Cancelled Afterschool Activity

[CancelledActivity]

Hard hat on, I've been on here for years but don't think I've ever braved an AIBU post before.

DD1 is 4 and started school in September. DH and I both work FT, and she goes to an afterschool club everyday. They're the same company as the nursery she went to for years and are thankfully very accommodating. They collect from many schools in the area and run a fleet of cars and do a huge amount of work to make sure everyone is picked up when they need to be.

Once a week DD does football after school - outside company, held at school, advertised through school but paid directly to the company. Afterschool club very nicely put on a car to collect DD and a few others from football, and when the day changed at one week's notice recently they adjusted as well.

It's miserable here today, and we got a text at noon that football was likely cancelled and they would confirm at 1pm.

AIBU to think that two hours notice that DC have to be picked up an hour early is taking the piss? I was embarrassed asking the after school club to make a change to their schedule at such short notice, which thankfully they can do as it would have been difficult for DH or I to make it on time.

Surely an outdoor activity in November needs a contingency plan?

@CancelledActivity you make no sense a saying as you are not permitted to attend , this makes it ‘childcare’ but you wouldn’t even be able to attend because you’re at work and your dd is collected from the club by a childcare provider.

But it isn't!

They are offering an activity. You sign DC up to it. The implicit arrangement is that should it not go ahead, you will collect DC, or have someone in a position to do so (the ASC or minder etc)

No other activity do you impose such conditions! If your kids do soccer on a Saturday for example, you wouldn't insist they do something else with them if it was rained off.

That's because on Saturdays you accept it's generally not a working day & you are around.

It's not childcare. You wishing it was doesn't make it so!

I have often had cancellations with a lot less notice, giving me heart failure as I scrabble to find someone who can help me out at short notice.

And no you don't have the power to say it is also childcare. It's not childcare, it's not run for working parents it's provides sporting opportunities to kid. How hard is that to understand?

the school invite the company in to provide the service.

I doubt it.

If it's like my DC school (Dublin), the company is entirely separate to the school; they are merely providing the pitch / space or whatever.

They have absolutely no responsibility for the activity and make that clear.

It’s nothing to do with the school though?
Schools sometimes offer as after school activities run by teachers or ta. They get cancelled if it’s parents evening/teacher has a meeting/room is needed. They are a nice extra but not to be relied on for childcare.
Schools also offer clubs and activities run by 3rd parties like the football in this case. School advertise it but your agreement is with that company so if you have issue take it up with them.
I think you are better not signing her up for activities stick with good aftercare, they aren’t compulsory but if you do check what happens if can’t go ahead as outdoors or re refunds.

I've just re-read your OP, OP, and I've changed my view.

I hadn't realised that the club was at the school in the school playground, and arranged via the school and a third party,

I had in my mind your child being taken off site for a club.

It should be made clear that the football is weather permitting and the school should have a plan B for parents who can't change plans at short notice,

Completely see why you're pissed off.

@EarringsandLipstick no the school don’t have a responsibility but you’d hope they had a clue/ opinion who they were and checked dbs etc. A school who says ‘oh it’s pissing it down, tough luck eh, you’ll have to cancel you can’t use one of our many empty rooms to provide an enriching activity for our pupils’ is shitty IMO
why would the school want parents thinking the clubs linked to the school, separate company or not, are crap and unreliable

I didn't want her out in the muck. I wanted her safe and cared for for the hour I was paying for by the people I was paying.

Basically, why are we still defaulting to the assumption that every family has someone available to collect at an hour's notice (let's face it a mother or grandmother) when that isn't true for most families, and that if you're training them for an hour then of course you're also caring for them.

There's an after school football club at our school run by the local professional football club and they frequently cancel last minute too. I've found that sort of things is far too unreliable to rely on for childcare unfortunately! As a result we only do that type of activity on days when can finish work early, or later on in the evening. If your after school club can be flexible and roll with the changes that's brilliant, otherwise you might just need to rethink your LO being able to do this sort of club.

A similar example would be music lessons. School offered them but contract was with music service we paid for them in blocks. If lesson was cancelled you just collected there was no plan B.

Same at our children's school. My son was really keen to do some of the hobby clubs so when I was on maternity with youngest I signed him up for a couple which he loved. But there were lots of last minute cancellations and they never ran for the full term. Luckily I was only round the corner but if I'd been in the office in London I'd have been stuffed not to mention very distracted!

I get it, they aren't "childcare" but they do have a secondary childcare function because primary age kids can't just go home on their own when club is cancelled. Just not workable for parents with jobs if they aren't reliable. Conversely the off site after school club (did pick up, dinner and care until 6pm) never let us down once, whatever the weather. Once I was back at work no more after school clubs.

Now the head teacher keeps sending round emails bleating about how poorly attended the hobby clubs are and if they don't get more numbers they will be cancelled. Well yes because they are only viable for kids who have a SAHP.

What have club said? If you’ve paid them they should refund.

It's not that type of club. You are not paying for childcare, they are not a child care provider. It's a football club, you pay for the football. No not everyone has a grandma available that's why if you want childcare you find a care care provider. After-school clubs cancel, I've had kids in school for 20 plus years now. If it's an after school sports club they often cancel due to the weather. You do have to allow for this, that's on you not the club.

Wow, entitled much! Maybe the sports club haven't paid the school for use of a room. Maybe a cleaner doesn't want to hang around after they have finished to wait and clean one room. Maybe all the classrooms are in use by the staff. Maybe the school don't want to or can't afford to use excess electricity. Maybe a member of school staff didn't want to give up their valuable time to supervise a colouring session that isn't their responsibility. Maybe you should just think about how ridiculous you sound.

A school who says ‘oh it’s pissing it down, tough luck eh, you’ll have to cancel you can’t use one of our many empty rooms to provide an enriching activity for our pupils’ is shitty IMO

Not at all. They don't have any responsibility for this; you are placing an expectation on the school that they can accommodate this, possibly arrange or provide materials for said activity etc.

In our school even when the activity is provided on-site by a teacher after school hours, it's still nothing to do with the school & just an activity.

It would be a pure headache otherwise.

I do get that it's stressful tho. Been there many times!

Basically, why are we still defaulting to the assumption that every family has someone available to collect at an hour's notice (let's face it a mother or grandmother) when that isn't true for most families,

We're not.

If you're working as I am too, you organise child care & arrange with them to be available.

It's still not easy eg childcare may not agree to do collection, in which child can't do activity.

But that's the way it is when you are working.

It's not childcare. That's just it

Welcome to primary school and Mumsnet where everything primary related is answered by "that's just now it is"

Genuinely surprised no one has told you to stop teacher bashing

But this is nothing to do with the school yet the OP expects them to solve her problem.

I don't think she is. I think she is expecting the club to have planned ahead.

My kids do football at the weekend - the club book both an indoor and outdoor space so that if it's raining, they can go inside. It has never cancelled a session on us in 2 years.

It wasn't beyond this club to have done the same

Also if you expect childcare, and complain about it to the club they are perfectly within their right to refuse your child. If many parents complain they have every right to remove their services from the school. Plenty of other schools will be waiting to take the sessions on.

I also expect if they did this the price would increase for parents.

I don't see why you're cross with the school.

Yep - and many would prefer to pay than have it cancelled frequently. We don't have the climate in the UK for winter outdoor only clubs.

My son's school football club costs £2 a week and they do the same thing - outside if the weather is good, sports hall if not.

The OP's club seems poorly run

If two parents are expected to work to afford to run a household, then the whole school and holiday system needs a shake up to allow that to happen.

This.

15 years ago it was assumed that one parent would be around and that these clubs were “enrichment activities” but the parent was still there just in case. (For us DH was the SAHP).

Now though, most families need both parents working, but the arrangements haven’t moved with the times (and it’s usually the women left picking up the slack)

Yes it was - it's been said they don't have an agreement to access indoor facilities.