Letter informing parents about the closure of after school club

[oodles50]

Apologies for this, but this has annoyed me this afternoon and I feel like I need to vent about it!

We received a letter this afternoon totally out of the blue informing us that our school’s after school wrap around care is closing in two weeks time.

The school apologised for this but said there aren’t enough numbers for it to be ‘viable’.

I have several friends who talk about how oversubscribed their children’s after school club is, and I can’t comprehend how there aren’t enough children each day to cover the costs.

What’s more annoying is that in the letter they said don’t worry, there’s another setting down the road that can offer wrap around care - it’s double the price! (£8.50 vs £15.50 a day).

My DD has just started in reception and a big reason why we chose this school over another one we liked, was ironically the wrap around care provision. I just feel like we’ve had two weeks of school and just settled into things and the rug has been pulled, and I’m left scrabbling around, working out if I can change my hours, or if I’m going to be forced to pay double the amount I was expecting.

The afterschool club of the school I teach in is losing money-there are only three in most days and often just one. It's just not finally viable and the school can't afford to run it at a loss.

I think it will be closed by half term.

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Ask around if there's any after school child minders/babysitters.
I think there's an agency called Koro Kids (or something similar) that basically is for after-school care.

Could you ask the school how much they would need to charge with current numbers and see if it is less than the out of school provider?

I can understand schools withdrawing an unviable offering, but surely they knew numbers before now, or could keep it going until the end of the term?

Sounds like an unexpected drop in numbers, probably combined with an increase in costs, has just been the final straw.

Happened to one here when three childminders set up. The few children they could take just was the breaking point for the asc.

The other provision sounds a more realistic price compared to here as well.

If you need wraparound care and you child has only just started in Reception, I’d look for another school now whilst the disruption is minimal.

Is there any way all the affected children’s parents can club together for a single after school childminder?

but surely they knew numbers before now

They might well have thought they could just manage based on numbers, but all it takes is one family to move away, or one to have a parent who's suddenly allowed to WFH, then the whole thing falls apart.

We run an after school club at my school, it's a very delicate balance between charging enough to cover the costs but not so much it's difficult for parents to afford.
But if there's not enough demand then either prices have to increase or it has to close.
We ran at a loss last year but it was only through very exceptional circumstances that we could cover that.

Who runs the club? School or an outside agency? What hours did you get for that price? To stay til up to 4:30 our school charges £8 for care up to 6:30 it’s £15.
If they don’t have the numbers what can they do? There can’t afford to run at a loss.

That's really, really poor

Will you change schools?

An outside company runs the wrap around care at the school where work. Since COVID the numbers have dropped steadily. In the years since COVID we have waived the rent, waived their contribution towards energy and our school keeper works 20 minya day for no pay, in order to allow them to remain open for parents who struggle to get here by the time school closes at 6pm. They are still struggling to make ends meet and since we have no other way to help them reduce costs, they only need one family to stop attending and they will most likely have to close. It's entirely possible that your wrap around care has found itself in a similar situation.

It might well be annoying but if not enough people use it, the service will be withdrawn the same as any other. Ours closed too because not enough children used it and they have to pay staff to run it. They were losing money so couldn't really be expected to keep it going.

Too many schools seem to respond to falling numbers by whacking the price of the club up even more.... How do they not see that if they reduced the price far far more people would use the club?!
Everyone i know is desperately trying to trim hours off their use of the school wraparound because they charge something ridiculous like £8.30 per hour.
Surely better to get 10 kids at £5 an hour than 3 at £8!! How can schools not do these sums 🙄

Given the difference in price of the alternative provision, have you asked school if they know what price would make it viable on current numbers? Then ask parents currently using the club if they are willing to pay that?

Realistically the school can offer any price up to say £15 and parents may take it as it is more convenient than the children moving site!

Sounds like a pain, what do other parents do? Surely they aren't all picking up at normal time?
Maybe there's some other provision that you're out of the loop on, either childminder or an external club? Could be worth asking around.

Too many schools seem to respond to falling numbers by whacking the price of the club up even more.... How do they not see that if they reduced the price far far more people would use the club?!

Schools have no wriggle room left in their budget to do this. If numbers fall, they have to put their price up or close.

It won't have been an easy decision. It's annoying, and frustrating, but numbers change and the school can't subsidise your childcare.

But with ten kids at £5 rather than 3 at £8, another adult would need to be employed.
I would imagine they do the sums with a calculator and a spreadsheet.

10 kids at £5 per hour would not be enough to run the club.

Most parents use after school club because they have to, not because it is cheap.

But with ten kids at £5 rather than 3 at £8, another adult would need to be employed.I would imagine they do the sums with a calculator* and a spreadsheet.*

Exactly. School business managers are pretty adept at doing sums!!

I’m not surprised it wasn’t viable at £8.50 a day. £15 is the minimum round here, though some offer a shorter session (4.30 say) for £10ish.

only 2 weeks notice of closure is bad though. Worth looking at other schools? Seems very disruptive in the short term but in the long term it may be worth it.

How would using the setting down the road help? Would they collect your child? Or would you have to pick her up and transport her? I would ask any childminders to do it, but it will be higher than £15.

But the more children you have, the more adults need to be employed, so the more it costs. It's not as easy as just increasing the number of children.

Also OP, £8.50 a day sounds like an absolute bargain, I'm not surprised they're closing if that's all they charge.

I use Koru Kids and they are great for finding after school Nannie’s (usually uni students). But that costs a lot more than the OP is talking about - I think we pay £18 per hour, including the Koru Fees, tax, NI, pension.