To expect pre-school to sort out childcare during holidays

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My toddler will be eligible for 30 free hours' childcare from September. We have two options for pre-school: one at the primary school near us and one at the private nursery he goes to now. It's great that they offer this, but the only problem is that both do not have any childcare cover during holidays. My husband and I both work and do not get enough holidays to cover 13 weeks; plus, it would be nice if all of us could be off at the same time!

Holiday clubs etc. do not cater for three-year olds and we do not have any family that could look after our child for a whole day. My sister lives abroad and says their pre-school offers paid childcare all year round. AIBU to think that it's ridiculous that pre-schools are not sorting out cover during school holidays? What are we supposed to do?!

LAMPS1 you said Wrap around child care is causing big problems ....an explosion of mental health issues and special needs.

Unless you have any evidence to back up this extraordinary statement I suggest you refrain from talking bollocks. Quite unbelievable from someone who says they used to own a nursery.

Slightly alarming that someone with those views on childcare was previously running a pre-school.

Slightly alarming that someone with those views on childcare was previously running a pre-school

I think we can all be grateful to the 30 hours that she no longer does.

Look, we either need heavily subsidised year round childcare to genuinely cover working hours (including those who work shifts)

Or we need flexible employment so women can take five + years out and return to a good career position, or so parents can both work part time and share childcare between them

The current system is lacking

Friends who stopped work during the preschool years have really struggled to get back into quality employment later

Lost tax, lost pension contributions, lost professional contribution to whatever field they were working in, less job satisfaction, they are in the shit if they separate from their higher earning partner esp if unmarried

The op is not being ungrateful or lazy to think there should be more state support to help families through this difficult few years

I assume your child is in a private 0-3 nursery with a preschool that operates under school hours. I would personally find a childminder who does after school and holidays and send your child to the primary. You can then use the childcare element of your tax credits. An Ofsted registered childminder is usually around £5 an hour. You are correct that once they hit four there is complete wrap around care and in the holidays. It's worth noting that your child does not need to attend the School to use it so it's a good holiday option if there isn't one at your local school.

OP I do hope you find a suitable solution. I'm amazed at your resilience in the face of such nasty smug comments from people who haven't thread the thread -- easy enough to at leat read all your comments. It is altogether reasonable to have expected that once your child reached 3 that the nursery would have continued care for the same hours as previously. When looking for care for my baby once my maternity leave finished I did not enquire what the T&Cs were when she reached 3 ( after confirming they catered for 6months to 5 years) as I was more concerned with how my DC would be cared for and would settle.
It is unreasonable that so many posters misread or didn't bother to read your statement that it isn't a money issue.
Life can be very difficult sometimes and it's not helped by unhelpful/sarcastic comments.
Good luck

Well said!

Disagreeing is not the same as not reading the thread. I have. Starting with the title, OP did "expect the pre-school to sort out childcare during holidays". She repeats this expectation in her OP. When she realised nobody agreed, she did indeed tone it down a bit.

And it is only for one summer, many parents have to take unpaid leave or get a temporary babysitter to cover such a period. Not at all an unusual hardship, but, as many pps have pointed out, truly part of normal parenthood for many.

Hi Hopeless,
I think you've made some very valid comments. I had a wonderful term time only/part-time job working for an organisation you would 'expect' to be flexible (can't say who). A long comes a new manager and changes working hours - agreed because it was deemed as a business need - bang goes job (I had loads of experience) this counted for nothing - they couldn't even move me sideways or accommodate me with previous hours - didn't want to know - large organisation as I said. In the end I fought and I mean fought for redundancy pay (which wasn't much because I was p/t) so long as I signed something that meant I wouldn't go to the papers etc. Along with job went my pension (had built up over many years continual service, my extra accrued annual leave again due to long service). Never a bad report about my work and could probably have progressed (degree educated etc.). Female Manager (who doesn't have children - early 50's says well its a choice either take these hours on offer or not. Fortunately dh has good job so it was a no brainer - I choose my children (dc2 was very young at this point), no extended family support etc. So, staying out of work because it doesn't pay for me to work and I want to be around for my children in the holidays etc. Plan to get some temping work when dc2 starts school this is obviously going to be ad hoc. On the flip side my lovely dh is a manager and has accommodated a female member of staff's working pattern around her dc - she has massive flexibility and is a good employee - my dh realised how difficult it was for her from our own experiences and it has proved a win-win situation. We need more employers like this! It really isn't easy.

Wow AND WTF are you on OP?

All the nurseries around here except the school one are private. They are all open all year round, with school holiday care and after school care.

Never heard of a nursery that shut during holidays when parents need care most.

YABU I'm afraid, its pre-school! Its fundamentally education, not childcare. It doesn't get any easier once they get to primary school, you still only have 37 (ish) weeks of school and that's only 9-3 (ish), the rest you have to look after your children or pay for childcare. The government seems to think its easy for mums to get back to work after having children, they would rather have women working and children in childcare all year long, it all adds to GDP and tax revenue, and that's all they want. No value is placed on parents raising their own children these days.

The government seems to think its easy for mums to get back to work after having children, they would rather have women working and children in childcare all year long, it all adds to GDP and tax revenue, and that's all they want.
Actually, I tend to disagree. In my opinion all the system is aimed to keep women at home until children are in school, unless said women are in already great salaries. The cost of childcare in this country is beyond expensive, we are just used to it but in other countries this cost is a third or even none! We have free schooling and still think we don't need free nurseries. Everyone comments on how expensive is University at £9k/year but I'm paying more than that in nursery fees and getting in debt as a consequence because my industry doesn't really do career gaps and I'd struggle to return to work as normal. The difficulties that OP has highlighted and the current costs of nursery only highlight an outdated system built around the notion that men worked and provided, whilst women stayed at home. In the current system, nursery is a luxury, not standard help. Many are working for nothing, just to be able to continue a career, have chances for promotion, etc. My money goes directly to nursery fees and I still have to top it up with the credit card. Things might change with the free 30h/term time... But still far from the £200-£400 full time fees from other countries, or even the full paid free childcare.

Hahaha PMSL are you for real welcome to the world of being a parent and working it's the same for everyone. I suppose you also think that they should parent your DS as well seen as you seem to think that you don't have to.

This thread has gone way off topic. Simple answer op is to find a private nursery that is open all year round - I honestly thought that was the norm. If you are both working full time forget about preschools and free hours and just find a full time nursery that you like - that's what most other working parents do surely?

cherry2727
Definitely gave myself a pat on the back & sure u read ur post after typing it.