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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Can you get an au pair just for the summer?

14 replies

Aloha · 02/02/2006 14:13

Was wondering as we might have the loft conversion done, hence a spare bedroom, and it would let me do a bit more work and maybe if we got a French au pair she could teach ds a bit of French. How would I go about this?

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uwila · 02/02/2006 14:25

Hi Aloha. You can deffo do this. Look at www.greataupair.com. Most of these people are au pairs and not nannies. Au pairs are often student and I would think it's very likely some will just look for a summer position so they can return to school in the autumn. Greataupair.com's best feature is it's search facility. You can sear for people currently in France, or people who are of French nationality.

Bink · 02/02/2006 14:25

I'm sure you can - have heard of that, and have also heard that since that means you can get university students etc. the calibre of au pair is usually rather good.

Not sure how you'd go about it though. Greataupair.com? I saw an article about an agency called aupairplus (I think) - idea being that they took on people who had an extra selling point - like being qualified to teach music etc. - and that just sounded interesting.

kitegirl · 02/02/2006 14:26

call agencies - we had a summer au pair last year from Finland. I'd get someone older, not an 18-year old, as the younger ones tend to take a long time to settle in and learn the ropes so for a few months it's not worth it. I used UK Nannies And Aupairs in Newmarket which were fantastic but I think they only have Eastern Europeans on their books - which I would not touch with a barge anymore but that's just me....

Original poster

Aloha · 02/02/2006 14:27

Ooh, thanks! Will look at greataupair.com with dh later. We are in London so that must be an advantage, surely? How much would I be expected to pay on top of board?

OP posts:

kitegirl · 02/02/2006 14:30

depends on hours worked I think, for 25hrs a week I believe £60/week is average, 30hrs it's £70-£75/week, 35 hrs/week £80-£90 - at least that's what my agency adviced.

frogs · 02/02/2006 14:39

Great idea, was planning to do just exactly this and your thread has reminded me that I must get around to doing something about it.

Is there any advantage to using an agency? In terms of vetting, or superior matching of family to au pair? Kitegirl, what's the downside of Eastern Europeans? They seem to make up the bulk of aupairs atm from what I can see.

Bugsy2 · 02/02/2006 14:43

Absolute Aupairs in Streatham are worth a look at Aloha - they have a website. I'm not too sure you'll manage to get a French girl though, it is nearly all girls/boys from Eastern Europe & Turkey, as far as I can tell.
I pay £80 for up to 40 hrs each week and was advised it was £50 for up to 25 hrs a week.

Bugsy2 · 02/02/2006 14:46

Just seen your post Frogs and I've had a 26 yr old from Poland and currently have a 22 yr old from Czech Republic. Both are lovely people.
I don't think you can generalise by country, it is more of a personality thing. I spoke to candidates from a number of different nationalities and interviewed a few people who were already in the UK looking to change families and for me their personality was important, not their nationality.

uwila · 02/02/2006 15:16

Personally, I wouldn't fork out for an agency fee for a 3 month position. I haven't ever used an agency, but I've heard enough bad stories about mismatches and such that I wouldn't ever pay for one. Also, remember that agencies have a vested interest in inflating the price (as they get a cut). I think word of mouth and good CHECKABLE references. Please please check them. And I would probably hire someone who has been an au pair before, hence knows what it is like to live in someone else's house.

You will find tons of advice on mumsnet in terms of house rules and interview questions.

Marina · 02/02/2006 15:41

Or maybe check with local secondaries aloha and see if any French assistant(e)s want to stay on for an extra few months. They tend to be at least 20. A number of people I knew in France got summer jobs that way - I was offered two but was already committed to Marks and Sparks back in London

kitegirl · 02/02/2006 16:31

I agree with Uwila about agencies, if you are willing to do the legwork and interview referees & candidates you can avoid spending the agency fee. May be worth advertising locally (in shop windows etc) as many au pairs might be leaving May/June but might want to spend an extra few months in a different family? Definitely get someone who has been an au pair before.

Eastern Europeans - just personal experience, went through three in five months, one was stealing, two sulked the entire time with attitudes that frankly didn't belong in our home. But I think we were just unlucky, unfortunately.

Candide · 02/02/2006 22:02

We had a summer au pair 2 years ago. I registered with several agencies but most worked on the basis that you didn't pay anything unless you got a girl from them and in most cases the fee for summer au pair was under £100.

There were lots of different nationalities - on agency in particular seemed to have a lot of Western European girls - I'll check which it was.

I liked the idea of the agency because if it didn't work out they'd find a replacement - you don't want to mess about with that if its only for 12 weeks. All the girls provided a written profile of themselves and answered a questionnaire and I did telephone interviews with the ones I liked. Apparently they were screened by overseas partner agencies although I was a bit sceptical about that. Obviously you are taking a bit of a risk with an au pair as most of the summer only ones are students coming from abroad but as all I needed was an extra pair of hands to help with new baby that didn't really matter. (She never had sole charge of either of the children)

The other advantage of some agencies is that they provide a support network for their au pairs - some organise social events and trips and they give contacts for other local au pairs (so our girl met 3 other Lithuanians).

All the agencies I contacted were members of BAAPA which has a website. I'm not sure how useful it is as an organisation but I felt that at least the agencies had tried to make an effort to follow some standards.

Our au pair was lovely and did loads more than she was meant to. Her English was perfect and my children loved her. She becaome a real family member and we saw her again this summer. It was a very postivie experience for all of us.

redshoes · 03/02/2006 19:56

We had one last summer from Slovakia and she was fabulous. She was experienced and also had a fantastic personality - the kids loved her straight away. I used aupairworld - cost I think 30 Euros. I live in a place where there are lots of au pairs so she could socialise easily. I think for just the summer, you have to have someone who is experienced otherwise you will spend the whole time training them. HTH.

scienceteacher · 05/02/2006 19:23

There are tons of girls looking for summer only work. There are lots of French girls willing to au pair here.

I get my au pairs from www.aupairworld.net .

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