To not want to pay playschool £5 because I have to work?

[mumfor1standmaybe2ndtime]

My employer has changed my work hours, I used to work 6am til 9am. I now have to work 7am til 11am when ds is at playschool or basically lose my job.
Now I am unable to be a parent helper at playschool and have to pay them £5 when I am on the rota. Am i being unreasonable to not want to pay it?

Ok, I know it's only a fiver! It is the principle I guess. Like where does the money go for example? Questions I will be asking. Another parent told me that the fiver was to go to another parent who stepped in - surely this isn't right.
Do helpers have to be police checked?

Yes I am serious! I don't earn alot!

Well why shouldn't the money go to another parent who gives up their time for you???

The money helps towards providing the correct adult child ratio! Otherwise palyschool would have to shut for the day!

Parent helpers don't have to be police checked as tehy are under supervision by the staff there.

Emkanna, That is SO true, but for the last 2 years we seem to have had a batch of ignorant,can't give a shit parents.
And i know, as i've been on the playschool committee for the last 3yrs and it's been the same faces dealing with all this and most of us don't even have kids at the playschool!!! strange but true!
We did it out of loyalty to the playleader as she is a lovely lady and has been doing this for over 15yrs, but once the new staff come i think there are going to be lots of resignations.
Very sad

quick hi jack -sorry
northern lurker thats awful-do u have to go back? is there no alternative?

I don't know what the Ofsted regulations are or about government funding but it seems from what everyone is saying that the reality of the situation is if you are not able to help and not willing to pay for someone else to help instead, chances are the playschool might well have to close. So £10 a term sounds like a good investment to keep your childcare arrangements in place, regardless of whether you think it's fair or a reasonable cost.

Unfortunately it's the same for playschools anywhere I think, parents have unreasonable expectations and don't give a shit and don't want to help with anything, really really annoys me.

If you want that kind of service, choose a PRIVATE nursery and see how much you pay then.

mumfor1sttime, I know you've been willing to do your bit in the past, so I don't mean you with that post, but you have to see that playschool relies on helpers or money to keep going.

y understanding is goverement will pay for certain hours only, so maybe thats why. Your paying £10 a term, hardly a huge amount is it? A child minder would be more, as would most other nurseries, be grateful its not more, work outs about £1 a week FGS

Think yourself lucky - only a fiver!!
My playgroup went downhill so fast that I had to find an alternative group. The nearest 5 that were funded all were fully booked up. My daughter now goes to one that takes vouchers but as it is a private group, I am charged extra on top. I have just got my bill for this nursery (that is wonderful, doesn?t give duties as it fully staffed but I still have to help out with walks, baking cakes providing food, doing laundry once a week etc etc etc) and my bill for the summer term is nearly £400!!
If you have a playgroup that is good and totally covered by nursery vouchers, then the odd fiver for their rule sounds peanuts to me.

Also, why shouldn?t that parent get a fiver for doing your duty? Why should anyone step in at all to cover you? You are lucky they give you an opt out fine option and not insisting that parental support numbers are so low that you either fulfill the required number of duties or find a nursery for him.
Sorry to be harsh, just can?t believe you cannot see it from the playgroup and other mum?s POV. Imagine if you were told, sorry MrsXX is working on Tuesdays now so we want you to do 2 extra duties every term from now on to cover her..You would not be too happy either. Personally, I would not pick up an extra fiver for doing a morning?s work for another mum unless it was a good friend and helping them out. Not worth my time.

I have had my job for almost 8 years now. I went back to it with 6-9 hours knowing that I don't need to pay childcare. Because quite frankly I couldn't even afford a child minder and wouldn't get any help from Government with child care. So had to work silly hours in the morning instead!
Suppose I am annoyed with my employer changing my hours that I now have to change all my 'plans'. God knows what I will do in the summer holidays and half term as I have no childcare at all.
I was interested to see other's views on the £5 thing and to see if other playschools do the same thing, they clearly do. Just a shame that the Government don't do more to help them and working parents.
We are ttc number 2 at the moment and I can see myself having to look for another job or working weekends.

windygales - thanks for the sympathy i have to go back or pay back my maternity pay (enhanced package) Tbh - the pay isn't the worst bit for me. I have a new line mananger now - I used to be his line manager!

about 9 years ago ds2 attented playgroup and this time i was sure i wasnt going to get too involved in helping (as a qualified NNEB im always being asked to help and tbh my children went to do stuff away from me but it was almost every session i ended up staying due to lack of parent helpers the 'wage' i would have earnt i just donated back into the groups pot as i was keen not to become 'employed' lolol having said that you didnt have to pay if you helped so ds2 playgroup days were virtually free.

Can you really not afford £1 a week???

To the op - what about working evenings - I used to do that and it's not ideal but it is a fairly common pattern of working so not too hard to find a job - and then you still get family weekends.

Because the government funding doesn't actually cover staff costs colditz. I'm assuming this is a pre-school run by a group of volunteer parents rather than a profit making business. In which case if all you've done is donate toys and sell raffle tickets then you've got off lightly OP - I reckon I do about 15 hours a week as chair of my pre-school, more when we have fundraisers, and I don't do it because I want to, or because I like being part of the "clique", I do it because nobody else would and if I didn't we'd have to close. If you wnat to send your child to a pre-school run by a business (which tend to be staffed by young girls just out of college, have little sense of community and lower adult to child ratios)then do so. if you want the benefits of a local, community run pre-school then either help out or pay up.

I am obviously one of those 'ignorant, can't give a shit parents' then!!

I'm paying £4 a session now as opposed to £1.50 because a few of us are desperately trying to keep our playschool going now there are not enough children for it to cover it's costs on normal rates (insurance, rent, pay for the playgroup leader, snacks for the children, etc). Playgroups cost money to run. If you're helping out, then that's fair that you don't pay (although even the helpers in ours now pay); if you're not, even if the circumstances are beyond your control, then imo it's not fair to expect free childcare.

If the govt wants every child to have a free place and parents to not have to help then they should give us significantly more than £7.95 a session to fund it

(Can you tell I've just spent an hour trying to sign up lazy cows onto our voluntary parent helper rota)

I was paying £5.50 a session twice a week, so yes I can afford to pay the bloody fiver!
I am talking about the principle of it!
Like why should playschools need to ask for a fiver? They should be fully staffed. Government obviously got better things to spend our children's education on - like digging home owner's out of holes.

windygales - thanks for the sympathy i have to go back or pay back my maternity pay (enhanced package) Tbh - the pay isn't the worst bit for me. I have a new line mananger now - I used to be his line manager!

oh god thats sounding a great way to be back to work {not)we have always been in similar situation with our 3 sons knowing my wages would be swallowed by childcare so i ended up for 5 years managing a busy hotel at night purely to save paying out ....it wasnt a career move tho and as a result when i do get back to work i shall be on a much lower rung than i should be .
i love the pic on your prof of b as an angel- she looks so serene for a baby

I suggest you write to Gordon Brown then.

Sure he would listen

Mumfor1, I'm not saying you'r one of the "shity" parents, you have a very valid excuse.
I'm talking about the ones who don't work and don't pay the fees! One parent owes the playschool over £600!! and her DC still attends.
Maybe it was the playleader's fault for not being firmer with her and saying her DC could not attend but she did not want the child to lose out..bless her.
It's parents who won't even pay the £1 a week who are the real villains.

Thanks Windy - she is very serene - apart from when she's a little monkey! We're off to nursery for a settling in session now - byeee