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.

Never said that at all. Sorry that I’m passionate about quality childcare being available for kids of parents who have jobs which require them to work out of the home , jobs which often benefit those who choose not work or choose to work remotely - which not everyone can do as not all professions can be done from home - how would a hospital cleaner work from home, and why should their kids not have access to decent after school provision

“You should write to your child’s school by letter or e-mail and include when you most need wraparound childcare, detailing the days and times you need it.
The responsibility for securing sufficient childcare in an area ultimately lies with your local authority, so the school will liaise with them, and then get back to you with a decision within a school-term.”

You really are rather unpleasant. A) I never wear PJs when I’m working. And B) I do interact with real humans, maybe not face to face very often but on the phone, via meetings and emails. Luckily, none of them are like you so it’s quite pleasant. And I do make an effort to go out in to the real world when I’m not working and meet up with friends, do normal things and hopefully avoid bitter and twisted people.

I have no idea what you're even going on about now

www.sprintactive.co.uk/wraparound-care-in-primary-schools/#:~:text=New%20Government%20Requirement%3A%20All%20Schools,offer%20wraparound%20childcare%20by%202026.

Definitely. Our infant school has about 170 on role, and there is 50 children in ASC on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, slightly less Mondays and Fridays. The midweek sessions are always oversubscribed, and emails often come out asking people if they could give up a few sessions as not enough places for all who want. It's £22 per day up to 6pm, plus £6 for breakfast club 7.45 -8.45. Demand is going up now more people are being asked to go into the office more.
We only use it 2 days per week, as otherwise DH and I can juggle the rest, but would really struggle without it, so I really feel for you OP, having to sort something out at such short notice

I kind of agree with you. If you are at home "working" then its not such a big deal your kid being home too. A few issues I have with WFH ppl, if you have children you are encouraging them to stay at home, they feel "my parents aren't leaving the house, why should I?" And secondly, a home is meant to be for relaxing chilling family downtime. I feel so sorry now for family members that have to creep around in their 'homes' because daddy is on a teams call etc.... home should be home, work should be work. IMO

If the club is running at a loss, it means school funding is subsidising it. It's literally not allowed as far as I understand, and quite rightly.

Our club just about breaks even but it relies on a lot of teacher goodwill. I'm always surprised at how few people need wrap-around but I've never actually worked anywhere where more than a small percentage of the school use it. Most of the parents work, but it's shifts, flexible, self-employment, grandparent help etc.

It's unfortunate that there's so much less childminder availability these days. Breakfast clubs and ASC are not the only option for wraparound, and a smaller, quieter home based setting is more accessible for some DC.

Right, so by 'many' you actually meant a number barely into double figures who you acknowledge might be full of shit anyway. It's not the most reliable or comprehensive sample! You should probably make better use of caveats next time you start talking about other people's working patterns.

I can’t believe someone suggests if they reduce the price more will pay. The fact is a lot less people need childcare. DH and I both used to work in the office and we pay two children for 5 days a week at a childminder. We kept the childminder for my younger child after covid but haven’t used a holiday club since. Childminder retired and we no longer used any childcare. That was when DC2 was year 4. She started walking home herself from year 5. This is all possible because of hybrid and WFH. There is always an adult home. We would never have left a year 4 child at home on her own with my teen.

I think many parents with KS2 or older children will just not pay for wrap around care anymore. I see many dads doing pick ups and drop offs and they are work full time. Same as my work, it’s totally ok to say you need to drop the call to go do school pick ups.

Our school has literally just started ASC this school year and it’s empty. I doubt it’ll survive the year. The people here had already figured out how to work round school hours because we didn’t have the option before. Many jobs are more flexible now. Parents can organise opposing shifts or grandparent help and there are still a few stay at home mums. I’m quite rural though so it is a different pace of life to an inner city school for example.
The school is still running their fun clubs which are 1 hour only and £3. This will probably keep people out of the £12 ASC as sometimes it’s really just that extra hour you need.
I would find a childminder if I were you.

I was paying over £500 a month for two kids to do breakfast club and after school club for 4 days a week! I think WFH has massively impacted this provision.

How are you supposed to get your children from school to the ASC down the road if you're working and that was the entire point of using the school ASC.

Worth pointing out what the drop in births does too.

I couldn't find UK wide school year figures, but the kids who've just left primary were born in 2013 or 2014. In England and Wales there about 700k births in each of those years. The new starters were born in 2021-1, when it was about 620k. I know there were also drops in Scotland and NI. That's a huge difference. It's reflected in school rolls, it's also going to be reflected in wraparound.

They're collected and walk down in a little crocodile line.

Lol. I used to run an after school club.

A few things -
Legal requirements - more children = more staff = more costs

Parent values - you should be fully prepared to pay for the care of your child. If something happened, you wouldn't think twice about suing them, but you want the staff to work for a pittance whilst caring for your loved and cherished children perfectly.

Not the clubs fault - a service costs what a service costs. If you can't afford it, that's tough, but you can't just cut costs.

Used to really, really get my goat. Parents complaining we charged too much when coming in with expensive wine in their bags. And it was always the better off parents who moaned.

Ah, thank you. I've never heard anyone call it a crocodile line before but that's so cute.

Time's have changed a lot since I needed ASC, there was no support in getting from A to B back then.

Given they also collect the children from school OP, I'd he happy to pay double especially if it was a price that meant the longevity of the ASC.

If there’s several parents who need it, you could club together and approach the school and see what they would need you to pay to make it viable.. it might be people are prepared to pay more!!! X

Totally forgot about this point too. DC primary is outstanding. It was always oversubscribed, with a 2 form entry. There were 32 in a class in KS2. Now they only have one class up to year 3. Only years 4-6 have two classes. So in not very many years, the school roll has dropped by half.

I’m at a single form entry primary and the wrap around is busy. There was a bit of moaning when they made it a flat fee for 3-6 as a few years ago you could pay for an early or late session. However, I’d rather have provision and it be financially viable. We’re on. £17 at the moment for the 3-6.

Hmm... our school mooted a wraparound club at £7.50 for 45 mins... originally had about 50families express interest before the holidays.

Arrive back at school in September to get ready to go ahead with it... 3 familues committed to it. It is simply not viable.

We have a lot of families who work from hime, have at least one parent not in work for whatever reason, grandparents, friends collecting children favours for friends etc... once commitment was required people were not interested.

This happened at a school I worked in - they had a big meeting about it and during the "well I only need a Wednesday so I wouldn't want to pay all week" chat a large number of parents ended up doing play date swaps so the whole thing never happened.

The school went from 50/60 families "desperate" for it to be set up to 5 families signing up.

Since Covid the way families work and use childcare has changed. When my 16 year old was at primary school lots of families used breakfast club and after school club permanently, most days a week. You booked a space for the term and paid regardless, lots of kids were dropped off at 8am and picked up at 5.30pm or even 6.

Now more families work flexibly, work from home. Few people want to commit in advance and risk paying for a day they don't need. ASC club offers many more options, pay on the day, ad hoc booking, pick up at 4.15pm. Working parents want to just be able to cover a meeting occasionally but not have regular, daily care.

Also my 16 year old's year was 75 kids, my 8 year old's year has 27! ASC isn't viable anymore.