to ask my son's after school club to stay open until 6pm?

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My son started at a new primary school from an old one and maybe i'm spoiled from his last school, but the after school club here finishes at 5.30pm and I am thinking that I will write a letter to ask them to stay open until 6pm because it's impossible to get back in time if you finish work at 5pm, as many working parents do. I've spoken to a lot of parents at the school who seem to heartily agree with me.

But then I think, school is not childcare and they should be encouraging you to work less as it is better for the kids if they are not at school so long, but many people, me included would love to live in a world where i didn't have to work until 5pm, but that's just how society is right or wrong i have to live with it ...
what do you think, should i write a letter with a gathering of parents signatures? or just bite it and juggle and leave early and beg other parents as I seem to be doing right now .. aibu to expect the school to accommodate working parents in this way?

Oh come on Camberwick, how can you compare the two? Do you get to play on a Wii at work? Do you get to choose to do relaxing or fun things that you WANT to do? What do you think happens at before and after school clubs, homework??

Would you like to support me if I stop working Camberwick? I could sit on my arse and claim Jobseekers if you like.

CamberwickGreen sorry, I stopped reading at 'lol'.

I am off to do something productive now, illiterate words on a screen pissing me off.

Well, it's always nice to make someone laugh out loud about the childcare arrangements of strangers. You must absolutely piss yourself on threads about flexible working practices.

Linerunner

Now I really am going lurking.

CamberwickGreen You have no touch on reality ... in fact I think you can only be a troll

Actually, Ling, I think that it is extremely likely that a lot of Camberwick's day does involve playing on a Wii. That and putting off writing his essay on mediaeval turnip farming.

yes, it's government policy that single parents work when their kids start school, but the schools are not always on board with this.
Some of the schools in my area have ASC's that finish at 5 pm which is frankly unrealistic.
I guess it is up to the parents to get together to help find solutions to this.

Sometimes I feel like you can't win as a single parent.
You are a benefit scrounger if you don't have a job, and a neglectful mother if you ahve a job and use childcare.
We are apparently responsible for the budget deficit, the crime rate and falling standards in education.
All this rain we have been having? Yep, single parents are to blame for that too doncha know.

Camberwick - these days I pick dd up and she runs about in the playground with her friends for half an hour or so. I take her on the bus we play games, she does her homework, colouring, watches TV, has a snack etc. etc.

At aftercare she goes in has some tea, runs about in the playground or the gym if it raining with her friends, plays games, does her homework, colours, watches TV etc. etc. and I picked her up and took her home on the bus.

She now complains she does not go to after care because she misses doing all the above with her friends after school. If you are going to critisise people do it from an informed viewpoint or not at all. Its not as if lessons are continuing until 6pm as you seem to be assuming

My dd's went to after school club twice a week as I worked until 5.30 and picked them up before 6pm it was around 5.45 and paid always till 6pm. Then the club changed their hour to 5.30 but they let me continue to pay till 5,45 and pick my dd up at this time.

The school clubs problem was parents would pick their children up 10-15 minutes late and never pay - so they reduced the hours to give themselves time to pack up and have late parents pick up - then by closing at 5.30 they would be finished at 6pm but if they closed at 6pm they wouldn't be finished until 6.30. The insurance stopped at 6pm so I was always ok with the legal side of things.

There where children still at club when I went to pick up mine, they shouldn't have been there but there was always one or two late parents.

Speak to your after school club and explain your problem and see how they respond and if you can come to an agreement

They are not working though. They are playing. What would they be doing at home? Playing. I have an only child. She genuinely does enjoy being with her friends for a couple of hours after school. We live nowhere near her school - so playdates would be an impossibility even in the event I collected her at 3.30.

What do you think they DO at afterschool clubs which is so awful, and so much more exhausting than taking them to the park, an activity or a playdate after school? Do your children all come home and crash in front of the TV as they are too exhausted to move? I doubt this somehow.

You must mean that children should be with their MOTHER at every possible moment and that anyone who doesn't subscribe to this is BAD. Whereas to me, part of my job is a parent of a school age child is to ensure that they start to build independance from me and spend more time with their peers. Flame me all you like.

maypole he does spend time at home with his own family thanks, doesnt mean to say he cant enjoy spending time with friends, hes 9 ffs - or should I keep him wrapped up in the family bosom for ever and ever

As it happens its only 1 day a week as my DH is a SAHD who has just registered as a CM himself - so my DS is at home a lot "enjoying himself" with him, you come across as very ignorant about family life.

And your wrong about saying "Most schools finsish at 5:30 other wise they have to provide a dinner" - all the aftercare in my region finishes at 6 and they dont have to provide a dinner.

I'm pretty shocked at some of the comments on this thread! My ds doesn't start school until September but I would struggle to pick him up by 5.30 on the 3 days I work due to traffic. He goes to nursery from 8-5.30/6 at the minute so does that make me a bad parent? Fookin hell .

Some of us don't have the luxury of having kind bosses who will give us flexible working hours. That's just the way it is.

Op I don't think YABU, I would definitely ask

to be fair depends on the child. When mine were younger they would have (and did!) hated AFC or any kind of wrap around care really. They just wanted to be at home with me. They found it noisy and tiring and the food wasn't always great. Also didn't help if none of their mates were at AFC, just a bunch of kids from other classes they didn't know.

But now they are older they can handle it better and I've found for example that Breakfast club is better (also shorter time spent there and cheaper) than AFC so we try to juggle our hours accordingly.

I dont see any harm in asking. You could phrase it as 'have you ever thought if stating open until 6pm?'

Our after school club closes ar 5.45, but the staff are paid till 6pm. The lovely lady running it knows i travel in and out of central London on the tube and told me quietly that the much advertised penalty charges for late pick ups dont actually kick in until 6. I always try to be there for 5.45, but it makes the journey home less stressful.

I think schools are supposed to regularly consult parents as to the wrap around hours that are required. I know my school is currently consulting about a breakfast club. They are also considering switching to a pay per hr, rather than by session method.

And btw I have a lovely friend who has offered to have dd afterschool for free but I still send her to afterschool club, sometimes til 4pm sometimes til 6pm because I have found it to be the best place for her. She likes doing her spelling homework with her classmates and being allowed to use the ICT suite. She briefly went to a cm before school once a week, the cm was crap....do enough with the judging!

(disclaimer: obv not all cms are crap)

The last AFC my DS attended was run by a former youth worker and she had them out playing rounders in the playground every time I arrived to pick him up, unless it was raining. I'd forgotten about that. I was so glad that he got the exercise and the team games. And the 'light tea'!

surely an after school club that finishes at 5.30 is no good for most working parents? Most will finsihc at 5 or 5.30. if on a job where can get out on the dot as it were ,then have ot get there, surely 6 is not unreasonable? and to those who are critical of working parents, please stop being so santctimonious, it is really pretty unpleasant,

OP - do ask

In my single parent working FT days the DCs were dropped at breakfast club at 8 and collected at 6. Or 5.45 on a good day. They coped - and to be honest they had far more of a chance to rest and relax at ASC than the kids who were whizzed from strenuous activity A to strenuous activity B after school each day.

How is a 6pm ASC finish worse than taking your kid from school to horse-riding to ballet to swimming? Some of my DCs' friends seem to get no downtime whatsoever after school.

Camberwick and Im "lolling" to at your ignorance in thinking aftercare is actually school.

Also the best holiday clubs I found were the 'childcare' based ones, i.e. they ran 8-6, and they really pushed the boat out with activities and trips. The YMCA ones were good - you could drop off and pick up any time within the 8-6 limit; and all the children could take part in trips to adventure playgrounds, swimming, picnics, all kinds of sports and art events.

Find out what other parents feel and request it if it seems there's a demand. I agree that a 5.30 closing time Would be cutting it fine for many parents. I had the opposite problem that when mine were at nursery, the nursery opened at 8am which wasn't early enough for me and a few other parents. We requested a 7.45 am opening and the nursery agreed. Obviously they need to meet staffing ratio requirements but they can Probably operate on reduced staffing for those periods if fewer children are in. We had to pay double rates for that 15 minute period which was an annoyance but necessary if you need those times for work commitments

And ignore the people saying 'poor kids'. Your kids are happy, you have a job- win win

Camberwick comes across as jealous of women who have more going on in their life than she obviously does!

My ds is another who loves after school club - I have to drag him out every day. It means he can go to an after school activity 4 days a week, which he wouldn't be able to do with a CM, and I'd say he's at home sooner than those who are picked up at 3.30 and then go to ballet/judo/beavers etc.

5.30 ending is useless - even if you didn't work far away, you'd only have to be leaving shortly after 5 to miss pickup

Oh dear god, here I am searching for work and sticking my head in the sand about looking for wraparound care for DD(8). I'm leaving that worry until I've actually found a job!

Can't believe some of the comments on this thread. I worked 4days a week in Australia until we returned last year, one thing I will say for Oz schools is that they all seem to offer wraparound care and they all opened until 6pm and later - the one I used closed at 6.30pm.

It's ludicrous to think that most people should find a job that fits conveniently around school hours. The nature of my work (social work/counselling)means that I'm usually required to do a late evening to accommodate those who work office hours. My DH is in IT and away a lot with work and it makes it very difficult to juggle it all with no family near enough to help out.

Having been a SAHM (for 7 years), and worked 3 days then 4 days and now hoping for 2-3 days I feel I've tried a few ways and can't see that children suffer or are necessarily better off if you are home or working. I feel better in myself if I am working because I enjoy it and it would be great if childcare was flexible to assist those who want/have to work to be able to. In fact atm I am a SAHM and I'm bored silly as both DC are at school.

Maypole - as you are a foster carer, I would suggest you are somewhat removed from the reality of working in ordinary situations, particularly those where people actually have deductions made from income!

Bringing home £200 after childcare can be the difference between survival and indebtedness- how can that ever be a bad thing, or something to sneer at?

I am almost certain children would be happier having to put up with after-school club each evening than living in a B&B/hostel because their parents lost their housing.