How does this school/childcare thing work then?

[Bet01]

Son is (fingers crossed) starting Heber reception in Sept. I know it's quite a way off, but thinking about childcare, do childminders do pre- and after school care in term time and then full time in school holidays? Our shared nanny won't be able to cope with the logistics of school run and other younger children, so we'll have to part ways. I know Heber do breakfast and after school clubs but obviously term time only, so what do people do for the 14 weeks per year that need covering!

Help appreciated...

[standswithfist]

panic.....

[standswithfist]

Bet01 - only joking (slightly) - i have a 6 year old and a 20 month old baby. i work full time as does partner. its a case of seeing what works i think. as my partner works in restaurant/bar - he does main childcare in mornings - get daughter ready for school, school drop off. Collect daughter at 3.30pm. Has son during week. Son is in nursery Thurs and Fridays so that partner can fit his shifts in.

I work west end so have to manage with work in getting back sometimes by 5pm normally by 545pm so partner can get to work.

When we get stuck i used to have a couple of babysitters i could call. This is no longer the case so I will now be advertising again for some childcare. its always good to have seen a couple incase you get stuck.

I sometimes have to ask daughters school friends to have her - not ideal but would offer back.

Occasionally I would have to work from home which would mean getting up at like 5am to get work done before son is awake as at 20 months he is full on.

I would have preferred the childminder option but its just not workable for us at the moment.

It might be worth advertising now. Last year we used an au pair on her days off.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Belle]

We were lucky as our childminder was happy to do wrap around care - actually only pick up (I work from home so can drop my son off at school most days). There are lots of childminders who offer school pick ups, worth having a look on the classifieds. And some parents have arrangements with other families too, sharing out pick ups etc.

[redjam]

Heber have a good Parentmail system that allows you to place ads for childcare to other parents/childminders who serve the school (email: [email protected]). It's often word of mouth that finds good people and your best bet is to find a childminder who already does wraparound care at the school so it's easy logistically for her to take one more. There are several such childminders who do that at Heber - you often see them arriving in the morning with about four or five kids! Then if you are lucky that same childminder might be able to take your child over the holidays.

If not you can do what the rest of us do - which is scrabble around, stagger your holiday dates with your partner, call on favours from friends and family or ship them off to holiday club (though I personally found my kids were only happy going to clubs when they got older - they now love them but they can be expensive). So it's not ideal but you just muddle through. Good luck - hope your child enjoys Reception.

[northdulmum]

we have gone down the after school club (4x days a week) mixed with an aupair, she does drop off and breakfast for two kids, then picks up at 530pm.

Tbh I can't see how we could live w/out her.

Also means if kids are sick or school shut last min, there's back up care.

We both work FT too.

We use holiday camps for half terms and holidays, with aupair doing drop and pick.

[Mellors]

Also au pair, otherwise the world falls apart when one is sick, there's an INSET day, snow day, election, cancelled after school activity etc etc.

Combined with a bit of grandparenting/me taking unpaid leave for 3 weeks in the summer/ various holiday clubs (which is tricky for reception age, but gets easier).

Plus scrupulous planning - I can tell you now exactly who is having whom, when, for every holiday until next year!

[toffeese15]

You cope as best you can and do favours for loads of people in the hope they will repay them when you need it. There's also holiday clubs which from my experience work well. Do you have any grandparents you can get to help out? Best of luck with it. At the end of each summer holiday, we always breathe a huge sigh of relief that we've got away with it for another year. Somehow we all cope. I'm sure you will, even though it seems daunting at the moment.