School is a very inconvenient form of 'childcare'

[naty1]

The hours just dont match for 9-5 working. Then the holidays are much longer, and everyone at work wants those same days.

I can see that nursery 8-6 is much easier for work, everyday except xmas week.
Or more jobs that fit school hours.
Compress the hours into fewer says of the week

Minty

School isn't trying to be 'childcare', it's trying to educate children.

Wrap around childcare is hard to find, especially so when your child is too old to go to a childminder.

I think op is only saying that its quite tricky to juggle all this, am not sure that she deserves the hostility. Perhaps I'm wrong!

Yabu

It is not childcare. It is education.

You need to get the idea out of your head that we live to work and everything we do and our children do should fit around work.

That is no way to live.

Sadly this is how successive governments and businesses have geared our lives. So instead of enjoying ourselves, we wring our hands about trying to turn everything into a 9-5 life.

Yabu

If you are for real

Blondie There's a disconnect between the number of jobs in general and the governments push

What I don't get is split finish times, that pretty much guarantees that a parent has to be a SAHP.

Pointless discussion

School is about children, not working parents.

After school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday clubs are for childcare.

Morecrack

We are managing to fit into 2 hours the work that is done at school, giving us lots of free time to do what dd wants to do.
There seemed so much time wasted at school and for some people time is precious.
Our dd found that her days were full at school, but there was a lot of time wasted whilst the teacher had to see to 24 other children.
Working 1 to 1 is much more efficient.

Wrap around care is available for those who require it. Obviously this is usually not free, just like daycare isn't free. Wrap around care may not always be available at the actual school - parents may need to arrange it elsewhere.

But none of this is news. Schools have had the same hours for many years. Presumably pretty much every child at school at the moment have parents who have grown up with the same school hours. Therefore it shouldn't be a shock to them.

Pointless discussion

Eeeee, another gem from stopmithering. I could cut and paste that one as my response on 99.9% of the threads on Mn.

YANBU

The thing is people do treat school as childcare - I will when dd starts full time ed (will have to pay for pre and afterschool club and fuck only knows what will happen in the school hols).

Are there holiday clubs that cover 8-6 x 5 days a week?

It is exceptional different teaching 1:1 than teaching 1:30.
Of course things take longer!

But unless schools are going to start employing 30 teachers for every class, it isn't going to get "efficient" n this way.

Mintyy - yes, though pricey an spaces are limited. There are childminders and some private day nurseries who offer this childcare cover though.

I do understand what the op is saying,it's just worded badly.
I was discussing it this week that actually nursery is bloody expensive but it's open for a good amount of hours. School will be harder to juggle. Wrap around care is pretty hard to find where I am.

What is this elusive wraparound Childcare of which you speak, people?

Our school has a breakfast club and after school club. Now, apart from charging extortionate prices (because they can), there are only 55 places. This is to serve an infants school of around 250 children and the juniors which has around 350. That's 55 places between 600 children. Very few people that need them get a place.

There aren't enough childminders to serve the rest. Demand is increasing every year and the school says it can't provide for any more places. Some parents only need their kid watching for an hour. It's very frustrating. I don't think the government is recognising the problem at all.

It may be easier to find childcare when your kids are pre-school but it's a damned sight cheaper once they're at school

Hulababy

Of course I understand this and I wasn't suggesting teachers were lax, but was explaining my post after I had been asked to.

I have total respect for teachers but after trying school for 4 years with dd she decided she would rather save that extra time.

Some people including the government believe school is a form of childcare and you are expected by both Gov and society to use school and wraparound care. With this often offered at the same place the boundaries from one to the other are bound to be missed by some parents.

mintyy I believe so, my niece attends one, and it can't be that unusual, surely? I can also think of some day nurseries in my area that take children up to 11 years old, so they must be after school/holiday places, surely?

huka it's ok, if the work only takes 2 hours 1-1 then 10 teachers per class will be enough, and the children can attend in shifts. In fact, if the children only need to attend for 2 hours a day, you can extend the hours to 7am (for the early risers) to 9pm (for the older children who can stay up later). That's 6 slots per day, so only 5 teachers needed for 30 kids.

Hula: "Presumably pretty much every child at school at the moment have parents who have grown up with the same school hours. Therefore it shouldn't be a shock to them."

Yes and in those days there were fewer households where both parents had to work full time. There were fewer nurseries because of that. Most children went to church run play schools and the like for half day sessions. It is only relatively recently that it has become the norm for both parents to be at work full time.

Bloody hell some people are quick to pounce! The OP made it clear with '' that she doesn't actually think school is childcare!!!

I agree, its awkward for those who work. Not everybody is in a position to stay at home, some employers could be more flexible to make it easier!

6 slots allowing for the teachers to have breaks, I meant.

It's not supposed to be convenient childcare. That's not the point of it.

It is supposed to educate the children.

Is it in a child's best interests to do long days? That's the question.

Are their educational needs best met by massively long school days?

How much can a child actually learn in a day?

My point was that it's far easier to find a full time nursery place or childminder for pre-schoolers than it is to find provision for a couple of hours here and there.

No-one wants the hassle of setting up such provision either because bloody Ofsted are so demanding.