Help with childcare for 5 year old not in school

Very true, I have no idea but generally in my experience infant school teachers are very nurturing. I guess none of us know without her telling us

You’ve just made that up in your own head. You’ve no idea why he can’t attend school.

Obviously. But you suggested a safeguarding referral would ‘already be going through’ which is utter nonsense. Removing a child to home ed with no other red flags is absolutely not cause for a bloody safeguarding referral.

It very much depends on the circumstances. As well you know.

I doubt very much that a student looking for a cash in hand babysitting job will come with a DBS 😂

She was being abused while she was at school despite teachers reporting it and she was the exact opposite of under the radar - social services and the courts had been heavily involved with her family before she was even born.

That’s doesn’t mean all children who are home ed are at risk and in the context of this thread is bloody ridiculous to say.

It absolutely can be and is extremely problematic. Just look at the Sara Sharif case. The little girl was pulled out of the education system at which point the abuse she was facing from her oatents went under the radar as there were no longer professionals involved with the child/family. Sara went through months of abuse and was eventually killed. If she had been in education its unlikely to have happened. Read the case.

What a ridiculous and uneducated comment.Removing a child from school to home educate is not a safeguarding issue.

Re UC - they won't help if the OP is a solo parent but if someone is long term sick (on LWCRA) and with a partner who is working, they will pay childcare costs.

I don't think it applies here but just in case it helps someone else reading this.

No I meant why would they pay for OP given she doesn’t have a job.

Surely that’s for working parents?

You're right, sorry. My first post about UC did ask if she was on UC but I missed the bit about her not working. Then the screenshot more answered the pp's query of "why would they pay?"

Her first post says that she doesn't work and point two in the detailed breakdown of your image says that the parent needs to be working.

I've tried to attach a screen shot which may take a moment to load.

UC will not need details of the times of the child care. They simply need an invoice from a registered childcare provider and they will reimburse op in the next assessment period. The fact is the child requires care for the OP to do her coding course. There are no questions about the timings of the care.

I'm only assuming she is on UC as she has mentioned looking at DLA and hasn't mentioned working a lot.

You could try this charity and see if they have anything in your area. One of the things they provide is playgrounds for children with SEN where the kids can be dropped off and are looked after there and the cost is minimal but you may need to be referred by your local social services. Even if it’s after school provision it would still allow you to use the gym or schedule appointments later in the day. They also offer lots of advice and support

https://www.kids.org.uk/find-a-service/

i can take my kids with me to my gym (I don’t cos my 2 year old would be a nightmare!) but others do. I had a friend in a similar situation and she bought her son with her with either Lego challenges or work books.

Could you look at any parent and child classes you could do together? And maybe a sports class your DS could attend and you could go for a run or walk whilst he attends.

Remember this isn’t for ever…

I think the presumption is that a school age child would be in school, but there might be help with after school childcare or holiday clubs.

Why would they pay childcare fees?

Are you on universal credit? Have you looked into whether they would pay 85% of childcare fees? I don't think there's is a cut off age for this.

A kid sitting on an iPad at the gym every now and then is not a huge deal and I don’t know why some of these posters are acting like it is 🤣 Calm down. If the child is going to have occasional screen time anyway, what difference does it make if it’s at home or at the gym?

hope you can find him a new school soon, OP.

OP - I am sorry to hear you and your DS are in such a tricky spot. Having MH illness myself alongside various issues and then ND kiddo's, I appreciate it is a lot when something goes wrong. Also totally get that there are some appointments that you can't miss and equally your DS can't go to.

Have you got a CPN/named care worker? I think maybe it would be good to reach out to them about the situation as it sounds so stressful, it is no doubt having an impact, and by reaching out to them they may be able to involve other agencies to ensure there is support for you and for your DS.

In my postpartum, I was unwell during school holidays and did need to attend to see crisis team, which of course is far from ideal whilst looking after children and yet much needed that I saw crisis team to ensure I could keep looking after children!
As a temporary thing, a member of staff was able to sit with the children and occupy them whilst I did the appointments. Of course not a solution long term but may be worth exploring for the right now as more than anything, you need your mental health in a stable place to be managing this all and taking care of your mental health is also taking care of your son.

I hope you will both be okay and that things get easier for you both soon.

Unfortunately having your child around all the time because they are not in school means making huge sacrifices with your own time. You can’t afford childcare so ultimately you can’t have him in childcare. It’s hard going having a home ed kid. I have given up so much to enable my teen to have a better life than he did in school. Sometimes I miss the freedom but mostly I just see a mentally better kid and that’s makes it all worth it.

If you want someone to take care of your child you need to pay for it! Childcare is expensive. Why? Because the people taking care of your child are experienced and have went through training. They deserve to be paid fairly. Would you do a job you trained for and spent years gaining experience for half or quarter of the price just because outsiders think it's too expensive?

I understand the medical appointments but other things like the gym are just going to have to wait if you can't afford to pay for it.

Sounds to me that you need a direct payments needs assessment. Social services will assess what support you as a carer needs and hopefully award you some respite hours where you can employ a pa to give you respite. I work with a different range of children with different needs, some are paid via education and some are paid for via social care. Do not un enrol him.