Struggling to find work in school hours

Self employed cleaner. Watch cleaning videos on YouTube and tiktok. Get public liability insurance (mine is about 6 a month) through Policy Bee. Advertise on your local Facebook groups and away you go! If you drive, you can bring your own equipment and charge more. I currently charge £18 per hour in Devon. If you use customers equipment then £16 per hour or more depending on area. Once you find the right clients it's a lovely job and I've made lifelong friends doing it.

Cleaning, TA, wfh customer support, dog walking/grooming
child minding, nails (beauty)
Just some ideas that SAHMs I know did

As someone who works in a leadership role in a school and is involved in the recruitment of TA's....THANK YOU! My heart sinks every time I see a thread like this as I just know there will be multiple posts telling OP to become a TA. I understand that the suggestion is well meaning, but it's misguided. TA's are highly skilled, they are expected to run interventions in things like Speech and Language, SEMH and Fine Motor Skills, and work with children who have experienced significant trauma. They work with our most complex and challenging children. It's a physically and emotionally demanding role. It becomes obvious very quickly when someone has taken the job because they think the hours will be convenient, and they don't tend to last long, which isn't fair on the children.

Our TA's also do not work school hours, they start half an hour before the kids arrive and finish half an hour after they leave, and even if they have kids at the school they are expected to make arrangements as they are there to work not supervise their own children.

I would suggest looking for jobs in school catering or midday supervisor, also some school office roles are actually school hours but you would need admin experience.

a lot of schools and nurseries offer 1-2 hours a day as a lunchtime supervisor. Nurseries may also have assistant roles that don’t require any qualifications. Especially around lunch and changeover times. Keep an eye out on the eteach recruitment site

Is training as a TA or a fetec childcare course an option.

Both are in short supply and offer school hours, especially crèches with a preschoolers classroom.

I do admin for local government, my department were very flexible about the hours I needed, so worth a look

Would being part of a school catering team work? as you must have all the food hygiene and customer service from mcds. They call them catering assistants here so if you are searching dinner lady the jobs don't come up.

Remote admin and secretarial? That covers every morning at least. Lots of medical secretary type jobs and similar.

School admin? My circumstances are very similar to you and I work in a fairly senior role school office based role term time only

Are there air b and ba nearby as they need changeover staff in those hours.

See if there’s any local private nurseries - ours has someone who covers from about 10:30-2:00 for staff lunch break covers.

Schools might need midday staff, playground or lunch supervision roles.

Or if you could go self employed cleaning, dog walking etc you could set your own schedule.

I do support work during school hours. Zero hours contract and I can pick and choose when and what hours I work.

Self employed cleaning
What about DC father? Its much easier to work more when both parents do their share of childcare pick ups etc. Eg if your DH could drop to school you could do early shifts somewhere 7 - 3 etc

A teaching assistant role is not a part time job for a mum who wants an easy role and attached childcare ffs

Could you look, in the first instance, for volunteering? At least for your own wellbeing while you job hunt.

Your local library / charity shop / any social enterprises in the area.

Is your sons' father on the scene or are you a single parent?

Do you have any specific skills/experience/training? Yes, I know caring for a disabled child and customer services/food but anything else?

A friend does proof reading from home. I know he did a brief course, which then led to other work. As a sideline, he proof reads secondary and uni papers in his own time.

Do you have any hobbies you could expand on? Another friend crochets tiny animals and sells online. No, she can't retire, but it makes some extra cash.

Our local Tesco now does term time only jobs that are 9am til 3am and pay better than being a TA, so we keep losing TAs to them!

It's often worth asking, even if the job isn't advertised as school hours. Lots will be flexible for the right person.

Is there a university nearby? You could look for work as a note taker for a disabled student.

Look for housekeeping roles in private homes too. Many do school hours.

Also check out hotels for chamber maid jobs.

Cleaner for a pub? That's often done in the morning.

Care work requires staff to also work early morning, evenings, and week-ends.

Anyone coming in asking to work Monday-Friday 9am to 2.30pm gets laughed at.

If he needs one to one for after school carer speak to ss children with disabilities team and apply for funding for this
Does he have ehcp?

How old is he??

Have you tried the civil service? I work school hours and have colleagues that work term time.

Look at job vacancies at the Local Authority. You can request to be considered for part time even when the job is advertised as full time. The right role will let you work flexibly through the week.
I've just recruited 2 x PT for an admin role in my service, and I'm happy for both to work flexibly as it is not a customer facing or customer service role. I'd rather recruit the right person to the role, have them settled, happy, and stay with me rather than impose restrictions and lose good staff.