Local schools shutting at lunchtime on Friday? And what do I do about childcare?

[WhiteWavingCat]

Is this common?

Seems the schools here are starting between 5 and 10 minutes earlier. Then the primary schools have cut lunch by 5 minutes and have no lunch break on Friday to then close at 1pm on Fridays. High School has cut morning break completely and lengthened lunchtime by 5 minutes (gone from 40 mins to 45 mins) but is still shutting at 1pm on Friday with no lunch break.
All bar one of these schools (6 in total) are academies, the none academy is religious and run by a local religious group.

Is this normal? And am IBU to think it’s ridiculous? Not just because it saves costs (I assume no meals on Fridays saves £££s) but the missed education. And what about the families who rely on Free School Meals? What happens to those children on Fridays?

Also we live in a town with several rural villages around who bus the children to schools in our town, surely the very young children (8 years and younger) can’t be left alone?

This actually worries me as I am single parent and my DD starts school in September. Her school only runs After School Club on Tuesday and Wednesday as it is, and my working days are Wednesday – Friday, I cannot change this as it works around her dad. But what the hell do I do with her on Fridays when I have no help? Her dad has her EOW Sat morn – Sun teatime but works 2-10pm Fridays, she’s currently at Nursery until 4.30pm Friday but they have all their spaces filled from September (which is understandable) and don’t run an after school club. Her dad will be having her Thursdays after school and her gps on her dads side will have her if she's ill and neither of us can but they're emergencies only.

My work cannot change my hours as I’ve had to change them this year once already. What the hell do I do? I have family nearby but they’re not reliable so I am literally stuck with giving up work or trying to find a job that will let me leave early Fridays which I don't want to do as I love my job and it saves my sanity at times

Could exh collect her at 1pm with a packed lunch and either drop her with a childminder or find an older teenager to babysit?

He works 45 minutes away, so he'd literally be picking her up to drop her with someone within 10 minutes, so probably not a great option but if absolutely necessary he'd do it.

I'm not against it in principle, as my DD gets tired after Nursery now so I know school will be even worse but I just don't know how the hell to make it work.

Will ask around the parents at Nursery and see if any of them are in the same quandary.

passthecherrycoke - are you a governor? Chair?
I am seriously worried if you are -
'I’m not going to be able to sack a part time temporary head when we can’t attract a permanent one or even another temporary one, to be fair.
You do know that all schools must have a full time Headteacher?

In terms of work my work is very understanding if I want time off for a nativity or parents evening or whatever then I can do, and as I said Ex-ILs will cover illness and will pick up from school if she's sent home from school in the event of illness, it's just this unexpected afternoon I need to cover.

We have 2 part time headteachers for this term. They are on loan from other schools. The second isn’t able to attend governors meetings very often though.

This does rather sound like the sort of school that Ofsted would take an interest in!

The recruitment crisis in headships is a huge huge problem, on a side note.

I said at the beginning it has problems. The ofsted ship sailed a few years ago. Not sure if you appreciate they don’t actually solve problems

Anyway my point was, I struggle to take claims of poverty seriously, particularly when actions like closing the school for 3 hours a week will barely save a thing

Passthecherrycoke - I never claimed you could do anything single handedly as I made a point of noting that governors have collective, not individual, responsibility. However, fair enough, if you have ensured everything is recorded in the minutes and you have requested help from the LA, you have been reasonably proactive - although, given that year end has already happened, so the money is probably already lost, do you think in retrospect you were pushy enough? Obviously, your school is in a particularly dire position given the lack of a permanent HT and what sounds like atrociously poor morale amongst staff, so you are in a horrid position as an unpaid governor. Did you seek advice from outside the Local Authority? Or from more experienced governing bodies, or schools in a better position? When did Ofsted last inspect the school? Have you written to your MP?

Passthecherrycoke - is there no school business manager/bursar at your school?

All of that detail would be pretty outting to be fair, but I do think, in my experience of dealing with the LA and the school, that you seem to be expecting a level of competence that is a million miles away from what I’ve witnessed.

ANd yes, as an unpaid volunteer with a full time job and young family myself there is only so much you can do. The school has been through 13 governors in the last 18 months or so but that’s likely to be added to in September as myself and my colleagues can’t possibly make up for the level of incompetence by employed staff, as yourself and other posters on this thread seem to expect we should.

And I don’t think this incompetence is unusual in schools either.

No business manager or burser. That has been effectively outsourced to the LA.

I'm a school governor. Write to your mp. Its dire.
Essentially its passing the burden of cost.

It's been happening in the north of Scotland for years too. Only secondary schools so far, classes stop at 12.40pm, but I suspect the primary schools aren't far behind. I don't know what the set up is for kids on fsm, but my DC can purchase a school lunch on a Friday, as can the bus kids - they're given 30 mins to grab lunch before the buses leave. Mine eat at school then walk home. Obviously I would have arranged childcare if they were primary age.

I think they make up the time elsewhere though - the school day is 8.35am-3.35pm Mon-Thurs, then half day Fri.

I think educationally it’s brilliant.

More down time and independent study time for older ones.

More time to pursue their own interests.

More time to sit around glued to a screen. More time to mooch around town getting bored. More time to get enticed into crime.

Yes, absolutely brilliant.

I don't see how a school can possibly function without a proper headteacher or bursar, Passthecherrycoke. I've never heard of a local authority acting as bursar of a primary school! I think you'll find the position your school is in is pretty damn unusual.

I'm a school governor. Write to your mp. Its dire.Essentially its passing the burden of cost

School is not child care.

Anyway my point was, I struggle to take claims of poverty seriously, particularly when actions like closing the school for 3 hours a week will barely save a thing

In a two form entry school it will save a minimum of £23k on M1 (so an NQT) plus on-costs (employers NI and pension costs) because the school will no longer need to pay a teacher to deliver PPA.

Well effectively all finance support is provided by the LA, which we pay them for. It’s crap, but it’s the standard finance function they offer all their divisions i suppose. From what I’ve seen in my work life they’re never very effective.

£23k a year? What is your schools annual budget??

Finance support offered by the LA does not normally take the form of day to day paying invoices, ordering stationery, seeking quotes for work, etc, though, Passthecherrycoke - that level of support from the LA would be ridiculous to expect.

no it doesn't, the school admin do that.

Well, no wonder the financial management of the school is so incompetent, if the school does not employ a suitably qualified bursar or business manager, Passthecherrycoke. It is self-evidently beyond the competence and pay grade of the staff employed to do the job required!

I have said rather repeatedly that they’re incompetent. No one seemed to believe it though.

It's been happening in Edinburgh and the Lothians since I was at school in the 1980s. It's fabulous when you get used to it and actually the whole area and work environment will change because it has to accommodate this somehow.

In Edinburgh and the Lothians many people don't work on a Friday or compress their hours so only working a Friday morning or work from home (easier with older kids). Public transport is now quieter on a Friday as are the roads!

Pack lunches are provided for children on FSM.

A child minder is likely to be your best bet or a suitable 17,18 year old secondary pupil (I did this when I was in S5 and S6)

Good luck.

Passthecherrycoke - to be fair, it is quite hard to believe in a school with no headteacher and no bursar.