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.

If you can’t get the staff, then it’s unviable.

Come now, you can just creatively pull as many staff as needed right out of your arse. If people who'll do a job exist in one area, they must exist in all areas, and it's your fault if they don't.

If they're offered free childcare for their own children then that's a bit different.

However in general, working term-time only isn't really an appealing option to anyone who isn't a parent. It limits when you can take your annual leave, it means you pay over the odds for your holidays and it limits your earning potential.

If I was looking for a part-time job with set hours, I would go and work on the checkouts in Tesco - not spend three hours looking after someone else's kids for minimum wage.

It's a pretty obvious perk to offer free childcare for the children of staff surely?

The other thing you're missing is pension - usually a much better deal than something like Tesco

That sounds as though it woukd be even more 'bitty' and difficult to staff!

@TrashedSofa

I'll have a quick look!
Nope, nothing there!

We don't run an after school provision. A local nursery does and collects from my school. They have a maximum of six-eight children attending per night. Even if I could persuade my staff to work extra hours, I couldn't run a school based provision for just six children without charging a fortune. It is not economically viable.

Our TAs work school hours because they wanted a job where they didn’t have to put their kids in childcare whilst they work.

The thing is that if you're in an area where TA vacancies are filled and the demand for roles in schools actually exceeds supply, your local microclimate is different to the picture nationally. The school sector has significant recruitment problems. You're not going to be able to draw any sensible conclusions if your starting point is an unrepresentative locality.

Lots of places can't afford to hand out free childcare to staff - especially if they have multiple children needing a space.

I have to be honest and say that pension wouldn't even be a factor for me when it came to choosing a job. Hours, annual leave entitlement and flexibility would all be much higher up the list of necessities.

Yep, there's this too. They want to work 9-3 so they can be around for their kids after school, so they can take them to activities etc.

They wouldn't want to take on extra hours just to stick them in childcare, even if it is free.

At our school it's not for all staff - just the ones running the club. So it costs very little given the big ratios at this age group. It's like 2 children every day.. and makes the staff happy to do it. Seems win win to me.

I'm glad it works in your area! It's a shame it's not the same everywhere but I can see why it doesn't - the hours aren't appealing and the pay is poor, even when you include benefits like free spaces and a good pension.

Perk of the job is free childcare for afterschool staff. That's how ours operates anyway. And it's a way to recruit.

Op I'm wondering if you picked school up wrong. Our school operates occasional afterschool activities which the school put on with teachers. They maybe run one or two days for different year groups. Art class, football club for a term or so.

The afterschool is completely separate and paid for.

Our local authority got involved in our local primary school when the after school provision and the preschool collapsed due to more management.

A private provider was brought in for the WAC and the school was funded to provided a preschool.

A lot of social housing in the area, so possibly a factor, but the pressure was on to provide services and they got them sorted almost immediately.

The ASC is a paid service , so we'd be paying £25 a day for it , and that was fine for us.

That's quite an unfair thing to say, when OP chose a school based on what was advertised as being available. A breakfast/after-school club is quite a common provision, it's not unreasonable of OP to assume that this wouldn't be at risk of being withdrawn.

And how does it benefit the children if the parents have to give up work because of lack of childcare? Or are stressed out juggling fragile childcare arrangements? Is that really in the children's interest?

of course schools should not be giving out wrong information. If they didn’t know, why didn’t they tell parents it’s privately run and direct you to the private company?
Can you not get a childminder further afield?
That sounds like a very stressful situation

Childminder?

can you not go on a waiting list, if it’s full? it’s still early days for your dd?

We've looked at every childminder in our town and the next , and none available sadly . I'm on the waiting list and hoping a space becomes available

A popular primary school near DD’s sixth form employs the 16 and 17 yr olds in its after club not sure if school or private company run. They pay £5 an hour but it’s convenient for the teens and useful if they are wanting experience of working with children.
When dc was at primary two of her friends had people found via Facebook - one was an ex nanny and one retired. Was an easy job pick one well behaved girl up, take to activity and feed them tea. You’d probably get a student or retired person for that type of role if you advertised.

It’s been alluded to and perhaps this is, or will become, part of the problem. As more people work from home and have the flexibility to drop off and collect their children, the need for wrap around care may be reduced, which will obviously have an impact on those, like the OP, who can’t work from home.

Of course it's win win if it works! Doubt you'd get much disagreement there. It's just that there are significant logistical, financial and labour force issues at play, meaning it often won't. But any ASC that has managed to successfully negotiate those, great!

That was exactly the issue with the after school club at my school-parents overwhelmingly said that they didn’t want to pay when they could have their child at home after school whilst they WFH. Not ideal from a working point of view, I’m sure, but much cheaper for them.