CM Club: Pre-school sessions.

[mogs0]

Mindee1 was 2yrs at the beginning of the year. A few months ago Mum said she was thinking of sending him to day nursery for a couple of half days for him to socialise (even though he socialises everyday he's with me!).

I said there'd be no charge for the hours he would be at nursery as they'd drop him there in the morning and I'd collect him at lunchtime and keep him til after tea.

Now they've changed their minds and want to send him to a playgroup-type pre-school which lasts for 2 1/2 hours. I'd have to take him and collect him.

The problem is, she thinks I won't be charging her for the hours he's at pre-school so now I have to figure out how to tell her that she'll be paying me the same amount.

Oh, please some advice on how to be assertive and tell her confidently!!

Difficult one but you do need to explain this is different. Tell her that you hope she understands but you'll have to charge for the time she's at nursery as you'd never be able to fill those 2 and half hours (or less if travelling eats into that time. Is she expecting you to be 'on call' should the nursery need to send them home? If so, this is even more in your favour when explaining.

Good luck, these conversations are always difficult aren't they!!

Mogs I have this policy

UNDER 5?S IN OTHER SETTINGS

A child is counted as an under 5 by Ofsted until they are in full time education i.e. at school for 10 sessions a week.

A child who is at pre school is a under 5 and if they are with a childminder before and after pre school, and require a fulltime space during the holidays they therefore are taking a childminders full time space. As such you are required to pay retainer fee for the time that they are at preschool, as the childminder cannot then fill the part time that they are at pre school.

I give a copy to all new parents and reiterate it when children get to preSchool age. Hope it helps.

That reminds me, must nab Shosha's idea and add this to my policies!!

Someone recently wrote a great phrase for covering this situation... can't think which thread it was on.

Basically try to say that as you are Taking the child and Collecting the child from playgroup, Ofsted consider that the child is in your care even while at playgroup (as you are on call, plus would be in your care when playgroup is shut), therefore normal fee applies.

Thanks Shosh, knew someone had it in their policies. Was searching for it, when you posted.

Your all welcome nice to be able to help.

Thanks for the replies. Have had a hectic 24hrs and am grabbing a minute or two here to check what's going on!!

My cert says I can have 2 children between 0 and 8yrs (only 1 under 1) so the under 5's bit isn't really relevant as both my places have to be filled with pre-schoolers so that I can earn a fair amount of dosh!!

I have a similar situation Mogs...but in my case the parents are prepared to drop the child at preschool themselves and I do the pick up only at 11.45. The parents have however given my name to the nursery so I can go and collect in an emergency although they have accepted that if child is poorly (as in throwing up as opposed to a sniffle) then I would expect one of them to go. Whether this will actually happen in reality though remains to be seen!
Can I ask what everyone would do in this situation??? Would you still charge full fee for the morning or at least some sort of retainer? At the moment my mindee only goes to pre-school on Monday mornings but from Sept mum wants her in 5 mornings a week so its a definate drop in earnings for me. I also look after mum's other child - 5 month old baby - who is with me full time, so I think mum is thinking that having the older child in 5 mornings a week from Sept will be a saving for her as she's already got one youngster in full time with me. Not sure whether I should still be offering some sort of discount because of this and not charging full for the 3 yr old's pre-school time.
Appreciate your dilema mogs!

as a parent - my cm takes ds1 to/from pre-school (he is with her 7.30am - 1.30pm, pre-school is 9.15am - 11.45am).

she charges the full fee (£3.75ph, but I have ds2 with her aswell and for 2 children she charges £7ph total) for the time he is with her and a retainer (£2.50ph prorata, but for that time I then pay £3.75 for ds2, not £7/2, ie £3.50) for the time he is at pre-school.

She also charges £1 each way for pre-school drop off, so actually it works out as £41.50 for the 2 of them in term-time and £42 in holidays.

I think it is totally reasonably to pay for the time they are at pre-school, whether this is full fee or a retainer is up to you I think? After all if it is pre-school type it will be term time only, so assuming they want you to have the mindee in the holidays you couldn't realistically fill the space, even if you could fill a 2.5hr space at all - which I presume is unlikely.

Hollulou - I think if you are there as the emergency contact then they should accept that they have to pay something to retain the space during this time, again full fee or retainer? Up to you to agree with them.
Holiday / term-time question again applies doesn't it.

If they don't want to pay you then I think it is reasonably not to be available for emergencies / holiday's, in the same way as you wouldn't if you took another mindee for this time.

Just a parental view from me.

sorry, mispelt your name Hollylou

Thanks for the parents perspective chasingrabbits! Sorry Mogs for hijacking the thread!
Still on same note my parent is a teacher so I do full time care only during term time. In the holidays mum pays me a retainer (half of her normal weekly fee) and I've said she can use me for 1-2 days per week during the hols if she wants to, which she is planning to do. Do you think in this case its still fair to charge mum for when daughter is at preschool. I guess I'm still in same position in that I can't fill the 2.5 hr slot each morning. Agree though that if parents don't want to pay then I will need to make it clear I'm not an emergency contact for preschool.