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.

@TickTickTock in the last email from the school they said if the ASC decided to close the governors would then look at a replacement..I did ask if I could speak to the head , as until now all communication has been with reception

i think it’s time that schools DID have responsibility for providing adequate wrap around care.

for that to happen schools need to be given proper funding to make it possible.

some schools simply don’t have the numbers to make it feasible. Some schools don’t have capacity to meet demand. Some schools don’t have staff to run it.

Our ASC only charges £4 an hour because they are aware of the demographics of the parents who need it, but as a result they are lucky if they break even. If they increase costs then less children would be able to come as families couldn’t afford it.

it’s not as straight forward as some seem to think it should be!

Do you have a Facebook group for your local area? If so post a message to see if there are and child minders available. There is likely to be more than one that works in the area.

The government thinks school are responsible for childcare? Since when?

@Sirzy schools don't need to FUND it they just need to take responsibility - but make it pay its way.

But if there are no external providers in the area, they'll have no choice but to fund it?

Of course things need funding. A lot of ASC cost the school money to run, or they need to charge parents extortionate amounts to break even which makes it inaccessible to many.

if numbers are low then the funds need to come from somewhere! Presumably the company involved in the OPs school wouldn’t have backed out if it was profitable.

We tried to set up an after school club, there wasn’t enough people who wanted to use it, so it didn’t happen-too many parents were now WFH and didn’t want to pay for ASC when they could have them at home. It wouldn’t have been financially viable.

How would we be able to ‘make it pay its way’?

Riiiiiight.

So all schools need to produce not only sufficient staff, but also parents who can afford to pay whatever would be needed to make it viable in the area, whatever the numbers involved. When a good chunk of them can't even manage to fully staff the place during the school day.

Some of you are in cloud cuckoo land.

I feel your pain OP. Similar situation here. There’s hardly any childminders and all are full. Private childcare facilities have closed and council run facilities have huge waiting lists. Moved house and the kids moved schools to find wraparound childcare, but then our new childminder decided to change careers. We’re no better off than when we started.

I don't think government will ever see wrap around care as their responsibility.
But it does make sense for Local Government to help set wrap around care up.

The one I use had local government, employ the manager and I'm guessing put some funding in place to help it get established. But it is now 100% funded by parents and a run by a committee.

Keeping it running is the easy bit, plenty of demand, the hard bit is staffing it with qualified staff. Few people really want to work 3 hours every day. But back when it was set up it suited because of the 16hr benefits rule at the time.

@TrashedSofa but this is the issue for those of us teachers who have chosen to work and live in deprived areas. Luckily, my child’s school offers it for the moment but I’ve seen post covid, there are fewer children who use it than before.

I don’t know what the solution is but childcare is a mess at wraparound level.

If the government funded childminders (and nurseries) properly, more people would want to do the job. So many local to us have left (or don’t offer any funded hours) over the last year as they couldn’t make ends meet. Two are dog walkers now!

I don’t think forcing every school to offer wraparound care will be possible. If it’s not economically viable due to lack of staff or low numbers wanting it, it just can’t happen.

So, for my 2 children on Friday, I would need to have 2 members of staff ( plus a DSL available) on duty, salary plus on costs- say £15 per hour. I would then have to pay my cleaner overtime as they wouldn't be able to leave, say another £5. So that's around £17.50 per hour per child without any costs for consumables, including food. Say £20 per hour. So £60 per child from 3.15 to 6.15
How many of my parents could pay £60 for after school childcare for one day!

It is indeed. The whole thing is a mess, on a societal level. One that's been coming a long time. And I think it could get worse not better actually, bearing in mind the birth rates have dropped this decade.

However, that doesn't mean an outrageously idiotic legal requirement for schools to do something they can't possibly achieve is the way forward.

If you are a teacher another option is to look for a job in a private school that offers a big discount to staff children. Work ft but life easier as all on one site. I know people who have gone for that. Obviously depends on schools in your area and if you teach an in demand subject.

@TrashedSofa I hadn’t even factored in the lower birth rate. My DC’s were both born in “boom” years. If I’m seeing the effect now with my Yr 5 son, it is just going to get worse.

Can you contact the governors directly. I suspect even if they look for alternate provider they won’t find one as it doesn’t sound financially viable.

Falling numbers and increased flexibility for parents to WFH will definitely have an impact.

@MrsMurphyIWish

We have a pan of 45, we have 23 in EYFS this year, that's £100000 down from our expected budget😭

I think it could well do. That might be helpful for some parents, in areas where lots of people want and can pay for ASC, so the issue is supply meeting demand. But there are also bound to be some places where there aren't enough DC to break even/make a profit, whichever is applicable.

I don’t think the school intended to mislead you, likely it used to run daily but since covid lots of childcare has been in crisis because people aren’t using it- lots of people are working from home and looking after kids at the same time so childcare services are really suffering.

Also bear in mind lots of schools are also in complete crisis because of a national recruitment shortage, budget shortages, SEN provision being cut, local authorities being utterly shit etc, so this may not be their priority.

If there is another similar school with guaranteed places in wrap and you’re pretty confident your DC will do well there then move them. But if they are happy and have SEN themselves then I’d be reluctant to do this. The wrap could close at the new school. Also wrap might come back at the school where you are. I think I’d be pushing for answers from the company itself and getting honest answers and a timescale and trying to work something out myself in the meantime. Have you tried Facebook for childminders? What about parent WhatsApps? What about clubbing together with other parents whose children were in wrap? Could your DH do compressed hours (5 in 4) or take some holiday and then take parental leave in the summer/ Christmas?

I totally sympathise but difficult as it is, childcare is just something you have to work out as a family- realistically school isn’t always going to plug the gap.

@spanieleyes That’s scary. My son goes to a one form entry school - maybe another issue why the wraparound numbers are decreasing. Small schools are wonderful.

Not relevant under the Ofsted inspection framework.

Schools, by DfE guidance only need to signpost to WRAC. This can be via the Family Information Service.

@MrsMurphyIWish

I had 17 in my first class, Reception, 1 and 2 combined😁