My son's after school club is closing because the governant has withdrawn funding

[Reallytired]

It has 12 children and charges £5.50 an hour. Apparently its not profitable so it is closing.

It had a governant grant that subsidized it. The idea was to allow poor parents to get above the povety line by helping themselves.

However the club has been closed with consultation with parents. There are no decent childminders.

I am looking at changing my son's school, but I all the nearest schools have the same problems.

The after school club has been open for a year. So three years of funding should not have been an issue. There are very few childminders in our area and I prefer after school clubs. The few childminders there are charge £5 an hour and insist on being paid 52 weeks a year. As I work in a school this is not financially practical.

The twelve children came from three large primary schools. Very few mums in our area work. Most live off benefits. It is very socially deprived area. It is an area that NEEDS help rather than handouts.

Part of the problem was organisation. They took a long time to recruit someone with NVQ level 3 and did not bother with OFSTED registration. This meant it was only possible to care for children until 5pm.

I feel that schools which fail to organise after school care or at least arrange transport to a suitable school with an after school club should be marked down in their OFTED.

Unfortunately the staff at our school are very anti working fathers as well as anti working mothers. It is no wonder the kids get bad results. They see no reason to work when they know that Joe Public will support them financially.

£5 an hour seems a lot for a childminder to charge in a very socially deprived area where most people live off benefits.

that's so sad. i'm currently doing an nvq which would enable me to run a club. tbh it's not that easy and has put lots of people off.

i would contact the local council and badger them - where abouts are you?

I agree with southeastastra - you need to pursue this with the local authority. So far as I am aware each council has been given money to develop extended schools - its up to them how they spend it. They may have devolved this directly to the schools - in which case you will need to pursue directly with the school. What about your local MP - can he or she help?