Wrap around care for those who don't work??

[Raisinsandweetabix]

Free breakfast clubs, afterschool clubs. Why would you need this if you are at home all day anyway? Another kick in the teeth to working parents. Obviously not including those in dire need of this care.

Many many parents whose children are entitled to free school meals also work! I'm one of them. It's a legacy benefit, and if they were entitled to free school meals before a certain date they will remain so.

I’m smelling poo. These six kids with the holiday going benefits addled SIL, no father/s, an auntie who doesn’t appear to think that if the nanny state doesn’t teach them how to clean their teeths then she’s next up for the job but who never the less exemplify a broken nanny state where good wholesome working people are only excluded from childcare because it’s all been handed on a big gold plate to lazy conniving arses and not in any way to do with systemic failures not addressed by employers, government or the goddam patriarchy (woke) while socialists sit back and quaff champagne may not be actual sentient beings.

If everyone has to pay the same or everyone is getting it free then it’s all fine and good for the kids
However if working parents have to pay when others don’t then no it’s not fare as working parents don’t have a choice other than, to give up work.

Are you sure you're not entitled to something? That doesn't sound right

Im mostly with you with free child care. It's so expensive.

However the brushing teeth thing is because nearly every dentist is going private. And very few people can get an NHS dentist. Schools and pre schools have signed up to this program to make sure they can also help keep an eye on teeth and help keep them healthy. Teeth can go wrong very quickly and they want the best for children. It's very sad, it's not pathetic.

I brush my son's teeth twice a day and we have an NHS dentist for now. But he is still signed up to this program because I want him to have the best start in life.

Once we were on holiday and he complained his teeth hurt, I tried to get in contact with a dentist they wanted to charge £75. He's three years old and they wanted to charge that much. I ended up driving 3 hours home to make sure he could be seen by our NHS dentist. Turned out his tooth hadn't fully cut through.

It’s a great idea…as long as those who NEED breakfast club to get to work (in order to look after other people’s children, for example) can still get a place rather than those who just want use it because it’s suddenly free.

I chose where to send my child to school based on my need for wrap around care, if that suddenly becomes unavailable because people who don’t actually need it suddenly start using it won’t be able to work.

And good luck finding the staff. It’s like the extra 6,500 teachers they’ve promised- they can’t fill all the vacancies they’ve currently got, never mind another load extra!!

I also receive some UC but not entitled to FSM.

My problem is why should people who get FSM then get holiday activities free as well?

I do not oppose the idea; however, it seems unusual for you to enroll your child in a breakfast club if you are not employed. I believe that after-school clubs can incorporate extracurricular activities, and I have no issue with parents choosing to send their children to such programs. Nonetheless, if the sole purpose is childcare, it appears rather peculiar.

Yes they should be priority

I lost any coherence in the OPs rationale as there was so much ranting.

I think this is great that it's being made more accessible to other children, even though I'll never benefit from it. DD is unable to go to after school clubs due to her ASD and not being able to cope with it. I can't work because I have to be flexible around the hours she can manage at school.
I would love to be able to use after school club whether I had to pay for it or not. You should feel lucky that you can.

To be fair, I think it slightly different with older children - I remember when I was at school I left the house a lot earlier in morning and didn't actually want to eat breakfast, however, I would eat on the way to school therefore, I think I would quite liked a breakfast at school.

Very chaotic home life and there's your answer it's not the kids fault their mother doesn't give a shit. They would rather put things like this in place to prevent kids ending up in the care system. If there's no interventions put in place the kids will grow up to be just like their mother.

If this is the case - the parent needs more intervention. A breakfast club is going to resolve the issues of parental neglect.

Thought this was going to be open to all kids?

Thanks, I didn't know that

So why is just her you're blaming and not the dad?

Working parent here. It sounds like a brilliant idea: free wraparound care for all primary school kids. I'd be interested in how the logistics would play out. My DC don't need paid childcare anymore (thank the Lord!) but easy access to childcare would have saved me so much stress over the years. FWIW, mine were both in nursery from 6m old, and then when they started school I had to source reliable childcare that coincided with my nursing shift times (not easy to find at all, and very expensive). From 2007 to 2023, I was paying either nursery fees, childminder fees, wraparound care fees and holiday club (I've got 2 DC and the youngest has just started in secondary).

If the government plan to sort things so that more childcare spaces are available, to more families, then great: it will help working parents, and it will help parents who aren't working (either to get respite or to enable them to study/train/work). If this means that kids in poor and vulnerable situations get to have breakfast, meals, activities, a safe space and some respite, then that's great too.

The secondary school that my youngest has just started at provides free breakfasts for all students. My daughter sometimes goes in early to have breakfast with her school mates before classes start. She doesn't NEED to (we're very fortunate as a family - I'm healthy and able to work FT, we have food in the cupboards and a warm home), but she enjoys it.

For PP who can't understand how this helps kids...like others have said, there'll be plenty of kids whose families don't have food in the house, or don't have the heating on, or can't afford for their kids to do activities and sports clubs etc. This will surely help those kids.

A full-time TA would be employed to cover breakfast and/or after school clubs and although you may not get applicants from those wanting school hour jobs, schools may get interest from others who are looking for full-time hours. Increasing the diversity of applications.

I don't think I am saying anything controversial here. Just that schools could find solutions for increasing demand and in doing so add diversity to their employee base.

Schools have not changedin the same way so many businesses and industries have changed during the last 20 years that
I have been in work. Again, I don't think this us a controversial thing to say.

Same here

School offered free breakfast club for all and only free after school clubs for those on low income etc.

Email went out 9:30am on a Monday morning advising all parents who wish to use the free breakfast club for all and after school clubs need to put their children's names down as obviously limited spaces and there's a fee for after school clubs for those not on a low income etc.

Well low and behold I didn't see this until 5pm after I finished work as I can't be checking my emails on work time and tried to out my children's names down but there were no spaces left and to try next term.

One of the mums rubs me up the wrong way as at kids birthdays parties/play dates etc she always says how she's shattered having to get the kids to school early for breakfast club but it's worth it so she can enjoy her morning cuppa at home in peace. You guessed it she doesn't work

I suspect one of main reasons it it universal, and not on a case-by-case basis, is that this removes any possible stigma attached to attending breakfast club for free. I'm old enough to remember those eligible for free school lunches had to hand over a card and have their names ticked off a list. It made it obvious who received them and resulted in a number of kids not taking it up and going hungry. I know I'd much rather there was an over-provision.

Breakfast clubs and after-school care don't resolve everything that a difficult home life can throw at children, but they help. Breakfast clubs at least ensure that children don't go to class hungry. A belly full of breakfast could well make the difference between getting through maths and PE and not. After-school care could be invaluable to those whose parents are ill, have caring responsibilities, or regular hospital appointments for themselves, their elderly parents, or their other children (radiotherapy treatment for example, is often based at regional centres rather than your nearest hospital, and if it's in the afternoon it can take you well past school home-time.) Or they might simply have children at different schools miles apart. Even the most conscientious people can have complicated lives.

At my children's school, breakfast and after school wrap around care is not free. Nor is holiday club, which costs £50 a day for 2 children. We struggle financially to pay for this but as we both work it is essential. However parents whose kids get free school meals get all of this free. And I know many of these parents don't work (people I know)

Awww, that’s a shame, I always think ‘a few’ means more than two but less than four.

Not 12. That’s a dozen.

And you did say “a few per week”, not per day, but I just you were trying to sensationalise.

I agree with the poster you've quoted that 12 hours is 'a few hours a week'. It's barely the equivalent of what 4 year olds do in school over 2 days. It's very very part time.