Prep school offering 6am - 8pm, 51 weeks. How quickly is that going to become common then?

[EBDteacher]

I've just been reading an article in a local 'services for kids' type magazine about at prep school in the area that is going to offer fully integrated care from 8am-6pm 51 weeks of the year, with optional sessions 6am-8am and 6pm-8pm! It's going to be charged monthly at £500pcm (for the whole lot- not just the wraparound) like nursery fees.

The school terms are also going to be different to the state sector so parents can take family holidays outside peak times.

Wouldn't suit us as DH and I are both teachers but I can see it appealing to lots of working families. If a few schools start offering services like that how long before they all will?

Why bother having children?

startail who is that directed to? Lots of people need to use holiday clubs outside school terms, not everyone can afford to be sahm.

I think that 48 weeks a year, 8am to 6pm, is frighteningly limiting. The best thing about school holidays is enabling children to have a change of scene and to see different people and a different environment to those they see day in, day out.

Sounds like a complete bargain if you don't ever want to see your DC

I guess, at that price, it would be fine to only use it for a shorter day and less holiday time, anyway.

Well, I think it looks like a great idea. I am a single parent and currently I am very limited by our school's wrap around care, which is 8am until 5.30pm. I work full-time and my hours vary considerably; some days I can pick up at 3.15, some days I race to get there for 5.30. My employers are very flexible but I would love to offer a little more flexibility in return. I bet hardly anyone would use the childcare full-time, but it would be dead handy for those days when a late finish is essential.

God how depressing.One of us has always been at home blah blah.We have taken a hit moneywise ,that is our choice I know.Just find it depressing that such long hours are considered ok.

Llareggub I see your point though.

The impression I get regarding this is the school would be shut Xmas week. The Children would need to attend for the usual 3 terms and in the holidays would have access to a holiday club or not. I used to pay £400 a month 10 years ago for DD's nursery place, this sounds a bargain for working parents who need wrap around care.

but it is do with COVER - not having to send them 8-6 every day.....

Ffs it sounds like a childrens home without the overnight part.

My children love after school club. They do there what they would do at home: tear around the garden and build stuff. I get to earn money and put food on the table. What's not to love about making childcare stress-free?

A core 38 weeks per year (exactly the same as the state school year) but over 4 terms, meaning off peak holidays - yes, I can see the attraction of that for £6k a year and no after school care or holiday clubs to arrange.

If the academic standard is good, I should imagine parents would be queuing up for this. It doesn't mean they'd use it week in, week out. But if you need after school care until 6pm, and maybe use four or more weeks of childcare in the holidays, then doing it all under one roof (assuming you are happy with the place) could be a very good plan.

I just don't see how they can do it for the price they are charging.

great.
i don't know of any families that would want to take advantage of this all the time, but i know of loads for whom this would be useful once in a while - workdays when you've got a meeting at the other of the country or something.

i do on-call once a month, and would love something like this to be available for those occasions.

and at dd1's school all the DC adore afterschool club, which at this time of year mostly involves haring around the fields and woodland area with her mates. DD1 has forbidden me from collecting her early if I'm on annual leave .

If you have to work THAT many hours and weeks and use paid for child care, what IS the point of children.
I gave up full time work (and therefore saved a fortune in child care) to be able to spend time with mine

if you are CONSIDERING this option,
look at how much you have to earn BEFORE TAX to pay for somebody else loving your offspring
then look at whether a 25% cut in hours and pay, flexi, would be worth it.
If not - WHY did you have them?

Talk most people who work only get 4 or 5 weeks holiday a year. What are they supposed to do about childcare when they are working? Not all jobs are flexible enough to fit around standard school hours even if you could afford to work part time to accommodate those hours.

I was just wondering if those who criticise a prep school for having 38 teaching weeks plus wraparound, plus optional availability for a further 13 weeks are similarly critical of state schools when they offer breakfast/after school clubs and have holiday clubs on the premises every half term, two weeks each at Christmas and Easter and 5 or 6 weeks over the summer?

For that is only one or 2 weeks different to what is on offer here.

Talkinpeace I am a part time teacher (have gone down to .5 to be with DS). You would think that would be the perfect job to fit in with children wouldn't you?

However, I MUST be at work at 8.30am and in reality that is too late (that's the time we let the kids in so we have 'kid stuff' to deal with from then). Really, I need to be in my own school at 8am which means I need 7.45am drop off- earlier depending how far it is from DS's school to my school.

Surprisingly few wraparound set-ups allow drop off before 8am- so I might use something like this just for the sake of 15-20mins each morning. I don't think anybody on this thread is arguing that kids should be in school 6am - 8pm 51 weeks, just that the flexibility could be an attractive option.

I wouldn't use this particular school for other reasons, but I suspect more all encompassing wraparound arrangements like it might take off.

A lot of independent schools offer holiday clubs so that working parents do not have to make difficult arrangements. These are usually run by external companies, and target both school families and families in the wider community.

It is not unusual for independent schools to welcome pupils from 7.30am to 6pm. The hours mentioned by the OP are extreme, but there is probably a market for them. I would hope the schools would provide an appropriate level of home comforts.

I can totally see why it would suit some families but just seems like such a lot of hours, having said that as other posters have pointed out, most people wouldn't be using it from 6-8, all year round.

That's seriously cheap! All the prep schools round here work out at a grand a month before any wrap around, although they do do 8am - 5pm, not holidays though.

However, if you have the money, that's surely why you can have your DCs board from 7 years old. (Not that I would, even if I had the money for it)

I think it's great, I wish dd would go to a school like that. I could take a month off in may and take them abroad, an option I have had to turn down because she would loose her place at school.

I think the kids would get lovely holidays because parents wouldn't have to pay the peak rates.

My daughters school already offers pretty similar care. Its a boarding school and run as one. However, with regards to the day pupils after school care is included in their fees as stanadard and many stay until their year groups bedtimes to join in the activities.
There is no standard provision for before school but the school day starts at 8.10am and I know that the school bends over backwards to accommodate families that need extra help with before and after school care. Both my DC gave had day pupils in their year join them for breakfast which is 7.20.
There are additional holiday clubs run at the school, but as we live too far away (my DC board) I have not looked into the additional costs for this.

I have often thought that if we lived nearer to the school and could send our DC as day pupils that its wonderful value that such good extra hours care is included in the standard term fee.

I think care like this HAS to and will become more common. I am currently job hunting and few jobs are now 9 to 5 Mon to Fri. Most employers need/want staff to be flexible and also we are very much a 24 hour society, people expect businesses to be open late and early etc etc.

I've found it is quite unusual for before school care to start before 8am MrsMeaner. I've investigated every prep school within a 45min radius of my school (and there are many) and it was really only a handful that catered for pre-8am. Do any state schools cater for pre-8am? Certainly none I have ever worked in has done.

I haven't looked into it carefully but are holiday clubs not usually 9-5ish type arrangements? One school DH taught at had Kings Camps in the holidays. Even their 'extended hours' option was only 8.15am - 5.45pm which might not help if you had occasional shift work clashes or late meetings to cover.

Rightly or wrongly, I think there will be a market for schools to provide a one stop shop for very extended hours. I agree with MollieO though, in her amazement that this school can offer such extended hours on 6.5K a year.

I think it's brilliant, I would love there to be more sport, more drama, more music and parents could use their 4 weeks a year annual leave as they please.
There is no justification in this day and age for all the school holidays, just work at a slower pace if you like and spread it out.
I don't know anyone who doesn't have to pay out the woman's entire salary at least to cover childcare in the school holidays.