Trying to sort out childcare when university don't know term dates

[StressedStudentMum]

I'm in university and need to sort out childcare with DC's Mum (we share custody) for the next year. They've released the semester dates for most students but as I'm a student nurse we follow different dates. I've asked the university and they are saying they won't know until next September - which is way too late for me. AIBU to think this is ridiculous? How am I meant to sort things out that late? If they can have the schedule for the rest of the students, why not those of us doing healthcare.

Oops sorry forgot to say we're specifically trying to sort out Christmas break. We can sort out summer as we have dates for that, I just don't know what to do about Christmas, specifically the first few days of the holiday really

I agree, it's silly. Can your union/students' union put some pressure on them?

Surely 3 months (between October 2020 and December 2020) is ample time to sort out a few days Christmas arrangements? I think you're catastrophising a little bit.

I agree that you’re being dramatic - not sure why you need to arrange childcare for September 2020 and onwards in December 2019

My university only released timetables at the beginning of each academic year, so in August.

You’re being unreasonable. I’m sure you’ll sort something out between now and next Christmas .

not sure why you need to arrange childcare for September 2020 and onwards in December 2019

Because the court order stipulates the next year's holiday arrangements (as in who is having DC when) have to be sorted by the end of the year.

between now and next Christmas

It's not between now and next Christmas though is it. They're saying it'll be between September and next Christmas.

In that case why not just assume you'll be busy on the days in question and play it safe?

When I was a student nurse my Christmas holidays usually went from about the 20th December to the 2nd Jan. I know all universities are different but we never seem to have any students on placement over those times now, and we have them from all over. Could be worth checking the previous years timetable as they don’t tend to stray too much. You’d be able to pick out the most likely chunk of time from the past years holidays iyswim

The court should be understanding of your timetable, they won’t be that inflexible if you explain. You might not know the exact dates but you can infer them from this year and use placeholder dates, so if your term ends in the 2nd week of December this year it will be around the same time next year, so not a complete mystery.

As a student nurse, won’t you have placement hours to complete too? How are you handling placement in custody sharing as this also impacts your availability, and it’s not like placement hours are scheduled a year in advance either

This might be something you need to get used to. My partner works in healthcare and shifts are only allocated 3 weeks in advance in his department.
Sept - Christmas break is a good amount to notice. I do know this tricky balancing childcare though.

Have you spoken to your head of department? They're more likely to know that the general university timetable team.

I would see what dates/holidays previous cohorts had at that time and go off that. Nursing/healthcare courses are notoriously difficult for things like this for some reason! Your course leader/head of nursing should be able to give you some idea or at least an idea of what has happened previous years.

I can't go back any further than last year. Last year they finished on 21st Dec. This year it's 20th Dec. Based on that, next year would it be reasonable to assume 18th is the last day?

I would say the 18th is a good placeholder date yes

Thanks @halloumi2019. It looks like that would make sense too based on how many weeks the current year 2's are in uni / on placement prior to Christmas break this year.