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 😓

Can you get in touch with the school and see if there is any option for them to reinstate it if they upped the fees or put in place a different provision?

It's incredibly hard to find staff for after school provision even in cities, they often run unprofitably and many are at risk of closing.

Living rurally AND nowhere near family is always a risky choice, to be fair.

I would also look at your nearest town which has a sixth form or university as often students can offer childcare. They probably won't want to travel though.

It’s actually the opposite they have 4 staff members who can run it, and one explained to me just before Christmas how running it gives her absolutely critical extra income doing a job she loves with her child with her. It’s run extremely well by a lunch time monitor and the TAs and now and again the year 3 teacher simply joins in crafting because she said she likes the non pressure of spending time with some of her class (none of mine are year 3) it’s been brilliant so I can imagine the team who get extra hours work are devastated

Oh interesting, because that's the opposite of what I'd thought. Maybe it is worth asking whether it could be viable if more were charged then. Do you know how many other kids go regularly?

Sadly I don’t have an extended family that would be able to help anyway. It’s is sadly not my reality

Id look and see if the other school was doable over losing a job.

Also try and find out if the other users would help in anyway? If you could have thier children once a week and they had yours on a different day, thats one day less impact on work. I used to do a swap with my neighbours children to save money. I had them Monday and she had mine on Friday. (although I guess if you have 3 and they have 1 its a bit unfair)

Is there any possible way the person who was running the club would become an afterschool nanny.

I hate the whole "school isn't childcare" thing too btw, you'd need one person to earn £75k to get a mortgage for the average house price, which is almost double the average wage. Hence in most families both parents need to work.

(And my fairly modest 3 bed terraced house in an average suburban non-London area would need a salary of £150k if I were to buy it today)

Children need to go to school, so any childcare needed beyond that needs to work AROUND school which has a huge impact on how it all works.

I know they have more staff than they need who ca run it. So there has been good sick cover if one person came down poorly. I’m not sure about breakfast club I know 5 children who definitely use it and after school there are including mine 12 regular users and probably about 8 adhoc across the week

The reality is that ASC just isn’t as popular as it used to be - more and more parents are working remotely, or in hybrid jobs, or in jobs where they can finish in the office at 2.30, do the school run and finish up while the kids play or watch TV.

I’m in a very rural area and I can’t think of a single person who works a standard 9-5 type job in an office with absolutely no flexibility. Everyone does shifts, or starts early to finish early, or works from home, or does evenings and or weekends to make up their hours, so ASC just isn’t something they need anymore.

At my school, many choose it because of the wraparound care that is offered. I know it would be a huge blow if we didn’t have it and many would leave - but wet have others schools nearby. Yours is incredibly cheap which is def part of the issue for them not being viable.
i think you need to speak staff members that work there and see you can have some sort of private arrangement.
When my two both needed wraparound care, we did consider a nanny /au pair because there wasn’t much difference in price. Certainly if we had three children we would have looked into it more, especially as it would have meant we would have advertised the role to include some domestic jobs so we wouldn’t need to pay a cleaner.

Well the year 3 teacher wouldn't count as this is not technically her job description and while she might like dropping in now and again she wouldn't count towards numbers. I expect there would be outrage amongst teaching staff if they were told they had to do ASC permanently (and they would be contacting unions about this).

Do the other three work on rotation? It sounds very overstaffed based on the description of the school.

Rather than looking at numbers I think you need to look at families. Like I said, you have 3 children but are ultimately 1 family who is affected. If there is only another family who also have multiple children that use ASC regularly then it isn't viable for those limited families.

It sounds like the school need to cut costs urgently (the lack of numbers in reception being evidence of this) and as others have said they are in a delicate position (they will have seen the numbers for this September too and maybe that is also only 5 or maybe even less hence now ditching the ASC).

Yes I get that, it's my reality too (well actually mine could help, but don't) - living in a city with lots of school and childcare options gives me more choice though if something goes to shit.

Agree this is why we had to leave London we couldn’t afford to stay there and we spent a long time finding somewhere that would feel like home for our children. And with affordable housing and jobs and a decent school with an afterschool club. Life is challenging isn’t it

This situation has all the hallmarks of the school being in dire financial straits. This is the time of year that budgets are being set for next year and meetings held to look at potential savings. I'm sure it's not a decision they've taken lightly at all but may have had no choice but to stop the wraparound care.
Have I read it right that you have three children in the wraparound club? Could you start advertising now to see if you can find your own childminder to pick up the children and look after them at home? It sounds like you're quite rural so I appreciate that might be unlikely, and it would be more expensive, but you never know. You might get someone who could also work part time in school holidays so helping with your leave situation too. I'm trying to put a positive spin on this but I know how worrying this must be!

I would offer the member of staff who did it £45 a day to care for your DC at your home as a nanny. (You'd need to look into all the ramifications of employing her etc of course)

Cheaper than moving, about the price ASC should be for 3 DC, and would be a good wage for her for 2ish hours work.

Completely agree-it can be very difficult to find staff to work 3.30-6.30 as well. We had one LSA who could be persuaded-she worked during the day and had a parent living at home so they would look after her own children. When that parent died, she didn't want to do it any more. Putting her own children in breakfast club (school let her do that free) when they weren’t enjoying it, just so she could earn minimum wage for an hour and a half just didn’t work for their family-she wanted to be at home with them.

All of our LsAs are mums with school age kids who choose the job for the working hours-they generally don’t want to work when the kids are at home.

This is what we did. My dm came over +9000 miles away and helped us out for a month. We both screened lots of Nannie’s and found one eventually that was with us for around 1.5years.
my mum came over again during other difficult times. Do you have anyone you can ask to come? I really feel for you as I know the struggle op.

Sorry just seen your update. Your best bet would then be dh trying to reduce hours. I know it’s crap op. Those early years are so so hard without any help. I’m a sahm now but honesty I remember those years with such dread.

It’s probably the 8 ad hoc pupils that are the problem. You need constant numbers as paying staff. The parents of these 8 children may have been asked if they could up their days and/or pay upfront whether they ended up using the club. If they said no then that signalled the end of provision

Can’t imagine school have made this decision without much thought. When I was a governor we had to make this decision but we just couldn’t get the numbers to add up, and it was the case of do we have TA time in school hours or run ASC at loss.

I agree with the posters who have said that it sounds like the school are in severe financial difficulties. Especially as OP said only 5 children joined the reception class last year.

OP, I know this is difficult, but it might be time to look at alternative schools. I suspect that the closure of the after school club is just the tip of the iceberg.

Do you know how do we find out if it’s just the tip of the iceberg? Should we just email the head and ask if this means the school is at risk of closing too?

These prices are insanely low. No wonder it's folding.

Our school has the oversubscribed club at £16.80 until 6. Want to pick up at 4? You still pay the same. You get your place and then pay until you give notice. No last minute bookings.

There are also 3 or so clubs that run each day for different activities, often run by teaching assistants but also external providers, these are until 4:15 and cost minimum £5 more if it'sthe private dance school. They are clearl they are not child care, though many use them as such, and they can just not be on one week if not convenient to the staff.

@Citytocountry1 how big is the school? How many classes? Really small schools get extra funding which can make them strangely more viable financially than a slightly larger school. Is it standalone school or part of a Trust?

Schools aren’t obliged to provide wraparound care so I don’t think you can expect them to consult with parents before they decide it isn’t viable. I’m not sure what your solution is, maybe wait and see what your husbands work say.

Not only rural areas.... Some parts of London are the same- no childcare available and waiting lists for 2 or 3 years. Our school just cancelled after school care with 2 weeks notice. We all just juggling between each other as most of us have no family here. I'm on waiting list for local childminder since 2024....

I don't think it would happen immediately and I presume your children are already in mixed year groups.