Wraparound care at school cancelled

[Citytocountry1]

I’ve just opened an email from our school sent last thing on Friday saying they can no longer operate wraparound care as it’s not viable due to lower numbers since last term. They said they tried to find a solution but unfortunately there isn’t one. They didn’t even consult us parents who use it and ask us for more money or even say to the wider school use it or lose it, just decided to close it in March. I would gladly have paid more or had a discussion to figure out how to make it viable.

I work in a non wfh business 4 full 9-5 days a week, Thursday I work until 2.30 so I can pick them up at 3.15pm once a week. The children attend 4 days a week after school. Husband works in a production/manufacturing role and he is going to see what his work will let him reduce hours wise but we know that means pay reduction.

there are no childminders in our area, no nanny’s on childcare websites, the last childminder closed during Covid, we sadly don’t have family in the country so no help there, and the nearest school with wraparound is over 8 miles in the other direction of my work. I don’t really have any friends to ask either, we are quite new here we do know school parents but we don’t have the kind of relationships which some seem to have with each other to ask them to take our children home to theirs after school for nearly 3 hours. That’s a huge ask and I don’t know anyone who would do it.

just so upset and stressed tonight lots of tears and worry about what we do now. I don’t even know what to say to my work, the kind of job I do I can’t do from home and we can’t afford for me to lose it. Aren’t school supposed to consult and figure out how to help make it work?

feeling so panicked about this happening and sad as the children enjoyed the activities at after school and we were able to work knowing they were looked after 😓

Nordic countries have higher tax rates.

And much, much smaller populations. The population of the whole of Norway is smaller than that of Greater London. There's a big difference between planning for a population of 10m or less and a population of over 50m.

How did your DH get on with asking his bosses to tweak his hours @Citytocountry1?

Yes and I think the issue is going to accelerate the decline of those kinds of village schools. We live between two schools - one’s in a village and one’s on the outskirts of a town. Both lovely schools, rated outstanding by Ofsted. Numbers are dropping at the village one to the point that they’ve issued a warning that the ASC may not be sustainable, so parents who need the ASC are opting for the town school. So enrolment numbers are dropping at the village one - my bet is that it’ll shut within 3-5 years.

Now I suppose that the village school would always have shut in the end, but the ASC issue is undoubtedly hastening the decline.

@Citytocountry1how have you got on?

Hi to be honest I’ve been feeling low so haven’t come back to the thread. We haven’t got a solution. The head teacher is refusing to engage any further depite a number of parents offering to double our payments to keep it. The in house school staff who run it are devastated at the loss of employment. My husband employer said he couldn’t reduce his hours on the days we need, but he could go part time and not work those days which is financially impossible.

there are no childminders the nearest school afterschool club doesn’t run anymore since the external provider pulled out.

i don’t know what we are going to do.

Are any parents of your children's friends affected? If yes can you tag team? I pick up 2 of my daughters friends one evening and they come to ours, parent 2 has all 3 another day and parent 3 the 3rd day. And she goes to afterschool club one day and I dont work Fridays.
This would at least mean your DH/you only has to drop 1 afternoon/day.

Hi OP sounds like we live in very similar areas. Our after school dropped 1 day a week and stopped breakfast club 2 days a week.

have you advertised for an after school nanny type person? I know two women who do this - one for another family at school, and one older woman who does it alongside cleaning jobs & being a piano teacher.

Or can you get together with other parents impacted and make some sort of a rotation?

how far is your local FE college? I think I would try getting an ad placed there for a student who can drive & do after school care.

Sorry to hear that you haven't found a solution. It would be worth the parents affected writing to the head of governors asking for the governing board to review the school's consideration of all options. Their email address will be on the school website.

The staff loosing their extra work. Could they not be babysitters for those of you losing out. Just plain old boring regular baby sitters.

Obviously that wouldn’t help every family if there are only 4 staff but it could help at least four families.

Also on the days other parents are or are not working again. Baby sitting. Swapping. So if you don’t work Tuesday you can watch little susie but in exchange they watch yours on Thursday.

Most students dont finish untill 3.50 often later. They are there for full time education themselves. It always makes he laugh when people suggest this

Don’t want to sound harsh but why didn’t you make sure there were childcare options before having moving there?Relying on one option and nothing else is a bit foolish. Schools are there to educate, their responsibility doesn’t lie with childcare.

In rural areas often services are quite fragile and everything is more expensive because of travel time & fuel. It is something for people to think about. When the OP moved, there was a service. Labour policies have made this service unfeasible now.

Op has 3 kids so it's probably too hard to do that - most people don't have a big enough car to pick up an extra 3 kids in addition to their own. Plus unless they have 3 kids too, it might feel unbalanced.

Did you ask the wraparound staff if they're available for babysitting? The one with her own 2 kids, could she look after yours as well and it can be like a big playdate?

I can see how this isn’t financially viable. That’s a huge number of staff for a tiny number of children and all the insurance and logistics on top. The after school club at my school (contracted out) has around 50 kids each day with maybe 6 staff. And they still operate on a shoestring.

I think the obvious solution here is to ask the after school staff. If you were paying £8x3 a day you could offer to bump it up a bit and have one of them bring the kids home and hang out for a couple of hours.

Things have changed. When I moved to my village, there was an after school club and several childminders. The government were promising wraparound care in every school.

Now, the local authority have closed all their wraparound care run by schools, and charge so much for school hall rental to make private clubs few and far between. There are also no childminders left - most stopped during covid.

sounds a nightmare. Can you not ask the parent who runs it if she will be your nanny / yes you will need to pay her / be an employer etc but a possible option

have you put a post up on childcare co uk site - or do a search in your area /5 miles for a cm or after school nanny but yes you will pay a premium

what happens in school holidays ? Who has your kids

Yeah, people often overestimate the value of planning ahead for these things. By all means have a look around, and sure you'll likely have more options in the middle of a dense city than in a hamlet. But things close.

This is a really silly thing to say, things change year on year. You could move somewhere with your 3 year old that has loads of options and everything's different by the end of year 1.
When my eldest started primary it was a busy, popular 2 form entry school with before and after school clubs and several childminders - by the time my youngest started (after covid and a falling birth rate) there were 18 kids in her year, a couple of childminders had stopped and the after school club cancelled due to lack of demand.

Why labour policies?

They have raised minimum wage, it is too costly to employ people. People can work less and get Universal Credit and diesel and petrol prices are too high but no public transport so everything costs more. You can argue that these things don’t matter but they do. The support they give childcare providers is insufficient to keep them going.

That must be your experience - it’s not mine. My SIL uses a A level student from her local FE college for her childcare. My DC1 is in Y13 and some of her peers have schedules that would enable this too - not 5 days a week, but I think OP will have to cobble together several different options.

Ok but something as important as childcare shouldn’t be paying a pittance. It doesn’t foster quality and people simply won’t be able to afford to do it.

That isn’t labour ideology.

Im sorry things are shit @Citytocountry1