CRGS working parents

[ish]

Hello,

This might be a rather silly question but I was looking for ideas on how working parents for CRGS kids manage the time after school. Both my husband and I work full time and would have to find some after school child care for my son. I have tried looking online for some after school clubs for kids of that age.... because from my knowledge some kids clubs do accept kids till Age 13. But I haven't as yet been able to locate anything in Colchester. I am as yet not too familiar with Colchester and I would be grateful for any suggestions or ideas on this matter. Thanks.

[kenyancowgirl]

I'm not from your area, but have you spoken to the school? Our school has the library open till at least 5pm every night (an hour after school) for homework and has numerous after school clubs (sport etc) that kids can access. You may find that the school can help you cover most nights by using this sort of thing. Most of ours have no charge, either!

[KB]

There are indeed lots of after school activities at CRGS ( chess, rugby, choir jump immediately to mind for year 7) and the library is indeed open after school.
Guess it depends what time you get home/ how long it will take him to get home if those things fill enough time.

[ish]

Thanks kenyancowgirl and kb for your replies. I did speak to the school....I was told that although the library is open a little after school....it is unsupervised and not many kids use the library after school. Also, I had looked at the list of extra curricular activities on the Crgs website.....unfortunately there are not many options for after school activities for year 7 kids...;most of them taking place during lunch time. I did query with the school if there were any other activities besides the list and I was informed there were not.....

But if any Crgs parents know otherwise I would be grateful for your responses......as I am starting to get a bit worried now

[KB]

I wouldnt say either are reasons for your DC not to go there to do homework after school. It is supervised from about Feb half term till end of external exams. One of the computer rooms is usually open as well.
There are probably clubs on average 3 nights a week that a year 7 could go to- whether your DC is interested is another matter.Choir runs every Wednesday and has great tours as an added bonus

To be fair the school aren't going to want to take responsibility for after school care so my guess is they will be careful about what they say but depending how flexible your DS is and what your timings are you could probably put something together.

I guess an alternative is to look for a childminder he could walk to after school for an hour or so?

Do hope you get it sorted.

[ish]

Thanks KB for your response. From what you say it all does sound promising. I am not looking for school to take responsibility at all...I posted this just to look for ideas on what other parents were doing...as I couldn't find any after school kids clubs online that would cater to 11 year old kids.

CRGS parents ...would be grateful for your input ...if you could recommend any childminders you are already using..... or whatever else you are doing!!!

[KB]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you were. Just that the school would in general not want to give the impression to any parent that they would take responsibility for a child after school hours as you can imagine what that might lead to.
In practice the staff at CRGS are helpful and caring.

[mikedellfarm]

Hi ish

I haven't even looked at the school start time and finish time yet.. obviously just too excited ! Also haven't look at the school meals menu which according to DS is also very important. Do you know what time they start and finish, I seem to see boys in purple blazers wandering around at random times of the morning.

Are there any days that CRGS boys in Year 7 need to be collected from another location other than the school main site, such as a rugby field etc ?

My DS2 is also changing school so I will have to juggle it all as well.

[KB]

riday the year 7s finish at the rugby field but in time that they can walk back to school for normal end time of 3.40pm.
Some parents do collect from queens road pedestrian gate but its pretty manic there and no need.
The first couple of weeks the teacher shepherds them back so they don't get lost/run over!

School starts at 8.50 but many boys are there from soon after 8am onwards depending on buses etc.

Lunches are pretty good if you choose the right things. Year 7 get let out early to lunch at start so they can get used to it.

[ish]

Thanks again for more info kb! Mikedellfarm.......when I went around to one of the information afternoons after we received the scores, the lady who was showing us around said they have a five star chef apparently! So I am hoping the food should be good......at least my ds thinks it's something to look forward to