To think a 3:20 finish is absurd?

[Itsr]

It’s mostly mums at the school gates. Because the 3:20 finish worked well at a time when most women stayed at home.

now most women work, which means two parents working, why does school finish ar 3:20?! Yes I know there are after school classes etc but some don’t go on for too long and they also cost.

what actually is the reason why the school day isn’t aligned with a work day (like it is with most private schools!)

@AllProperTeaIsTheft they should work for all working parents rather than making life harder for women. Luckily I can afford private but don’t think I should have to!

Because they take the wellbeing of the kids into account not the desire for free babysitting. Kids get overly tired and need rest, ideally.

Have no idea why you keep banging on about private schools. They offer after school clubs. So do state schools. Kids can't possibly be in school for the hours you seem to want.

My youngest finishes at 1345 and there's no wraparound care. I have to use a childminder. At least she gets to go to the childminders house and relax in a home environment. I would hate for her to be stuck in school all day.

This post nailed it.
.
You are confusing education with childcare.
Schools don't exist to babysit so that parents can work. That is what wrap around care is for.

The Jewish schools near us finish at 12:30 on Friday so can be home for Shabbat evening in winter

@Frustratedmumpleasehelp yes I think longer days and longer holidays are better as it’s much simpler to organise! I can see the point that workload is more in state though

Because that would make life far too sensible.

Everyone with kids and works, has to struggle, apparently.

We took the clubs, as many as we could, and each did a drop off, or pick up.

Longer holidays. My youngest’s school had a 10 week summer holiday, two week half term in the Winter term, etc.

Also, my kid is in private. They finish at 3 four days a week and at 2 one day a week. Not sure where private means longer days

My kids went to a private prep school. It finished at 3.30.
The independent secondary finished early but there were after school activities they could do until later.. however the holidays are longer than state.

I've taught in 2 private schools. The day school finished at 3:30. The boarding school had absolutely bonkers hours. I only worked there two mornings a week, but looked at a ft job they were advertising. Lessons 8am to 6pm plus two late duties a week until 9pm plus Saturday mornings. How I laughed....

if you choose an extra curricular activity at no extra cost

lol no extra cost to the enormous school fees?

You had children and didn’t realise that they finish school before 1530!
Now you have them you honestly think that they can manage learning for a whole adults working day!!!
Bizarre and scary that you’re a parent.

All our local private school finish at the same time as state schools.
Parents often struggle to find childcare for the 13 weeks of school holidays so making them longer wouldn’t solve much, OP!

If you’re “expecting” a full day then you can always send your child to a private school. No one is stopping you. In case it’s escaped your notice we have a serious recruitment and retention crisis across the teaching sector in this country. I can’t imagine that making teachers be in the classroom for 10 hours a day, educating children will improve this tbh. Then they will have to do their prep and marking on top. It’s not sustainable.

Send your kids there then if that suits you better? Did you not know the school times before you had kids/started job etc

In my experience it’s mainly a 50/50 split when it comes Mum and Dads doing pick-ups. Since Covid so many parents WFH and nip out and do the school run, it’s never been easier to juggle pick-ups and work.

Work remotely, that helps, then you can nip out to do school runs, then pop them in front of TV with snack.

School timings are no secret. If you choose to have kids you need to make arrangements for them to be looked after when you're not available.

I work in primary. Chn are done by 3pm. Nothing useful would be achieved any later. Core subjects of English and maths are taught in the morning for a reason.

School doesn't finish at 5, or later realistically given the existence of commutes, because it's an incredibly bad idea. Parents, including many of us who work, don't want it. We already can't staff schools even with the shorter days. All very well talking about what one expects, but that won't create people willing to do those jobs.

This has created a very unfortunate and intractable problem though, because for all the posts about school not being childcare, we've created a society where it functions as such. As lockdown showed. It's a mess. And our plummeting TFR meaning that even where provision now exists, it may become less viable in the future.

So OP is obviously BVU, but we also have a rock and a hard place situation going on.

We used an after school club

They sometimes have longer days, but by no means all of them. They do, however, have much longer holidays. Swings and roundabouts.

Why should schools align with a working day? Aren't they for the children and learning? Most parents seem to make arrangements which work, that's what we did..