but it wouldn't be necessary if children had school 5 full days a week at school.

If I were you I would probably look around and consider moving to bigger a place with options of full day childcare. Not everywhere is as bad as where you are.

What.... What did I just read?! Surely this is made up 😂

And to add - if a teacher is sick the school is still required to have your child at school. They just ask to keep your child at home if possible.

@PollyPeep absolutely true. But at least we don't have the horrendous school run and fighting to park outside school to pick kids up.

I have friends in Switzerland.

They are both doctors of chemistry, he works full time but there is no question of her working because of the crazy schooling system.

My ExH and I were offered a move to Switzerland at one point and I took one look at their state system and said absolutely no way, I want to keep working, if we move our kids go into private school.

It fell through for a number of reasons but that was one of them. I remember offering for him to work out there and we'd come out school holidays 😀😃

That sounds extreme. We're in Germany and finishing times (never starting times, until 6th form equivalent) can and do vary by a bit each day, but primary schools tend to have after-school care on site, which is open until 5ish, and the children go straight there after lessons. I think it may be a bit different in parts of the more conservative states, where places in after-school care can be limited and some kindergartens shut over lunch.

Work aside I have an autistic child who needs to know what way is up on any given day and struggles with the concept of school holidays. It wouldn't work for us at all.

Absolutely batshit. Why do you live there?

I know which country you live in! We lived there for 4 years, ran as fast as we could (for many reasons, but the expectations for mothers to be SAHM was an important one).

@PuttingDownRoots it seems to be quite even grandfathers/grandmothers at our school, maybe slightly more grandmothers.
@Todayissunny I agree that ours is particularly bad. In the town over there is much better provision. I don't know if it's something to do with the opening hours, I know my friend's DC's school doesn't have as many early lessons as mine do, but they do have school on a Friday afternoon. I will admit that this year they are "trialling" a full before and after school club - but this is too late for me as my youngest only has one year left.

Single parents get prioritised. Else they mix and match with neighbours if they don't have family nearby. One of DC2's friends (last year primary no) has been home alone with her little brother for a few years now. She gets him out to school when her dad is on early shift and gets lunch for them when needed. They often spend the afternoons gaming/tv/YouTube.

What homework? Mine don't get homework.

@KevinDeBrioche I moved out here single and childless and didn't really consider it until I met DH, had kids and they were in the system.
I think it is much more acceptable to work part time here than in the UK. Part-time salaries are good and it is still possible to move up the career ladder even working part-time.
There are many great things about living here.

That was my first thought. Switzerland set their school system up so there has to be a parent/carer/maman de jour around.

@IfYourSchool the early mornings are tough especially in the winter, but it gets them well prepared for what comes next... My DCs are all doing apprenticeships (which is a brilliant system) and are all out of the house by 6.00 in the morning 🙀. One travels an hour and half to school on his school days... now that is crazy.

I lived in Switzerland when the kids were very young. Had we stayed (I did love the country) we would have gone private. It’s breathtakingly beautiful but there are many rules which can jar to people more used to more flexibility in their lives.

@willWillSmithsmith the government, industry (and mostly everyone else) has actually realised that they must get mothers/parents back to work. The economy needs as many people in work as possible. most industries can't find employees to fill jobs. Big companies have programs to get mothers who have taken time off back to work becausethey need them. Maternity leave is still very short compared to other European countries and full- time working hours are 42 a week not or 37 as in the UK.
Full day supervision at school is improving.
Things are changing, but it takes a long time for things here to change. The school system is just accepted for what it is though. I don't think most people are aware that there might be another way of doing it.

I started school at age 6. We were at school from roughly 8 - 12:30 and 13:30 once a week in primary school. Plus every other Saturday 9-12.
Secondary school was 8- 13:30 and 1 or 2 afternoons 14:30- 16:30 ... plus every other Saturday 9-12.
They ditched the Saturday when I was 14/15 and we had 3 afternoons...)

I remember my mum working p/t and on some days we went to a friend for childcare ... formal childcare was rare. I think growing up in a village where everyoneknew each other helped a lot with that.

I think if my DC did these times (or similar) I d have to work pt while primary school age... and have some formal childcare in place.

Crikey - I genuinely think if this was the system where I lived, and I had full understanding of it, I may have decided not to have children. It would make life very difficult - I expect DH and I would both end up reducing our hours considerably to accommodate the hours, but I think my head may implode just trying to figure it all out. It's totally bonkers. I have a lot of colleagues in Switzerland, and they have talked about the odd system, but I didn't realise quite how awful it is. Are private schools the same?

@Todayissunny considering our school is within walking distance, I don't face this problem! But don't you just have the same problem with school runs but earlier in the day? Unless you're talking about the staggered finish times, but even still you'd have at least 30 parents at any given time trying to pick up 😆

If this were in the UK, then no, I absolutely wouldn't be able to do the job I do now.

But that's because the system isn't set up for it - schools and work places largely operate on the same system (obviously not exactly). But in other countries they do things differently. Whether it's a sahp as standard, a more flexible working week, more generous leave etc. I would expect that all schools operate similarly and it's the norm.

But very weird to my British sensibilities! I quite like the idea though.

Are you not walking back and forward to school 6 times every day? That’s even before the impact on a working day. What a waste of time..

@PollyPeep no.we don't have that problem. We don't take our kids to school or pick them up. Everyone goes to the (primary) school in their community. They start kindergarten at about 4.5 y.o. and walk. At the beginning parents walk with the kids but very early on they are encouraged to walk alone. In my village there is a busy road just the last few years the parents have organised themselves to help kids cross the road. When my kids were small the kids did it by themselves. The police come to the school every year and give them road safety lessons and practice with them. In zurich you see primary aged kids on the trams by themselves going to school.
In 3rd class (8 or 9) they do a cycling safety course and then they are allowed to bike to school alone.
High schools tend to be in larger town and the kids either gets the public bus, walk or bike.