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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

LupusinaLlamasuit · 13/05/2009 23:14

OK. So. Parents should be available to pick up children for 36 weeks of the year on, say, Tuesday at 3.15... Except they won't need to because for 35 weeks of the year Mrs X will be running netball club till 4.15?

So instead of scheduling work activities I should wait at the school gate for an hour? Or pay for 35 sessions of wrap-around care that I won't use?

You know what, I think all of this objection is based on the assumption that parents either don't work, or have other family around to call on at short notice.

I completely appreciate the voluntary effort the teachers make in putting on these clubs for the kids. But there is a tacit understanding I think that this stands in for care, because realistically it does for most parents. I don't think it is unreasonable at all for the school to be tolerant of working parents in this respect.

myredcardigan · 13/05/2009 23:21

Well it's fine to use it as care and assume it will be there for 35 or even all 36 wks but you cannot then complain when it has to be cancelled with short notice. That is all I am saying. They are run purely to offer the kids a less formal learning experience.

GlastonburyGoddess · 13/05/2009 23:24

I think if you dont pay for it then yes YABquiteU. however if you have to pay for the after school club(ds1's is £7 3-5.30pm per day) then yanbu. i rely on asc once a week, sometimes twice a week whilst im returning from work, but as i pay for his place, i expect them to deliver whatever. if it was free on the other hand, i would expect there to possibly be times where staff werent available to run it.

myredcardigan · 13/05/2009 23:27

What I'm trying to say is by all means take advantage of it but you cannot rely on it to the same extent as you can paid for childcare. It is run primarily for the kids.

LupusinaLlamasuit · 13/05/2009 23:30

I don't mind it being cancelled AT ALL, this is not the point for me. We do not pay for the clubs, though we do make the very small 'voluntary contribution' requested.

What I mind is it being cancelled (in our case mostly because of bad weather) at short notice. We have (very) occasionally been rung at 3.40 to be asked why we haven't picked DS up yet! Er, because we had no idea you had cancelled the club, we said. But it's raining, she said. Hm. I had assumed perhaps if it was raining they might do something else in one of the classrooms or in the hall.

MollieO · 13/05/2009 23:32

Yes, my example is private but the local state schools have something similar, albeit a lot more expensive (suppose school fees help to subsidise the lower cost we pay).

LupusinaLlamasuit · 13/05/2009 23:32

What on earth does it mean to say 'it is run primarily for the kids'? Kids are part of families and their abilities to enjoy and/or participate in activities are not separate from the needs, finances, work patterns of their families.

myredcardigan · 13/05/2009 23:33

Well yes, whenever I've run sports clubs, I've done something in the hall if it was raining. Maybe hall is being taken up with paid ASC!

sayithowitis · 13/05/2009 23:37

Sorry LupusinaLlamasuit, I do not agree that there is any 'tacit understanding' that a club , netball or otherwise, is a form of care for your child. I am a TA, and I, like many teachers at my school and indeed every school throughout the country, run various clubs after school, on a totally voluntary basis because we care about the children and want to offer them opportunities which are just not available to them during a normal school day. But just because we care about your children, it does not make us your children's (unpaid) carers.

myredcardigan · 13/05/2009 23:37

By that I mean, times, subjects, frequency etc.

I mean we run it for their enjoyment and enrichment not as an alternative to paid wraparound care.

And most teachers are (obviously) working parents too. I need to pay for wraparound care for my kids too. There is no big conspiracy by schools to make life awkward for working parents nor do schools assume all mothers areat home.

MollieO · 13/05/2009 23:38

Surely all ASC clubs are run for the benefit of the children who attend them? If ds's school cancelled clubs on an ad hoc basis and expected parents to collect early at short notice they wouldn't have anyone attending those clubs. Even SAHMs need to have some consistency. The great benefit in having ASC clubs and ASC care is the ability to attend both, which wouldn't have been possible with a CM.

MollieO · 13/05/2009 23:42

I wonder what a homework club would be viewed as? I can't wait until ds is old enough to attend them. Free childcare plus help with homework

GlastonburyGoddess · 13/05/2009 23:42

I think the lesson to learn is that if you dont pay for asc, you cant expect to have the "freedom" of not thinking about colecting them till the arranged time. if somebody is caring for your child on a "voluntary" basis, you have to be around and available to collect them when situations like rain/illness etc occur

myredcardigan · 13/05/2009 23:45

Mollie, in state schools they are two very different concepts. There is usually no provision to attend ASC if teacher led club is cancelled.

ASC are usually run by outside agencies who tendor for the contract. They basically supervise the kids and do craft or sporty activities. Parents pay in advance.

Clubs run by teachers are more specific and usually just for 1 or 2 year groups.

piscesmoon · 14/05/2009 06:47

' I assume that doing at least 1 club is in the contracts as every single teacher does something'

It is not in their contracts!! They do it for the children, as an extra and they do not get paid.Teachers do a lot which is way beyond the call of duty. If people start making a great thing of it being unfair if they cancel or can't make it there is only way to go and that is to stop doing any after school clubs. They can't just go to the ASC instead because that is separate to the school. They contact the parent to see if they can be collected early, because otherwise one of the school staff have to look after them.

scienceteacher · 14/05/2009 06:52

Do you pay for the club, clumsy?

Or is it free babysitting?

islandofsodor · 14/05/2009 09:55

By piscesmoon on Thu 14-May-09 06:47:47
' I assume that doing at least 1 club is in the contracts as every single teacher does something'

It is not in their contracts!! They do it for the children, as an extra and they do not get paid. school staff have to look after them.

I said bewfore it is a private school and in most private schools it is in the contracts they they do certain after school activities. Perhaps it counterbalances the fact that they have longer holidays.

islandofsodor · 14/05/2009 09:56

By the way my dh is a peripatetic music teacher in state schools and he gets paid by the LEA or the shcool direct (depending on the type of school) to run after school clubs. It is all part of his directed time.

pointydog · 14/05/2009 17:46

The private school people are muddying the waters. The op is talking about a state school and it is completely different.

The club is probably free, mollie, not more expensive.

You don't get somthing for nowt.

As a previous poster said, it can be hard to manage, if a club is regularly cancelled. So the op's only option is to put up or stop ds going to the club.

I'm a working mum and there are plenty of clubs I've said the dds cannot attend because I need completely reliable childcare.

pointydog · 14/05/2009 17:46

I don't think clumsy cares that much anyway. She'sbuggered off.

MummyDragon · 14/05/2009 18:00

Now now pointydog - OP is probably at work, be nice now.

What I find interesting about this thread is how the views seem to be divided pretty neatly between those who work in schools and those who don't. And whilst I am a SAHM now, I used not to be, and I do completely understand the point made by someone that not being able to rely on after-school clubs etc can make you seem flaky at the office.

That said, I still think that if the club is not part of wraparound care, YABU as some poor member of staff is still going to have to stay late whilst waiting for you to come and collect your child.

Thandeka · 14/05/2009 18:48

YABU

and I'm a teacher running an after school club- given the ungratefullness of so many parents I wonder why I bother.....

Oh yes- I remember I do it for the kids.

Thandeka · 14/05/2009 18:50

and since I possibly made the word "ungratefullness" up since google yields 1000 results and none of them dictionaries- you can be very glad that I am not an English teacher.

scienceteacher · 14/05/2009 18:55

I think if something is free, you simply can't rely on it. That means you can't make appointments during that time.

At my school (private), we provide childcare (paid) until 6pm, in several sessions. Children in Years 3 - 5 can do prep and then an activity for no extra cost, up until about 5.15. If they don't get picked up by that time, they go to after school care for a fee (they get a snack as well as supervision/play). If the activity is cancelled and they can't get picked up, they can go to after school care for longer.

The pupils are safe and the only inconvenience to parents is the extra charge.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned about teacher-run (ie free) activities is that parents are more likely to cancel their child's participation with no notice than the teacher not being able to make it for that particular session. I doubt they see that this could possibly be inconvenient to the teacher.

piscesmoon · 14/05/2009 19:01

'and I'm a teacher running an after school club- given the ungratefullness of so many parents I wonder why I bother.....'

I don't think that a lot of parents realise how lucky they are in the staff at the school! They just take it for granted that it is part of the teacher's job-it may be in the private sector but it is just good will in state schools.

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