School will be closed at lunchtime one day a week from Sept

[Ilovecranberries]

The school (primary) had just informed the parents that they will be closing at lunchtime on one day a week from September to facilitate "planning".
I don't even know what to say. AIBU to think it is ridiculous? I am a single working parent, not sure how I am supposed to work around this. Extra childcare for these 3.5 hours at the local childminders rates will be £56 a week (two children here). Or two grand a year post tax. I probably will be told I am BU (I probably am), just very anxious right now.

[Africa2go]

OP I think you're right to be annoyed at the lack of notice, but as with everything else, its unprecedented times. Lots of schools are withdrawing wraparound care, so no breakfast club / after school club. Our after school club which was previously open until 6.30 is now closing at 5pm (we're about an hour's commute from the city centre which means people trying to change working hours). What I'm trying to say is lots of people are in the same boat.

FWIW, I think alot of employers are being flexible - could you maybe have a shorter lunch break each day and so be able to leave earlier on a Friday? Work later one night when your children have a club or whatever? Pick up work in the evening at home?

I think the suggestion of having 3 or 4 mums look after the children on a rota is really good - don't you have a class Whatsapp group / email that you could ask if anyone was interested? I know you say annual leave has to be approved 6 months in advance, but for 1 afternoon / month, is there a way around it? And as pp have said, you don't need to be qualified to look after a small group of children, other than being able to work the oven and Netflix if necessary

[SandieCheeks]

@Ilovecranberries

Like a PP says, pizza, film, job done.
I am amazed that some people have 5 year olds who can sit for 6+ hours in front of the TV with a pizza and a few friends. Maybe that's where I am failing in parenting.

Earlier you said it was 3 hours

[VanillaFrais]

I feel complete sympathy for you, OP, and can see how difficult this will make life for many people. I don't even know what you can do about this if you have no friends or family to ask, and after school clubs are not running.

As a side note for anyone with children, schools are being held over a barrel by the government and have been for years. Cuts to education over the years have taken their toll on many many schools and this has resulted in situations like this arising, increasingly so. Throw a pandemic into the mix as well (with no extra funding given to schools to help them organise the logistics of getting schools fully open) and we have further situations of schools having to close for portions of the week to enable them to be open for the rest of the time. The pandemic has highlighted huge weaknesses in our schools due to lack of funding, and parents need to wise up and start demanding more from our government rather than blaming schools for difficult decisions that they are having to take. Parents need to stand alongside teachers in this, rather than fighting against them and blaming them for all manner of issues.

[Ilovecranberries]

@Hercwasonaroll
The children will have to be collected just after noon and it is unlikely that working parents will be able to make it before 6 to collect.
Unless, of course, there is an additional responsibility of transporting every child to their childcare setting of choice after the "session' is over.

[Orangeblossom78]

I'll put the info from the school here in case you wanted to suggest something like this as it works really well..

PPA Days

We have a statutory duty to provide all teaching staff with 10 per cent of their normal class contact time as non-contact time to engage in Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA). This would mean that a full-time teacher is planning, preparing and assessing away from their class for half a day per week.

At (school name), our solution is to make this one full day every two weeks; this means that one Phase at a time has PPA Day on alternate Wednesdays.


We are joined on Wednesdays by sports coaches who lead a high quality PE lesson with each class. We also welcome - two trained actors from local company (name) who lead a session with each class on theatre-craft, improvisation, story and drama. And completing the team is (other teachers names) who teach PHSE and Philosophy, and also (head teacher) who pops up from time to time to teach the ukulele.

Running throughout the day is a sense of exploration and enjoyment, hopefully making these days full of wonder. We also use Wonderful Wednesdays to dedicate time to specific aspects of the PHSE curriculum such as anti-bullying and e-safety as and when appropriate.

[Mumdiva99]

Actually this goes against the guidelines issued by the government "It is our plan that all pupils, in all year groups, will return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term."
Other primaries are covering PPE without closing early.

Google this as there are many examples of schools trying this and then back tracking after a while as parents are unhappy with the arrangement- and it can put prospective parents off if yours is the only school in the area doing it.

[Orangeblossom78]

Guess it takes some imagination and determination from the school, we have quite creative parents and contacts too which helps

[Timesdone]

I'd never have been able to work at all when the children were small with reciprocal arrangements with school mums. It's what people do when they can't arrange/afford formal care. Children play, they don't need organising every moment of their life as others have said light refreshments & leave them to it. When they get over boisterous out the TV on. I'm getting sense if self importance here, school is not there for childminding, that's your responsibility, school is to educate children.

[Ilovecranberries]

@Orangeblossom78
Thanks! This is actually a great idea.

[SandieCheeks]

@Ilovecranberries

What did you do normally after school on a Friday?
It is not a Friday, it is actually a mid week day. I am usually using a childminder for 2 hours after school, every day.

You could look on the bright side that at least your childminder is still operating and you aren’t relying on wraparound that isn’t running.

Hopefully this will be a short term measure until restrictions ease. I would probably just accept you won’t be having a holiday and pay the extra 3 hours childcare. Sign up for tax free childcare. It could be a lot worse.

[Hercwasonaroll]

Well what normally happens to those children? Could they be collected?

One day a fortnight PPA could work in primary. I wouldn't be keen and lots of places won't have the funding.

[Wondergirl100]

I think parents need to start thinking of community solutions like sharing child care - OP you say you aren't qualified - it's a play date! You have a couple of their friends round, it makes life easier for you - do you live within walking distance of school ? these people are your neighbours.

[BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou]

@Orangeblossom78

I'll put the info from the school here in case you wanted to suggest something like this as it works really well..

PPA Days

We have a statutory duty to provide all teaching staff with 10 per cent of their normal class contact time as non-contact time to engage in Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA). This would mean that a full-time teacher is planning, preparing and assessing away from their class for half a day per week.

At (school name), our solution is to make this one full day every two weeks; this means that one Phase at a time has PPA Day on alternate Wednesdays.


We are joined on Wednesdays by sports coaches who lead a high quality PE lesson with each class. We also welcome - two trained actors from local company (name) who lead a session with each class on theatre-craft, improvisation, story and drama. And completing the team is (other teachers names) who teach PHSE and Philosophy, and also (head teacher) who pops up from time to time to teach the ukulele.

Running throughout the day is a sense of exploration and enjoyment, hopefully making these days full of wonder. We also use Wonderful Wednesdays to dedicate time to specific aspects of the PHSE curriculum such as anti-bullying and e-safety as and when appropriate.

Our school have had to cancel all these visiting teachers/sports coaches etc. We can’t afford it. From September we are closing to pupils on Friday afternoons. This is for teachers PPA (as bubbles mean they cannot leave their class - not even for lunch) and TAs and office staff will then assist in the deep clean needed due to COVID. Unfortunately another part of budget constrictions has been the reduction in cleaners....

[cologne4711]

Put the tv on and some pizza in the oven, job done

If only. I wonder how long the kids would actually stay put for. And at least one will have a gluten intolerance or be vegan or just not like cooked cheese so pizza is out. I'm with the OP - no way would I want to look after other peoples' kids.

[cologne4711]

it's a play date

It isn't a play date. My son used to have one friend over, not three or four at once.

[mondaywine]

@Ilovecranberries I’m not sure the day actually matters. However it must still only be a few hours extra to add to the childminder. I understand you don’t like it but it’s not unprecedented and there have been good suggestions from people about ways to approach it and manage it.

[LostTrust]

@Ilovecranberries

BuffaloCauliflower
Planning is exactly what it says in the school newsletter. Well, hurray for it, what can I say. The whole class is happily mixing in the playground just outside the school gates every day for a couple of hours, but of course it must be completely different inside the school.

How come they do so long outside each day? Is this the same at every school? Genuine question, I'm a grandma trying to understand issues faced by parents of younger children so I can help my neighbours (grandchildren are too far away for me to help frequently, or regularly).

[LaurieMarlow]

School is for education, not childcare - lots of people seem to forget that.

I presume this is a SAHM talking? Helpful.

Society has previously organised school times / work times to facilitate each other. This is a sensible solution.

I’m not sure why anyone would advocate making it more difficult for parents to work and provide for their children.

There’s a real danger that parents (and let’s face it, mothers) will be forced out of the workforce in the coming months and we’ll see child poverty levels rise. Wonderful.

[AldiAisleofCrap]

Your attitude is really bad op, it’s not all about you. The quality of teaching and the safety of the children and staff in school is the priority. Covid19 has let many people in a far worse situation than finding an afternoons childcare 38 weeks a year!

[Stuckforthefourthtime]

Agree it isn't a play date, I have 4 dcs for example - how many people wouldwant to take that lot on a rota? Or even 3 lots of 2 kids adds up!

Its also not the same as lacking wraparound - that is still hard, but not on par with school closing at 1, when many working parents would only have got into the office at or after 9am following dropoff.
Womens' jobs are getting so screwed over by all that is going on right now.

[Wishforanishwishdiash]

Sympathies, OP.

Circumstances have changed, and many teachers and those without small children are up in arms to remind us that schools are not childcare and smugly tell us we should have had a plan.

But schools have typically been available (mandatory) from 9-3 term time, and most of us planned our lives around that. Many women have arranged their careers around 9-3 term time. This change is too fast for all to adjust quickly.

These changes mean many women will have to stop working, which will suit the Tories just fine. Because, you know, women should only have babies if they are in a stable marriage with a high earning man.

All these smug arseholes seem to think women only work to keep ourselves occupied while the little darlings are at school.

[Gwynfluff]

School is for education, not childcare - lots of people seem to forget that

Schools were set up to serve societal needs (timing of summer holidays in UK reflecting need for pupils to help with harvests when the population was still more mixed rural and industrial urban, and then stopped the education at 14 to feed them into factories etc.

It's why Ofsted have looked for wraparound care as good practise for the last 10 years.

They are not standalone institutions and tax payers fund them.

If you don't have a well structured school system, you will disproportionately impact women.

[MarshaBradyo]

If you think you will get childcare I’d ask quickly as if you really do need it it will fill fast.

I hope you can find another way around it though. There's no doubt working women will take the bigger hit. It’s unfuriating.

[Ilovecranberries]

Your attitude is really bad op, it’s not all about you.
Well, I have been working full time for a couple of months now, starting at 6am and finishing at midnight, with two small children at home, paying those unnecessary taxes that clearly no one needs in these unprecedented times. OK, my attitude may stink, but when is it going to be "about me"?