If I become a childminder, can I work only term time?

[SaveMeASeat1]

Im currently an LSA in a school but I’m considering having another child. I thought childminding would be a good option as a job from when the baby is 1 until them getting their 30 hours childcare.

Ideally, I’d continue working only term time. The reason being, my husband is a soldier and we live far from family. It’s important to me to be able to spend that time focussed on our own children, especially since their dad is often away.

im just wondering, is offering term time only a service that people would want? Or would I be wasting my time going down that route?

There will be a market for it, although far more limited. I imagine you'd have the dc of teachers and support staff mainly, and possibly others with a TT only contract.

For me personally, if I needed a childminder I wouldn't want term time only. A lot of people use a childminder due to work commitments and have kids that aren't school age so would need childcare in school holidays.
That's just my opinion though, I've never used a childminder but if I did need one term time only wouldn't work for me

You can, but how much interest you get depending ds on the demand in your area. Another thing to consider is if the school term dates would be the same in all the schools by you.

I've used one but only for afterschool

As others have said, you are limiting yourself. What about wrap around care? Could you do before and after school, are you able to pick up and drop off?

It would be a limited market. I had a childminder - part time hours, but a regular year-long job. Also, not great that you want to focus on your own children - no one will want a childminder like that.

Teachers, TA's and school office staff might be interested, you could also offer a little flexibility as most want a couple of days before term starts in the summer as well

I met a childminder who did this. All her customers were teachers.

You could just do before and after school care, that’s common around our area. However you probably then need a lot of children to make the finances add up. Our last CM had about 8 children (the ratios change once they’re over 8 years old) so it would become a big job for those few hours, and possibly not that compatible with having a baby - who would be caring for the baby while you’re making dinner for 8 children, for example.

There will be some interest in term time only for younger DC but the pool will be much more limited, and I think a precious CM of ours who did mainly before and after school with one or two little ones still did some care during the holidays.

Our friend does it but it teachers and uni staff kids she looks after
very limited and had trouble filling spaces

Teachers want term time only - that’s your market surely?

My cousin is a CM, 2 of the children she looks after the parents are teachers, so she doesn’t have them for all school holidays, the other child’s parent has an office job, so she has that child school holidays. She comes to an arrangement with the teachers on pay for her holiday pay, she cannot do without the money for at least 9 weeks each year.

I'm a teacher and I always appreciated being able to drop my daughter off at the childminder in the holiday so I could have time to do housework, shopping and have me time.
You works also need to make sure you covered training days etc.

My youngest went to a term time only childminder. She had a waiting list for families to use her. School staff and teachers were her main clients.

I have used two childminders on a term time only contract. Once when I was a TA and now I work for an education service.

Just as a side note, it may be worth offering the odd ad hoc holiday play session.
My childminder did and I used them in the Easter and summer holiday so I could clean the house, have a hair appointment, sleep 😂.

I think a little more flexibility would hold you in good stead. Even if the parents of the children you’d be looking after are all teachers, LSAs etc, when would they do all the things that they couldn’t do when they’re working in schools and can’t take the odd day off here and there for - like doctor/dentist/optician appointments, anything at all for themselves, shopping etc? If you could give some extra days out of term time, that might be more attractive.

If you are only planning to do it for a year that would be more of an issue for me.

I think there would be a niche market for that. I'm not sure it would work as a temporary stop-gap as you describe, you would probably need to take time to advertise and build up your business.

To cater for teachers, I think you would need to offer long hours in term time (maybe 7am-6pm) and include INSET days. Teachers might appreciate occasional days in the holidays and potentially evening babysitting for parents' evenings/plays etc. You would probably need to be offering plenty of educational activities and maybe runs to nursery schools as teachers a likely to be keen on that.

If you could offer all that, I think you would have a market.

I know one term time only childminder, who’s definitely busy, and my childminder (who’s year round) has two children on term time only contracts. It is possible, but you’ll be less busy. This might be fine for your needs though.

Fair enough so long as you are clear, you'll probably find enough clients who are happy to be able to have a term time contract with you as they can be hard to come by.

However, I would consider whether it is worth the financial outlay for you to just work as a childminder for 2 years (from your post from when your baby is 1 to getting their 30hrs) and also whether this is morally fair on the families who will sign up to you and 2 seconds later need to find alternative childcare as you are closing down.

Realistically of only working for 2 years you won't have time to build a business and reputation and be making money by the time you've paid the initial training and registering costs and for any potential adaptations to your home, insurance and so on.

DS goes to nursery, but I so appreciate the fact he can go in school holidays. I can meet friends, get my hair done, go to the dentist, get the car MOTd, clean, sleep, watch TV …

I’ve had to spend two full weeks with him due to nursery being closed and us having a holiday booked, halfway through week one and I’m losing the plot.

I'm a Registered Childminder. I'm currently taking a break but when I was working I was term time only, Monday to Thursday. I thought i would struggle to find business but I didn't and had a waiting list. I had the early years children of 2 teachers and 1 TA and then I had some school children for wrap around care.

I had a Facebook page that showed my hours and used Childcare.co.uk for advertising and a local chdminding Facebook page and had lots of enquiries. There was a real demand for it, in equal amounts of school staff and those people who work full time but also have family support.

To some degree it depends on demand for childcare in your local area so it's worth doing a bit of research. I know a lot of Childminders who are term time only (personally and also through national Facebook groups) and they do really well for business.

I’d speak to your Local Authority Early Years team. They’d be able to give you some information on the childcare needs in your area.

Training, registration, insurance, inspection are all things you should look into first. I am a teacher but would think that term time only is a bit restrictive and would look elsewhere. I think you might be looking at childminding as earning some money around your own children and personal circumstances. It is a financial commitment for parents, some might have previously had their children in a nursery setting and will be expecting more.

I've known of term time only childcare provision before, nurseries more commonly but there was a CM did it near us. As others have said, it's likely to depend on the local market, but I was under the impression that in most areas supply is quite tight.