to ask how i might manage childcare as a supply teacher?

[turquoiseamethyst]

Just wondering how others do it? Not necessarily supply but just work where you don't know when you're going to be in?

do you just have regular slots booked at the nursery and hope for the best?

I waited til DS2 was at nursery and specified the days I could work. Occasionally work comes up on other days and I ask my MIL if she can help out. Generally she does, as she's retired, but I wouldn't ever expect anyone to drop/rearrange plans on my behalf.

My SIL did this, had LO in nursery from 8am 2 days a week and let the agency know she could work those days. Luckily she was in an area with quite high demand, particularly at this time of year when all the bugs are going around. She also did some tutoring for extra money while on mat leave, lots of demand leading up to exams and she could do it in the evenings or for a couple of hours at the weekend when her OH was home with LO.

thanks, good to know it is do-able :)

I do supply 3 days a week and have regular child care arranged, relatives 1 day, nursery 2 days, but eldest has funded place now she's 3. I started this academic year and had to cover the first 3 weeks paying nursery without any income, but since then it's been regular and I have had a long term placement since November.

I think the only way is to have regular child care prearranged and accept that you may have to pay for it even when you don't actually need it.

Hope you can sort something.

thank you, me too :)

If you are just doing day to day supply - definitely don't plan to work for the first three weeks in September! I have done supply in the past with a great company that got me loads of work - except for the first three weeks in September!

Have a really good look around/ talk to others people on supply or who know someone - a few companies will do guaranteed supply. Very rare outside London, but I worked in a school one day (North West) where the TA told me of a company her husband worked for who gave him a contract of 3 days guaranteed. He had to be available all week, but would always get paid for three days a week, even if there was no work. (obviously he got paid for 4 or 5 days if he worked them). But that's what I mean by ask around for anyone who knows anyone!

thanks, although i'll have a very small baby in September so won't be working then :)

Alternatively, sign up with as many agencies as you possibly can, but make it clear that you are only interested in long term supply. There tends to be a lot going, but they are usually in pretty tough school (either behaviour or leadership wise) where people have gone off sick or left suddenly during the year.

Thanks, but I'm not sure I can commit to anything long term

I have been doing PT supply since Sept - there is loads of work where I live and it is possible to stipulate that you will only do pre booked work so you can arrange child care.

Also as pp suggested, you could look for a part time temp contract through a supply agency - again they are so short of teachers around here that my supply agency put 2 of us together to create a jobshare as school couldn't get a FT teacher (which is strange because it's actually a fantastic school with a good SLT).

I do one day a week supply at the moment, sometimes more when it's prebooked but it's all at the same school.

I chose a day, told the agency I was free that day and could I have prebooked as much as possible. Did my first day in a school and haven't been anywhere else. I now cover nqt and ppa time.

Could you see what is out there by your dh taking some annual leave? You might find that you are snapped up by a school that has, ahem, staffing retention issues. You get the work but you're not involved in the politics.

Good luck and congratulations!

thank you :)

I don't have a husband but thanks.

I meant to add If you can you could then get childcare for guaranteed work.

Another teacher friend of mine was offered 2 days long term supply with a school straight away. I think some areas are desperate for supply. Hopefully you're in one of them.

In that case, maybe contact schools directly. Some schools are still doing one to one tuition, seems to be more common in secondary schools now. They will take primary teachers for it though as it is often targeting children who need to get to level 4/5 in the core subjects.

The school I was offered a place to do that was very flexible on hours too.

thanks, I don't think that is the "done thing" around here, when I spoke to someone briefly about it before.

I'm secondary (English) trained.

Could you do tutoring from home? I know it's not as much money as supply but it's a bit more plannable and steady.

Not really; I have an 11 month old who cries a LOT!

Book into a nursery for one fixed day per week. Then (assuming the nursery has spaces) when you get the phone all for agency work, phone the nursery to see if they can take your child as an "extra". If they can, you can take the agency work. If not, you can't!

This is how I do it, it's rare my nursery cannot take my child.

thank you, will try that when I find a nursery :)

Sorry I didn't mean tutoring from home with no child care - but that it would be easier to organise a child minder for a regular slot.

oh I see - I don't think the cost of a childminder would cover what I could earn as a tutor

We pay £30 an hour for our tutor - if you had 2 children after school with half an hour turnaround gap you'd make £60 and need max 3 hours of childminding. Which as I say isn't fab but is good to have something predictable.

I did this with no family childcare. I paid for ds to go to childcare everyday and had to pay even if he didn't go. If I didn't get a call I would pick him up early. I was a single parent so had to take all work that was offered. It was stressful not knowing if I was going to make ends meet but I did get by. By always being available I became the regular 'go to' person for a few schools as they knew that I would go unless I had work in another school. Sometimes that one phone call would turn into a couple of weeks work when th teacher got a sick note.

I don't know how common it is, but in the nursery where I work they allow some parents to have irregular sessions for their children. I think minimum is once a week, (basically so that the child has a regular session and remains feeling settled with us) but more can be added as long as we have enough notice to ensure we are in ratio on the extra days. Might be worth ringing around to see if any nurseries locally offer this.