Wraparound - what are people actually doing?

When parents not available the options are school clubs, childminder, grandparents or other family, friends, arrangements with othe parents from the school

How did you get on @khaa2091? does your child start school this September?

I’ve just come across this thread as an in a quandary about wraparound care. The school indicated at the open day that this was available, but it turns out that it’s so oversubscribed that new starters can’t even apply to be on the waiting list. Obviously all the local childminders are full.

Both DH and I work shifts with one DC in school and another still in nursery.
To keep costs down we both have fixed days off - 1 week and 1 weekend day each. This leaves us with only 3 days to cover with wraparound care and nursery. The same thing with school holidays - we usually book 1 day annual leave each and have eldest in holiday camp just for 1-2 days or (rarely) with grandparents.

It is a bit difficult, as DH and I rarely have days off together unless booked in advance, but financially it has been amazing - we've never had to pay for full time childcare.

We are very fortunate that there is a private wraparound facility at the scout hut near our house. They pick the kids up from school, bring them to the hut and give them a hot tea. There are organised games and arts and crafts. It runs until 6pm.

We are so lucky we got a place because the school wraparound provision is always fully booked with a massive waiting list. We’ve actually been on the waiting list for nearly two years and never been offered a place!

I’d suggest looking at non-school options... Childminders etc. Facebook groups can be a helpful place to look.

For my children more like 5 but of course depends on the child. I'd think 9-10 is probably at the top end of that though!

But then even before that age ( which I would assume is around 9/10 years old) you would have needed childcare? So question still stands?

School age children who can just help themselves to a snack and watch TV for a couple of hours presumably!

I've got to ask, how on earth do you WFH and care for your child? My job is pretty intense as is my husband's and we both can WFH 50% of the time. But we are both working ....we definitely couldn't look after our son at the same time.

I work full time, my husband works abroad for 5 weeks then home for 5 weeks. When home he works full time too. Grandparents live over 5 hours drive away so they can’t really help. We use a childminder drop off at 7am pick up at 6pm. Luckily I have weekends off.

My DH works nights and takes the kids and picks them up, and just sleeps in between. We occasionally use breakfast club if he doesn't manage to grab an extra hour or 2 sleep during his shift, and I will take them at half 7 before work. But at £6.50 each, and 2 school age kids, we don't do that too often. After school club is £13 each until 5.30 so we don't use that at all. We use holiday clubs or I book time off during the school holidays. DH is agency so if he doesn't work he doesn't get paid. Our 3rd child is at a childminder all year round, 7.45-5.30 so I drop him off and pick him up. DH does want to get off nights but I just can't see it happening any time soon tbh.

Dh works shifts. I don't. I work 4 days 9-5. We always used breakfast and after school club and holiday club with the grandparents doing odd days too. Very lucky with wraparound as never could not get a space. We just booked the sessions we needed online. Holiday Club ran 8am -6pm. Again always space. For us which helps is that is that we live, work and have a school within 10mins of each other.

School clubs if they have them, childminder and grandparents.

If you're working shifts you'll need someone around to cover the parts where paid wraparound doesn't cover. What hours does your child's dad do? Are they your partner?

I started working school hours as wraparound care was really stressful and expensive.

I work shifts. DH also did but had to quit after a couple of years due to childcare issues. He got a Mon-Fri job. We had a childminder. We paid more for the flexibility we needed, but not as much as a full time space as we didn’t need that. We found people by messaging them directly through Childminders.co.uk with our requirements. Also see if there’s a local childminder FB group.
Both of you should apply for flexible working first. We both had a little when I first returned to work to allow for childcare. I thought it would be impossible as no one I work with had ever asked (mostly men), don’t rule it out.
Other options are nursery if you want weekdays only between about 7.30am and 6pm, but you’ll pay for a full time space, a nanny - expensive, you are their employer with all that entails, but you can decide their working hours, or an au pair.
Don’t just give up work. If need be one or both of you could try to change your hours, or even jobs l.

I’m amazed how common this is.

And releasing spaces a term in advance and it being more difficult to get a space in after school club that it is to get tickets for Glastonbury. I have so many friends who don’t know what after school they’ll have from term to term because there is more demand than spaces, they log on dead in midday when the spaces are released and within 5 minutes it’s sold out.

They don’t tell you these things at the open day though, they just make all the right noises about what the offering is.

i work 4 days a week, 9-4. I work from home one day so I manage to drop DS at school that morning, and the day I’m off.
So he goes to breakfast club 3 days a week, and after school club 4 days.
This works for now but when DD starts school in a couple of years I would like to do more pick ups for them both.
the wraparound care is pretty straight forward, I like if that you don’t have to fight for a parking space and queue to get into the school where you’re dropping off early/picking up late. Plus
its about a 1/6th tbe price of nursery fees!

Its the school holidays we’re struggling with covering!!

This was similar for the schools I mentioned. They made all the right noises said there was wrap around care places etc but then once offers day came and the friends enquired about how to get on waiting lists etc they were told there was no spaces for new starters.

The schools obviously knew these parents wouldn't have chosen to make them their first choice if there were no places in wrap around hence misleading them.

Our school told us they had places on the open day, and said you just needed to apply once you have a place.

They lied. We got a very strong vibe that they didn't approve of Reception children in wraparound or holiday clubs.

We use a childminder for after school. The school's after school club was full, and I'm still 15th on the waiting list for a mid-week place 🙄 I've no idea what all the other parents are doing, but I know three mums in my son's year who aren't working the hours they want to because of the lack of childcare.

I wouldn't want to WFH with a child under 8 at home, I did it in lockdown with a toddler and even an emergency sick day with him at home stresses me out hugely.

We both had shift working jobs but having children and no grandparent help meant we both had to do career changes. I have taken a massive pay cut to a WFH job and got the kids into school wraparound, there was a wait list so you might need to think about it now!

I work shifts and so does my OH. Luckily one of us is always home to do school pick up/drop off. If I do nights I usually take my daughter to school then sleep in the day and get up to pick her up, it is easier now than when she was out of school.

If you can't be there for school pick up or drop off, you could utilise breakfast club/after school club if available, childminder or friends/family.

The first step would be to enquire whether your chosen school actually has spaces. Several of my friends found out the hard way after offers day that there was no space in wraparound care for new reception starters.

Additionally many holiday clubs don't accept reception children so i would start enquiring for suitable options if you're going to need holiday care.

Finally if there is space at wrap around provision you need to check whether you can book the club on an ad hoc basis or will you need to book a term or more in one go.

It depends on what your child's school offers. A lot of our local schools have reduced their wraparound provision since Covid, as many parents started WFH, and the number of children attending decreased.

For the holidays most parents use holiday clubs. However, I would urge you to start looking now. As unfortunately many won't take reception aged children, and the hours they offer are usually shorter than a school day.

Shift work is really tricky as you’ll need different care each day. My friend on shifts has her husband do all the drop offs and pickups when she’s not on shift and she does everything on her days off as she does 3 12 hour shift I think. When their kids were younger they had to have a nanny with her own flexible childcare options as they needed different cover week to week.

my husband and I work standard hours with flexi time and hybrid working so it’s a different scenario.