After school clubs

[HereBeFuckery]

Once again, primary school cancel a pre-arranged after school activity with 27 mins notice before the end of the school day. Last week, they notified us 12 minutes AFTER the end of the day that the club was cancelled and to collect children from the school office 'immediately'.

I get that clubs aren't childcare or guaranteed, but essentially, if you work (y'know, like most parents) you have to say 'no darling, you can't do X fun after school activity' because you, as a parent, would have to be free, not in a meeting and within five mins drive of school just in case they cancel at zero notice AGAIN.

Even a couple of hours would mean I could sort something out. In 20 mins I have no chance.

WIBU to make a formal complaint to governors about the piss poor communication?

If I'm paying for wrap around because of work then I think that defeats the object if I can't be at work because work isn't ten minutes away.
If you're paying for wraparound childcare then of course you can be at work. You've paid for wraparound childcare, not an after school activity club.

If we paid for a childminder and they were sick I wouldn't expect to only use them when I wasn't working nearby just in case I had to collect my child. Same as nursery.
Again, these are also childcare, like wraparound childcare.

Childminders and nurseries are childcare providers, not after school activity clubs. In the event the childminder was unwell or session had to be cancelled I would imagine as a childcare provider they have a policy and procedure, and part of that would involve notifying parents, and supervising the children until they could be collected.

How would anyone function beyond a ten mile radius from childcare?
Had anyone said people have to remain close to their childcare providers?

An after school activity club is not childcare. They are different things so not comparable, except in the eyes of parents who think any after school club is an alternative to making appropriate childcare arrangements.

An after school activity club is not childcare. They are different things so not comparable, except in the eyes of parents who think any after school club is an alternative to making appropriate childcare arrangements.

Of course the flip side of what you're saying is that no DC of parents who work Mon-Fri can ever join after school activities which is both terrible and blatantly not what happens or they'd be empty.

Of course the flip side of what you're saying is that no DC of parents who work Mon-Fri can ever join after school activities which is both terrible and blatantly not what happens or they'd be empty.
Of course they can join.

The parents just have to accept that the after school club isn't wraparound childcare so either they have alternative arrangements (like those parents who have their DC collected from activities by wraparound childcare/ childminder/ family/friends), or they accept that the risk they take not having childcare is that in the event the activity club is cancelled they will have to collect their children.

If they're going to get in a moody tizz because not booking wraparound childcare leaves them having to make arrangements for their child outside of the school day at potentially short notice then they probably shouldn't sign their children up for activity clubs, and would be better to use childcare.

Not many wraparound childcare provisions will accept "Could you collect DC at 2 on Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri, at 3pm on Weds except if it rains in which case it's 2pm". That's not a reasonable expectation.

Nor is "Boss, I need to leave work because it's raining and my DC needs to be picked up an hour early. No, no one is sick, there's just an hour's gap in my schedule I didn't know about this morning."

Not many wraparound childcare provisions will accept "Could you collect DC at 2 on Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri, at 3pm on Weds except if it rains in which case it's 2pm". That's not a reasonable expectation

Of course not. So parents may have to suck it up and pay the wraparound to pick up everyday at 2pm, then not use them on the occasions that it's not raining.

Nor is "Boss, I need to leave work because it's raining and my DC needs to be picked up an hour early. No, no one is sick, there's just an hour's gap in my schedule I didn't know about this morning.

Which is why you have alternative arrangements in place, because the activity isn't childcare.

My DH ran an after-school football club - as a volunteer, and no charge to parents. Are you saying that if he was sick one day, or had a family emergency, he should have to stay at the school waiting for parents to travel an hour to pick the children up?

This is why you use childcare not after school clubs. If your child wants to do the activities then join a club on the weekends or evenings you can take them to. Other children and parents shouldn't have to lose out on after school clubs just because some working parents take to mick.

Of course not. So parents may have to suck it up and pay the wraparound to pick up everyday at 2pm, then not use them on the occasions that it's not raining.

And if the activity only lasts an hour so they need childcare from 3pm?

Sickness or genuine emergencies are one thing. Weather (in my case) or frequent last minute cancellations (like OP) are not.

This is why you use childcare not after school clubs. If your child wants to do the activities then join a club on the weekends or evenings you can take them to. Other children and parents shouldn't have to lose out on after school clubs just because some working parents take to mick.
This
As a parent we have to make appropriate childcare arrangements for our circumstances.

If our circumstances mean that an after school activity being cancelled is going to be a massive headache, then we either need to make arrangements with friends/family as a back up if we want to use the activities or we have to accept that our circumstances mean the club isn't possible because we need to arrange for our children to be in wraparound childcare.

Either way, childcare arrangements beyond the school day are the responsibility of the parents to sort and if they don't sort them, they've not got grounds to moan about it

Because most after-school clubs aren't run this way.

Says who?

And you agree that the one's run differently to your experience are childcare then?

What you pay for when you pay for an outside agency to take your child to learn a skill you are paying for that individuals expertise, insurance, equipment and skill.

When you pay for childcare you are paying for childcare qualifications, safeguarding, first aid etc.

My child went to activity camps over the holidays so I could do some work & they could be with friends & learn a new skill.

They staff are skilled, have insurance, first aid trained, DBS checked etc. It would be odd if they didn't.

And I imagine you paid appropriately for those things. Because all those factors will push the price up. This is why brownies is a pound fifty and gymnastics substantially more.
And you are in finance hahaha.

Why do you think I don't pay appropriately for the activity clubs at school?

Well for a start you seem to have difficulty in understanding the difference between free activities and paid childcare.

And again what you and your school is irrelevant as op is clearly talking about voluntary, teacher run free clubs. She's said nothing to suggest otherwise.

Surely a major factor is staffing? Wrap around care after school is generally covered by several people. Same with nurseries. Even childminders will often be able to arrange temporary cover if they are ill or have medical appointments. Clubs aren’t covered in the same way. It’s not childcare because they can’t guarantee it as such.
Besides, you can’t at the end of the day use your tax free childcare account to pay for after school karate. There’s the main difference I can see. It’s not childcare and therefor is not subsidised in that way.

@BetterBeGryffinphwoar many people on the thread have said that their school has paid for activities, not free ones. Have you missed all those posts?

And despite many posters saying their ones aren't free there is still the mantra by a few that "clubs aren't childcare".

And again what you and your school is irrelevant as op is clearly talking about voluntary, teacher run free clubs.

If it's so irrelevant why are you replying to my posts?

Plus the OP has stated her issue was with the late notice which makes most of the thread irrelevant 😆

Besides, you can’t at the end of the day use your tax free childcare account to pay for after school karate.

Of course you can @BeanieTeen, it depends on the school.

I'd be interested to know what paid means. I doubt they are truly paying the clubs worth, more like just covering hall cover that an outside club would be doing.
Personally I think if you can only make your argument by using little hypothetical points irrelevant to the actual op and not at all common outside the money utopia of childcare that you seem to think is London, your argument is not strong enough.
I mean boy do you make me glad I don't deal with entitled people and pushy admin staff anymore. I assume as admin you are willing to step in and do the appropriate club cover of course. After all, teachers have just as much work to do within their contracted hours as you and teamwork makes me he DreamWorks eh?

@BetterBeGryffinphwoar wow you sound really bitter, I'm not sure why you are directing all that anger at me?

Personally I pay £80 a term for each club & they don't run the 1st week or last week. From a professional perspective they are actually a pretty good income stream as another poster said.

outside the money utopia of childcare that you seem to think is London

Where have I said that?

I have simply argued that many activity clubs are paid for, which is a fact not hypothetical & in that context they are no different to after school clubs.

I don't even know what you are arguing about?

It's quite simple. People offering free enrichment for children don't appreciate being treated like your personal slaves.

Again, as someone who works in a school, if you don't like when a situation crops up where a volunteer can't run a club do it yourself.

No one has said people should be treated like slaves. What is wrong with you?

Well that's the implication because in this case the unpaid volunteer is expected to take the club regardless of their own personal circumstances so a non paying parent isn't inconvenienced.

All this I pay £80 for childcare is irrelevant. The op addresses a voluntary run club. What do you think the volunteer is doing, spending the princely payment of fuck all she/he gets for doing it down the shops or is it more likely something a bit more pressing has come up.

Again, what's stopping you from stepping in? If you think it's that important do practice what you preach.

And despite many posters saying their ones aren't free there is still the mantra by a few that "clubs aren't childcare".
Because they aren't and it isn't whether a club is paid for or free that's the difference. It's a simple case that one is a club and the other is childcare. If a club wants to charge for their overheads they can, just like Brownies charge to cover the hire of the hall and resources. It doesn't make Brownies childcare and only a fairly silly parent would take on a regular work shift on Brownies evenings with no other childcare.

I used to regularly volunteer on weekends for a school club. The key phrase there is 'used to' because in the end I got fed up of hanging around and missing time with my own family because some parents seemed to think that the documentation that was very explicit about pick up procedures didn't apply to them so they'd show up as late as possible even if that means staff and their poor child were waiting for over an hour. Apparently staff were awful for reminding parents that we weren't childcare and staff aren't volunteering to give up half their weekend to fit in around parents' working and social plans.

If someone needs childcare, they need to make childcare arrangements. If they're happy to risk it by using things that aren't childcare that's up to them, but then they have to accept there's a risk in doing that.

Imo it just takes a bit of thinking through. What is the likelihood of a school club getting back up if the volunteer can’t make it?

Likely lower than a childcare club with multiple staff. It’s just the set up and not really to do with payment - which is usually low for the volunteer one