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.

The system needs to change because it’s not fit for modern life. Perhaps more time at school would also mean more time to focus on things such as arts, PE, drama!

Yeah but if you don’t have a funding solution you’re just shouting into the wind. And I think there’s far more than just funding that means halving school holidays wouldn’t work.

You could propose a complete rethink of the entire education system, which would have to include timetabling, exam arrangements, university entry, teachers pay and conditions etc etc - which would be incredibly expensive, disruptive and will never happen. Or you could argue for some state support for childcare during existing holidays - which seems much more realistic to me.

Or - more optional arts, drama and sports camps!!

I come from America where they have really long summer breaks - 12 weeks for some states/ counties. Summer camp, including residential, is a way of life. We may have to adapt similar models. Some camps are free or very low cost.

And where is the money coming from to pay for schools to be open extra weeks of the year? There's not just the extra staffing costs, its also extra towards utilities etc. Then there is the cost of covering staff absence for when they choose to book their annual leave.

An hour shorter, often not as close as their school and the kids hate the club.

It's why I ended up taking unpaid leave. Less stressful and almost the same financial hit.

My area is moving to this structure too, from next year. The reasons they’ve given are a) the long summer break isn’t good for a lot of children and b) the data shows that there is a lot of staff and child absence in the second half of the winter term, so they’re hoping the longer autumn break will help address that.

I’m largely indifferent but I hope the holiday camps expand to cover the extra week of half term (as not all schools in the area have to follow the dates).

Interesting, isn't it, that the government will fund some nursery provision to get parents (mostly mums) back into work, but no funding at all is available to fund this black hole.

You're stuffed if you're a single parent on a minimum wage job with limited family/friends options.

Sorry, my post was meant to be a response to @Needlenardlenoo

OP, my child has severe SEN and no holiday club will take her.

Conversely, my DH has an older child who does and they’re in funded respite for the vast majority of the summer, inc weekends. I know that’s not necessarily applicable to everyone though.

I definitely take a financial hit as I insist on only working for employers who allow me huge flex.

Sorry to hear that - is there no respite available to them? As I said DH has an older child and they get funded respite - it’s actually easier with them because they also have carers either end of the day. Although it’s obviously life long support they need.

In theory there might be some respite available, but I can’t face another huge battle with the LA for what is likely to only be an hour or so here and there. My LA is difficult over everything.

@PeachPumpkin its amazing the differences from one LA to another. I sympathise.

Its £59 a day per child for childcare during the summer here. The holiday clubs run 10am until 2pm and not all summer so you cant relay on them unless your working from home and can nip out or your a sahp.

I took a significant pay cut to work in Education, and although not the main reason, one of my reasons for doing so was to solve the issue of holiday childcare. I have two Autistic DC who would not cope well with a patch-work provision of clubs, grandparents, friends and both of us taking bits of annual leave. They benefit hugely from having a proper break over the summer, but they need a consistent adult around to facilitate that.

If some posters got their way and my colleagues and I had our (unpaid) holidays shortened significantly there would be an immediate mass exodus. That might sound dramatic, but it's really not. It's becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain decent people as it is, the holidays really are the only thing keeping many people from leaving.

But honestly, it's all moot anyway because school budgets are absolutely fucked. I mean really, totally and completely fucked. It's much worse than the majority of people realise. With the sacrifices we're having to make and the corners we're having to cut just to keep the lights on, the idea of shortening the holidays is ludicrous. We don't even know how we're going to afford the proposed below-inflation pay rise (3.2%) for support staff. We can't replace people who leave or retire, essential repairs to school buildings are having to be put off and we have two classes being taught by a HLTA 3 days a week next year. Where on earth do people think the extra staffing, utilities and resources needed to keep schools open for longer is going to come from??

My mother didn't work (in the sense of career job, out of the house) and neither did MIL but there were also MUCH lower expectations of supervision and/or entertainment of children. I mean, DH and I had largely happy childhoods but some of it would not be considered ok now in terms of how many hours we were out of sight and up to frankly potentially dangerous stuff!

@Needlenardlenoo its interesting because my MIL and Mum are totally opposite ends. My Mums idea of childcare is sitting on the sofa and barking at the kids, who soon get boisterous and start play fighting, which creates a vicious circle.

My MIL who’s had 6 kids is a helicopter grandparent and can’t just leave them for bursts to just play and amuse themselves, so she finds childcare more intense than it ought to be. Yet my DH says she just used to look away managing him and his siblings when they were kids.

I'm afraid that it is the usual situation of markets moving and the infrastructure catching up afterwards. Banks changed their mortgage lending criteria from 3x one salary and 1x the other to 2.5x joint. The result was house prices increased in line with available cash and now almost no one can buy a family home without 2 parents working. This means that there aren't the SAHMs to provide childcare over the summer holidays but the infrastructure to provide holiday cover hasn't kept up. (In fact in many areas it hasn't kept up with the need for wrap around either.)

There's also the children who desperately need the break from school. Ds1 quite likes school but ds2 only just tolerates it. We spend the whole year pretty much working towards the next holiday for him, by summer he's totally overwhelmed and burnout and he's a child that needs the longer break. He miserable enough and more time in school might break him.

@TartanMammy that’s my oldest child, he is an angel at school but gets increasing challenging at home as term goes on, I always notice him decompress over the holidays, the summer being no exception.

Funded respite only available in my area for those with extreme life limiting conditions, and only for 3 days max every month.

The postcode lottery is alive and well.