To think schools should get with the times re working parents.

[working8til4]

Why can't they be open 8-6 for everyone? It would help reduce gender inequality in the work place

AIBU - DON'T BE SILLY
YANBU - actually you have a point

What's stopping them? They have equal responsibility

I agree it needs to be both sides

The problem is that the line between child education and child care has been massively blurred over time. Teaching is a full time job, I wouldn’t expect teachers to do more than they do already. But I wouldn’t object to a social enterprise or similar using school premises to provide wraparound care outside of core education hours. We need to separate out the distinction between school and not-school, regardless of the environment it is provided in. So telling ‘schools to get with the programme’ is not the answer, we need funding to allow parents to work the hours needed to put food on the table and then determine where that provision should be provided at a subsidised cost.

I think it would be better if jobs round school times were easier to come by. I think for the majority of children it is better for them to have down time at home where they can spend time on their own and entertain themselves.
I'd argue it would also be good for a good many adults too.

This is reminding me of the lockdown threads about parents stressing re juggling work & home schooling. Lots of intelligent considered posts about not having dc you can’t look after. 🤔

I do the after school club at our school a few days a week and it’s pretty much 50/50
of mothers and fathers picking up.

I don't know. I'm sure someone has done the research

9-5 as working hours are hardly difficult to find childcare for- it’s just you don’t want to pay for it, which I have sympathy for, I do think childcare should be classed as a work expense/heavily subsidised.

if you only need to drop at 8 and can pick up by 6 at the latest, there’s so many options from childminders and before/after school clubs at school to nannies.

the real childcare crunches are for those who don’t work 9-5 within a 30 mins drive from their dcs school.

for many shift jobs like healthcare, if you don’t have family childcare and you aren’t senior enough to afford a nanny, you can’t really do that job and have dcs.

Yes..from AFTER SCHOOL CLUB. That's the point.

In the EU country where I live, wraparound care is available at school from 7am to 6pm. In the morning until 8.10 it's free, and in the evening until 4.30pm it's free (school hours are 8.25-3.15). After 4.30pm it costs the equivalent of 25p per 15 minutes. It's run by a youth care group in the town (paid by the local council) not teaching staff.

In reality, no kids are there from 7am to 6pm. But it allows parents the flexibility to be able to work full time hours and still take kids to school etc. Kids are happy to be there longer after school as their friends are there, it's fun, etc. Parents get to share the responsibilities of taking/dropping kids at school as the hours are flexible.

School also arrange accompanied walks to the local centre for after school music lessons and to the sports centre for various after school sports that kids do.

I think things need a shake up too.
Its not possible to teach/learn from 8-6

But i vaguely feel like you could do 8-12 school and then a team of childcare arrives to do lunch and take over with more club like activities

I think germany are like this.

What that families manage to find ways to work for them without forcing all children to do longer days?

it’s also pretty even at drop off, I don’t see end of day pick up to comment due to being in ASC

So you want an AFTER SCHOOL CLUB?

Pick a school with one.

I think all schools having wrap around care isn’t unreasonable, but extending the school day to 8-6 is hugely unreasonable. Kids are not meant to focus and learn for so many hours in the day, that’s too much. Wrap around care is play and fun not learning. My eldest still isn’t able to do a full day at school (he does 30 mins less than his peers), but also where do we draw the line? If we cater to 8-6, what happens when families who start work earlier than that call for 7-6? Or those of us who don’t need our children in school for these extra 4 hours per day? It would be very unfair to force that on all families especially those who wouldn’t want or need it.
Im not taking away from the fact school days are a nightmare to work around, but wrap around care available to all who need it would be a much fairer way to overcome this in my opinion.

@working8til4 does your DC’s school not have wraparound? When my son was a baby and DD was at primary I used a childminder and she did pick ups and drop offs at school for DD.

I'm a teacher and don't agree.

What is needed is more childcare availability, not schooling from 8-6. There is help available for the costs but sometimes the availability just isn't there - in my village, all the childminders are fully booked and the waiting list for wraparound care at the school is very long. I had to put my ds2's name down on the waiting list for after school club 18 months before he started school!!

We also need more flexible working for parents, working from home when the option is available. And the attitude of MANY men needs to change - they need to step up too. Now women have to work too it simply doesn't work otherwise.

I'm a single parent btw

Poor kids at school from 8-6! Most adults don't do those hours and work is usually less full on than school too.

The school my children go to have wrap around acre for those that need it.

I wouldn't want my children in a classroom that length of Time but after schools club etc more frequently would.be good. My son isn't at school yet. But I know in my local school nursery can't attend any or breakfast club
Primary 1 also can't attend breakfast club...and only 2 afternoons a week csn they stay late ( to 3pm) won't be at all helpful to us when our son is at school

I think schools are already open for far longer than necessary. Personally, I don't remember ever finishing after 1.30 when I was growing up. Of course, it was back in a day when nobody thought twice about kids being able to look after themselves for a few hours.
My mum was a working single parent and I would walk back home, let myself in, fix some lunch and then go visit my friends in the same block of flats or play outside for a few hours before she got home. This was while I was still in primary. My friends did the same if they didn't have a grandparent in situ.

They wouldn't learn anything. There's a point where it just becomes childcare.

So you expect me as a teacher to look after your child from 8am to 6pm. How am I supposed to collect my own child from school if I'm am babysitting yours? Does my child and my work life balance not matter? Or alternatively you could just use wrap around care like I do. My child attends 7.30am until 5.30pm every day although I could pick up until 6pm.

HA. The wrap around around here is virtually non existent.

Who is actually staffing the breakfast and after school club?