What would you do if your DC was made to wait for you on the street when you are late to pick up?

[mammya]

Tonight I was late picking up my dd from after-school club, because of problems on the Tube, and I arrived at 6.15, when normally I pick her up at about 5.30. DD (7) was waiting outside the school with the after-school club workers. They told me the caretaker told them to leave at 6.10 as he was locking up.

The thing is, this has happened once before, again when I was late because of problems on the tube, and at the time I brought it up with the headteacher, who agreed with me that it wasn't acceptable, for all sorts of reasons. According to him, the after-school club workers have the keys, they are allowed to stay after the caretaker has left as long as they make sure to lock the gate properly. According to the after-school club play leader, they weren't allowed to stay after 6 for insurance reasons. The HT denied this was the case

I am about this and plan to go to the school tomorrow morning to request an appointment with the headteacher, the caretaker and the after-school club leader, so that we can discuss what should be done when a parent is late like this, as is bound to happen from time to time.

So dear mumsnetters, would you be angry and what would you do if that happened to your dc? Am I being unreasonable to think this is unacceptable?

Also, if they had been waiting inside for you, would it have made you think about it as much as this has done. It has actually made the point that they were more than ready to go home.

i've locked up lots of schools

I would just be glad they were looking after DC if I was late and I would thank them It is obvious they would have to lock up and get off at closing time. They did you a favour.

it's not rocket science

After school club workers will be paid by the hour, round here around £6 - £7 per hour. This would stop when club closes (ie 6pm). So every minute after that is unpaid overtime for them. So you can understand why they might choose (where possible/ reasonable) to lock up and then wait with a child rather than vice versa.
Really not sure what your problem is...

I know it's not. But if the people who are involved in working there at that time have a preferred way of doing it, I think that needs to be taken into account.

I think my issue would be that they don't have a very good policy when it comes to late pick-ups. I have ever only been late picking up once, but then I was 2 hours late because I was stuck on the tube for over 2 hours(!). DH and my other emergency contact was not contactable. It was just worse case scenario, but they happen. If you run a nursery or after-school club you have to cater for thise eventualities. If it happens often for the same parent, then bring it up with that parent.

Well I take your point that I was being OTT about being angry.

I am aware that the after-school workers do have a life and commitments of their own.

I do realise that I was at fault for being late, although there wasn't much I could do about it.

But I still think that the situation needs to be clarified, and that it needs to be discussed with the HT (who says one thing), the caretaker (who says another thing) and the after-school club leader (yet another thing).

And no, my dd wasn't harmed by being outside for a few minutes, but what if a parent is in an accident, or stuck for hours underground on the tube with no way of contacting the after-school club? What then? How long would they wait outside? Why can't they wait inside?

Mainly because jannies are bloody-minded and always ewant to knock off sharp.

alot of the caretakers i have met have been totally inflexible to the idea of after school clubs. there needs to be flexibility and workers understand that.

i've met alot of caretakers that just want the cleaners in and out and really resent clubs.

Well quite, FairyMum! My point exactly...

Our after school club finishes at 5. That would cover the eventuality of a parent being an hour late. Would you prefer that?

gawd I would pick your battles.
your daugher was outside for 4 minutes with carers, waiting for you
really don't see the problem here at all.

No in that case it wasn't a problem, but it could be if a parent is delayed for much longer and not able to contact the ASC.

Southeastastra, the thing is that the head quite specifically told me that the ASC workers should lock up after the caretaker has left.
The ASC leader told me the HT told them they couldn't stay after 6pm for insurance reasons. Clearly someone is not being completely honest there.

But they knew you were on your way didn't they? So they knew it would only be a matter of a few minutes. It seems a perfectly sensible course of action to me. Now if you had told them you would be say an hour late then obviously waiting outside wouldn't be the best option, but for the sake of 5 mins? I really think you are being a bit precious.

the leader needs to take it up with the head

If the ASC finished at 5 I simply couldn't go out to work. So no, I wouldn't prefer that!

As hana says, pick your battles!

The more you blow up about things like this, the less likely IMO you'll be taken seriously if you have a real complaint later on.

mammya - have you seen the ASC's late collection policy? (do they have one?)

At DD's nursery their policy is to try to contact one of the childs "emergancey contacts", and if that is not possible, Social Services will be contacted.

Sorry, I know you think it's a real complaint and I understand why, but who knows why their stories don't agree. If you get to the bottom of it you won't be much better off.

Nooka, the issue for me here is that they don't seem to have a clear policy in case of a parent being seriously delayed. If they had told me, "we thought we'd wait outside to make it quicker", I wouldn't have minded. What they told me was that they were made to leave by the caretaker, regardless of how long they would have to wait.