Before/After school childminding

[whatsagoodusername]

I've been toying with the idea of doing before/after school childminding when my DC start at primary school (Sept 2016).

I work from home now on freelance contracts and want to expand this, however when my children are home I will have to watch them. So I was thinking that I could potentially take on a few mindees, walk them to/from school, provide wraparound school childcare.

I'd have no problem with the odd day with a child in the house sick (not in the vomiting stage, but the quarantined lying on the couch stage - is this allowed?), which I gather is frustrating for working parents who would otherwise need to take a day off.

Would this work? I have no interest in having younger (pre-reception age) children, but wouldn't mind older ones. I have a garden, a dedicated toy room already so have indoor space, and I will be at home with my DC anyway. It would only be a secondary income, so it wouldn't matter to me if I had one child, two, three, or none at all some of the time.

I'm sure I've not thought of a thousand considerations, so can anyone tell me what they might be?

Not sure about the sick cover. The ill child would have to go on the school run and other minded children might be exposed to their illness.

Would it be term time only ?

How would you get to school? Walk or drive?

Can't remember what kind of registration you need, so either check with Ofsted or wait for someone more knowledgable to come along.

Would you feed them before or after school? Would you charge a session fee, or just the time they come?

If you go for registration, be aware it can take ages.

Look at what demand there might be for the service you plan to offer. What hours of care would parents need - some parents need very early morning, late evening. Does the school already have a breakfast club, after school club? Would it have one in future? Keep an eye out for any information, planning application, school newsletters.

What if your own children do not get a place at the school? What if one child gets a place but the other does not? Look at admissions policy, keep an eye on how that changes over the years and how class sizes vary. You may find that over the past few years and over the next few that there are no changes, or you may find that catchment changes, class sizes change. Some schools are looking to expand, they may be growing slowly or quickly.

I've done after school care before and the main problems I had were:

• My DS was in reception at the time and the children I looked after were all older than him. The boys especially were a sometimes mean to him and called him a baby. He found it difficult to share his toys/house with them. Now that he is in year 2 it would probably be a lot easier as he wouldn't feel so intimidated.
• My own children couldn't do any after school clubs
• I didn't have time to help my own children with their homework and they were too tired to do it by the time the mindees had gone home

I have a childminder friend who only does after school and holiday care but she looks after about 10 children at once. It works for her as she gets most of the day off but still manages to earn very well due to the number of children she has. She is always full and getting more enquiries so has no trouble filling her spaces.

I'm a childminder looking to move into just before & after school care (already have some but also 2 little ones who are leaving me over the coming months). My advice:

Don't underestimate the impact on your own DC eg committing to such early starts your DC are still in bed, not being able to have friends over or simple personality clashes with mindees. It works for us now but definitely took some adjustment for my DC.

Have 1 (preferably 2) days a week without other children. Your own DC need time away & it allows you to do homework, have playdates, do an activity, chill

Don't undercharge and make sure you're covering realistic food costs or charge a reasonable amount on top for food. The older the child the more they'll eat (my 8 year old boy mindee eats adult portion for tea & that's on top of a snack after school!)

Be organised - have dinner ready to bung in the oven/reheat or snacks prepared, have some activities out & ready after school etc, makes life so much easier

Be very clear from the start on what is & isn't acceptable behaviour in your home - little things like eating at the table, good toilet habits, zero tolerance on fighting (esp if you have a group of boys!!)

From a practical POV you can now care for a child for max 3 hours a day without becoming a cm but many parents use childcare vouchers so it might be worth at least going on the voluntary register to get an Ofsted number. You can't care for more than 6 under 8's (inc your own) and check your home insurance for maximum allowed (mine is 10 )

Good luck