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| No after school care…
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| what are the alternatives?
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Much of the time we find ourselves focusing on the search for care for children of below school age, but the reality is that when your child reaches school age, it just gets even harder to manage child care and working.
Child care centres and family day care set ups are great. They could be cheaper and they could operate more flexible hours, but at least (if you're lucky enough to have got a place), your child is there from 8-6 and you are able to get on with your working day with relatively normal hours.
However, when your children reach school age, it's a whole other ball game.
Suddenly your working day is reduced by about 4 hours. Children are then going in at 9am and leaving at 3pm - and for their first term in Kindy, they may even leave at 2pm.
If you're lucky, there will be an Out Of School Hours Care centre (OOSH) within or close to your child's primary school. However the limited places in these centres are like gold dust, due to demand, relative low cost and convenience. Our survey revealed that of those parents needing an Out of School Hours place, 24 per cent had not managed to get one by April (i.e., 3 months into the school year).
Due to demand outweighing places, many Out Of School Hours Care (before and after school, aka "OOSH") centres now ask parents for proof of employment to give priority to those who are working, rather than to those who use the centres for personal convenience or to juggle their different children's after school activities. With the number of households where both parents are working full time on the increase, there simply aren't enough OOSH places.
The demand in key suburban areas of Sydney and Melbourne is such that some OOSH centres are already taking applications for 2018 school year and while focus is often put on parents with pre-school children and lack of long day care places, actually the issue of what to do with school age children when no care is available is just as pressing, if not more so.
Parents, local representatives and OOSH centres themselves are calling for Federal action to increase the number of OOSH facilities and places, but in the meantime, first rule must be to get your child's name down as early as humanly possible and don't forget to re-register before the end of the school year for the following one. If you don't you may lose your place.
So if you can't find a place, or, if you have the added complication of other children in different schools, in preschool or child care, what are your options for the care of your kids before and after school? Sharing the care is one idea, setting up your own after school club is another, or why not go bowling?
- After School Hours Clubs - If your school isn't currently running and OOSH centre, contact OSH Clubs who may be able to help. They currently operate in 180 schools right across Australia and are happy to demonstrate how they can provide your school with a hassle free high quality Outside School Hours Care.
- Go Bowling - Yes, you read it right. Bowls Australia, whose community clubs are more often than not surrounded by schools, run the Active After-school Communities program, a national initiative that provides primary school children with access to free sport and other structured physical activity programs in the after-school time slot of 3.00pm to 5.30pm. The program aims to engage traditionally inactive children in sport and other structured physical activities and through a positive and fun experience develop a love of sport that inspires them to join a local sporting club. To find out if your local club runs one, either pop in to your local Bowls club or go to Bowls Australia.
- Au Pairs - Many of the au pair agencies say they are still looking for host families, which is unusual for this time of year but there is a surplus of willing au pairs ready to help out. This could be a great option, particularly if parents buddy up and share an au pair. Only one of you needs to have the extra bedroom, but all can chip in for the cost of bed, board and pocket money. Click here to search for Au Pairs in your area.
- Nanny Share - If the cost is too much to bear for one family, you can nanny share to lessen the financial responsibility. Nannies' responsibilities and requirements can be tailored, as long as hours and requirements, number of children/families etc are agreed up front and written into their contract. Don't be afraid to ask an agency for someone who can be a bit more flexible or to outline your ideal scenario. Click here for our nanny search.
- Older School Kids - Many older school children also look after younger ones after school. Teenagers need pocket money and are often happy to pick up and mind younger kids on days where they don't have their own after school activities.
- Grandparents & Other Family - You might not want to burden them with full day care but many family members would be happy to help out before or after school, at least for a few days a week. It gives them bonding time with the kids, gives them a sense of helping out their family without having to shoulder full time responsibility.
- Friends & Neighbours – Don't be afraid to bring up the possibility of sharing before and after school care with your friends and neighbours who have kids at the same school. This is often a great way to get around the problem, particularly if you can organise some sort of part time, home days or flexible working arrangement with your respective employers which means that between you, you can cover the week.
- Family Day Care – Some family day care services are happy to take your child on a before and after school care arrangement and will do the drop off and pick up to a local school. Click here to search for services in your area.
- Set up an after school club yourself - One entrepreneurial mum in the UK's commuter belt of Redhill in Surrey did recently. Neither she nor many local parents she knew could find any before and after school care, so she set up one herself! You will need to comply with regulations for this sort of care but you can find out more here.
For more information on Out of School Hours Care, click here and to find out of school hours care near your school or check your school has one, click here and pop in your postcode.
The Productivity Commission has been looking into how to make Out of School Hours Care work better for parents and one of the recommendations is to bring OOSH care under the jurisdiction of primary school principals, meaning that they will be responsible for the provision of OOSH within their school grounds.
This addresses the feeling that there needs to be more of a relationship between OOSH care and the school itself. Often they have absolutely nothing to do with each other and so the plight of working parents at the end of the school day goes largely unnoticed / unaddressed by the school itself.
We'd like to know what you think about this and if you believe school principals should be responsible for Out of School Hours facilities. Leave a comment below.
For all your child care needs go to www.careforkids.com.au.
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Do you believe school principals should be responsible for Out of School Hours facilities?
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