Any teachers with a nanny?

[rsmurf88]

I'm completely unimpressed by the calibre of the childminders and nurseries in our area (well ones in our budget anyway) and considering hiring a nanny if I go back to work (considering being a SAHM full time)

I'm just wondering if it is likely that I will find someone who will be willing to work full time in term time only? I could maybe offer them a day or two a week in holidays but I don't need someone there fulltime as obviously in the holidays I will be there.

Any considerations to take into account- like extra leave etc?

Yes, I've got one - pt though now, after school basically.

She started off as my eldest's CM & has morphed into a nanny as we've both accumulated more kids.

Term time works great for us as she has her own dc during the school holidays - although she does do the odd day in the hols.

If you can find someone with school age dc it may well be ideal for them. Alternatively, another teacher friend has a term time nanny who then provides school holiday care for another family (school age dc, parents both working).

Im thinking of retuning to teaching.

Surely a full time nanny would take your whole salary by the time you've paid ni and tax etc?

Will have about £2-300 left a month. Maybe not worth it to some- but honestly don't feel staying at home full time is for me. Horses for courses and that.

Plus there is a possibility (albeit small) that I will be able to get a Nanny share which will cut the cost down.

Wow that works out a lot better for you than it did for us when we looked into it!

You say your budget doesn't allow you access to all nurseries and childminders, but surely a nanny is more expensive than the most expensive nurseries? Nurseries will have qualified staff and many childminders are qualified. A qualified nanny will be more expensive than an unqualified one.

Not quite sure on your reasoning, unless you have more than one or two children.

We had a part-time Nanny. She was awesome and fabulous with my daughter but the arrangement ended when we both became pregnant within a few months of each other.
I am still waiting on a refund of overpaid NI from HMRC despite her leaving in March. She hadn't been with us long enough to be eligible for SMP, but if she had it would have wiped us out financially as we would have to have paid it to her whilst I wasn't working nor have I yet received my own SMP as I'm self employed. The hassle of HMRC and now real time tax reporting etc and unexpected expense has put me off employing anyone ever again. Which is hard because now with two children a nanny would be lovely!

Notjustamummy your nanny wouldn't have cleared you out if you had to pay SMP. The employer is normally be able to reclaim the whole of the SMP they have paid to the employee from the Revenue plus a small percentage in addition to this to compensate them for the additional employer's NI which has been paid.

I have nannied for teachers and it can work but it depends on the budget and what the nanny needs to earn. Term time only I initially thought would be good but in reality it was a pain as temp work that I hoped to get during holidays did not happen frequently enough.

There are issues with holiday pay, pay split over 12 months rather than being paid for work done, if budget is tight then there can be impact on activities/outings, food.

How old are your children? Is one likely to go to school in a year or two and thus a nanny may not be financially viable if full time care needed for only one child.

What budget? There are costs beyond the salary to consider which may not apply using a nursery.

I'm a teacher, married to another teacher and we employ a nanny. She's been with us for over three years now and works 3 days per week during term time. As she has her own children this works for her because it means she can be with her own children in the holidays.

Her hourly rate includes holiday pay and is paid in 12 monthly deposits so it isn't affected by the different number of days worked in a month e.g. February or May which include half-term. That was her preference but it works well for us as that's how we're paid too.

We have two DCs and as there's a 5 year age gap between them, a nanny was one of the few child care options that meant our two could be looked after together which was important to us. For approx 12 months we shared her with another family. Their needs have changed so we now share her before school which helps with costs....we've kept her on even though our youngest is now at school too-we wanted DD2 to have a smooth transition to school rather than making life difficult for her/for all of us as we have no family closer than 2 hours away (and most of our friends seem to be teachers) so don't really have any back-up. Our wonderful nanny has been a sanity saver, the care, stability and peace of mind she brings to our family is worth every penny. I think I'd struggle to teach where I do were she not so marvellous.

Im a full time nanny for two teachers (nanny share) Term time only.My full time pay is spread over 12 months and I get long holidays. Its brilliant and I love tje job very much.

Our arrangement works out brilliantly. I work part time (0.7) and have a nanny who brings her own child. I pay her a bit less than if she didn't have her child. She has all holidays off but we have a spare 10 part time days a year for her to fill in bits for me if I need to do planning etc. We are both fair but flexible about it all.

I don't bring home a lot of pay after this, but the returning to work makes it very worthwhile for me.

When I only had dd, and no school runs to contend with, a local childminder was utterly brilliant. Having a nanny is much more convenient when there are two or more DC though (with school in a different village!).

I think nursery or preschool will be far better than hiring nanny as they will be more expensive. Also nursery and childminders provide all round development program for your kids. When I have started working full time, I drop my dd at preschool named Little Kingdom located in Encinitas.

I have to argue with this last comment kimmills.

The right nursery/childminder can provide wonderful all round developmental programs, and cost and convenience wise if this works for you then great.

However, having a nanny can bring infinite benefits. The convenience, one-on-one personalised care, flexibility, and love for the job could actually prove more beneficial. Plus the fact that a nanny will get to know your children, give them hugs when they fall over, and hopefully remain a part of their life forever.

I am a qualified Montessori teacher who chooses to nanny, and I put an exceptional amount of effort into all the activities I do with my charges. I make sure they are exposed to a variety of stimuli, get to ask a million questions, and for as long as the children have an enthusiasm about a subject it can run for weeks!

When training, I did a placement at a highly regarded nursery. Right at the start I was told "If OFSTED ask, this is what we say" they had a variety of untrue answers to questions - I was horrified. Children "followed" the EYFS by having a few minutes a day with the most experienced teacher where she would stage and photograph things for the children's learning records. They children had fun, and were kept safe, but I was completely unimpressed. It was a money machine.

If you can find a good nursery, by all means take advantage! However, I love being a nanny, and my excellent references prove that my charges really do benefit by having me around. All of my nanny friends are the same.

To answer the original poster, I was looking for a term time only job a while ago. They are few and far between but you will absolutely find someone for whom these hours suit.

Good luck.