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

They often are. My daughters school provides netball, tennis, football, choir, gardening, art, dance, yoga, recorder, cycling and creative writing lessons from school staff after school at no extra cost. Each child is allowed to pick up to 2, and on these days they finish at 4.15/4.30.
And swimming lessons weekly in year 2 during school day.

And drama, French, Spanish, violin and piano from external providers at extra cost to parents.

It's a very standard state primary.

Should have a 30hr work week for adults instead of school children having a 50hr work week.

A cheaper house next to a school with wraparound.

Who researches wraparound care when they fall unexpectedly pregnant?

Seriously? Most schools don't have enough vital staff for a school day, how would they find extra for before or afterwards? I really hope you're a troll because I'd hate to think an actual human could think like this

Don't we need to wind back a bit from your train of thought though op?

You're essentially asking for solutions to allow both parents to work full time and the kids to be looked after by someone else essentially for all their waking hours Mon-Fri.

So genuinely, what's the point? Where's the quality of life there? All week essentially working for parents/kids, maybe one day of the weekend chores/errands/housework, the other day for kids activities. Where's the fun? Where's the downtime?

Shouldn't the question rather be about adults all working less to get a better work/life/family balance?

That does not exist. The house would be MORE expensive as it would be next to a school with wraparound.

Yes in an ideal world it should. However. Need to afford to eat/mortgage etc

Traditionally male jobs should promote part time working. It's not fair that women are expected to do the bulk of the school runs, feeding, childcare etc, but it's also not fair that men are largely not allowed to - it's supposedly permitted for them to ask for it but it's widely frowned upon and not possible for men. Why not?! They're just as replaceable as women for the couple of hours a day it takes to do school runs and finish early, and they should be afforded the potential to do it just as much as women are.

No, but you research it when picking a primary school.
A house near a school with wraparound won't automatically be more expensive.
In our village, the primary at the cheaper end has wraparound. The one at the expensive end has parents affluent enough to either afford for 1 parent to work or to pay a Nanny, and doesn't have wraparound

I’m not in UK, school is open between 7 and 5. The teaching takes place between 8 and 1 or 2 depending on the age of the child. The wrap around care is not provided by teachers. You can use it as much or as little as necessary and costs about £200 a month and includes an afternoon snack. It also runs full time during the holidays at no extra cost. They do lots of activities with the kids like sports or crafts or they can just play.

Most people, it's part of the planning required when deciding whether to keep the child and whether a move is needed if you do.

I'm pretty confident you could find a cheaper house near a school with wraparound.

It would be far too much for children to be learning, and in a formal environment, for all of those hours. For more hours than adults work!

After school clubs are at least a bit more informal. And they’re not in their classes.

And there are other options like a CM or after school nanny if you want your child to be in a home environment but have to work.

This sounds good, perhaps the UK should take some guidance from other countries

Childcare does not need to be provided by the school. I am a teacher, and always used a childminder instead of the wraparound care because I wanted them to be in a home environment before and after school. Personal choice obv.

The ONLY people we have been able to recruit in our school's wraparound are TAs who already work in the school. No-one else applies when we've advertised. Same as our dinner supervisors. No-one wants trapped hours of not being able to be paid, yet having to be instantly then available after school.

So our TAs are the worst paid, get the shortest breaks, and have the longest days as they work breakfast club, TA in the morning, cover dinner time, have a half hour break, TA in the afternoon then straight into after school club.

This is a bit different to what the OP was suggesting though. This is an optional extra, like a better after school club.

OP seems to be suggesting all children should be in education 8-6 every day which would be madness.

Having read the ops posts, it seems that the problem is they've made a shit load of fairly poor decisions which have led them to be in a hole, and are now looking to place blame elsewhere.

@working8til4 Not sure you missed my post upthread? Myself and parents had to collaborate to get wraparound running after Covid - I couldn’t work without it! There is strength in numbers so I suggest if there is no wraparound then 1. Find a childminder (I did that til DD was in Yr 3) and then 2. Contact other parents and the governors to get a wraparound started or extended.

My husband works as a teacher in Sweden, most schools in our municipality are open from around 7am to 6pm I think.

Teachers work normal teaching hours, 8am to 3pm-ish.

Then there are the non-teachers who often work one of two shifts: 7am-2:30pm or 10am-6pm. During school hours they work as Teaching Assistants, the rest of the time they provide wrap around care. Some will also have time during school hours to prepare after-school activities for the kids etc.

So it's certainly possible, but obviously it costs (taxpayers) money.

YABU

As a teacher I work long enough hours before/after school and once my kids are in bed. If I had to do 8-6 teaching I’d never see my own children!

If your school doesn’t have wrap around care (which is usual) it must mean they either don’t have demand for it, or they can’t staff it.

lack of demand could be fixed with making it compulsory to offer wrap around care, even if it’s only for a few families, lack of staff can be an issue if you want care to be cheap unless the government subsidies it.

The hours do make it hard to get wrap around staff, there are often different people in the morning to the afternoon, there’s often problems with retaining staff. It’s not good hours for anyone.

@working8til4 what are you doing now or are you looking at September starting and panicking?

Shouldn't the question rather be about adults all working less to get a better work/life/family balance?

I mean I theoretically agree. I would love to work less. I’m sick of working so many hours in a crumbling health service.

But I’m pretty certain the vast increase in taxes that would be needed to pay for more doctors/nurses/HCAs/teachers/teaching assistants/bus drivers/cleaners to cover the short fall would be pretty unpalatable for most. I’m sure smarter and hence less working is manageable in office jobs. But it’s far more complex in service jobs.

There aren’t enough people who would want to work those anti social hours. They probably have their own children.

At the school where I work we have wrap around care everyday ftom 7.45 to 6.00 pm. Breakfast club is run by school staff and after school club by an outside provider. Only a handful of children from around 700 attend either, but that's due to the multicultural nature of the school whereby many mothers stay at home or grandparents care for the children.

My children's school, in a different area, also had breakfast and after school clubs. It's not that uncommon and probably should be available at every school. Theirs were run by school staff who knew all the children.

Most schools do offer wrap around care but obviously you have to pay for it. My DS can't even do normal school hours so I don't want them extended even more.
Tbf school hours have been standard for a long time so it's not exactly a shock when your child starts.