When do I need to start looking for childminders?

[CocoKev]

DH, DSs and I will be moving back to the UK from a three year stint abroad in Sep 2014.
DS1 will be 3.10 and DS2 will be 18 months old and I will be starting back at work (hopefully part-time) in mid December 2014. DH will be working full time. At the moment it feels like we have a long time to get childcare sorted out but I know that once we start packing up everything will move quickly and we'll be back in the UK before we know it.

I think I will be looking for a childminder -(full-time care while I'm working for DS2 with wraparound care for DS1- we'd like him to go to a nursery/Montessori/ Forest School for 2 or 3 sessions a week).

We don't know exactly where we'll be moving to but have a rough idea- finding the right primary school for DS1 will be a chief consideration, I'll want to look around some schools when we're back so can't narrow it down further until then.

So- do childminders expect to be interviewed much in advance of a child starting with them? I.e if we met and interviewed a few with vacancies in October would a start date of December be realistic?

And is a childminder rather than a nanny share the right way to go based on what we're looking for?

Thanks so much, sorry for extensive background detail!

I am a CM that does forest schooling, so you may find a CM that can do everything you need.

A CM works in their own home, usually for many families and they will interview you, just as much as you interview them. They are self employed.

A nanny works in your home and you employ them. They often work for only one family, but sometimes more than one.

Most vacancies come up in September as older children move on to school, so you need to look at the beginning of the summer at the latest, to find space for 2 children.

I would take a booking for next September now, as I know I have 3 children starting school then.

Thank you, that's very helpful- I didn't realise that some CM did forest schooling. You're not in Kent by any chance are you?!

I suppose I will have to start the search earlier than I thought.

With 2 children, a childminder is the way to go unless hours of care you need can not be accommodated by local childminders.

Kent Family Information Service can provide you with a list of registered childminders. Will be easier to narrow things down once you know where you will be living, which pre-school.

Think long term, consider which primary school your children will attend, will the childminder be able to collect from there?

I'm not in kent . You might even find a Montessori CM. Compared to nurseries, we follow the same curriculum.

For September places I would start looking as early as possible. I have already have a couple of enquiries for September 2014 and interviewed one parent last week. As HSMM said, childminders will usually know quite far in advance how many spaces they will have each September as children move up to school. At any other time of year I wouldn't look any more than 3 months in advance. Parents don't generally give more than 4 weeks notice about their children leaving so it is hard for childminders to know if they will have spaces or not.