after school care - what do you do, what does it cost?

[geekgrrl]

I'm thinking of going back to work f/t in an office environment in a couple of years' time when the youngest is at school. A friend of mine is happy to provide before-school care, and I'm pondering my after-school options and am also trying to get some idea of how much it is likely to cost.
The school they're at does not provide after-school care, and isn't likely to do so in time. Besides, with 3 children I think I might as well pay someone to pick them up and look after them in their own home. I live in a rural area in N. Yorks. so was thinking that I might have to pay for travelling?
Would I be able to get someone just for 3 hours a day? Or do nannies generally look for f/t employment?

Message withdrawn

I dont know about nannies but as a CM I would charge you £3 per hour per child, and 3 hours a day would be fine, I would enquire at nanny agencies, but you might also get a nanny who has their own child and would be happy to work part time for you, I assume you would need f/t cover for school holidays if you were working too, so maybe a nanny might be better if you could get one!!

i charge 3.50 as a cm and do after school pickers up's and provide dinner for an extra £1per day. You could get a list of local CM from your childrens information service to see if there is a cm near you. The thing is if your not wanting anything for a while yet then money will change and so might CM's,

Hi Geekgirl, I think it just depends on who you can find - you may find a nanny to do just three hours a day just for your kids. It will depend on her situation I guess. I need after school cover too, so I've got a childminder who collects DS from school, just 1 1/2 hrs a day. However, she also does some of the school holidays for me, which is really helpful (and that's where she really makes her money)Around here, each school has its own set of childminders (informally of course) who just collect from that school. So the school might know who collects from there, then you could talk to them about taking three children in a couple of years. Again, here, you'd need to book that well in advance.

My two go to after school club which charges 9 for 1 hour, 14.50 for 2 hours and 20 for three hours (for two of them). This is more than at their previous school. Childminders here charge 5 per hour per child. (sorry pound sign not working!) Afterschool club is nice in that i drop and pick them up in same place. You could consider an au pair?

I use a cm and she cahrges me a set fee of £12. Have to pick her up by 6 pm.

I've done breakfast/after school club. Usually more expensive and they sometimes charge by block of hours which makes it a bit more pricey again.

I've done childminder for ages now. £3 an hour. Relaxed and homely. Cms often have just one school they do pick-ups from so that might restrict your choice.

Check if your council provides list of childcare options in your area.

I advertised locally for 3 - 6.30pm. We got 60 people calling. But I live in a bit of London where there are just absolutely masses of people looking for work so it depends where you live. I put in the advert might suit a student - I thought clever university student whose lectures finish early-ish might be a possibility. In fact we have ended up with the person who looked after them on Saturday mornings who is about 50 ish.. not sure as she says she's 21 to them and they belive her!.. who can do most days except one and also in the holidays is happy 4 days a week to do 9 - 6 too. It's ideal but I thought it would be impossible to find. There is also a breakfast club at their school from 7.30pm and to 6pm which occasionally I have used. I know a couple of teachers (husband and wife both teach full time) who use that as their childcare option.

there aren't any CMs in my area - none at all
I'm a parent governor at school and it's a big problem for the school and obviously for parents. The council have done a half-hearted, unsuccessful recruitment drive.
Have briefly considered au pair but really don't fancy having someone here when we want to relax / be together as a family.
xenia, sounds like you were very lucky - good to hear you had a such a big response, hopefully I'll get at least a handful then. How much do you pay her?

Where do you live then that there are no CM s?

in a village about 8 miles west of Harrogate. There are childminders in other villages in the area, but none here. It's a real PITA and the school has lost several pupils to other village schools as a result.

Message withdrawn

EEEKKK!!! HECK NOOOOOOOOO!!!! [horror]

I really couldn't cope with looking after other people's children every day. Hats off to those who can!!

I think London has a very transient population, loads of people from Australia, everywhere really often who come here for a few years to look for work and older people who have retired early and would quite like a bit of extra money and to get out of the house. But it may just be money. I think I advertised it at £6 an hour which is more than the minimum wage but a lot less than I earn, obviously so the economics work out okay. Also we have 5 children. Before the youngest two went to school we had someone who came here each day to look after them. She also used to do the school pickups of the oldest 3 and also cook tea for all 5. That worked well until the youngest went to school.

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

mmmh - well, my friend only wants to do before school care. But that's quite a big help in itself. Don't really know anyone else who might be interested.
After school I think I'd really like them to be looked after at home, rather than going to someone else's house. Do you think £10 per hour would be ok? Everything here is so expensive - even cleaners charge £10 ph.

Message withdrawn

Yes, although she says she's 21 (!) ours is an older lady (although she's a fairly youngish looking one and must weigh about 7 stone, very silght) and I think she likes to get out of her house and come here as a bit of a focus to the day and get paid regularly for it. it's worked very well and yet I couldn't believe we'd find someone who would just work 3 hours a day as it's not a proper job.

Well £10 per hour would be roughly the equivalent of paying a cm £3 per child per hour.

£6 per hour for 5 children.

xenia, I thought you had 2 children, am amazed you have 5!!!!!!!!!!

and whats happened to your nanny, thought you were all set up there?

no, wait a minute, am getting you confused with uwila.

I didn't make it clear. Until the twins were 5 we had a full time daily nanny who came here (when we also had 3 school age children). But twins babies, older children 10, 12, 14 so they didn't really need a lot of care, just someone there, cook tea, school collection. That worked fine but it's expensive.

When the twins started school we moved to someone after school 3 - 6.30pm at the house who did the school collection (the 60 applicants for the job one). By then the oldest was in the upper sixth at school and passed her driving test at 17! so must be oldest child in the country to have a nanny. Anyway that person only usually dealt with the twins and then the older 3 steadily left and went to university. In fact now they're like additional nannies. I'm away for a week from 20th and I'm trying to sort out who will be around when for the younger ones. It's obviously much easier than just having younger children. Even so it was good to have her around in the house with the younger ones for the older teenagers so they weren't in an empty house, there was food around and a responsible adult to discuss things with if necessary.

I do afterschool nannying in London and I charge £8 an hour although I am aware that nannies do charge up to £10 an hour because its only for 3 hours a day.