Stupid question, but do CMs work weekends?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

I have never needed to use a childminder as I've been lucky enough to be a SAHM since DD was born 10 years ago.
She and I are moving to England, possibly as early as next week, more likely the end of the month though.
I am keen to find a job, as DH will be paying rent here (Antwerp) and our mortgage in England.
Assuming I am able to find a job and assuming some weekend work will be required, how easy would it be to find a CM to do weekend work?

Some do but it will probably cost you £££. Do I remember you saying somewhere that you are/were a nurse? I may be completely wrong! But it's worth asking CMs if they will do weekend cover for nurses etc as they may make an exception for that.

As your DD is 10 have you considered an au pair? Possibly a native speaker oto keep up her ..... umm you were in Switzlerand and are now in Belgium, so French/German/Flemish?! That's always assuming you have the space. But a relatively experienced and responsible au pair plus who is happy with a shift type arrangement should be able to cope with a 10yo.

Have a look at www.childcare.co.uk

It lists Childminders, Nannies and Au-Pairs. You can contactthem by email and get an ideas of what they do.

A quick crash course in how childcare works in the UK:

Childminders: - they look after children in their own home. childminding as an occupation has been professionalised in recent years. which is a great thing. All childminders have to register with OFSTED and are inspected by them. The inspectors rate them from 1 (outstanding) to 4 (poor) and they do quite detailed reports, which you should request to see when considering a CM. As well as inspecting CMs, OFSTED have provided great detail on the professional standards childminders should be striving for, and they encourage professional development and training, and require all CMS to have carried out some training including first aid etc.
This means that ambitions childminders have a career structure to follow and you can easily find the outstanding ones without having to rely solely on word of mouth. CMs often have other children to look after (the number they are allowed is also set by OFSED) which is great for social interaction of course. they sometimes work in pairs or more and this works very well IMO.
CMs are self employed - you pay for their services.

Nannies - they work in your own home, they are your employee so you need to pay NI and tax for them. Some of them choose to be registered by OFSTED but it isn't required. Some have qualifications, some don't. Some families do a nanny share to share the cost.

Au pairs - this could suit your family as fraktious suggests.

Got to go, DS needs attentions!

p.s. some work weekends, you just need to ask to find out. good luck :)

this isn't what you asked but have you seen this website?
www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/advancedsearch.cgi

I have worked weekends before, at a premium though, so be prepared to pay extra

Sorry to have posted and ran. thaks for the link Moving, I am not planning to go back to nursing though.
It has come sooner than expected. We have booked a ferry for Wednesday. Yikes