Wraparound - what are people actually doing?

We use breakfast club which starts at 8am at the school (we’re in Wales so only costa £1 a day for “care” as the actual breakfast is free).
When DDs were younger for after school we did a combination of after school club, grandparents picking up and me working part time. I work full time now and DH and I both WFH some days so usually one of us here for school pick up, my parents still do one day a week. Youngest DD is year 5 so at a push could let herself in and be alone for 45 mins until the eldest gets home from secondary school, but we haven’t tried this yet!

Most people I know do similar, or some use a childminder to do school pick ups and after school care

My dd1 couldn’t cope with wraparound, I tried to go back to work when she was 7 initially then a year later I found 5 hours a day so no care needed normally, the occasional evenings and weekends (occupational hazard) now exh was around as long as i stipulated it (another story) and holidays we did split shift with me starting at 7am and switching the kids over in my work car park at midday and dropping him off (was 2 minutes drive to his from mine) only downside was having to runout at 9pm to fetch him because we only had one car.

I work full-time but one of the grandparents was a shift worker, so could pick up on some days, but didn’t know rosters in advance.

Wraparound care at the school was easily available when needed without booking far in advance, so I’d just email to book as and when needed, but unfortunately it was more expensive if you used it on a casual basis like that.

There probably is less wraparound care available now though. My DD was in year 6 in 2020, and I think the increase in people working from home after that meant that many schools changed their provisions. We never needed it after the lockdowns. The one at her intermediate school closed down in 2022 so obviously lots of other families didn’t need it either.

We used a combination of grandparents and wraparound clubs. I haven’t worked on Mondays since the kids were born. For the first four years of having them at school I was self employed so only did what was manegable. I’m employed at 80% now but both of us wfh so it’s basically manageable.

friends where both parents work away from home fine things much trickier but this is relatively uncommon. Most people wfh at least a bit.

Not shift work but work full time, we use breakfast club and after school club, thankfully we can wfh a couple of days so Friday’s we do school drop and pick up.
Holidays it’s holiday club, we’ve no family nearby to help.

We use the school wrap around care, so do a couple of breakfast clubs and a couple of after school clubs each week. Wfh the rest. We don’t do shifts though.

Get a WFH job. We have no grandparent support so have to do every single bit of childcare ourselves or pay someone to help. Without WFH it would be almost impossible for us.

A combination of me and DH wfh, after school club and grandparents. No shifts though

Breakfast club, after school club, grandparents and holiday clubs

We are separated but even when we were together we shared drop offs, organised with work as we both have flexi time. And we use after school service which is provided until 5:20.

Both my parents worked full-time and paid for wraparound care. If one of them finished early or started late, they still had to pay for my place but I just wouldn’t go that day.

Start by talking to your partner about which 50 percent he will be responsible for.

It will depend on the school offering, your partners availability, any grandparents that are able to help, how far in advance you know your shifts, and how much money you have available to throw at the problem.

I have two friends who work swifts;

One knows a month or so in advance and her DH and grandparents cover most after school care, then in holidays she also uses clubs.

The other specifically chose a school where you only have to give a week notice to book the after school care. This is very rare though, and she compromised on the school in order to be able to do so.

There are also people who book after school care for every day even if they might not need it. They have to book a term in advance and this is the only way to make sure they have cover on the days they need it.

I don’t work shifts but make full use of school wraparound as I work full time. Worth putting your child’s name down as my DD’s school has a waiting list for wraparound.