Lack of Breakfast & after school clubs in area - what are working parents doing?

[Sallypoo]

Hi

I've just hit a big obstacle. Although promoted in both the schools I have put on my son's application for primary school, turns out that neither currently provide the clubs (and hrs) promoted in their prospectus!

Both my husband and I work, there were, as I am sure you can imagine, a number of criteria we considered before choosing which villages schools to put down.

One of the factors was the before and after school clubs they offered. We're very lucky, that the three local schools are either "good" or "outstanding".

However, I found out (after the closing date for applications) that in both cases the schools online prospectuses were out of date. In one case they now offer no provision at all and for the other is is greatly reduced.

I have no idea what to do.... I feel it is wrong to rely on friends (5 years after all), I don't really like childminders.... what does the rest of the world do?

I've spoken with one of the schools today and they said they are aware of 2 other local schools pulling their provision too. Are others parents in the same position? Have the government silently removed funding when telling us they want mums to go back to work?

I'm having to consider giving up work, reducing my hours (if my employer will agree) paying for private education, trying to find a childminder (already know most are fully booked in and around my village).....

I would be gratefully to hear from you. Feel like my world has been turned upsidedown, and slightly miffed!

We have an aupair who takes our oldest 2 to school and picks them up for the days that I work. We live close to the school so they can walk, and obviously you need a certain amount of space for an aupair, and somewhere that they can go to college. It works brilliantly for us, but we are quite laidback about having someone else in the house, and the aupairs that we have had (2 so far, both German) have been great. It works out better value than breakfast/out of school club - we pay her £75 per week pocket money, plus board obviously plus gym membership (£26/month) and a bus pass (£40/month). Biggest plus for me is that our kids get to come home straight from school, chill out, have a play, have their tea, go to the library etc, and they love her - she is like a big sister to my eldest daughter (7), and she is also a live in babysitter so we can both go out even if it's just to walk the dog together in the evening. I'd really recommend it if you have the space.

Where did you find your au pair? I am keen but a bit nervous. Did you get references from an agency or what?

We went on a website called greataupair.com - you basically put a little advert on, with your details and a picture etc and then you can search through au pairs and identify people you think would be good, and then notify them of your interest - they can look at your profile and either message you back or ignore you. Then you can email and skype your potential au pair and go from there. It's always going to be a gamble that you get someone good - we've been really lucky. I think being very clear about what you want, and not expecting them to do too much (ie don't treat them like a skivvy) is helpful. Ours is not expected to do anything other than the childcare/help the kids tidy their rooms. Have a look at some au pair websites!

Thank you- very useful, I think I'll do just that!

Hmm, yes not for us. My husband doesn't really want me to give up work, as he likes having the house to himself sometimes...

I've looked at the council's website of ofsted registered Childminders and there are only 3 in our village. I already know 2 are "full".

Why don't you like childminders? They provide much needed services.

Could he have the house to himself after droppping off to school and before picking up again? That would solve all your problems!

You say "I don't really like childminders.... what does the rest of the world do?"

I'm struggling to feel sympathetic; I do think that is rather a rude remark.

you don't really like childminders! Gosh you've been busy visiting every single registered childminder in the country. And yes, I'm sure all of them are unpleasant people. Not like rude, pig ignorant people who come up with sweeping statement encompassing a whle profession of people.
let's start a thread along the same lines of random professsions we don't like for no discernible reason; I'm going to kick off with " I don't like accountants"

What have you been doing for care up to now? I think it would have been good to check out the after-school provision before applying to the school tbh. I hope you didn't get the rest of the information on which you based your application from the same outdated websites.

If your husband likes having the house to himself, I don't think he is going to welcome an aupair who will be there 24/7. Going private is not going to solve your problems even if they do have extensive before and after-school care as the holidays are considerably longer so you will just have struggles at different times of the year. If you don't want to use a childminder, your first option will have to be trying to reduce your hours at work.

I don't imagine the poster meant it personally.
I suspect it is the nature of childminding she doesn't like, it wouldn't suit me either I wouldn't want to have someone chose when they were having all their holidays, which activities/locations my child was taken to and what other ages of children my child would mix with.
It does work really well for some people, but its not for everyone and even the best childminder must be able to see that.
sallypoo have you tried asking school, by law they have to provide something, they can only just provide a list if they can prove there's not sufficient need for an afterschool service.

As Karoleann says, if there is demand for an out of school club, the school is supposed to provide one, either themselves or via a third party.
Ask the head when they last conducted a survey of demand for after school care (they are supposed to do this regularly, once a year a least) and what the results were.
If there was insufficient demand for a club the school is supposed to 'signpost' suitable alternative providers (ie a list of childminders who take children after school).

Wow, I come on here for advice and get abuse. Nice.

Thank you Karoleaan. I you are spot on. I simply prefer nursery provision, as this suits our circumstances and my husband's shift work. I didn't realise to ask a question on here I would have to justify every element of my decision making process.

If you read what I've said, they aren't an option for us and the 3 in my area are all full or don't offer to/from school services.

Never mind, will just think twice before asking for advise again.

Don't know if you two threads want to get together ? Here

Get in touch with your family Information Service. LAs have to ensure there is "sufficient" childcare available in their locality.

You haven't been abused, although you were - at the very least - somewhat rude / blunt about CMs. No ownder people take offence.

Nurseries offere out of school provision for U8s.

How regular is your dh's shift pattern - could he offer to take someone eles's dcs some days and see if they'd take your on others?

Get in touch with your family Information Service. LAs have to ensure there is "sufficient" childcare available in their locality.

opps, didn't mean to post that sentence twice.

Well unfortunately there are not a whole heap of wonderful other options available out there. IME two working parents have the following options

1. One of you gives up work
2. You work around one another - cutting and mixing hours to cope (although you will struggle for holiday cover on this basis - school holidays are LONG)
3. You have childcare cover - paid or unpaid - from relatives
4. You try after school clubs - which you can't do in your position
5. You try childminders - which you don't want to do
6. You try an aupair - which you don't want to do
7. You try a nanny

There aren't any other magic options. If you sit there going I don't want this and and I don't want that, you are frankly going to struggle. Each solution has its upsides and downsides. You pick one.

Do you have any colleges/universities near you? Particularly if they do childcare course, you may be able to find a relatively cheap student to nanny for you. Cheaper than an experienced, qualified nanny but live out and who can possibly cover holidays as well?

TBH if you post the sentiment 'I don't like childminders' in an area titles 'childminders, nannies, aupairs etc' you are going to deservedly get a serving.

My childminder went to public school, has a fine arts degree, has a house twice the size of mine in a much better area and ONLY minds my DS who is 6 months younger than her own DD. She minds because she a) loves parenting b) thinks the part time company is good for her DD and c) wants some pocket money of her own.

You could really complain about that?

You asked to have your arse handed to you. Sorry.

I think in fairness to the OP, she was probably saying 'I don't like childminders' in the same way that you see some MNers say 'I don't like nurseries' - just not what she wants, for whatever reason.

OP, the reason why after breakfast clubs and school clubs are difficult for schools to sustain are:

1. It is difficult to get qualified and well-trained people who want to work those hours. Who would want to work 8.00 to 9.00 and then 3.00 to 6.00? People with children probably want to be home after school, school staff want to go home after school...

2. The after-school club has to be registered as a separate childcare provision. Therefore it needs its own management, policies and is separately registered with Ofsted. Who would want to take on that management role? It is equivalent in responsibility to running any other children's setting, but wages for after-school club work are not great.

3. If it is run by a manager employed by a voluntary committee, then it is depending on the working parents using the breakfast club/after school club who therefore don't have much time to give to a voluntary committee...

For school you need to cover, before, after, holidays, random inset days and sickness. For all except the first and last I had an after school and holiday nanny. If you find one close enough you might get b4 school too. Aps are great but have limits. I found someone local on gumtree for b4 school but she was unreliable so it often ended with me or dh doing it and coming home later. Why do you think private schools would be better?

No cms in my area would do drop off at my school (which is a local faith one) and there were no clubs.

"My childminder went to public school, has a fine arts degree, has a house twice the size of mine in a much better area and ONLY minds my DS who is 6 months younger than her own DD. She minds because she a) loves parenting b) thinks the part time company is good for her DD and c) wants some pocket money of her own.

You could really complain about that?

You asked to have your arse handed to you. Sorry."

Like the quality of the care you get has anything to do with the size of the persons house.... WTF!

OK, so I don't like childminding because if that individual is having an off day then they have no-one to take over from them when they start taking out on the kids.... OK the end. I have experience of this. All the childminders in my area work alone and so this isn't for my DSs. Again though I do NOT see why I have to justify my reasons for wanting to find something other than I would like to find a before and after school club.

To all those helpful posters, thank you I very much appreciate it.

Well, good luck with this one then!