AIBU to ask how your child's school organises after school club applications?

[MamaAffrika]

AIBU to think there must be a better system that doesn't rely on one person collating thousands of reply slips for clubs...

DC is in a large primary school. The application system for clubs is electronic and opens at 5pm on a Friday night - usually when many working parents are commuting home. The parent payment website usually crashes at this point and the WhatsApp group goes bonkers with stressed out mums and dads. If you do not have your shit together at exactly that moment then you miss out on booking a club. Organised parents with good IT skills with excellent WiFi always get their first choice of clubs - we are the lucky ones. Kids with single parents, parents who can't afford the lump sum instant payment or parents who happen to be on a bus at that time loose out.

Is there a better way to manage the electronic system? In a large school it's too time consuming to do a paper slip system...

Electronic system sounds great to me. Our school sends out letters in book bags and it's a first come first serve basis. Never works fairly as classes don't all get letters at same time so some classes could bring them home 3 days later than others and by then it's too late.

@MamaAffrika Yup! I can have my phone on me at work so it's okay for us, but obviously very many professions do not allow this.

I remember the first year my DC was at school, I got the text at like 3pm. I logged on at 3:13 and every club was gone!

And to add, it's utterly random when they opening the bookings. Completely different days and times every year (though always during school hours), so you can't prepare/plan/run away to the toilet for 10 minutes to book it.

Fairly large school (90 per year, nursery to year 6).

Ours is a complete hodge-podge in comparison to everyone else’s.

Letters come out at random. One letter per club. You return a slip. Allocation is either FCFS or random or “those who missed out last time get priority”.

Some clubs are free, some are paid for. You have no idea what clubs will be on what days and quite often you cheerfully sign your child up for tennis on a Tuesday only to discover that athletics is also on a Tuesday and actually Jonny would prefer athletics.

Dh writes apps for a living. Maybe I should volunteer his services.......

Ours has always been online, they go live at 6pm and by 6.05 all clubs are booked on. Children whose parents cannot book at 6pm exactly miss out every term. We have a new head this year so they haven't sorted the clubs yet but they've promised it'll be fairer.

We have an online app thing, but you pay afterwards, not when you book. Also they have a no-refusal policy for after school club - if you ask you always get a slot, there's always 'free play' so I think if you ask for a specific one too late they just send DC to that. Also in a tight spot if you don't usually do after school club but need it that day you can call before midday and they'll take them. Feels very supportive actually! There's a free breakfast club too which you don't have to book at all, you just drop them off.

Randomising app! Ha ha! That's the sports teacher thinking 'hmmm, he had tennis last term so he can have athletics this term' or 'that mum will be on my case if her DC doesn't get in'.
Believe you me, if we could get away with not having children in enrichment whose parents go out of their way to be argumentative, undermining, demanding and generally unpleasant to staff it would be absolutely amazing!

I'd never have to have a parent ringing my head to complain about me for giving their child a final warning for behaving in a way that made them a liability for their team (eg. Refusal to eat on a sponsored walk/cycle but then refusing to try because they didn't feel well). I could never have to supervise a production or concert where a parent of a y7 calls up to complain that their child goes to stagecoach and it's unfair that y10/11 got the main parts because their child is used to the main parts and its denting her self esteem. It would be magical!

Sadly we can't and we don't. Plus it's not fair on the child and at the end of the day, the child doesn't really get a choice in their parents' personality so it's wrong to penalise them.

Kalidasa >> sounds like you are living the dream. Our after school club has 40 spaces and around 300 kids apply and it's £15 a day!

Obviously I am! Will definitely pass on my appreciation.

I couldn't cope with your system, OP, way too stressful!
Our school has a form that goes out towards the end of each term. You pick your preferences and number them 1st, 2nd choice etc. I think they then pull names out of a hat for oversubscribed ones, and take into account who didn't get a place in the previous term.
Occasionally a new one will pop up and we'll be told it's first come first served. That's stressful!
My DC's have generally been lucky and got what they wanted. They do all the sporty ones which for some reason are never oversubscribed.
Ours cost £30 per term, so aren't too pricey. Teacher-led ones are free.

there is no staffing ratio for out of school run by a primary school

check that they know this

you will then have no issue getting a place

we line up first day of term - but my childs school is very small so we always get what we want. Those who dont (rare) get 1st place on the next terms clubs.

It's a nightmare at my kids' school. Electronic and it opens at 4pm. All gone by 4:02.

15th Oct >> can you explain what you mean? There may be no official ratio but surely there has to be a max. You can physically only fit 30 kids in a classroom for an art club or whatever.

That may be legally, but the teachers were the ones who decided how many they could handle for a specific club in all my schools. How could it be otherwise? Cross-country could handle more than cooking.

We still have paper slips with one week to return. If too many kids they go into a draw and waiting list drawn up. Next term kids on waiting list get first choice

We refresh the screen constantly and we each click for a different club as they appear. The best ones are gone in less than 30 seconds!

Maybe the should restrict it to one club per person, then those people who sit there taking all of the spots wouldn't be hogging them and instead give a chance to the children of Tesco workers and single parents that you claim it is unfair for.

We have breakfast, juniors afterschool and homework clubs all run by private individuals. You ring or email and book a place.

Then there are a number of afterschool classes, which are booked online, at the fairly reasonable time of 7.30pm, with notice given several dats before. Usual story with 30 seconds to book, system crashing, WhatsApp panic. Dh and I do it together, constantly refreshing. We have two dc. I’ve no idea how families with more children than parents manage.

Nothing is free. Afterschool classes cost anywhere between €60 to €140 each for a term. You can pay for two terms at booking, and if you don’t there’s no guarantee of getting a place the following term.

In fairness, where a club is over subscribed, there’s often an attempt to put on an extra class to accommodate.

Our after school club has 40 spaces and around 300 kids apply and it's £15 a day!

This is crazy. Your school sounds pretty big and this sort of provision is just taking the piss for the size of the school. What do working parents do for childcare if they are one of the 260 that don’t get a place?

Midnight scribbler > That would ease things a little but would cause outrage amongst parents who rely on clubs to reduce childcare costs and still wouldn't help parents who can't get it together.

@MamaAffrika there are 3-5 parallel clubs. they are quite expensive, so there are always spaces - just not necessarily in the club you want.
in the 2 weeks (announced by email), everybody interested subscribes. if too many want one club, its a lottery. once the places are confirmed, payment it due