Legal News
Parents Forced To Pay For Play Scheme Care Following Early School Closure (1 November 2011)
Date: 01/11/2011
Parents will be required to meet the cost of sending their children to a £100-per-week play scheme in the event that they are unable to make alternative arrangements for their children when Tidemill Academy in Deptford closes early for Christmas. Mark Elms, the head teacher at the school, will close the school shortly before the scheduled Christmas holidays due to ongoing issues with the maintenance of the building. Parents can enrol their children in a £100-per-week play scheme if they are unable to find alternative care for their children at a time when they would normally be required to be in class.
The primary school was due to relocated to a new site during the October half-term holiday. However, building delays has meant that the relocation will have to occur in early December. The school will therefore shut on December the 7th – two weeks ahead of the Christmas holiday. The school would have been required to provide free care had it not been granted academy status in recent months.
Leila Galloway, a parent of a child attends the academy, claimed that had the school remained council-run, the council would have had to offer low-cost or no cost childcare until the Christmas holidays. Tef Afante, whose eight-year-old attends the school, told of how the closure of the school would be a “nightmare” for working parents. She added that parents with several children would be forced to pay out hundreds of pounds for childcare.
Duncan Lewis’ childcare solicitors are able to advise parents on a range of issues relating to childcare law.