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.

They realise that a school without wraparound care is not a viable school

that depends on the levels of demand amongst the parents though. It seems unfortunately at the OPs school demand isn’t there for the provision.

They do NOT need to source a provider. It may well be an oversubscribed school so if numbers drop because there is no after school care, they can quickly fill any spaces that become available with families that DONT need childcare. If it isn't viable for a private provider to run after school care, it certainly isn't the school's responsibility to sort it out.

From brief chats with other parents , they were also relying on ASC but fortunately have local family help, so although not ideal, they've managed to make it work. There's definitely a need for the ASC
The other school we had on our list has full nursery wraparound, I'm feeling pretty regretful that we didn't choose it.
The point is , if we weren't misled by the school I'm the first instance we'd have never chosen this school.

Childminders usually pick up and drop off from school.

As mentioned in my post , there is one childminder and she is full with waiting list..if my house was big enough I think I'd consider wraparound childminding!

Then you should be able to find a student/unemployed mum who can so after school care 2 days a week. I did the same for 3 years as no after school care. You don’t need a super experienced nanny for a 4 year old, a kind and reliable babysitter will do. Try childcare dot co dot uk and Koru Kids.

It is 100% the school’s responsibility to be a viable option for parents. The school doesn’t have to provide the childcare themselves, though many do. But they do need to source a private company to do it for them

No, they don’t. We are an oversubscribed school with no ASC. We tried to set one up but nobody wanted to use it, so scrapped the plans. Schools don’t ‘need’ to provide this at all-some choose do, many don’t.

Or post on your local Facebook groups and your class whatsapp group. Another mum might be interested.

Your local authority have a duty of care to ensure there is affordable childcare in your area. So you could contact families information services and make them aware. That will not help you in the short term though you may need to move schools

If wrap availability was paramount I would have expected to touch base with the after school company & confirm spaces/dates, before making your school selections. We know family’s who paid to be on x 4 waiting lists, hoping they’d get one of the 4 top schools they’d paid £100 deposits to. Others who only got in touch with wrap carers before school started went to the back of these waiting lists and faced horrendous waits. Though everywhere in London wraps 5 days per week. Where are you based? Sounds like it might be worth putting yourself on other schools wrapcare waiting lists and asking for an in-year transfer?

But nobody could foresee the ASC closing.

Why don’t you ring other schools in the area tomorrow and see if they have places.

It’s probably too late for you, in that it will take a long time to get another ASC provider up and running, but do contact the Head and cc in the chair of governors explains that the reason you will removing your child is the absence of wraparound care.
Each child attracts funding, and schools are competing for children. The school needs a proactive head to make some tough financial decisions, and they need to know that the absence of wrap around care will affect the number of pupils on the roll. Letters from you and other parents affected might give them the backup they need to push for this, and to establish whether wraparound care is financially viable.

We were misled by the frequency the AFC was running , they told us it ran daily but it ran twice a week.
We couldn't pre-book the AFC , they opened their books after the school meeting in May. Despite numerous calls and emails , I couldn't get a response until June time.
A babysitter is a good idea, thank you. I will look in to this , my neighbours girls would help and would love it but they are too young at 12 and 13.

You are in a really difficult position. I am sorry.

Are there other parents who are in the same situation? I see you have found a parent who can help in the short term. Maybe someone could do Tuesdays and Thursdays and you / your partner could do Monday / Wednesday / Friday (2 of them... to share the load). Can your partner look after 2 children while.working from home? If you are in an area of high unemployment, would there be someone who could take your child home after school and do an after school nanny role until you get home? Lunch time supervisors at school for example? Ask at the local college if there are child care students who might be able to work these hours? Or simply advertise for an after school nanny?

Is moving school an option from a logistical and availability of space perspective?

Good luck.. this is not easy.

In our experience ASCs often won’t confirm places for the forthcoming year until school places are confirmed. So for our school, if you took “yes, we have an ASC” at face value, rather than contacting the club directly (where they tell you it is likely to be a 2-3 year wait for a place), you would be in a pickle. You could put your child down at the point of school application but you might not get a place. There’s effectively one childminder covering our two-form entry school. Wraparound care post Covid seems to be harder to find and in more demand than ever. It’s a nightmare if you can’t work from home around the school run.

OP, the school clearly hasn’t been straight with you on this and I’d move her to one with proper provision.

I think the main issue is that we've been misled

I don't think that's fair - you were told what was accurate at the time.

After school care can stop at any time unfortunately.

@margotrose see my previous post on why I feel misled. They knew it was only running twice a week but had on the website , told us verbally and written on a sheet that it runs 'daily'

@ChateauMargaux thank you, dd loves her school and she's gone there some friends from nursery too (who unfortunately don't provide wraparound). I am going to look in to babysitting today

This sounds really tough.

this is one of the reasons we initially chose a private school for DC as one of the selling points was completely flexible wrap around care, always with capacity, available at a moment’s notice 7.30am - 6pm (some schools later). Upsets me when people sneer at our choice to go private - it’s meant that we could do our jobs with no family support!

I know this won’t address the immediate issue for you but if a teacher have you considered working at a private school; usually at least 50% fee rebate for staff.

Also depends on the school; the school I work in is oversubscribed and rated outstanding. It has an ASC that is run separately to the school (parent committee), but does share some staff. There is capacity for 90 children, with a maximum of 12 early years on any day. Our intake is 90. Often almost all of the places are taken by siblings of children already attending, who have priority.
The head does tell new parents about it, but makes it clear that nobody should rely on there been space for their child. If someone decides not to apply to our school because they might not get their child into ASC, there are plenty of families happy to take their place.
There is also at least one external ASC that collects from the school.

How long has it been running for two days a week, though?

It could have been running full time when you enquired and then dropped to two days due to low demand.

Also, our ASC has a waiting list and parents sometimes have to take one or two days as they become available as an 'in' to start with.

AFC is a bun fight everywhere. If you were seriously considering changing setting, I would first hold a AFC space at the prospective new school setting. Since school places seem easier to nail than wrapcare! There’s an assumption that it’s easier for parents when kids go to school, but that’s not the case as schools work to academic terms (as you know), whereas nursery settings can go 7am-6:30pm, all through the year. It’s a minefield for working parents.

@margotrose running twice a week for a year

It is misleading of the school, I’d be pissed off too. Is there demand from other parents? The company which runs the out of hours at my DDs’ school has just expanded into another school because it didn’t have wraparound in place and there were sufficient parents clamouring for it that the new school approached them.