Is your primary wraparound care guaranteed?

[bigspoonlittlespoon]

Just interested in this... is wraparound care for your primary aged children guaranteed by their school? I have just changed my daughter's school, in her previous school she was guaranteed a place in wraparound care (breakfast/after school club), this was the case for all the parents. It was book as needed and essentially pay as you go. In her new school all the clubs are full and there are waiting lists with no guarantee of getting a place and no timeline on when places might become available. I am finding it really stressful. I had thought that most schools would provide wraparound care given that most parents need to work, but maybe am I wrong to think this?

Not at ours. It made the news a few years ago due to how places were allocated

Breakfast club available to all, after school club there is a cap but I’ve never known it to be full. There’s also a local nursery that provide after school care (which we use) so that may be why. We are in wales, where free breakfast club has to be offered to all pupils. After school care is an optional extra therefore no obligation to provide it at all, or to provide enough spaces for all children who need it.

No ours isn't guaranteed- they can only take a certain number of children due to the number of staff they have and the size of the hall they use.

Parents who have a regular requirement for childcare have an ongoing arrangement (DS does every wed and thu) but any ad hoc sessions can only be booked if there's spaces available.

@bigspoonlittlespoon
Out of interest, how did your previous school manage the pay as you go, use it when you want approach?
If everyone in the school could in theory have chosen to use the care on the same day, how many children are we talking? Where would the staff (employed, DBS etc) have appeared from?
Even the more normal potential flucuations in numbers from day to day must affect staffing. Were staff just told not to come in on the day (and not paid) or have to be prepared to drop whatever plans they had in order to come in, again on the day, if more children opted in?

We have breakfast club and after school club, both have capped numbers due to staffing levels. I am surprised that any school would guarantee every child a place, it must be really difficult to staff.

I don't know how they managed it from a staffing point of view, but obviously they knew that some children just didn't need it and it was never going to happen that every child in the school turned up on the same day. I suppose they just slightly over provided in terms of spaces available, I was never told that they were full.

I've never known a school that didn't have a cap, and most prioritised those needing it daily, then regularly on set days over ad hoc, you could book extra days but only if not full

@welshweasel unfortunately not in our part of Wales. Breakfast club very limited and after school club very expensive!

@CottonSock what was it about the allocation that made the news? Our new school is essentially first come first served with priority for those needing full time. No priority for key workers, single parent families etc.

Nope ours is a private provider, I know they're currently full. Our school is very popular due to being the only one in the local area with one - all the others are village schools with no provision, I guess people use childminders there?

No. Our out of school care is on site but managed by an external company. They pay rent to the school for the facilities.

We have to commit to days at the start of the school year and pay half termly in advance.
They do allow you to swap days occasionally but they generally expect you to stick to your days as they have planned staffing etc.

@bigspoonlittlespoon
I'll message you. A bit outing re my kids school

No ours is run from the school building but it is a private provider, so they are just renting the space from the school. It's a waiting list system and you must take the same days each week, every week. No ad-hoc care. No sibling priority.

It's really popular as there isn't an alternative in our area and not many childminders. The waiting list expected to be 3 years for everyday, except a Friday its less. They are waiting on children moving onto secondary for spaces to become available. If you need a sibling place you need to get them on the waiting list long before they start school.

Not guaranteed.
There are 20 spaces per day (school of 200 children) in breakfast club and after school club, first come first served and book and pay a whole half term in advance. Parents with the money to hand to pay £500 in advance for half a term are fine, those who need to wait for payday each month to pay for the month ahead are screwed.

At my children’s school the breakfast club is run by the school but the after school club is run by a private provider.

Both provisions have a cap on numbers, I assume due to staff. However, I don’t believe places are that hard to get.

@CottonSock I thought all state primaries in wales had to offer breakfast to all kids if they run a breakfast club? How do they get away with it?

@welshweasel. Limited space apparently. I don't think it's running yet and nor are school lunches. Frustrating as I hear others are.

@ForensicFlossy

We have breakfast club and after school club, both have capped numbers due to staffing levels. I am surprised that any school would guarantee every child a place, it must be really difficult to staff.

Same. We waited over a year for our son to get a place. We used a childminder instead in the meantime.

It’s much easier to get a place now because so many parents are working from home (we mostly are too but still prefer to have the children looked after while we’re working).

Not at all. They have 30 spaces and 210 on roll. I have always been able to get a place when needed for mine though but it is in no way guarunteed.

30 places, 300 on roll. 3 childminders work at the school. There are a lot of grandparents, shift workers and SAHMs.

They are pretty good at squeezing in extras in an emergency though to be fair.

no. 60 spaces for roll of 240. waiting list operates for the busiest sessions. Wednesdays are especially sought after as they are often needed for part-timers whatever end of the week they work. It's first come first served.

Not guaranteed here.

We're in Wales so there's free breakfast club entitlement for all children, however free school meal children take priority and there's a cap. Which sounds perfectly fair and reasonable, but you can only secure a place in the paid breakfast club that opens at 7.30am for childcare purposes if you can secure a free space too. It's a ridiculous contradiction that catches a lot of working parents out, especially before the before school club is the most useful for a lot of parents. The waitlist is currently dependent on yr6 leaving the school. Very little movement otherwise.

After school wrap around is capped as well, although I've never heard of anyone being refused a spot and ad hoc usage when a parent is unexpectedly running late is fairly common with no issues.

Ok maybe I've phrased this wrongly. Or I was just extremely lucky with our old school! Can I ask differently then - is it difficult to get wraparound care at your child's school? Are the waiting lists long? Thanks to those who have already answered!

Breakfast club is run by school and unlimited - at the moment I'm sure that could change.

Afterschool is a separate entity and had limited spaces.
They also have a nursery who provide a wrap around service too and to drop kids off and pick them up..

They're may also be childminders who do the same.

The afterschool is trying to recruit more staff to enable more places.
Not sure about capacity in the other providers.