childminding- doing the drop off / pick up

[cerealqueen]

I am looking into being a childminder, in particular doing the drop off / pick up from preschool/school. I used to know that somebody locally who did this when DD1 was in childcare.
Does anybody else do this? Can anybody please tell me how this works, what you charge, what courses you have to do or even if its a allowable or a viable option! Thanks.

Hit totally depends on your area, my friend has no after schoolers as the school run a really cheap after school club, ds' school one is cheap but Closes at 5 which doesn't suit a lot of parents, I have 3 after schoolers. I also look after under 5's for which you need to be a childminder, if you want to look after over 8's only you can
Register on the voluntary register with ofsted if you want to. Prices vary from area to area.

Talk to your county council - they are in charge of providing childcare and will run courses etc / have bumf you can read. Rates vary massively - I charge £5.50/hour but I only do preschoolers. I know some charge as little as £3.80 which I think is madness!

Octavia I charge £3.25 an hour which is at the top end for our area, if I charged £5.50 I would have no work! Prices vary massively from area to area.

My childminder charges £3.50 an hour, and a further £2.50 for subsequent children. This includes the school run. I live in Leicestershire. I Si believe this is on the cheap side though, and some may charge extra for school runs.

Wow! You can't park your car in Oxford for those prices, never mind get your child looked after.

Though that said, of course rates reflect the local cost of living, wages etc.

Have you any breakfast and after school clubs in the area? Is there any need for the service, check it all out before you go to the trouble of registering as a childminder. Check out if the council are currently running any courses, ask if they are running any information days/evenings.
Have a look on the ncma, ofsted and direct.gov websites for info and costs involved.

thanks everybody. There are quite a few primary schools where we live within walking distance but I shall check out the clubs they have. The over eight thing has made me think though, I have a three yr old and a 3 month old, no experience with older children. I think ideally I would like a pre-schooler as then I could activities with my dd too. Would I do the Earky years stuff with them though? ?
I think I need to contact council as suggested.

Yes, cerealqueen you would need to do the Early Years Foundation Stage with any child up to the 31st August following its 5th birthday (so conceivably until it was nearly 6yo). As you have two in the Early Years range yourself you would only be able to take one more in that range (so one more pre-schooler, really) and another three roughly 5-8 yo.

Thanks octaviapink that is really helpful.