To ask what's the law or policy on wrap around care?

[drspouse]

My DS is in a short stay school which is handily quite near our house and he goes to a CM twice a week but he can't stay there for ever, and we are only being offered far distant schools that involve a taxi ride and have no after school care or extracurricular activities "because of the taxis".
There is a local MLD school that has after school care but it's not suitable for him.
I work 0.6 and a colleague just asked to go to 0.5 and was refused. I'm the higher earner but DH is a KW who trains other KWs and he can't drop to school hours either because lots of his training is day long or has to cover a choice of hours (and he's likely to have a day a week in the office, an hour away).
Is there any legal obligation to provide after school care or consider this in placement?
Or does the government just not want my taxes and DH benefit to society?

@drspouse

like all other parents that's on you to provide Would you also say this to the parents of a new reception child whose DC had been allocated a place in a school 5 miles away with no wrap around care and whose flexible working request had been refused.

Well, that would be the legal position, yes. In that case, assuming there was no nearer school that could offer a place, the child would be offered free transport, the type of which could vary depending on local offer. It would take no account of childcare issues though.

And no its not unusual for sennchildren to have a long distance to their sen schools. Some travel an hour each way. And yes most taxis will only drop at home however some companies/drivers are more flexible is stop off is on the route to the childs address.

Most sen parents don't have his issue as most of them cant secure out of school care due to their childs needs

The fact that your flexible working request has been refused is not the concern of the LA

Its crap and why so many sen parents become unpaid carers

We don't provide after school care, as others have said we don't have to-just "signpost". So we tell parents about the local nursery that offers after school clubs or that there are some child minders in the village who might be available. Those children who travel,by taxi-and we have quite a number- could access both these but parents would need to sort it out themselves.

Didn't mean to post. As well as a child minder in the village the schools in maybe being an option, what about a CM to meet him at your house when Taxi drops off. Or would changing your hours be an option? Things like starting earlier to finish earlier or WFH in afternoon or spreading your hours over more days?

My children’s school doesn’t provide out of school care; they go to an external provider who picks them up from school. You need to find an external person (nursery, childminder) who will collect them from school.

@drspouse

like all other parents that's on you to provide Would you also say this to the parents of a new reception child whose DC had been allocated a place in a school 5 miles away with no wrap around care and whose flexible working request had been refused.

Yes, I'd suggest they sort child care.

If DS went to school down the road and it didn't have child care what would you do?

We have been told taxis will only drop at home. So how do we get DS to this after school care that we're really happy to pay for?

The CM my dc went to had a boy dropped to her by his special school transport.

I also used to work in Specialist provision, and there were children that were dropped to CMers. The key is, it has to be the same address - they can't take to different places on different nights, but there is no reason why they can't be taken to a CMer.

The Specialist provision can't provide afterschool care as usually the transport takes several dc home, I have never known an individual taxi take an individual child.
Also, so many dc with SEN, who have to be given transport to schools some miles away, plus going a wiggly route to collect others, are out of the house for such a long day, making it even longer would not work for them.

So no, as everyone say. No-one has to provide wrap around care for you.

One other suggestion - have you considered an after school nanny, working in your home ?

I’d suggest either finding a childminder local to the school
OR
appealing to the LA that the taxi drops to your current childminder’s address rather than yours
OR
Employing a nanny

Most sen parents don't have his issue as most of them cant secure out of school care due to their childs needs
Ironically we could find out of school care if he went to a school (the closer MLD school) that wouldn't meet his educational needs.

You could try legal or one of the education boards. There's some posters well informed about educational issues.

But this isn't an Educational issue, it's a childcare one.

have you considered an after school nanny, working in your home ?
We've had these before when he was in YR but it wasn't ideal (they kept leaving). As DH would be running trainings at home during the after school hours it would be too disruptive (we've had this issue during lockdown when he was in school part time - even if one parent is supervising him the other one can't do calls etc).

We don't offer after school care in our sen school but we do have children where transport leaves them to childmjnders or after school care. Usually fine if it is in the vicinity of where they live but as a school we have no way in transport so it's up to the taxi / bus that takes them - most are willing to work with parents.
How far away does your childminder live from you? Worst case could she collect him from transport outside your house?

@spanieleyes

But this isn't an Educational issue, it's a childcare one.

I'm trying to find out if there is a government policy on childcare, turns out there is but it doesn't apply to us.

@Smurf123 unfortunately she's too far for that, as it would clash with the direction of her regular pickups.

Why can't you find a childminder near the new school and you collect him from there?

Hi OP, I don’t know anything about the legalities. But I do know a mum whose son goes to a special needs school, he gets transport home. The mum has organised for a nanny to be at their home when he returns from school. She is there with the child until his parents get home which is several hours later. Maybe this is an option for you.

All schools are expected to provide access to wraparound childcare if there is sufficient demand, either on their own premises or nearby, from 8.00am to 6.00pm to give state school pupils the same opportunities as those in the private sector.
That is not to say that all schools have to provide out of school care themselves, some do, but others out-source the provision.

If schools can demonstrate that there is little or no demand for extended services, they can satisfy the Government requirements merely by signposting to other local provision, such as childminders or nearby out of school clubs.

However, if there is a definite need, schools are required to implement out of school care, but again this does not have to be provided by the school itself. Some schools opt to fulfil the requirements themselves, others invite individuals, playgroups, or other private childcare providers to meet the requirements on their behalf.

It looks like the issue might be that there's insufficient demand at your school

But even at our school where there's after school clubs, it isn't open to every pupil 5 days a week until 6 pm.

I'm trying to find out if there is a government policy on childcare, turns out there is but it doesn't apply to us.

There isn't though. As pp have said no school has a legal obligation to provide wrap around childcare. You're not being singled out because you need a particular school. A mainstream school can equally not provide anything.

Given that the taxi will only deliver to your house, could you get a nanny to be at home for half an hour to receive your dc, then take to the local after school provision you're happy with?

I understand the issue on the homeworking. We have turned a box room into a home office with a good lock on the door. The person needing to be undisturbed locks themselves in and prepares to be handy with the mute button in case of screaming or banging. Not ideal but keeping your job is important. I think pursuing another after school nanny is the best solution. It's a pain but it can take trying a lot of different childcare with SEN DC to find something that works.

I was surprised myself when I realised how hard it was to establish what wraparound care schools offered and whether you'd actually be able to get a place, in advance of applying. It actually pushed us towards private education where the Heads know which side their bread is buttered.

Government policy on childcare and education is the biggest muddle and mishmash in my opinion, even before SEN is added to the mix.

Is there any legal obligation to provide after school care or consider this in placement?

I do not know about the legal aspects. However when two of my sons attended a MLD school about an hour and a half away (70 miles), there was no after school provision. The school was brilliant, but most children had such long distances to travel home by taxi and it was felt, for the majority of them, adding to their long day by after school provision would be too much for them. Also, the taxis were sometimes shared with other pupils, and were all scheduled to pick up at home time. So had their been any form of after school club journeys home would have been more difficult and expensive. It seemed to work well and having to be home ourselves by 5pm is one of the sacrifices a parent of a child with MLD had to factor into their lives. So it could be difficult regarding work and other children, but not impossible. But no idea if it was a general policy or not.

I was going to suggest the same as windy. A nanny, who greets your ds.

As for your dh, would that be too difficult for him to manage? Perhaps he can find somewhere else to run the training courses from if this is the case? It doesn’t sound as if they run daily.

@nailsathome

Why can't you find a childminder near the new school and you collect him from there?

It's a tiny village 45 mins away, I did just look on the LA website for that county, there's one listed in the next village, so 5 miles/10 mins further. I'm not sure we'd gain any working time as with a 55 minute drive we'd be leaving at 4 as against being home every day at 3.30.