To expect my children not to be given cereal and jam on toast for tea at (£15) after school club?

[Mallowmarshmallow]

My children have come home this week saying the above was all that was on offer at the after school club they attend.

AIBU for suggesting to them that this is not an appropriate tea for children. 'A light tea' is apparently offered during the session.

Does anyone know of any government guidance for healthy eating in childcare settings? I can only find early years guidance in my searches.

For full information, the after school club is local to, but not run by, the school the children attend. It is the only local option available which works with their school.

the most expensive around here is £3.50 per hour (though you pay for whole sessions here whether they stay 30minutes or 3 hours)

I will never understand or failed to be amazed by people resenting to spend as little as a fiver an hour for people to look after their own children!

You wouldn't pay your gardener/cleaner/hairdresser or anyone so little, but for your CHILD? Yes, there are other kids in the group, but so what?

It's depressing how little you value childcare. Probably banging on at the same time at how outrageous the salary of a nurse vs pro football player might be.

What the school are giving them sounds fine. Depends where you are in the UK as to whether you take "tea" to mean an afternoon snack or the main evening meal I suppose, but I'd say it's the former - DC should have proper supper once they get home.

Why don't you a. Actually ask the after school club what they are offering or b. Send them in with a 'nutritional' snack to tide them over until dinner.

How old are your children? I do think it makes a difference if they are e.g. 6 years old vs. 11 years old - toast and jam is plenty filling for a 6 year old (even if not very health) whereas for an 11 year old I'd see it as more of a snack.

@Maggiesfarm

Calm down, Mrs Sproget. I did post afterwards when I realised the £15 covered a couple of hours child care. Initially I thought the £15 was just for the toast!

It isn't extortionate for the child being looked after and I would have thought a couple of rounds of toast with jam was quite adequate for tea. Fills them up for a while but not so much that they won't eat their dinner at home.

I'm quite calm thank you, your comment about profit margins is still ridiculous Perhaps understand the thread before you post?

I grant you i wouldn't give it to my DC at home as a snack for nutritional reasons but I think its fine in that scenario. Feeding a group of children is very different from feeding a couple at home so whatever it is need to cater for most, be able to be delivered in an environment that might have limited cooking facilities (hall or something) and avoid allergies etc.

I admit I am biased. I would bite the hand off of an after school club in this area. There is next to no childcare locally anymore. We have ended up creating an unofficial parent relay to at least walk the DC home so a parent can work or go to appointments. Right now in this are they could feed them chocolate three times a week and we would probably thank them .

I don't think its CF territory but I agree I wouldn't personally give that to my DC as an afterschool snack. No its not a light tea but then it is reasonable as a group snack until dinner.

It's better than my crappy ex childminders light meal. A pack of wotsits. Ditched before 3 weeks.

Toast and jam or cereal are not crack. Healthy weight or underweight children can eat more simple carbs than adults. Moderation in all things works.

[quote Mallowmarshmallow]@user1471457751, I didn't state what I considered, just explained that was a previous offering.[/quote]
But presumably you would also be complaining about a “light tea” being a heavy stew, or a high carb baked potato?

My school charges a fiver and provides mini wrap pizzas, sandwiches, hot dogs, soup etc. £15 is extortion!!!

As far as I can see, everyone including the OP herself has overlooked the key information about this setting:

. It is the only local option available which works with their school.

No point getting on your high horse. There aren't alternatives. Maybe suggest cheese spread or
Marmite as a jam alternative. But it's not 'nutritionally void'! Plus it's nearly summer. I imagine that's why they've stopped serving stew!

It is a cheap option so sounds like what they can be given is limited. Surely you could supply them with an apple and some cheese if you don’t like it. You could speak to them and see what they say.

I’ve previously paid a childminder £11 p/h after school but collection, a lovely nutritious home cooked meal and comfortable chill out environment provided which made life a lot easier for all of us. Something you could look into maybe.

Is it school or nursery? After-school club at my son's nursery is £14 and they get a proper tea - yesterday my son had four fish fingers, bagel and spaghetti hoops, salad, fruit and icecream! It's always what I would call dinner, I don't give him another big evening meal.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

My school charges a fiver and provides mini wrap pizzas, sandwiches, hot dogs, soup etc. £15 is extortion!!!

Your school charges £5 for 2.5 hours of care plus food! That's absolutely mind-blowingly dirt cheap! Surley they must get some additional funding from somewhere?

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

My school charges a fiver and provides mini wrap pizzas, sandwiches, hot dogs, soup etc. £15 is extortion!!!

You get 3 hours of childcare + snack for £5?

Even if it's true, can't you see how this cannot be the norm anywhere? How do you expect the staff, facilities - and food - to be paid for exactly?

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully wow how are they managing that where are you based in the country?

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

My school charges a fiver and provides mini wrap pizzas, sandwiches, hot dogs, soup etc. £15 is extortion!!!

£15 is not extortion. Your school must be running some sort of council funded scheme, and you're actually paying a fiver for the pizza. That probably is extortion...

Ours is £7 for 3 hours including food. It's not council run or funded and is on school premises.

@dotdashdashdash

Ours is £7 for 3 hours including food. It's not council run or funded and is on school premises.

That's so cheap! It's honestly blowing my tiny mind that you're paying less than the cost of a tesco meal deal per hour for someone to supervise your child.

As a former nursery nurse this shows how little people want to pay for childcare when £5 is considered extortion for one hour. I left 17 years ago and our after school club was £10 then! I pay a hairdresser £30 for a quick haircut and blow that maximum takes 45 minutes... yet £5 is too much to look after a child from school til pick up, feed them something even a snack and provide supervision ( from qualified/ trained/dbs cleared staff) and activities too. Wow.

The whole nursery and after school had a ‘tea’ which was basically cheese spread on toast crumpet etc with some fruit. No hot meals in the evening just lunch time.

There is so much these days to consider with food and allergies, preparation and now covid regulations etc it’s not just so easy to provide a better option.

Op speak to the staff and see why it’s changed there may be good reason!

Ours have a hot full meal for lunch, and a snack type tea at after school club, so pitta bread pizzas, beans on toast etc. Stuff I would typically think of as lunch time foods. Ds has a tea with us when we get home so that's fine. It's only £6 a day though, so I think for what you pay I would expect a full meal!

Should say that's £6 for after school club 3-6 including snack tea. Breakfast club is £3, on school premises and not funded.

Sounds ok to me. Its only something to keep them going until they get home. Its pretty much what my children have when they get home from school and then we'll have a proper healthy dinner later.

@NeverSurrender

Should say that's £6 for after school club 3-6 including snack tea. Breakfast club is £3, on school premises and not funded.

These prices are madness! How on earth can the club pay staff and provide such meals on so little.

No wonder people think £5 an hour is expensive when they are paying £2 or £3. Surley those paying so little must realise the bargain you're getting?

That's so cheap! It's honestly blowing my tiny mind that you're paying less than the cost of a tesco meal deal per hour for someone to supervise your child. shock

It's run by the school, using school staff - they have a designated wrap around and holiday club team, who are on the same salary as the HLTAs. They also act as TAs depending on the school need, they have a full time contract and are paid of above the living wage(I'm a governor at the school). The school makes a profit from it and it is well used.