Advice needed on school wrap around care

[UlStED]

Hi there,

I'm looking for some advice on options for covering school hours and holidays.

My son is starting Reception at Heber in September and I'm wondering how other working parents who have no family living nearby manage, and which perhaps less obvious options I may not have thought about.

We're on the waiting list for the Gumboots after school club but were told there's a 1 year waiting list and I've not heard back about breakfast club. Our current nursery can hopefully provide wrap around care on two days and I've not heard back from the school about their own after school provision either. I may be able to fudge working one shorter day but that still leaves 3-4 afternoons and mornings.

Short of reducing our work hours, what other options are there?

Do kids just have to suck it up and spend 9 hours a day in institutional care, starting with breakfast club and ending in after school club. Or is it quite easy to find childminders or other families who can take them to school for 8:50am and pick them up at 3:20pm to take them to the park?

And then there's the question of how to cover all those weeks of holidays but that might be a separate posts another day.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the logistics so just curious to hear how other families are making it work.

Thanks.

[carebear]

I was where you are this time last year and becoming increasingly panicky!

In the end we got the afterschool club spots by about half term but there were six weeks of cobbling things together. I had some lovely offers of help from other (non working) parents. There are also some after school clubs that do pick ups (eg Jolly Forresters I think). Finally you could try advertising for someone to provide you with afterschool wraparound care. Afternoon help can be pretty hard to find (holy grail?!) but we found a lovely girl who does the morning drop offs for us which allows me to get to work earlier and consequently finish earlier.

It is a bit of a nightmare initially but these things do seem somehow to work out. You may find that you get offered some days of afterschool club and that you?re then trying to fill the other days. Good luck!

[kristymac1]

Breakfast Club at Heber is normally easier to get a space, I would contact Gumboots again to get confirmation as to whether a place is available from September.

My experience (or my kids' experience) of Gumboots after school club is very positive - they have a range of activities for the children from arts and crafts; sports (indoor and out); board games; reading etc and the cost for up to 3 hours childcare is very reasonable. The staff are great - very engaged and active with the children - it's definitely worth staying on the waiting list and accept any days you can get at first.

The school's after school activities don't run every week of term - they normally start 2 weeks into the term and finish the penultimate week of each term. The school offers a variety of activities: music clubs, art clubs, football, athletics, lego club, on different days (I'm not sure about Fridays), and children are usually limited to 2 clubs per week which all finish at 16:45.

You won't be able to book these until they are announced - usually the first week of term in September.

[Cheryl_M]

I'm gonna be in the same position in September. I think my daughter, who will be starting year 2, will be going to different people each day! Can anyone let me know how much a childminder generally charges for morning drop off or pick up after school until 6:30pm?

[flocker spotter]

Have you considered an au pair? This was how we survived for many years and the children were grateful that they could come home after school - or go the the park, or have play dates or do swimming lessons etc. An au pair really gives your family some breathing space.

[Cheryl_M]

Actually I had never thought of an au pair but I'll definitely look into it. Good to have stability and someone my daughter could have a good relationship with. Thanks.

[womanofdulwich]

If you have the space its def time for the au pair route. Children like to come back to their own house and play with their own toys.