how can the government help with after-school and school holidays child care?

[thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat]

Simply Childcare are carrying out a survey on parents' thoughts about this and it got me thinking. What would be your ideal form of care for school age children? is "wrap around" care based in school the solution? what form of help would you like to see from the government? for me personally I don;t want my kids in school 8 am - 6 pm and I am quite passionate about home-based care with as few institutional features as possible. What about school holidays? what would make things easier to plan different care for term time and holidays?

After school clubs and holiday clubs are lifesavers if you ask me. Much cheaper than childminders and my daughter loves going.

From my POV I won;t need before / after school care but will need holiday care for DS when he starts school.

I will be hoping to use holiday clubs for some of the time and I imagine it would be good if this was provided in / by the school (or perhaps 2-3 schools in the area joining up together) so that he was familiar with the surroundings / some of the other children attending.

I doubt I would use a childminder for those periods of time (bearing in mind it will probably only be 3-4 weeks of the year).

All a bit hypothetical though as he is only 2.4!

the government are already doing extended hours, i work at an after school club, it's quite hard to find staff at that time though. we also run holiday playschemes. (with extended hours)

no-one really wants their children to be in school from 8 until 6, but until more flexible job are on offer (with better or equal pay!), parents have little choice imo

we use after school club twice a week for my 6 and 4 year old, and holiday club at the school for a few days a year (6 days this coming holiday). I rather like the institutional care, the dds get to go swimming, cycling, scooting, play on all the outdoor school equipment, plus do arts, crafts and computer games. and they hang out with the older children which they like.

it's not every day, but it really really helps us.

I am glad that my son's state nursery is doing wraparound care, as a childminder it lost me work because it was cheaper than me but now as a single parent it will be a blessing if i have to use it but i dont want to put him in from 8-6 every day but needs must.

As a childminder who offers before and after-school care, plus school holidays, I have a vested interest in promoting childminders! However, we are usually more expensive than the school clubs and holiday clubs.

I think parents (and their children?) are entitled to have the choice. Unfortunately, not all schools offer wrap-around care, and not all areas have enough childminders to meet demand.

School clubs don't suit all children (I currently have a minded child who thought she would have to attend school from 8.00 - 6.00 each day). Many of the holiday clubs offer a range of physical activities that don't suit all children.

Like cat64 says, parents who choose to have a childminder care for their school-age children are looking for a home-based setting, which is more likely to have a "chill-out" option! However, I think that childminders have to ensure that they are equipped mentally and equipped physically (with toys, activities and outings) to meet the requirments of all the ages of the children attending.

ideal form of care for school age children - their own parents.

what should government do - pay child tax credits/benefits that enable a parent to work school friendly hours and legislate for flexible/term time only working to be available to all parents.c

In an ideal world sparklemagic but alas it's not happening is it.
My dd prefers after school club to her childminder anyway

I think all childcare should be tax-deductible

Lengthen the school day? Have a longer lunch break? Start school at 8.30 say and then finish at 5pmish?
That way parents can work longer hours during the day and not worry about childcare. The schools could arrange sports/physical activites perhaps for the 'end of day'.

provide some for kids with special needs. Sure I can work, providing I can be at home to put my son on his bus at 8.40am and meet him at 3.30pm.

There is no suitable pre-school/after-school or holiday care for him in a city of over 1/4 million people. The holiday clubs that did exist and would have been suitable have been stopped due to lack of funding. The only holuiday provision available is for inclusion in mainstream playschemes which is not suitable for him. And even for the children it is suitable for that stops after primary age, so there is nothing for them when older.

Give me a tax break to sort out my own childcare. And I choose what that is.

cat64, I guess from your post you are a teacher or work in a school?

I suppose people forget that teachers have children too, it just seems to make sense to keep children in schools for longer in my eyes, but I don't work in a school!

I do think these 'vouchers' for childcare are also extremely confusing. Infact the whole schooling/education/childcare system is confusing! don't understand it myself!

Cat64, I think that wrap around childcare at school must involve employing people other than the teachers to do the looking after. I mean obviously you have other work to do. It never occurred to me that this was the governments plan: to take credit for giving parents more childcare whilst actually dumping the workload on existing teachers for no extra pay... that's cheecky even for Gordon Brown.

You have indeed enlightened me. The Labour government has a real talent for claiming credit when they have actually done nothing. And I now think this is another case of that. They will pay teacher no more money, get them to do the extra work, and then campaign on having offered working parents more options for childcare.... SLICK! Is this what they are doing? If anyone is a teacher please come onto this thread and tell me how proposed wrap around care at school will effect you? HAve you been offered a pay rise for the longer hours? Is the school going to emply more people for the additional workload?

Good points uwila.

The after-school club at DD's school is ran by an independent company which also runs holiday clubs. It costs me 5 pounds an hour. No teachers involved. Agree very cheeky and will never work if they expect the teachers to do the extra work, but do they really?

poor children they can just about cope with 9-3
by the end of term there tearful and tried
i'm a childminder and offer i hope fexable childcare
this summer hols i have two boys 8am -12pm each day for four weeks of the summer hols and then thats it.
they pay me £x and get most of it back in tax creidit which is great for the parents

As I understand it, wrap-around care means the school can offer breakfast and after-school clubs if there is a need, which would not be run by teachers.

Some schools choose to have their clubs in-house, others walk or are taken by bus elsewhere.

Some schools have involved childminders in their plans, as they recognise that we can offer (perhaps) greater flexibility (early starts for instance). I do know of schools who operate school clubs and hold a list of childminders, so that they can offer parents a choice.