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Original poster

Teachers whose partner is also a teacher, how did you arrange picking up your kids from primary school?

75 replies

chris1987 · 17/01/2022 17:28

My fiancee and I are about to become PE teachers and we want kids in the future, but it has just dawned on us that collecting them from primary school is going to be near impossible, especially given the fact we will be PE teachers with after school clubs. We have no family near by either.

How did people go about this? My main thought so far is one of us becomes a TA and asks to finish early enough to collect them.

OP posts:
55mirabeau · 17/01/2022 19:42

I’m not sure why people are so shocked that someone who hasn’t had to consider an issue before so comes and asks a question, doesn’t know the answer?

Especially for PE, after school clubs are not childcare, they’re to enable kids to pursue an interest, so it wouldn’t be immediately obvious childcare to someone who has never considered what people do with their kids before.

NothingIsWrong · 17/01/2022 19:44

@chris1987

I had never heard of the term wrap around care before or that parents relied on before and after school clubs. We never had that when I was growing up. One of my parents had to quit they're job to be available.

Slightly shocked at all the anti-teacher rhetoric I got there. Haven't started teacher training yet but looking forward to parents evenings ;)

I'm 44 and was in wraparound care with a childminder as my mum was a full time working single parent...
Mammyloveswine · 17/01/2022 19:50

Im a teacher, DH works full time but shifts from home (atm). Kids are a little older so he gets them and feeds them a substantial snack..they then have screen time whilst dh works until i get in.

When they were tiny i worked part time (5 mornings) and we had a nanny.

In between age used nursery wraparound care.

surreygirl1987 · 17/01/2022 19:55

My husband and I are both teachers. We'll be doing wraparound care. However, surely you're referring to anyone with fulltime jobs and relatively inflexible hours...that's not limited just to teachers!!

surreygirl1987 · 17/01/2022 20:00

Oh and I don't think this thread has 'anti teacher rhetoric' ... as a teacher myself I see enough of that to recognise it, but not in this thread. The issue is that you implied that only pairs of teachers have this issue, when actually it's most full time working parents. It would be like someone saying 'if you are a pair of accountants, what on earth do you do about school morning drop-off?'... ignoring the fact that actually thr majority of the population has the same issue and accountants are in no way special in this context!

Not your fault for not knowing the tern wraparound care though- I didn't until I had kids.

SpinsForGin · 17/01/2022 20:01

I don't think there is any anti-teacher rhetoric. I think people are just surprised that you are planning on becoming a teaching yet hadn't heard of wrap around care or after school clubs.

surreygirl1987 · 17/01/2022 20:08

To be fair I've been teaching for 12 years and hadn't heard the phrase 'wraparound care'. I work in a secondary school so we don't have that (we do have after school clubs but not for every child every day until 6pm!!)

Hercisback · 17/01/2022 20:12

You're about to become a teacher and you can't use the correct their, or full stops.

How do you think anyone else who works copes?

I'm a teacher with two kids, wrap around is your friend.

Wait til you find out how expensive nursery is.

Parker231 · 17/01/2022 20:12

It’s no different for teachers than other working parents - you use breakfast and after school club. The advantage teachers have is that they don’t need to book holiday clubs.

SallyGoLucky · 17/01/2022 20:13

This post is so strange.

So you haven't started teaching training yet, but are already considering quitting teaching when you have children to become a TA? Sorry, really struggling to find the reasoning behind this.

Where I live, all the teachers finish work no later than half 4. So would actually be finished earlier than those working the regular 9-5 say. But Childcare before and after school is a pretty normal occurrence for anyone who works FT, and in a lot of cases PT too.

Lovemusic33 · 17/01/2022 20:15

We have local nurseries that run after school clubs, they collect the kids from school, take them to the nursery, pretty sure they are open until 6.30 ish.

SallyGoLucky · 17/01/2022 20:16

Also really unsure why you think a TA would be allowed to leave early to collect their kids every day.

karmakemmie · 17/01/2022 20:17

When I trained as a teacher and years after I wasn't really aware of the term wraparound care either. It didn't make me unqualified to do my job though HmmThey didn't have breakfast club at the secondary comp I worked in and I wasn't really aware of after school stuff because I didn't do it. Also I don't remember it when I was at school. I'm 46 now. My parents relied on favours from friends and when we were old enough, me and my big sister to collect my younger siblings from school or take them. This meant we were sometimes late or had to leave early from our own school. It was only after I had kids wraparound care was on my radar. And yes, like pp - some of whom haven't been anti teacher but a bit unpleasant , both me and my teacher DP rely on wraparound care. And our kids are also always the first in breakfast club. Neither of us do after school clubs but each have a designated day when we want to go in earlier or stay a bit later. Also think about INSET days too. I'm lucky enough to have family that will have the kids for me but I have to let them in months in advance. It can be stressful at times.

WonderfulYou · 17/01/2022 20:22

I’m a teacher now but never used to be. I’ve always used a mix of a childminder and before/after school clubs.

IHaveToSay · 17/01/2022 20:30

Wait, so you think all families have only one working parent? 🤯

55mirabeau · 17/01/2022 20:34

@SallyGoLucky

Also really unsure why you think a TA would be allowed to leave early to collect their kids every day.
I’ve worked for 2 heads who had some TAs either start or finish early, it’s not that uncommon, particularly at secondary.
CliffsofMohair · 17/01/2022 20:51

@Anoisagusaris

How do you think every other full time working couple manage? Do you actually think that all families have one parent who doesn’t work or finishes before school ends?
Judging my the requests flowing forth from my DC’s school that’s exactly what they think.
MichaelAndEagle · 17/01/2022 21:08

@chris1987

I had never heard of the term wrap around care before or that parents relied on before and after school clubs. We never had that when I was growing up. One of my parents had to quit they're job to be available.

Slightly shocked at all the anti-teacher rhetoric I got there. Haven't started teacher training yet but looking forward to parents evenings ;)

It was your assumption that this was a problem affecting you as teachers specifically rather than as working parents that has people bemused.
WyfOfBathe · 17/01/2022 22:01

@chris1987

I had never heard of the term wrap around care before or that parents relied on before and after school clubs. We never had that when I was growing up. One of my parents had to quit they're job to be available.

Slightly shocked at all the anti-teacher rhetoric I got there. Haven't started teacher training yet but looking forward to parents evenings ;)

I haven’t seen any anti-teacher rhetoric. It’s just incomprehensible that anyone old enough to train as a teacher has never come across the concept of childcare, or met a family where two parents worked.

I’m in my 30s and I went to a childminder before/after school. My DM is in her 50s and also went to after school club. It’s not a new invention.

SavoyCabbage · 17/01/2022 22:11

By the time you are finished your course there probably won’t be any TAs left!

Why doesn’t one of you become a primary school teacher instead of a PE teacher then any children you may have can go to the school you teach at?

feelsobadfeltsogood · 17/01/2022 22:19

Easy

Childminders or wraparound care at their schools or both don't commit on the same evenings

Kite22 · 17/01/2022 22:22

I'm not seeing any anti-teacher rhetoric either, and I usually stand by no question is a daft question, but this might be the exception to prove the rule.
I'm not sure why you think this is only an issue for teachers.
I'm not sure why you think a TA would be able to leave before school ends Confused

So, if you have a baby, and whilst they are pre-school, then Childminders and Nurseries commonly work until 6pm (some later, but you won't be likely to both be at school until that late)
Then, once they start school they go to wrap around car - otherwise called Breakfast club and after school club - or they go to a Childminder. Many Nurseries also run out of school clubs too.

However, this all seems a long way off - you aren't trained yet....haven't got jobs yet....don't have dc yet.....

Wigeon · 17/01/2022 22:28

DH is a teacher and pre covid I worked with an hour’s commute each day for 3 days a week, leaving home at 7am and usually returning 6pm.

Over the years, we’ve done a combination of various:

Both of us working different amounts part time, so one of us was doing either drop off or pick up on most days. Definitely consider this, and no reason why it HAS to be the female partner only.

Working from home 9am-3pm one day (appreciate not very possible as a PE teacher!)

Grandparent looking after DC for one day

Childminder before school and /or after school

After school club at school

Teachers have it far far easier than most other parents I know, in terms of balancing school aged children and work, because they don’t need to find childcare for 13 weeks of school holidays. Thirteen weeks far strips anyone else’s annual leave allowance. That’s the real killer for parent couples where one or both aren’t a teachers, ie almost all parents…

MazzleDazzle · 17/01/2022 23:09

My DC’s school doesn’t offer wrap around childcare, so we use a childminder. We actually had to move schools as we couldn’t get a childminder to drop off/pick up from their original school.

I get what you mean about you both being teachers - some of our friends in other professions were able to work flexi-time, so that on some days one of them could do the drop off or pick up.

Blossom64265 · 17/01/2022 23:31

Op

You have an immense amount of research to do before becoming a parent. It might be worth sticking around and reading for a while to get an idea of the careful juggling act working parents face. Even families with a sahp can face child care challenges with regards to school schedules, especially if they have multiple children. When you become a young teacher, it might help you if you understand what the parents of your students are dealing with.

Many parents try to make an effort to understand the challenges teachers face. We know it is a unique profession that requires a very special personality to do well. By listening to teachers on sites like this we have gotten a picture of just how many competing directions teachers can be pulled in during a given day and how many roles they are expected to fill.

This isn’t parent vs teacher. If you got a bit of snark, it’s because none of us really believe anyone old enough to go to teacher training has never thought about the fact that working parents have to use child care or recognized that most families have two working parents.

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