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 😓

If the wrap around staff aren't interested in the work, I guess you could temporarily get a DBR checked taxi to ferry them to the wraparound 8+ miles away, until you sort something? Maybe there are other parents who could share a larger taxi?

I agree with the idea of writing to the chair of governors to ask about consultation and what solutions have been considered - combining wraparound with another school with parents paying cost of minibus / increasing charges / reducing hours / a local recruitment drive for volunteers....? If the school are in trouble with falling rolls, it's in their interest to offer something. With 3 out of 60 children, you may have a bit of leverage. I'd mention that you are worried you may have to withdraw your 3 if a longer term solution can't be found.

@Citytocountry1 it sounds like what could make a huge difference to you is a bit more of a “village”. On the day you already pick up at 3:15 could you collect other kids too? Is there any venue local to the school like a library or a play venue or even something like a supermarket cafe where you could take your kids plus a few extras and do something for an hour or two until other parents could meet you & collect? If there is could you sort a bit of a rota with other parents? It might be worth asking as if other people are equally stuck they may well be willing to swap with you. Alternatively do the kids possibly have a friend whose parents could help out in term time if you could commit to helping on training days &/or in the school holidays? We do this at school as a group and we are always happy for new parents to join in x

Birth rates are falling and schools like this are on trouble (even in London, where I live, primary schools are closing and merging).

OP, short term I think babysitting sites like Childcare.co.uk and Sitters might be worth a look. I would move the children for September to a larger school that's part of a Trust and is in a town, even if it lengthens your commute. It sounds like you're not that tied to the area anyway.

Yes - Nordic countries have higher tax rates. There is also greater co-ordination of services, by local authorities. Things are not just left to private providers and market forces. They have more universal access to services like childcare. It is a choice about how you organise society. I would prefer the Nordic model, but i appreciate others wouldn't. Im just highlighting that different systems exist. In Sweden the OP wouldn't be in this position, but she would probably be paying more tax.

All municipalities have to offer a place in a day recreation centre to children attending the municipalities’ preschool classes, compulsory school, special needs compulsory school, and independent schools that don’t have their own day recreation centres.

Urgh OP this happened to us last year, only it's an oversubscribed primary school with a waiting list for both the school and ASC so they couldn't even blame demand. It was run by a private provider who just decided- with a week's notice- they couldn't be bothered any more. The school did eventually move it in house but it took a term. I was really really annoyed with them that they didn't try and put something in place as an interim measure- even some informal sports/art clubs until 16.30 would have helped in bridging the gap (our other DC was at another local primary who do this anyway), but they just sort of shrugged.

They'd also pushed wraparound care as a big plus. You can't 'just get' alternative care at that kind of notice and at a reasonable cost. Luckily I was very flexible at work at the time and DH also flexed as well. It's a gender issue- it shouldn't be, but of course it is. It's also a huge choke on the economy. Universal free childcare- including wraparound- would be a huge economic boost.

Anyway, no suggestions, only sympathies. I would be raising it with the governors, especially the equalities element.

This happened where I live. Rural village and running at a loss so they closed with almost no warning. There was no solution and I had to change roles.

Years later, things have got worse with smaller schools closing, sixth form provision closing and staff at secondary - including me - up for redundancy. In rural communities, particularly where academies have taken over, this is common. Falling numbers and projected decreases over time means schools are in huge debt.

That seems crazy tbh. I’d have thought people would be happy to raise prices to keep provision. £2.50 an hour for the early slot is clearly not viable.

At our one they removed the option to book for just an hour- it was 3 hours or nothing and part of that reason was financial viability.

@Fishinthesink do you know what is involved with setting up ASC and finding funding. Or did you expect staff to do it for free until it could be set up properly

Yes I know exactly what is involved with running an ASC thanks, I'm a school governor (not at this school). Loads of schools- including this one at times- run a one hour coding club or art club, or multi sport as part of their extra--curricular activities separate from ASC provision. Putting one or two extra of those on -bearing in mind lots of TAs were already employed by the ASC private provider, and are now employed directly by the school at the new ASC, wouldn't have been beyond them and in fact would have ensured those TAs didn't miss out on the money for a term. School is open anyway for paid sports clubs from private providers (all full). Parents would have been happy to pay.

They just expected parents (women) to mop it up.

It is now set up properly and school did reveal they were already planning on taking it over, just not so quickly. Where did I say I expected it for free? ASC costs £16, proportional costs for the shorter time period would be fine.

Although at my other child's school those extra curricular activities are already free where they are provided in house.

No magic solutions OP but I feel your pain, my DC are in a small rural school with a falling roll number. We chose the school over another nearby one because the other one had no wraparound care. Recently our school switched the wraparound care to an outside provider as they were no longer able to staff it in-house.

My concern is that the new provider could just pull the plug at any time (they've already had some staff turnover in a term and a half), then we'd be screwed. There's no childminders locally any more, no magic pool of students and an au pair would be isolated and miserable here (even if we could find one).

I think parents can override that decision if they put it in writing to the school. Ours used to let kids from year 3 walk to and from school alone with parents permission so they could be as young as 7. Recently they've changed it to year 5 which seems more in line with other schools but as far as I'm aware there was never actually any issues with year 3's walking alone, we just don't trust kids to do things like this anymore.

This is the risk you run when you choose a school based on it's childcare offering instead of the education offering. Don't mistake schools for childcare.

I hope you have planned for back-up solutions, have flexible jobs and take heed from the OP just in case...

It’s hard isn’t it. The issue our village has is speed of drivers, (the local volunteers who run speed service operated around the school near Christmas and caught some people doing 55mph past children walking to school) and lack of pavement to the roads surrounding the school so it’s just not safe for them

The government don’t seem to want people to use childminders-they want schools to do everything but won’t fund them properly, so so it all collapses. A school near to us stopped running their ASC as they couldn’t recruit anyone to work in it and when they looked into private providers, it was so expensive, it just wasn’t viable for the few families that wanted it. To set up a business for just a couple of hours a day at a pretty inconvenient time for most people looking for work, is not sustainable.

As a single parent, I can completely empathise, OP.

But as a senior leader in a primary school, I can say that school budgets are not just non existent- they’re often in a deficit. Ours is. And that deficit is getting bigger and bigger. It’s largely caused by un funded staff pay rises. Schools in this situation then face a lot of pressure to reduce that deficit. We can’t make staff redundant and staff the school effectively so we’re having to make savings everywhere else.

It’s not feasible anymore. But it’s a wider problem with school funding.

If there’s appetite to continue it then could move to committee run. There are quite a lot around that operate on that model and hire the premises from the school.

Would need to shift to viable pricing though.

That’s interesting, I don’t know of any schools with that model. How does it work-a group of parents all wanting afterschool care are responsible for setting it up? Risk assessments, hiring and firing staff, sourcing equipment, safeguarding etc?

Is there any venue local to the school like a library or a play venue or even something like a supermarket cafe

I love seeing people's idea of "rural"!
Where I am, rural libraries have long been closed. The nearest supermarket is 40 min walk. I'm not even that "rural".
Where my sister lives, there's a phone box and that's it - and I don't expect that works tbh!

Yeah it's impossibly cheap.

My dd's ASC (admittedly at a private school) is £6.50 per half-hour, to include food if you stay at least an hour.

It's pretty expensive considering it's not an actual class like ballet or swimming. We pay for it because we couldn't both work otherwise.

But £2.50 per hour is stupidly cheap compared to £13 per hour. No wonder it's not viable.

Edit to add - dd says there are "way more than 20" kids at ASC at her school each day, a mid sized prep school. They must make a bit of a profit on it.

Still I'd imagine people would be willing to pay more like £8 or 9 per hour rather than £2.50.

This made me laugh. Believe me , I (and expect many others) wish we didn’t have to factor in childcare but this is the reality we live in. what is your actual solution other than vague “back up plan” and flexible work. OP can’t help having no family closeby - she’s already said she’s financially supporting a parent who is living with cancer. She’s moved out of a big city to somewhere rural because of rising costs (which is often suggested as a solution to the affordability crisis)

Not all jobs are flexible. I and many of my friends work for NHS. Would you be happy if your doctor / nurse / radiologist / podiatrist etc wasn’t available because they had to leave to collect their kids from school early? Or should I quit my job and depend on the state to top up DHs salary when my little is ready for school. Those are my options without wraparound care. This is not a choice parents / guardians are making. Even if this is not a situation you have directly found yourself in, I can’t fathom why so many people don’t understand it and think that working people prioritising schools with wraparound care are mad 🤷🏾‍♀️

It made me laugh as well, I don't think working parents are choosing a school based on its childcare offering instead of its education offering. Rather they are considering the package of the a good education offering with suitable wraparound care to be preferable to one without wraparound care.

There's no winning, I've seen posters on other threads torn to shreds because they picked a school they really loved without thoroughly researching local wraparound care options in advance, then couldn't find provision that worked with their jobs.

This is something that always baffles me during these kinds of conversations on MN. There seems to be an assumption that all parents - well, mothers - do or should do little hobby jobs that fit nicely around school hours. I know the loads of the parents who use ASC at our school - there are lots of GPs, nurses, teachers, etc. Yet you know these people would be the first to whinge if their GP appointments got cancelled.

Aren’t school supposed to consult and figure out how to help make it work?

There's no statutory requirement to consult, no.
There would also be little point in consulting parents if they already know that the service isn't financially viable. If anything that would just be a wasting your time and giving you false hope.

Many school run ASC's have historically been run at a loss. Given that so many schools are now in a budget deficit, operating recruitment freezes and facing the prospect of making staff redundant, this scenario is going to become more common as schools simply won't be able to absorb the loss. In a small school with a falling intake and lots of parents who WFH or have family help, even putting the fees up for the few families who do need the service 5 days a week is unlikely to make it sustainable long term.

In your shoes I would be looking at other schools, especially as you currently have no way of knowing how likely it is that the school could close.

Yup.

Generally the volunteer committee employ a member of staff and make covering that part of their job description.

I think Theyre probably run as CICs but I’m not sure.

I can see the government plans for every child to be offered a free 30 minute breakfast club place will be a complete nightmare as well!

Whilst the afterschool club at my school is failing badly (can’t get the staff and not enough parents want it regularly), our breakfast club is well attended. It’s full most mornings and some LSAs are happy to work another hour before school. If the government plans of everyone being entitled to half an hour of free childcare and breakfast come to fruition, this will be a nightmare for us. There is no other room for us to use and I can see large numbers of people wanting their extra half an hour if it’s free-I don’t know where we will put them all! The 60p per child a day would barely pay for toast/cereal and fruit for them, let alone the staffing costs. We can do it well, for a certain number of children and paying for the club, but would just not be able to manage everyone coming. It would probably mean the breakfast club couldn’t run at all.