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 😓

We always have at least two members of staff at after school club regardless of numbers of children. It's to ensure safeguarding for both staff and children. Even if there is only one child left two staff members need to stay.

Yes @Moonnstarz that is best practice to have two members of staff but if you look at the guidance you don’t have to if there are other staff members on site. I’m not advocating this approach but I know that small schools do this if the alternative if no out of school provision due to costs not being met.

Assuming there is only one parent?

If only five children enrolled at the school in September I would be more concerned about the school closing altogether.

A lot of small rural schools near us with similar sounding numbers are closing their doors as they’re no longer viable.

Well said.

Are you for real? You want to fly in a childminder for 2 days a week? Mumsnet expectation at its finest!

I would be looking to move schools to the next closest with an after school provision. It sounds like yours is on the verge of collapse and it will be harder to move if it does go and everyone is looking for places. Are there any other options with wraparound childcare?

For school holidays remember you can take unpaid dependents' leave. If that frees up annual leave could you use it to cut short some days in the short terms while you find a solution for your wraparound care?

You can take unpaid leave but workplaces can also refuse it and make you take it at a time thats convenient to them - which may not end up being during the holidays!

Read the comment, she said a one off two week visit to allow the OP to find an alternative childcare solution. The poster was assuming the childcare was ending immediately but OP does in fact have some advanced warning anyway.

Low birth rates not helping and risks of living rurally with no family connections. Our local usually oversubscribed primary in same situation and dropping a class this Sept for the first time.

The school is underfunded due to the amount of children. If you want the after-school care to continue this will take resources away from the education of every other child. Do you think that's fair? I understand from a previous poster that it could continue with 1 member of staff if under 10 children if there was another member of staff on sight. That's a big assumption. There might not be other staff on site if it's a small school, and if there is they have there own work, they wouldn't want to leave their own work due to an emergency in after care, unless you expect them to do it for free which would be a huge no.

Agree they can’t pay wages on 5 kids funding for reception

They will close it if it's not covering costs. Schools are not businesses and their budgets these days are bare bones.

Thing is @Citytocountry1, they are your kids and if the asc has closed and you can't fly mary Poppins in, you'll just have to look after them after school yourselves. Its not rocket science and its not anyone's fault.
I had a similar situation years ago when mine were younger and I had to leave a job i bloody loved and was good at and take a job with flexible school hours....that I hated. And adjusted our lives accordingly eg financially. Which wasn't easy and im still feeling the backlash 20 years later as I could never get back on the career ladder I loved.
Anyway what im saying is stop looking to blame the asc provider, the school etc and accept you had 3 kids knowing you have no outside childcare and shit happens with jobs , childcare etc....and realise you'll both need to make massive adjustments as someone has to be at the gates at 3.15 now.

As well as looking for an alternative you should fight this.

If the next nearest school with childcare is 30 mins in the wrong direction then that's going to cost time and money.

As you have three children, could you offer to increase the amount you pay?

If the school already has small numbers then they risk losing more pupils doing this. The school needs to look again at their business model and make it cheaper.

So many parents work jobs where they need wrap around childcare. I'm a teacher and I use our after school club frequently otherwise I'd have to give up my job. Not everyone has flexibility.

Definitely contact the governors!

What...? That bears no resemblance to what I wrote.

When I first commented it read like op only has until the end of the half term holiday this week. She says her family is in another country, I presumed the kids' grandparents.

It's less urgent than that so she has a month to find a solution. It'll be stressful obviously but no need to fly in grandma which is what I'd have had to di if notice was that short

What a shitty post from that poster OP! Of course in an ideal world one parent wouldn’t work but that doesn’t take into account any number of modern day factors, not least (like you say) that the majority of households needs two incomes to survive. Are you in touch with any of the other parents who use the wraparound care? Hopefully as a collective you can find a solution.

Hoping the op saw this because if accurate problem solved?

We had a similar situation but it was only threatened rather than taking place after Covid but the numbers are now good and it’s sustainable. Some of the alternatives parents looks at was a pool/childcare swap, collectively employing someone to do it, asking the existing staff to act as a nanny etc, paying a sixth former to collect from school.

I’d be more concerned about the viability of the school as a whole tbh. An intake of 5 points to a bigger problem than the wrap/around.

But OP states that this number is only half of what they were expecting. I find it hard to believe if another 5 children were in reception then they would have been able to keep it open - there’s no guarantee those extra kids would have used the the wraparound care anyway. It seems to me as other PP have said that they’ve promised the world in order to try and get more numbers in and then when they’ve realised unable to continue just pulled the plug. I think the is the most disheartening bit as they could have suggested increasing the prices or as others have said closing earlier or doing less days but just gone from full wrap around care to nothing in a matter of weeks is the bitter pill to swallow. @Citytocountry1 as much as your kids love the school and the other one is a longer commute I do agree with PP that a good long term plan may be thinking of moving them altogether as there is a risk with continued smaller intakes and larger groups leaving, the school may struggle to stay open altogether

@JacknDiane Wow wow wow. If as you say you did indeed go through similar situation as OP and your career has not been the same 20 years later it’s surprising to me your lack of empathy. OP is I think understandably upset as I’m sure you were when this was happening to you. Why isn’t she allowed to be annoyed even if it’s noones fault. Is the only emotion allowed stoicism? She’s not blaming the school she’s upset at the lack of communication and it feels overwhelming trying to sort it out at short notice. If you’ve read her posts she’s sorting out a workable temporary solution. She’s had lots of helpful and practical responses here- it’s a shame given your shared experience yours isn’t one of them.

The school that I work at offers wrap around care, but this is run by TA's who do this before/after their full-time job (of course they are paid extra). The school doesn't employ separate people to run the before/after school club.

Yes, if the before/after clubs are run by independent staff from teaching/TA's then you may be able to see if they are interested in child minding your children.

It may be that the school simply can't afford to run wraparound care. If they're employing staff to run it, then the staff need paying etc. The staff salary isn't coming out of the money parents are paying, it needs budgeting for by the school, and is paid by the local council.

I do agree that the school should have warned parents that wraparound care would be closing, so they can make alternative arrangements before it closed. Dumping it on parents at the end of term, when they clearly knew well beforehand, is poor.

You may need to look at wraparound care further afield. Some will pick children up from local schools and take to one central location.

Sympathy for you and hope that one of the suggestions made by others works for you OP.

Sending late on a Friday is cowardly and not in keeping with what a school should be about. I don't think increased charges would have been an option, perhaps more notice could have been given, and tight school budgets are not the fault of the school.

This is not the first thread about withdrawn wraparound provision. Having read this and other threads, perhaps guidance should be replaced by obligations, especially about periods of notice for provision being withdrawn.

To all those suggesting asking sixth formers if they could pick child up from school. Primarys here end of day is at 3.10 pm. Closest sixth form is 20 mins away by bus. Sixth form finishes at 4pm with study sessions going on till 5pm. With the best will in the world sixth formers can not get to the primary by 3.10.

I think that's a disingenuous post. Two parents can rarely stay at home now because wages don't keep up with inflation. The cost of housing is now far more multiples of earnings than it was so usually both parents do need to work. Conversely, minimum wage is high enough to mean the school can't afford to pay to staff the childcare. Its a paradox that I have no idea how to solve, but I'm not in government and thats not my job. I do think there are fundamental contradictions in our whole system and the result is most working families (and by that I mean middle class professionals as well, not just 'real working people' that politicians keep putting on pedestals) are simply juggling and pedalling madly to keep it all going.