To consider private schools due to the longer school day?

[Workingawayfromhomenow]

It isn’t the only consideration by a long shot but it is a consideration, as we would struggle otherwise. I realise people do manage of course but interested in knowing if this was a factor for anyone else when choosing a school.

My DD went to a small private primary near where I worked. For various reasons but it definitely made life so much easy for me. It was a longer day as standard plus an on site aftercare no need to book - running late at work just call and they’d pop down and tell dd to go to aftercare. Hols were 2 weeks longer - we saved a lot by having our main school holidays in October as they got 2 weeks. It was very geared to working parents no expectations you’d be available in day, no random dress up days, only school open in town when it snowed etc. It was in northern town fees were £500 a month. Class of 15.

I worked at a private boarding school and a lot of parents of the day pupils were very happy with the longer days. All pupils had a different activity each night. They could also stay a bit later and do prep (homework). It meant they could be picked up by parents as late as 6.30. Then there was the option of flexi boarding - adding odd nights as a boarder.

In theory my child's school has 7.30am - 6.00pm wrap around, but it reality I couldn't get her into any of the mornings this year when I went back to work and I can only book her in for one morning a week next year.

I don't think the op is stupid for taking it into consideration.

Have you attended an open day at your local primary and at the independent school? I would keep an open mind until then as you may be surprised ( pleasantly or otherwise) by what you saw.
If you much prefer the indie, then it's a no brainer.
If you don't however,ci would explore other ( childminder, teaming up with another parent etc, condensing hours, wfh etc)

Paying for private schooling is a very expensive form of wrap around care
It’s not the same as wraparound care though.

FWIW we like the longer school days and longer holidays. The state primary my DC were attending before offered BC/AFC 7:30am-6:30pm so all good on paper, except spending 3h after school in a noisy environment with no real structure wasn’t great for them, it was difficult to make them do homework afterwards or even have dinner and a shower without a tantrum.
And the food offered at both BC/AFC was far from healthy.

I think that the longer day is one of the big drawbacks of private school - I much prefer the idea of clubs outside school instead, where DC can mix with different people and make other friends. It's really helpful if/when things go wrong at school, as they often do, for the DC not to spend all their time there and have to do all their activities with the same people they are in lessons with. Plus when they first went to school ours were so knackered by 3.30pm that they wouldn't have coped very well with more stuff. DS used to fall asleep at 6.30pm when he was in reception, even though he could do 8-6 quite happily at nursery.

But facilitating an afternoon pick up and clubs after school does require a lot of effort and sacrifice on the part of the parents. We had to juggle our hours and work early / late to make it work, it was a pain but worth it, it's only for a few years. They have experienced a lot more people and places than if they'd been at school 8-6 every day.

except spending 3h after school in a noisy environment with no real structure wasn’t great for them, it was difficult to make them do homework afterward

Yes this is a good point. After school club at my child's primary is unstructured and they won't support them to do work. The independent I worked in had timetabled after school enrichment activities, followed by supervised prep as an optional add on. The kids were picked up to go home having done the school day, had a snack, done an activity delivered by teaching staff, and then done all their homework. That's a big difference from picking up my DD at 6, who has been either running around on the field (summer) or playing on a computer (winter) since 3.30, and still has reading / spellings / maths practice to do as well as needing dinner.

These sort of threads are just a total waste of time. The OP obviously wants to send her children to private school. I actually have no idea why she has posted on here ...

I’d also say our after school provision largely seems to be led by students. So you sometimes get brilliant super engaging young people and sometimes those that are less so and stick on the tv. they’re not doing homework or clubs as such but it varies so much depending on who is on shift. Food is a bit naff as well. I’d imagine wrap around as part of a prep’s offering would be better.

And by contrast, that post changed the fucking world, didn’t it?

And thank you for the genuinely helpful posts. My child is still very young and we are a while off this but for obvious reasons I am focusing my mind elsewhere tonight.

Local private school day is 8.30am to 5pm. All music, drama, sport etc is done in this time. Good bus service means hours are good for working parents.

It 100% influenced my choice.
Drop off from 7.45. Pick up was 6pm with no pre booking needed.
If later than 6, school would look after them at a fee
I didn't ever use the after 6 provision but it was available without pre booking
I remember the headmaster getting quite enthusiastic one day when there was snow that they might end up with boarders as it had been in the old days

We book the night before or sooner. Opens 7.30 and closes 6pm.
School run

Don’t be surprised if the school starts charging for any wrap around care that is currently free. My kids school use to provide all sorts of free extras (chess club in lunch etc) and slowly started charging for everything over the past few years 🙄

Of course people choose a school based on wraparound care! We were offered a place at a 'better' state school, but the wraparound care was very competitive and only started at 7.45. We sent our ds to a 'less good' school to use their more flexible wraparound.

Obviously the less good school is not terrible (our area has good schools across the board - very luck that way). But of course it is a consideration.

Our eldest ds has SEN so asc for him is a nightmare. We have a nanny, it isn't that easy.

I do know someone who moved her kids to private school, because it was a choice between that or giving up her job, as there was literally no childcare available.

These threads annoy me, because of all the people taking amazing wraparound care for granted.

Lots of after-school clubs have went bust due to covid, and lots of childminders got other jobs when they were not allowed to operate.

If you can phone to book after-school club ad-hoc the night before, you should appreciate that you are incredibly lucky, and this is not universal.

I'm surprised so many people send their kids to private school for the after school activities.
My DDs went to a state school 50p for breakfast club from 7:30 and £8 for after school club until 6
They did loads of extra clubs too football, rounders, tennis, dodge ball, science club, volleyball. There was loads to choose from. Those activities lasted until 4:30 and then they could go to the club or straight to the club after school if they didn't want to do activities. No charge for any of the activities either.
Not all state schools are the same.

There is definitely an assumption that it’s as easy as just booking a before and after school place and it really isn’t.

I'd love this. Unfortunately, the wraparound provision at my dds' school is oversubscribed, so it's hard to get a place (only two mornings available from Sept, none available this academic year) and there are no school clubs/ activities (other than four different lunchtime football clubs).

Having taught in private, I would love for my DD to get the range of activities and for me to get the flexibility/ availability of wrap around care that I saw there. Sadly not an option for me!

Our state primary offers after school club at £5 per hour. Until 5 30 so still significantly cheaper than private.

I think primaries vary hugely in what they offer, what they cost and the quality of what they offer. I know quite a few places that offer no wraparound at all.

Our state primary offers after school club at £5 per hour. Until 5 30 so still significantly cheaper than private.

I'm sorry you've had such a hard time here. I understand your POV; longer hours most definitely are a consideration, along with many other aspects, when looking at private schools. The Education Board is a lot less brutal than AIBU so you could ask there too. Ignore the keyboard warriors.

I suppose it might be harder if you live somewhere rural, but surely you can pay somebody to drop off/collect your child and supervise supper and homework?

I used to know a former nanny who did this as well as the parents who hired her to supervise their DC until they went to secondary school.

The nanny had most of her day free for other jobs/interests and the parents knew that they didn't have to dash home at 5pm (or supervise homework/music practice etc.).