Ed Balls cuts school clubs

[swissarmycheese]

as part of £500m education cuts

So there it is, in black and white, in an on the record interview. How much will the extra childcare cost us?

It isn't Labour investment versus Tory cuts. It is Labour cuts, Tory cuts, or Lib Dem cuts. At least the Lib Dems and Tories have been honest about cuts from the beginning though.

Why do people trust a word Ed Balls and Labour say?

How can you hate someone you do not know? You can dislike policies but hate is taking it a little far, surely.

"How can you hate someone you do not know? You can dislike policies but hate is taking it a little far, surely. "

Oh wait let me think...

I voted for them and they turned this country to poop and bankrupted it to boot, whilst of course selling us out to the EU.

Nooooo, I'm pretty sure I hate Labour, probably with a vengence.

Our after school club isn't subsidised. It is run by parents rather than the school, although on the school site. My DC go to activity clubs after school on some days, but I pay for the after school club on these days too in case the club is cancelled or my DC is injured.

No Riven, not just you.

They are the only way a lot of women can continue to work, because nannies/childminders etc are so expensive.

Not many jobs finish in time for a 3.30pm pick up.

I don't use them myself because I am lucky enough to be able to work flexibly, buy so many women are not in that enviable position.

I agree Riven which is why my partner works part time from home. DD goes to 2 clubs a week afterschool but other than that is at home. But as litchick says that is a very fortunate position to be in.

It is a fortunate position to be in. However, children don't just 'chill' at home. It's an after school club, not school. They choose what they do.

Although for some reason EYFS still rears its ugly head, but as our manager says, there are ways of recording information...

Not sure why, but I feel obligated to get involved now. First of all, just to annoy you Daily Mail types, our breakfast club is 50p and after school club for just under three hours is £4. DD goes to school in a Sure Start area and it is heavily subsidised.

But none of you seem to be commenting on the fact that wrap around care is not just about cheap childcare. Lots of parents come to the breakfast club, it's the way most of them get a decent meal in the morning (wish they wouldn't serve Coco Pops though). The after school club involves chilling out as well as activities. Many of the children would not get these experiences outside of the after school club - limited parenting skills, overcrowded and insecure accomodation etc.

When I pick DD up of an evening (I'm a working lone parent, so intrigued to see what you think I should do if I was a 'proper' mother), there's lots of kids hanging around the school. For them it is a place of safety and happiness, away from the chaos that is often their home lives.

Don't be so quick to point the finger, not all our lives are turning out how we expected them to. It doesn't mean they're bad though

We don't have any after-school clubs OR any sort of plans for them

The extended schools plan has been a total whitewash as far as I can see

Policy you are right

CAN WE HAVE ED BALLS BACK PLEASE?

I see we have ANOTHER case of the government starting something and then taking away the funding then! (The most recent one being Wider Opportunites funding for music projects)

Why do they think they can mess with our lives like this? Surely, whatever the party they need a policy and they need to stick to it!

I'm a single working parent and rely on breakfast club/afterschool club/ holiday clubs in order to work. I already pay over £10 per day for breakfast club/afterschool club or £20 per day for holiday club. If these costs go up anymore I will seriously have to consider whether its worth working, in turn that would mean I would be claiming benefit from the government. Seems to defeat the object of cutting clubs or increasing prices.

The fundamental problem with government is that they are not accountable. As pugsandseals says they just mess with our lives. They lie, cheat, backtrack and we just have to put up with it. I'm waiting for a government to have the balls to pass a law which states that if a government gives a commitment to something, they have to stick to it or they are prosecuted.

Until there is proper reform of the voting system and the government is accountable to us, nothing will change.

It is a difficult one Singlemum trying to afford childcare on a low wage while still paying the people who are looking after our children a living wage. In fact no they deserve a good wage.

When I went back to work it was at least a year of not 2 before I earned more than I had as a single mum on benefits and that is as a teacher. I am not having a dig at anyone but appreciating the difficulty of the situation.

Can I just put it from another perspective ?

I have friends whose children are out of the house from 7.45 am to 5.00 pm - they must be so tired !

Some of the Families are skint and the Mum has to work longer hours, but some of these women honestly couldn't care less about the children and just want them out of their hair.

I think it is sad that this type of person use school and after school clubs as cheap child care, with 4 year olds out all day long.

My daughter is out of the house from 8am to 6pm each day. I have to work. And she is perfectly fine. She plays with her friends for a couple of hours after school finishes. On Mondays I collect her early and take her to Rainbows. If I was to collect her everyday at 3.30 and take her to a friends house to play for 2 hours would that be better? Or if she was playing in the garden rather than the well equipped playground during that time? Would that make her less tired? I resent any assumption that I couldn't care less about her.

I'm fortunate that here wrap round care is standard and subsidised. I pay around 25 euros per month and the school building is open from 7.30 - 6pm.

@portofino I'm not saying you don't care about your child but I know these women don't care about their children as they are "friends" and say so openly ! We were friends before we all had children but I would never become friends with them now as we have nothing in common

I still think a child as young as 4 should not be in school uniform and at school for such a long day, I was tired after a 9-5 day so imagine how a 4 year old feels !

Agree with Portofino; my DD is in full-time nursery and still comes home happy and bursting with energy every day - not crawling home sadly like some tired, loveless wretch..

So I am genuinely interested. If you are collecting a child at normal school closing hours, what do they do in all that time before bed? Are they really exhausted by 3.30?

'Yes, some children will go on to be tax payers and pay towards pensions etc but the majority of children who grow up on benefits go on to claim themselves so wont be putting anything into the system. '

Absolute bollocks

Maybe the ones who only see thier aprents do nothing but mine have seen us both work, DH work long night shifts whilst I studied, and now DH work part time whilst studying full time and me being a carer.

Excepting the one who is disabled too much to work, and allowing that ds1's SN is 50-50 for that (he could but statistically it will be ahrd for him) why on easrt woudln't the other two work? They have never seen anything but a sterling work ethic!.

And there are a great many like us, who've been through redundanciies etc.

I personally don't use any after school clubs because our school doesn't offer them.

They run a french club one evening for 45 mins which my son went to and didn't enjoy so we knocked that on the head.

I work 9 to 5 like most people do and my son is picked up from school by a CM 4 nights a week and this GM one night. He is no more or less tired from this than he would be from going home.

I qualify from WTC & CTC and claim both of them as is my right. I don't however plan to stay on the income bracket I am currently on and will reach the point where for more money from work I will be entitled to less money from WTC - does this mean I should not take a pay rise or extra hours? No it just means my employer will pay me rather than the government.

Yes my pay rise won't seem like one because it is given with one hand and taken away with the other, but that doesn't change the fact I get the same money. If anything it makes me feel better that I am finally moving away from a point where I am 'subsidised' by the government.

I totally agree with after school clubs, breakfast clubs and any other help that can be given to working families or families who are struggling on low incomes or from band neighbourhoods, and think those who tell use we should not have children unless we can afford them without hands outs are very small minded.

God forbid anything goes wrong in your life which would cause you to need extra help.

I pay my taxes, I take what I am entitled to for as long as I am entitled to it. I am not a drain on the countries other resources. We very rarely use the NHS, thankfully, I have never had cause to use the fire service, the police services etc.

I think what it boils down to is people using what they need and people taking advantage. That unfortunately happens in all walks of life and not just in Childcare.

Agree Fio

We don't have a proper one at school- there's rugby, chess etc (there used to be golf!0 but they are both free and extremely unreliable, run by teachers for free.

Other than that no.

I cannot find anything else for my disabled children so I stay at home and fret gently in a corner. Well sometimes anyway, between the gin and swearing.

Do i think they should be free?

probably not as there is enough system to cover it; student finance can cover them for students, tax credits for the people on lowest incomes, SSd can make referrals for free aplces for those needed (although that will probably stop when cash tuns out)

Every after school coub here is private, prices seem comparable to those on here so maybe that's what will happen?