No Wraparound Care from September

[Mum2Girls19]

School has advised that they are not offering wrap around care from September as bubbles cannot be mixed.
They are thinking that part time places are also the way forward as they cannot social distance properly in a smaller place.
Further information hasnt been announced yet
Im a bit lost of how Im going to work without wrap around care, yes im working from home but who knows how long that will be for

Anyone else??

Disallusioned is spot on.
I am beginning to wonder when this government will stop throwing certain groups under the bus to protect other groups.
The young have been sacrificed.
I m wondering when we are going to have to admit that if you are venerable then it's up to you to take precautions whilst the rest of the population get on with life.
I'm not surprised at all that schools are struggling to fill vacancies.

Ask employers to be flexible? Yeah, that's going to work. Also I'm the only person that does my job where I am, and I'm flat out. If I can't work full time they will replace me. Simple as. That would make parents virtually unemployable.

And teachers are also often parents. So they can't be flexible at all

@NothingIsWrong

And teachers are also often parents. So they can't be flexible at all

Very true. I can request flexible working (by law) but it would never be granted as late starts, early finishes as this would be disastrous for the timetable. Teachers will often reduce their contract and have whole days offs.

If I can not request flexible working now or even out my notice in until October half term due to the nature of our working terms and conditions. I would need to take unpaid leave but that still means my school would be one full time, experiences mumsnet of core staff down. I can not be the only teacher who will be in this position.

Just because it’s not done doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

I’ve had flexible working in two schools. My current head is very accommodating to family life. And as a result we have excellent staff retention.

I despair at the attitude that we all have to accept a sub-par system that works for no one- staff, students or parents.

We are being give the worst of all worlds with this plan. What happens to the students if more cities have to go back into lockdown?

What happens if your child’s class bubble goes into self isolation three times in a row? Are employers going to be flexible about that?

What happens if your child’s class teacher becomes ill and the school can’t find anyone to cover (with high sickness rates this could happen)?

What happens when the wrap around care provided so confidently provided by some schools has to stop because the providers are sick?

Just opening everything in Sept is not going to be a sustainable long term solution. What it will offer is patchy, unreliable service. I find it shocking that people are reading to accept this.

Most businesses have enough on their plate staying afloat right now. They way they see it, they have been plenty flexible thus far, but enough is enough.

In my business, the other employees doing exactly the same job as me are a 28 year old guy, no dependents, willing and able to work all the hours god sends and a man in his mid 50s, with a SAHW, total workaholic.

Revenues are down, redundancies are probably imminent, what’s in it for them to be ‘flexible’ with me and my childcare issues?

I don't think employers can always be flexible.
If I'm employing someone to work from 9 until 5 due to my customers then I can't be accepting lots of employees turning up at 10 and asking to leave at 4.
It is usually women who take the brunt too, which !Alex them less desirable to employ.
I wonder how many fathers will be asking for flexible working patterns?

@BelleSausage

What happens if your child’s class bubble goes into self isolation three times in a row? Are employers going to be flexible about that?

What happens if your child’s class teacher becomes ill and the school can’t find anyone to cover (with high sickness rates this could happen)?

What happens when the wrap around care provided so confidently provided by some schools has to stop because the providers are sick?

Just opening everything in Sept is not going to be a sustainable long term solution. What it will offer is patchy, unreliable service. I find it shocking that people are reading to accept this.

@BelleSausage Exactly. I think the first half term will be ‘safe’ but I know I always come down with ‘the teacher lurgy’ just before October half term. Usually as staff we just power though but if we are isolating en masse (even if it’s 24-48 hours until a test returns), it’s going to be a very disrupted time.

If parents think come Sept prayers will be answered, then they will be disappointed. And I am speaking as a teacher and a parent who no doubt will have to take unpaid leave for when my own children are ill/have to isolate etc

Ok, my children go to a small primary school. There are 5 teachers. 4 of them are parents and use wraparound. If none of them can start on time or finish on time due to lack of wraparound, how do you expect the school to function at all? They simply wouldn't open full stop. Even if only 2 of them couldn't, we aren't exactly awash with extra staff to cover

Our primary could run the after school club as they have more than one hall and they can easily isolate and keep the children in their bubbles or year groups , especially as the kids not going to after school club will have left the building. They can take on extra staff too.

Breakfast club is a different ball game altogether because we have to serve food and you can't isolate them in their groups easily for this. We get 60 to 70 children on average each day.
I've a feeling I won't be going back to my old job in September , but who knows? It might be doable , or just be a club open early not serving any food and spread the children around the school or something! It's a lifeline for many families that have to start work or the commute into london early and I bet it'll be the mums that will suffer or have to give up working if the clubs don't run next term.
:(

Lack of childcare provision will be a key driver of financial catastrophe - mulitply, in consequential job losses due to inability to work, lower spending due to no childcare and also direct job losses in the childcare industry

And, yet again, it will disproportionately affect women. Most single parents are women. Women earn less, on average, so for most couples if the woman stops work the financial hit overall will be less severe.

Why is it always women's careers that suffer, ffs?

just be a club open early not serving any food and spread the children around the school or something!

Our plan (before we were vetoed) was disposable bowls and cutlery and single serve portions of cereal and milk, plus maybe breakfast bars. With supplies being kept in a box for each bubble table.

It was an awful plan in terms of rubbish and environmental, but we have so many kids that don't get breakfast if they don't come it was better than nothing. It's been scuppered by us not being allowed in the school before it opens.

Our wraparound care(on-site and also a preschool but not run by our school) is open now. Not sure how they are getting away with it. Makes the idea of my class being a bubble of 15 a joke when some are then mixing every day with multiple other bubbles.

I don't even have kids and this is making me unreasonably angry!

The government want the country back at work, and earning money, which they will then spend to the benefit of the economy as a whole.

If people can't go back to work because of lack of childcare, then it's not going to happen, is it?

Are they really happy for women to leave the workforce because of lack of childcare? Or do they not give a shit, because everyone who has to resign leaves a vacancy that can be filled by those who have lost jobs because of Covid, which will make the unemployment figures slightly less dreadful?

I know what I think. And if the Daily Mail picks up this thread, I'll be bloody delighted.

I'm waiting for my letter to say the breakfast club won't open up I think .
I doubt that parents will want to pay for a child minding service and have to get their children up even earlier to have breakfast before they get there as well. The prices won't go down I bet and keeping the same amount of staff isn't cost effective.

For the children it was the best part of the day and we had a huge variety of food and fruit / porridge etc. They had time outside to play and many really enjoyed it as they could mix with all the year groups. It was very well run.
Throw away bowls etc would also cost not to mention the extra cleaning materials which is already huge apparently! .
It's probably easier not to run it :(

The whole bubble thing is ridiculous. One of my DS is currently in a bubble of 15. Other DS is in a bubble of 15. So that’s 30 kids. We socialise with my niece from a different school who is in a bubble of 15. And we’re seeing friends (in their garden) at the weekend whose two children are in two different bubbles. So we’re exposed to 75 kids so far and that’s just this week.......But after school club can’t open in case more than 15 kids come into contact with each other???

We haven't been told yet what any of the arrangements will be for September at our DCs schools. DH and I both work full time and are absolutely reliant on wraparound care. I am currently WFH but even with this, I seriously doubt my employer is going to be OK with me disappearing off every afternoon to do pick up, or starting later after drop off. If the government can't sort this out, then working parents (mainly mothers let's be honest) are screwed.

We're still waiting on info from DS primary. I am a teacher (so is DH) and rely on wraparound care. As @motherrunner said earlier no way would I (or DH) be granted any flexible working. With some notice of this I might have looked at going part time for a year, but no way of being able to even ask for that to start before Jan. Nothing really to add, just worried about this like so many other parents.

Are they really happy for women to leave the workforce because of lack of childcare? Or do they not give a shit, because everyone who has to resign leaves a vacancy that can be filled by those who have lost jobs because of Covid, which will make the unemployment figures slightly less dreadful?

They don't give a shit

The workers in the closed wrap around care places will be predominantly women. So women are copping it left, right and centre on this one

They don't give a shit

Yup.

@The80sweregreat

I'm waiting for my letter to say the breakfast club won't open up I think . I doubt that parents will want to pay for a child minding service and have to get their children up even earlier to have breakfast before they get there as well. The prices won't go down I bet and keeping the same amount of staff isn't cost effective.

For the children it was the best part of the day and we had a huge variety of food and fruit / porridge etc. They had time outside to play and many really enjoyed it as they could mix with all the year groups. It was very well run.
Throw away bowls etc would also cost not to mention the extra cleaning materials which is already huge apparently! .
It's probably easier not to run it :(

I can't see how anywhere with staffing costs could afford to run without massive price hikes.

We only could because all our staff are volunteers. Most are on career breaks, we have a retired HT, some are doing teaching at uni etc - it's properly run, but there's no way we could carry the extra costs if people were all salaried. We also could only not have to put prices up because a local businessman offered to cover the extra costs

Someone wound me up by saying ' we didn't have any wrap around care ' no, in the 70s and 80s you didn't need two incomes in order to eat and pay the bills.
This was all brought in to try and help working families go to work and have affordable safe childcare, but if this might stop this year the knock on effects could be huge for working parents and their careers. Not everyone has family around that can have the children. Ones that do are much better off generally , I've always found in the past.
( if they can now and the family members are not shielding of course and can have them)

I am salaried for my job at the present as the club makes a profit. The school are equally fed up as they are also losing money!
If we asked for volunteers I doubt anyone would come in to be honest.

@The80sweregreat

I am salaried for my job at the present as the club makes a profit. The school are equally fed up as they are also losing money! If we asked for volunteers I doubt anyone would come in to be honest.

I think it only works because it was set up like that originally.

The entire organisation is volunteer led. Breakfast club, afterschool club and holiday playscheme. Generally the volunteers are people on career breaks, people who are studying or retraining to work with kids or the likes. We have strong links with the college locally. Like me, I'm a SAHM, but my career was working with kids so I enjoy it.

It keeps it low cost which is needed (where I live is odd - people are either very well off or live in poverty. There's very little middle ground locally), but I doubt it would get off the ground if someone was trying to set it up new now.

The school are fed up here as well. They're losing a lot of money from us hiring.

We had looked at hiring extra spaces for distancing to run in the summer, which would have helped their finances, but we weren't allowed so we couldn't open.