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.

I thought at one stage schools were expected to provide wrap around care and were lent on to provide it but that seems to have changed and there’s not much you can do. I would either alter working hours permanently if you can or move schools

At ours most of the TAs have grown up children but those that have children at the school get a free place if they work the extra hours - as I understand it from chatting to them recently, they actually have trouble deciding fairly who gets the extra hours because everyone wants them.

Exactly.

Posters on here often have bright ideas about services that should be funded, with no thought of where the actual boots on the ground are going to come from in this very tight labour market. And while the low wages don't help, and the childcare sector does need money throwing at it, there are just substantial logistical difficulties with staffing something like this. The hours themselves are unattractive.

There'll come a point when throwing enough money at it will get people in the jobs, for example if ASC work paid a full time wage for 3 hours work a day then I don't doubt there'd be plenty of candidates. But it might need to be a lot more than the £15 stated, or even £20 really.

OP could move schools and find herself in the same situation next September.

I expect the OP is better equipped now to ask the right questions and do the right research to understand how seriously any new school takes after school provision

It means that I think all schools should be providing an offering from 3-6 for children to do extra curricular activities (with funding from the government).

*adequate funding.

At the moment, most schools are running at a loss when providing universal free school meals for KS1/EYFS. If the government want all schools to provide after school clubs, then the funding has to be adequate. As they haven’t managed that with loads of other services-such as nurseries, it’s unlikely this will happen to after school clubs any time soon.

But it doesn't matter how seriously the school takes it - if there's no staff, there's no staff. They can't just magic childcare out of thin air.

What's bizarre is people thinking that because something can be staffed in their own local area, that must be true for everywhere else in the country. A country which currently has a very tight labour market, in a sector where the recruitment and retention problems are very well known.

And while the low wages don't help, and the childcare sector does need money throwing at it, there are just substantial logistical difficulties with staffing something like this. The hours themselves are unattractive.

Precisely. Anyone looking for part-time work would be better off getting a job at Tesco - the hours would be better, they'd be able to work year-round and they wouldn't be restricted to school holidays when it comes to taking annual leave.

Fundamentally for me, I wouldn't have chosen this school if we'd have been informed correctly that ASC was running twice per week last year. I would have chosen the other school on my list that is slightly further away but has full wraparound via a nursery.
I am going to contact the family information service tomorrow and let them know and to see if there are any local providers they know of that might help.
Pp are correct that I could have issues with any school but I think less likely with those that have the private nursery wraparound.

But it doesn't matter how seriously the school takes it - if there's no staff, there's no staff.

There are always going to be people out there better equipped to foresee problems, solve problems and be innovative about solutions. In every single field of life. Or simply be in a better position in the first place. The OP is now in a better place to identify such a school.

I think that's completely fair enough. Strikes me as unwise behaviour from the school to be drawn on the ASC issue at all if it's all done separately. I'd be irritated.

If the schools have tried and can’t recruit, fair enough. I’m talking about the posters on here saying “look after your own children!” like that is a realistic option for the vast majority of parents.

The school should do some sort of parent questionnaire at some point, which I think will be fed back to governors and OFSTED. In this you can mention how you were misled about the after school provision by the school.
They can't throw their hands in the air stating they have nothing to do with it, while they are putting false information on the school website.

But she can't predict the future. There's a recruitment crisis in education for a good reason and it's only getting worse - schools that happily provide ASC now may well have no choice but to stop in the future.

I appreciate it’s annoying but any childcare provider could close down at any point.

If there really aren’t any other childminders in the area, I guess you will have to change schools. I can’t see why it’s the schools fault.

But she can't predict the future.

No, she can't.

However given that her current school has no provision now, a school with provision is a better option, based on the information available. She's not risking her provision now because she doesn't have any.

This is a good point.

It's one of the reasons it's so annoying when people post stuff about doing their research in response to threads from OPs who can't get childcare. Nobody knows what's going to keep being offered.

There are clearly some schools staffed by some of the posters on here who are just "not my job" about wraparound care and some school which take a more holistic view of children's lives and realise it may not be technically their job but that it's important and try to find creative solutions

Pp are correct that I could have issues with any school but I think less likely with those that have the private nursery wraparound.

That sounds sensible

But you are missing tge point.It is not a financial issue, it us a staffing issue.No-one wants to do it!
TAs are mostly only TAs because of tge hours!

I would love to find a " creative solution" but I cannot put the core funding of my school at risk to run a commercially unviable after school provision when

1. I don't have the staff who want to run it ( I have asked!)
2. there is no way it would break even without charging an extortionate amount that very few of my families could afford!

Absolutely. I'm not saying she shouldn't change school, just that relying on any form of childcare is tricky for working parents - especially private childcare - as it can be withdrawn with very little/no notice whatsoever.

Our school offers a breakfast club and an After school Club, both of which are staffed by school employees. I am a TA and work the ASC as my children are all teenagers and I am able now to work extra hours.

Our ASC used to be well attended and covered its costs. With the massive rise in WFH our numbers have plummeted and we now make a considerable loss on it. This is not sustainable and soon our offer will be withdrawn. If there isn't the numbers it can't be done, it's as simple as that

Whilst I do agree the school is not responsible for providing wraparound, it should be held responsible for providing accurate information to prospective parents - at the bare minimum, it should reflect the situation at the time of viewing. In this case, the school said they provide full wrap around when they only had it running for 2 days each week. Parents make their choices based on information like this so of course it should be accurate.

This is exactly the reason we went private instead of moving into catchment of the outstanding state option - their wraparound was also variable and demand was low. We may pay a premium but wraparound is guaranteed all 5 days of the week and no waiting lists or notice required for it. I’m sorry this isn’t an option for you. I would be looking at alternative schools with a busy wraparound so you know it’s not at risk of closing and that your child isn’t one of very few attending

You are entitled to be annoyed for sure. Your mistake, purely so you don't repeat it was asking the wrong people the wrong questions.

From the school's pov you might as well have been asking about a private drama club which rents space after hours.

What you CAN DO NOW google make some calls are there any after school clubs in your area which do have spaces. Would they be allowed to take someone from another school (ours did).

If yes, can the parent or someone with flexi-time rock up collect kid(s) take them to the other location. If not you might need to pay someone to accompany kid to the other club as a private arrangement.