Summer Holidays - Holiday clubs

[BlackCatGreyWhiskers]

I keep seeing articles and discussions about whether or not the summer holidays should be shorter because of the challenges of childcare.

I accept childcare is a challenge, for me it’s largely a logistical one - it’s just organising it. Last year my older child was in holiday clubs and younger one nursery. With some annual leave used either end of the holiday. This year my younger one went to a term time only preschool and is too young for clubs so I’m having to use a sitter and pay per the hour, which is expensive.

But next year, they can both go to clubs and the issue will be largely resolved. The clubs finish slightly earlier than after school club but only by 1.5 hours.

Clubs are around £30 per day, per child. So not cheap but equally we’re not paying nursery fees now so 4 weeks (using annual leave for some of the hols) of clubs doesn’t seem too bad.

I know some jobs are more challenging to accommodate than others. IMO what we really need is more flexible employers who understand the constraints for a short period of the year rather than shorter holidays.

Theres loads of clubs near me for school age children - is this not the norm? Genuinely interested. As for me the summer holidays are a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.

How would you split them up though and how long would the holidays be in this scenario as people seem to forget that schools use the summer holidays for large scale maintenance work to be carried out on the buildings or grounds.

Well your shock is misplaced - my question was:-

“Theres loads of clubs near me for school age children - is this not the norm?”

My post was about the provision of holiday clubs and my OP acknowledged that employers also ought to be flexible.

I have opened a discussion not a thread to criticise.

Yes, mine do. One loves them, the other is a bit pickier but does also enjoy them

I think you must be in a relatively low cost area of the country. The clubs are £60 per day here plus an extra £10 to get 8-6 coverage.

@Needlenardlenoo corr! That’s expensive. Are those run of the mill sports clubs? I don’t think I’m in a low cost area but midlands not London way.

What others said really.

I'm in London - round my way clubs cost from £25/day through £70/day. There is a lot of availability but quality is patchy and kids want to be with their friends so there is a lot of piecing stuff together and it's shite if most of them want to go to (true story) an art club four miles away - in London terms it may as well be on Mars - that runs 09.30-14.00.

Flexible working / grandparents is the biggie.

HAF funded places are all 10am-2pm in my borough, which is next to useless.

We're broadly ok because my work is flexible and we can throw money at things but I still have a seven year old come to work with me (self employed) once a week at least.

And also, sending them to a club they don't like and then paying through the nose through it is awful.

Increasingly schools here have 5 weeks' summer hols and 2 week Oct half term. Makes sense in areas where many parents need or want to visit relatives in other countries.

What people forget is that a lot of UK school buildings are falling to bits. I know our facilities and IT guys will spend a huge part of those 5 weeks mending and painting everything they can and doing stuff you can't do with thousands of people there like roofs and drainage.

Clubs around me (London) are very good and have flexible timings but they cost £60-70 a day.

Those are the branded ones like Supercamps. If you're trying to encourage a reluctant attendee it does help if the offer and coaches are good though.

Some of the cheaper ones, DD refused to go back a second day (she is neurodiverse though).

I have found a wonderful alternative which teaches kids to cook properly. Also not cheap, nor nearby however!

School holidays should be shorter, full stop.

13 weeks is insanity when most people have 5 weeks annual leave. Even between two parents working full time, that’s 3 weeks without childcare, and assuming the family never want to go on holiday together.

it’s such a big off putting factor as someone who doesn’t have children. I also don’t buy into such long breaks being needed. The only reason children get tired towards the end of term etc, is because they’re used to these endless breaks. Holidays should be cut in half, a few long weekends here and there to split between term times. BUT, I also believe that teachers should be given proper annual leave. Not the breaks they have now, which are usually used to plan and work. They should have three weeks that they can take, and a substitute teacher takes over. Simple as.

It's the mental load though isn't it? DH is a decent dad and does more than his share of ferrying about and pays more than half BUT he will not book anything. All these things involve advance booking, forms, equipment, lunches, age restrictions...

Simple as?

There is a huge shortage of supply teachers and the ones there are, often can't teach, can't manage behaviour and can't even communicate clearly in English in some cases.

No Head is doing more of that then they absolutely have to.

I couldn't enjoy a holiday if I was coming back to that!

When I was little, I went to a holiday club that ran 8-6 throughout the school holidays.

Where I live now, holiday clubs run for a couple of hours a day, and not everyday at that. It's absolutely rubbish.

I don't know what I'll do next year as the clubs here only take up to age 11. DD will suddenly be left home while ds still needs to go to clubs. Neither will be happy!

Absolutely that! I don’t disagree and I’ve said up thread I find organising it all really stressful. One thing I didn’t think of was planning stuff for the kids to do whilst they are with the sitter. I’ve booked them into a play thing tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise they’re just at home with the sitter and my eldest will just watch TV. When the weather is good they’ll go outside but it’s rained each day she’s come!

I find organising the year really stressful. That’s what I meant when I said it’s a logistical challenge as much as anything.

I will start by saying I don't want the holidays to be shorter as I think the kids like the break but I do find it hard to juggle childcare in the holidays. I work full-time and since COVID the amount of holiday clubs available has dropped a lot. 3 I used in the past have closed and didn't reopen. One is 8-6 but £80 a day and I can't afford that every day. We use one that is 8:45-3 but it means I cannot go to the office on those days (45min commute each way on a good day). I have to be in 3 days a week. I am lucky in that my DH works from home so basically the kids end up at clubs on my WFH days and at home on my office days. I then go to work really early so I can finish at 3:30 and get them out the house after that. If we both had to be in the office we would really struggle.

My nephews are in that situation. I sometimes have them in my house when I’m WFH, they don’t need “looking after” but my SIL doesn’t trust them both at home.

I think age 10-12 is quite stressful (maybe 10-13 if child/ren less mature). Getting too old for organised stuff. Too young to roam unsupervised for ages!

I had sensible 16 year old cousin to stay for a week last year and paid her the hol club rates. Everyone v happy but my god it was not a cheap option - as OP says they also needed things to do and those cost.

Simple as 😂

The education budget can barely afford teachers for the term arrangements we have now. Many schools are running big deficits, plenty of LA are verging on what would be bankruptcy if they weren’t bailed out by virtue of being public bodies. There is absolutely no chance that schools can afford extra teachers or extra teacher hours or substitute teachers or to further piss off the teachers currently working. Nor is it nearly as simple as you’re describing to have a supply teacher just “take over” - what supply teacher? Who’s planning that work? Who’s dealing with parents over it - most parents don’t like their kids having cover staff when the teacher is actually sick, there’d be an awful lot of complaints about the teacher being on a beach while their kids had a supply teacher! Not to mention the impact on holiday prices and availability for families if kids only get six weeks off a year - imagine the attendance complaints then!!

When are you repainting the corridor, gutting the kitchen or doing a four week roof repair?

Plus, as someone who actually has kids, I can tell you lots really are knackered ant the end of terms and really do need longer holidays than a working age adult.

I’m all in favour of proper holiday childcare being available - but if it actually was “simple as” then it’d have been done by now wouldn’t it.

All issues that need to be sorted. But the school calendar has been the same since 1944. When you had a single income family. The dad would go out to work, mum would drop off at school, go and do whatever she needed, and then pick up the kids. The long holidays weren’t an issue because mum didn’t work. That isn’t the case now and it needs to change.

I never said I had the funding solution. But the current system is outdated, not suited to modern life, and needs to be changed.

SEN holiday club places are like gold dust here. God forbid that you have a child who attends a special school.

A solution is (quite obviously) better summer holiday club provision, possibly funded for those who can't afford it.

Why should all kids have to pay the price just because some parents can't juggle the summer holidays? Give parents more options, not children more hours sat at a desk!