To wonder why more schools don’t have this??

[Easysolution]

So I have NC for this but basically I have realized that I have struck gold with my DC’s school. Now we are not in uk but in Ireland so not far.
Basically her school has an attached Montessori and “Afterschool” facility
My DC1 Attends the school and DC2 attends the Montessori.
School starts at 8.40, drop off for Montessori (and school) is from 8.30 onwards (although official hours are 9-12 for Montessori)so technically first half hour free. Children in Ireland have 9-12 per day free childcare from age 3-5 (provided by Montessori) and then after 12 it is €4 per hour for DC2. They get a snack at 11 and I provide a packed lunch also for 12/half12.

My DC1 finishes school hours @ 1.20 (first two years of primary finish an hour earlier than the rest of school) and then is collected at her classroom by one of the Afterschool team who bring her to the Montessori/Afterschool rooms (joined by a big double door) they do homework (except reading) and they have toast at 3oclock, this service is also €4 an hour. The Afterschool team also collects the older children at 2.20 and bring them to Afterschool too. They all do homework and play/chat etc until they are collected. It is open until 5.30.

I am a teacher also but my school starts at 9 (thank god) and finishes at 2.40. I usually get to collect my DC by half 3.

I am in awe of the school and what they provide, it is amazing and the kids love it!! Just wondering why it’s not more common as I think it seems a lot more ppl could do with a service like it.

Also it’s not a booked place so if they don’t attend I don’t pay. It’s only school term obviously but that suits me as I am a teacher.

Anyone else have ANYTHING similar??

It always surprises me that MNers find it so hard to believe that their local childcare set-up is not replicated in other areas .

Absolutely correct, there is no obligation for schools to provide wrap-around care.

The available places often only cover a small proportion of the children in the school.

Separate Ofsted registration and inspection is required.

There is no subsidy for empty places. So it isn't viable to get one going in a wealthy area with a large number of SAHP, nor in an area with high levels of unemployment.

While TAs are often happy to work in the wrap-around provision, there is often a shortage of people who want to manage it. The hours are odd and the responsibilities are comparable to that of running a nursery. Who exactly wants working hours of 7.00 - 9.00 and 15.00-18.30, along with the serious responsibilities of caring for children?

Councils are obliged to report on the amount of childcare available in their area, but (apart from needing to meet the legal entitlements to free early education) they have no obligation to ensure that there is enough after school care for anyone who wants it.

Parents have a right to request, but schools can refuse on a number of grounds - this is copied from the relevant document:

'Circumstances where it might be reasonable for a school to reject requests from parents include:
• No space available, e.g. because of plans to use the available space for academic or sports clubs;
• Unsuitable space that cannot reasonably be adapted, or ongoing building or maintenance work;
• Low level of demand so that the provision would not be viable – with no nearby schools interested in collaborating to reach a critical mass;
• No other local providers or schools with whom partnership arrangements could be made;
• Similar provision already operates locally and can be used seamlessly (and the school already clearly signposts this provision); and
• School is in special measures or has serious weaknesses and has no leadership capacity to manage the process.'

OP, your provision sounds great for you but I suspect that the regulatory environment is more relaxed (not necessarily a good thing) and that it is being subsidised in some way, perhaps by the school or local government.

I had to send ds to prep school to get the wrap around care I needed. I'd drop him for breakfast at about 0730-0745, and then drive to my school. I could pick him up by 1900 after supper and prep, except for Wednesdays when I had to ensure I legged it before the school buses left from my school, as otherwise getting out of the car park was a bloody nightmare. I had to pick him up by 1600. His school did boarding, so someone would have been around, but I didn't want to push it.

Blimey. I'm a teacher and I never leave work before 6 pm (I hate taking work home though). I'm very lucky to be part time. I teach 2 days a week when I work 7am-6 pm and also do an extra half day for ppa and meetings. I have an amazing childminder.

Breakfast club costs £10 at our school. It’s open from 7.30 but soars the same if you use for 1.5hrs or 20 minutes. I don’t feel I get my money worth when I’m only using it for 20 minutes. After school care is £20 and again it doesn’t matter if you use for the 3 hours or half an hour. I would be thrilled with £4ph!
From speaking to Irish friends being a teacher in Ireland is much better. They seem to get to school half an hour before start and leave half and hour after, whereas as friends in England who teach are often at school from 7.30-5.30 and still doing work in the evening at home.

Hibblediddle I’m also in London and we pay £30 a day for before and after school care. Double what you pay it looks like.

Im in France. No before school care. After school care is 4.30-5.30. 11€ per child. Useless when I don't get home before 7pm.

Instead i pay for someone to pick them up, take to the park, bring home, shower and feed them. 24.80€ an hour

Some schools have after school care until 6.30 or 7pm which would be great only my school doesn't offer it.

Well done, like many working parents you have found childcare?

Anyone else have ANYTHING similar??

I'm in Sweden. DS's school has a nursery attached and 'fritids', which is 'freetime' ie out of school care. Both run from 6 am to 6 pm all year round. It's massively subsidised so the maximum you'd pay if they are there full time is approx £120 per month.

Our school started an after school/breakfast club finally after DD had been there 3 years. Well, some parents started it rather than the school. We were some of the first to use it, and it wasn't that busy but I think it's become pretty much fully booked every day since we stopped using it once we had an au pair - I think it was Reception parents mainly using it, as people with older kids mostly had their own arrangements in place.

Upside: Pretty cheap. Downside: Not very flexible, so it was a real dash from work to get to home tube station, get in car, walk into school (set back far off anywhere you can park) to pick them up by 6pm. Another 15 mins would have made it much easier - I did ask, bearing it mind it would take any parent working in central London average 50 mins to get there from their desk, if they hurried.

@notsurewhatshappening yes in the uk I worked a lot longer hours...here in Ireland teachers are home quite a bit earlier. Work life balance is miles better here.

@Subtlecheese it wasn’t a intended to be a “look at me I found childcare” I honestly didn’t think wrap around care was so common given how ppl on here talk about their struggles. And also going by this post it’s not as common as some like to think either.

BollocksToBrexit -Anyone else have ANYTHING similar?? I'm in Sweden. DS's school has a nursery attached and 'fritids', which is 'freetime' ie out of school care. Both run from 6 am to 6 pm all year round. It's massively subsidised so the maximum you'd pay if they are there full time is approx £120 per month.

If you are paying £120 a month for fritids you are being overcharged

Sweden has a maxtaxa (maximum fee) that parents can be charged for nursery and fritids (wraparound care)

• The 2019 maxtaxa for fulltime nursery for children 1-6 (usually up to 50 hours) is 1425 SEK or £123 per month
• the wraparound care maxtaxa for school children aged 6-13 for 2019 is 950 SEK or £82
• Local Authorities also have SN fritids up to age 16

I meant the max anyone would pay. Not how much I pay. DH pays the bill and I'm not sure how much we pay as DS is only 5 but in full time school already.

I have childminded for 3 teachers, they all worked from 8.30/8.45 to 3/3.30. Teaching is a great job (for the most part) in Ireland, at primary level anyway. The holidays are amazing too. I am amazed that in the UK childminders will charge while the children are at school, I can understand it but it doesn't seem right somehow. I charge before and after consider myself part time.

BollocksToBrexit - I meant the max anyone would pay. Not how much I pay. DH pays the bill and I'm not sure how much we pay as DS is only 5 but in full time school already.

I get you - but no-one can pay more than £82 for wraparound school care or fritids in Sweden because 950 kronor is the maximum that Skolverket (the government) allows. That includes 5 and 6 year olds in school attending the pre-school class/F-klass

The £120 is for nursery aged children who are in full time childcare at dagis (nursery) or dagmamma (childminder) after the age of 1 but before they start school.

Round here there are two large childcare companies who deploy 1 or 2 members of staff to most primary schools in the town (about 10 schools) to pick up the kids and either walk or minibus them to the centre they run. Ones in an old scout hut they've bought and ones in a community soft play type place. They get snacks and a play and I think they run until 6 or half past. They do the same in the morning when they walk or minibus them to the various primary schools. It must be a logistical nightmare with parking putting high vis on all the kids, having different start times for different schools etc. Must take a lot of organising. These cost about 10 a session so could be up to 100 pound a week per child.

About 4 schools have a breakfast club and most have after school activities but not actual care, kids have to be picked up for 4.30 and not everyone can do the activities, usually they only take 20 kids.

There are a LOT of childminders though. Mostly people use childminders. Or grandparents are common in the playgrounds too. Also a lot of parents who combine working from home with working at the office etc

I have childminded for 3 teachers, they all worked from 8.30/8.45 to 3/3.30.

I would love to work those hours! I wonder why there are so many Irish teachers teaching locally to me (SE) when the hours are so much better in Ireland?

better potatoes
I don't get it?

I would love to work those hours! I wonder why there are so many Irish teachers teaching locally to me (SE) when the hours are so much better in Ireland?

I'm not in Ireland but in N Ireland, so it's not quite equivalent but I know a lot of people from here end up in England teaching simply because there are so few jobs at home. Unlike England there are far more teachers here than jobs. It's incredibly hard to get a first job or a permanent contract. I have friends who qualified ten, fifteen years ago who have never had a long term teaching job, just a maternity cover here and a two year contract there. Albeit they're not necessarily unemployed in between, but they still don't have the job security that people want. Teaching in N Ireland certainly doesn't seem to be quite as miserable as in England. I know loads of teachers and none of them are ever in work at 6pm unless there is an event on.

So they go to England with a view to getting some experience and then they meet someone there and settle down and their partner doesn't want to move to N Ireland because their job prospects would be crap (in most cases).

Maybe it's the same for teachers from Ireland, better hope of a permanent job in England? Although I may of course be completely wrong.

@Holidayshopping it’ll be because of their Irish language level probably or just that they have settled in the UK perhaps.

@fixWaterwheels yeah I’m hey call it Montessori but to be honest it’s just a playgroup to be honest. But he adores it there so I’m not going to get too picky.

Permanent teaching jobs in Ireland are like Hens teeth, primary school teaching is a seriously good job to have becuase of the the massive holidays- schools are off from nearly the end of June to September. Hours are very short and 6 other weeks worth of holidays for mid term, full paid maternity leave, etc so no one ever leaves the profession. Teachers who qualified before 2012 are on big money as well, my friend is a primary teacher and earns over 50ke a year. That’s the reason there are teachers from ireland all over the world becuase they can’t get jobs at home.

TBH, as lovely as that is (and I've just moved to Ireland, so highly relevant to me) - what I want is no school uniform, and lunch provided because I just can't be arsed with the whole school uniform thing, and I loathe making packed lunches (plus DS2 will refuse to eat things that I've provided, but munch down on stuff provided by others no problems)

It is good though - outside of towns it's actually hard to get - my kids last school in the UK (within M25) had none of it and I had to get on a waiting list for a childminder. Similarly, the other schools they've been to in other places were definitely not set up for both parents to be working.