Having spent the past 2 weeks with a house full of kids, not all of them my own, and finding, strangely that i enjoy it, I've started to think about offering an after school 'pick up and look after' service, and a holiday 'stay all day' service.
I've read that I don't need to register with ofsted if I'm only looking after kids over 8, which will be the case. I used to teach in KS2, so I feel very comfortable with kids this age, and my own 3 are aged 9, 11 and 13. What I don't know is what othr rules and regs I need to conform to, or which I can ignore.
My idea is that I would pick up extra children when I collect my own (I have a 7 seater, so would be able to collect 4 extra from school), and that any young secondary school pupils could come along on the school bus. I think I could accommodate 7 more children in total. My USP is that I would pck up on short notice, and would be happy to have children on an occasional basis, giving parents the opportunity to be flexible over accepting extra work, staying late, etc and not being tied to 3.15 pick ups. My pricing would be by the hour, and I'd be happy to keep children until picked up, so parents could relax if stuck on the motorway (a common occurrence round here).
I'd offer them a snack when they got in, and serve tea around 5 for those who were staying later. They would have space and time for homework,which I would help with, then play/relax/chill until picked up.
I have a large, rambling house, but no outside space to speak of, so they'd be indoors unless we all decamped to the park,which is 2 minutes away so very possibly I'd be taking them there or for a walk in the woods with a picnic tea in summer. Inside, we have lots of stairs, and can't really shut off rooms as it's all open plan, so apart from bedrooms, all rooms will be accessed by the children. I also have a Woodburning stove in the kitchen diner, which will be lit in the winter. I have a good cage type guard around it, but I wonder if it would be allowed even so. I'm intrestd to hear from anyone who knows about this.
I'm sure the would be a demand for this type of childminding. Our school's after school club is not well liked by parents or children, since the woman running it isn't nice to the children and takes every opportunity to over charge parents. Many parents don't have family living nearby who they can call on at short notice, and there are only so many favours one can owe to friends and neighbours! Once they reach secondary age, there is nowhere they can go after school, apart from clubs, which means they miss the school bus back home, so from Y7 many children are home alone till parents come in from work, which is a big worry for many parents.
I was wondering if there is anyone out the who has done or is doing something similar-a looser, more flexible arrangement of childminding than that offered to pre school age children, and what I will need to do to start up. A checklist of jobs I need to do would be very useful!