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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get tee'd off with school when they cancel after-school clubs with no notice

80 replies

clumsymum · 13/05/2009 16:45

For the 3rd time this term one of the after-school clubs the ds attends has been cancelled. Secretary rang round this afternoon to tell everyone.

Ok, today it's because one of the 2 teachers who takes it is ill, and the other one (who often takes it on her own) has decided she's too busy. I suspect it's to do with it being SAT's week mind you.

Other weeks we haven't been given any reason. As a self-employed, work from home -but sometimes out to see clients - mum, it's a complete P I T A. It's difficult enough to fit in enough work time as it is. I can't be the only one who finds it awkward.

Surely, if they're going to commit to run a club, they should commit to it properly.

OP posts:
pointydog · 13/05/2009 19:09

An after school club in the sense of a Choir Club or Chess Club is not wrap around care. It is a teacher in the school agreeing to run a club and usually not being paid for it. It is never advertised as childcare of any sort. That's how it is where I live.

An After School Club, run by paid members of staff (not teachers) and advertised as childcare, is childcare.

Morloth · 13/05/2009 19:09

Depends, if club is free and staffed by volunteers - YABU.

If you pay for it then it really is part of your childcare arrangements and YANBU.

piscesmoon · 13/05/2009 19:12

OP's DC wasn't going to After School Club, they were going to an after school club. Quite different. The After School Club is separate to the school and has paid staff and offers child care. An after school club isn't childcare, it is run by a teacher in their free time, as an extra for free.

Tamarto · 13/05/2009 19:12

Morloth - Surely that depends on what you are paying for, eg an after school art club where you contribute to the cost of the equipment?

OP - YABU

MollieO · 13/05/2009 19:14

I'm amazed by this thread.

YANBU imo. Wrap around care is a form of childcare and should be reliable. If ds's was cancelled then his school would have to keep him there for 2 hours whilst I travelled from work to collect him. Can't see the point in it being run as an ad hoc thing. We pay £1.50 for BSC (7.30-8.30) and £2.50 for ASC (3.20pm-6.30pm). Always runs if the school is open. Run by nursery staff section of the school. Used by about 60 children a day.

pointydog · 13/05/2009 19:14

It
is
not
wrap
around
care

MollieO · 13/05/2009 19:15

Should add that it was one of the deciding factors for choosing the school in the first place.

MollieO · 13/05/2009 19:16

Finally, should add that if one of the ASC clubs is cancelled then the boys have the option to go to the paid ASC.

Hulababy · 13/05/2009 19:19

I misread OP and assumed ASC, rather than a club.

Suppose rest depends on circumstances and if paid for.

We do pay for clubs and, like MollieO, if a club is cancelled (rarely) they can go to ASC instead. We do pay for our clubs and if someone agrees to take children on for x number of sessions then ideally they should meet that committment.

pointydog · 13/05/2009 19:23

Also need to know if this is private or state school. Makes a huge difference. If a school club is cancelled in state schools I know, there is no way a child could go to the After School Club. Private is a whole different kettle of fish.

Hulababy · 13/05/2009 19:26

I think OP is state.
My example, and I think MollieO's example, is private.

HappyMummyOfOne · 13/05/2009 19:27

If the OP means an after school activity, then its not childcare and YABU.

If its an actual afterschool club where you pay for childcare then thats different.

From the sounnds of the OP (more than one club is mentioned) then its purely an activity and should not be used as childcare.

TheFallenMadonna · 13/05/2009 19:33

When my children go to an after school activity run by teachers. I still pay for their place at the after school club - the 'official' after school childcare option, because clubs can and are cancelled owing to illness or other commitments. Didn't occur to me to view them in the same way at all.

mysteryfairy · 13/05/2009 21:38

I pay a childminder to collect my DD from school and look after her until I get home from work. The childminder collects six children after school in her MPV and takes them to her home approximately 4 miles away (rural location). Once a week DD has a club after school. We pay for her to attend in addition to paying the CM for those hours in case there is ever a problem. However afaik it is run by volunteers. For the last two weeks running school have rung me (at work approx 45 mins drive away on a good run) after the CM has done her pick up and left to advise me that the club is not running. I think it's unreasonable for me to ask the CM to return for DD and I'm not even sure she would agree to do so. Of course if they told her at 15.30 that the club was cancelled she would take DD with her which is what we've agreed with her and the school. Two weeks running I've been faced with ringing round begging favours from friends to go and retrieve DD until I can get home.

I'm pretty sure the OP is refering to being put in similar positions at the last minute rather than being deprived of some free childcare. And I don't think it is unreasonable to want schools to take into account that not all mums are necessarily sat at home waiting for the schoool day to end. It really upsets me - I get really stressed by even the possibility that DD will get upset and I think I've got reasonable arrangements in place for the (twice paid for) care of my child. So to me running the club properly would include making proper provision to cancel it.

Can't resist adding it although I'm sure someone will jump on me, it also undermines me in the workplace. I look really unprofessional when my domestic arrangements intrude and I'm ducking out of meetings to make frantic phone calls. I can hardly expect people to trust my ability when I apparently can't organise myself at home.

BTW I have solved the problem. DD won't be going to the club any more but I am sad I've had to deprive her of the opportunity.

islandofsodor · 13/05/2009 21:43

If an after school activity clun is cancelled at my dd's school (private) then the children are allowed to attend after school care for free for that session. I assume that doing at least 1 club is in the contracts as every single teacher does something.

I openely use clubs as childcare as I can;t afford the £70 oer term per child for after school care on top of fees.

AnyFucker · 13/05/2009 21:48

All after school activities (other than paid after school wrap-around care) have been cancelled whilst the SATS are happening

That seems a better plan to me, as at least you know where you are up to

RustyBear · 13/05/2009 21:52

Sometimes it is out of the school's control - we once had a premier League club cancel the (paid-for) afterschool session at an hour's notice - by the time we'd rung the last parent, it was about 10 minutes before the end of school (we were not helped by several parents being unobtainable on any of the numbers they'd given) That's why we now use ParentMail, so we can put a message online & parents who have signed up get an email or text to explain the situation.

But if you really can't find anyone to pick up your child, the school isn't actually going to throw him/her out on the street are they? We usually have one or two left after a cancellation, even with the ParentMail system and they just stay in the ICT suite/library till they can be picked up & none of them have ever seemed particularly traumatised by it.

RustyBear · 13/05/2009 21:56

islandofsodor - every teacher at our school does something too, as well as some of the TAs. It definitely isn't in their contracts - they do it for the children.

lil · 13/05/2009 21:57

£70 a term sounds fantastic Island compared to childminders. Our private school is £5 a day!!!

lil · 13/05/2009 21:57

£70 a term sounds fantastic Island compared to childminders. Our private school is £4 a day!!!

LupusinaLlamasuit · 13/05/2009 22:03

I think the OP is getting a bit of a hard time. Whether or not it is voluntary on the part of the teachers, most working parents will make arrangments around the after school clubs. I don't think it is beyond reasonable for schools to make contingency arrangements if one has to be cancelled. For example, in our school, teachers runs after school clubs but there is also after school childcare. I get frustrated when clubs are cancelled on the day (for example, sport clubs cancelled in bad weather) as I can't always drop everything with 30 mins notice either.

Of course teachers have emergencies like the rest of us, but if it is short notice, the governors/head should have an alternative holding plan for those parents who can't get there. They could double up in another club, or in our case they could negotiate with the childcare service.

piscesmoon · 13/05/2009 22:26

Of course they do look after them if the parents can't be contacted.However they phone around first, and OP was in and able to collect-it was just inconvienient-as it was to everyone else.

myredcardigan · 13/05/2009 22:37

I don't think parents should make plans whilst their child is at an after school activity. They do sometimes need to be cancelled due to school issues cropping up or personal issues for the teacher. A small primary school cannot just offer an alternative as the other staff likely have other commitments and usually there is only one club each night run by a different member of staff.

Paid for wraparound care is entirely different as this is childcare and they are external service providers offering a paid for service to parents.

IMO they are very different and parents should treat them as such.

Oh and most schools don'trun any clubs during SATs week.

pointydog · 13/05/2009 22:39

I think it most definitely is beyond reasonable to expect schools to make contingency arrangemnts for any time beyond what is necessary for a parent to arrive and collect. It is not childcare and cannot be counted as such, despite the temptation to do so.

islandofsodor · 13/05/2009 22:43

Yes £70 per term is great if you use it full time, but it is £70 or nothing whether you use it for a day a wwek, 1 day a month or 5 days a week.

I would use it for 2 hours per week, per child, thats all.