School wrap-around - what do we do ?

[Oneanddone88]

Hi,
DD (4) just started reception. I chose the school based on local reputation plus the availability of breakfast club and after school club to facilitate us still working. The school explained to us in a meeting that the after school club runs daily.
Fast forward to a week before term in September and the club (who are a private company hired by the school), says they aren't running due to a lack of staff.
Panic stations as we have no local family and not huge flexibility with our jobs. Partner WFH twice a week so collects then and I work 4 days. So we needed after school club for two afternoons.
The schools response was 'that's a shame but nothing we do'.
We've had to juggle it with another local parent who collects on the two days we needed and we take her DS to school every day. Workable in the very short term but not long term as she is having to leave work super early those days and meet important meetings.
I've emailed the school a few times asking for updates and it's all very 'no nothing sorry '.

I'm at the point where I'm wondering do we move schools to one where they have nursery wraparound.
Also one childminder serves the school we chose, and she's full with a waiting list.

What has also annoyed me is that when we went to info afternoon with the school where they told us the club runs daily , that it wasn't even true. The after-school club told us they ran for two days a week last academic year , and not even the days we needed.

Has anyone else experienced similar before? I feel very stressed. I changed my job of 12 years due to DD starting school and wonder now why I bothered as we're in a worse logistical situation thanks to this.

There's nothing from the club or school about when this is going to be resolved.

To be fair, it’s not the schools responsibility to look after your child after hours.
sorry to be so blunt but can you look at nanny share ?

That’s really crap and honestly I think it is the school’s responsibility to source a wrap around provider. Parents work. They don’t work school hours. If the school isn’t going to provide wrap around care then it’s not a viable option for most children.
I would move schools personally. They clearly aren’t going to help with a solution so you have no choice

The after school club is, as you’ve said, a private company and nothing to do with the school, other than they have used the premises.

If the private organisation can’t staff the club, it can’t run. At the time you were told that the club runs daily, it was running daily. Now things have changed, it seems.

Perhaps a move to a school with the care you need would be better in the long run, because cobbling together temporary solutions must be stressful.

That’s really tough. We also chose a primary based on the after school club care and it’s not right that they misled you about this. It would make me mistrust the school if I’m honest. What else have they lied about? Or omitted to tell you? If you have a large group of parents in the same boat, you can try and be part of the solution. If not, moving schools might be the best way. Most schools have to offer after school care as if they don’t, parents simply choose the ones that do!

If it’s a private businesses then it’s out of school’s hands.

Unless it’s a tiny school I’d be surprised that there’s only 1 childminder in the area. Check out your council’s Family Information Service, they should have up to date lists of available services.

failing that, teaming up with other families who are in the same position and employing somebody to cover the hours needed might be an option.

welcome to the wonderful world of childcare for school
aged children! I am so glad that we’re past that now. I had to change jobs twice during primary due to difficulties (cm’s decide to emigrate and retire!)

@Gymmum82 wrap around care is from private providers and is not the responsibility of the school. School is not child care and finding child care, whilst not straightforward, is the responsibility of the parents, not the school.

Nightmare.
The school probably only rented out the space are the teacher was ill informed. Can't really blame the school.

Options,
Would the council or school be willing to help setup an afterschool provision?

Our local one was set up by the council in the late 90s but its a not for profit organisation. Parents pay and are on the board and staff are paid employees.

I would move school without delay. You need wraparound childcare, and you need a school that takes this need seriously - some do (and working parents choose these) and some don't (and attract the SAHP market).

Even if they patch something together now, you know they don't see it as any of their remit, and you will have more problems in the future.

If an ASC isn’t finically viable then the school won’t be able to run it. As tough as it is for you it’s that simple from the schools POV. In an ideal world all schools would be able to provide wrap around but unless that is fully funded it isn’t feasible

sadly that does mean that some pupils will need to leave and go to a different school who are able to offer that.

The schools response was 'that's a shame but nothing we do'.

It isn’t the responsibility of the school to sort after school childcare. They’ve probably got enough to do trying to find staff for the school day.

My school set up an after school club to start in September and when it came to it, no parents actually wanted to use it so the whole thing has to be scrapped and staff let go, it wasn’t financially viable at all. Hours and hours of time wasted.

Yes, change school if you want a different one.

When we told it was running daily , it was at that time running twice per week

No, most schools near me provide in-house wraparound childcare and holiday clubs, because most parents around here work and cannot do so without childcare. The school that doesn't provide it has reduced numbers because people go past it to other schools.

That’s really crap and honestly I think it is the school’s responsibility to source a wrap around provider.

It’s not.

Unfortunately only one child minder serves the school , the AFC ran 5 days a week pre COVID.
It's not the responsibility of the school, I get that. However I feel misled, and frustrated by lack of urgency in trying to help.
Moving schools might be our only option, which is not going to be easy as our DD is ASD

hadn’t you already contacted the private provider yourself to book your child’s place? It’s not school’s responsibility!

School is there to educate, not to provide child care. If you need wrap around care move to a school where this is available.

Many schools are struggling to find teaching staff. The admin for running breakfast and after school clubs is huge. Who should do that? Headteachers are already being run ragged doing the job they are employed to do without adding this to their workload.

@TheYearOfSmallThings OP said that the wrap around care was from a private company, so whether you have schools that provide it or not, is not relevant.

I would look seriously at moving schools. I am in a similar situation and am only not looking at moving as I will be going on maternity leave in March so I only have 3 months to worry about. If I wasn’t I’d be looking elsewhere.

whilst it’s not the schools responsibility, if they are advertising wrap around to potential parents and then it doesn’t exist, that’s a problem. My problem is slightly different in that the club runs, but I was assured that there is no issue with availability ad hoc. This turns out not to be true and almost every day is fully booked for the entire school year already, with 20+ kids on the waiting list every single day. I am cross that the school lied to me about availability, as other local schools have plenty of spaces on a day to day basis and I would have chosen them instead. But my daughter is now settled so I am reluctant to move her now.

Also our school is massive (2 form entry, pretty much full, so 400+ kids) and yes there is a single childminder who collects!! Funnily enough, she’s full.

Its rubbish and stressful but things like this will happen. The school has no responsibility to provide after-hours care - they are there to teach your child during school hours. You either, move schools, get a nanny / au pair / childminder or you and your partner change hours. I can't think of many more options.

Have a look at local nurseries, some will do school pick ups and drop offs (costs more than the school provision IME though).

If there are schools with before and after school provision you could try moving to one of these, although if their breakfast/after school clubs get pulled you’re in the same position. DD’s breakfast club is £1.75 from 8.10-8.45, I wonder how they afford to keep it going.

I’m not sure what answer your expecting the school to give?

No, sorry if my explanation of timings is confusing.
May- we had meeting with school telling us AFC is running daily (this was also on website when we applied in the October )
June- finally made contact with AFC telling us they were running twice a week all year. We then asked if they would accommodate Tues and Thurs (days we need ) and they said yes and we set it up

It was a big miss not to speak to the private company running the wraparound care.
I chose an out of catchment primary because it had a really big private wraparound, whilst catchment was full and busy - but, small. I saw that as too much of a risk. I remember at the time thinking how bloody ridiculous it was that I was choosing an after school club over walking distance or educational standards (catchment primary was Ofted Outstanding, if you put any weight on that).

As your child is in reception, I’d look for another school.

The history is fairly irrelevant now.

The after school club at school now isn’t running so you need to find an alternative-be it childminders further afield or moving schools.

I think the main issue is that we've been misled
I don't need people to explain the responsibility of AFC, I'm a teacher myself so I get that.