Shift working Mum & Dad

[Sophaloaf]

I am in a bit of a pickle. Me and my OH have both been offered promotions ton come into effect this summer (mine, June. His, August)we work for the same company just different branches and it is shift work.
I have been working part time up to know and my DD goes to a pre school type thing in the children's centre.
Once I get the promotion and I am signed off on it I will be working full time(ish) 30-40 hours on shifts that work 6.30am-4pm and 3pm-1am and OH will be the same.
DD will be starting a pre school attached to a school so times are roughly 8.30-3 and we have no idea how we are going to work it. Do childminders work that early? Can they pick children up and take them back until around 5?
We are totally clueless. The afternoons might not be a problem but the early starts are none negotiable and we have no idea how to deal with childcare that early!
We can work opposite shifts sometimes but we have been doing that since I went back to work 2 years ago and we never have a day off together as it is unless one of us books it off on holiday! Would like the promotions to at least get us a day off a week as a family.
Is anyone in a similar situation or have any advice?

most settings can't be flexible as they have to keep their ratios - shift workers often end up paying for more childcare than they need, and if you want time off together then that's obviously expensive as you'll need more childcare at other times of the week. It sounds like you'll need full time childcare unless you can guarantee that one of you will be off every Tuesday (or whatever).

sorry, meant full time wraparound to fit round the preschool (which a CM will do) - and presumably also in preschool holidays?

Both make flexible working requests? So one does earlies and one does lates?

I think we're gonna have to work one on earlies one on lates for the most parts of the weeks. Luckily I have a Mum who works in a pre school so she can help out around half term etc and ohs Mum is usually free after about 2.30 due to working earlies so she can help with the weird handover phase when there's a couple of hours where no one will be home.
It's so hard isn't it but we do what we do and at least we are setting a good example for working hard for our kids x

Some childminders will work from 6 ish. But I'm not sure many would be happy with doing 6am to 8.30 then 3 to 5 as your son would take up a full time space, you can only find out by ringing around.
Personally I would charge you 6 to 5 if I started that early and give you the option of using the funding with me.

I’d say ditch the preschool idea and use the funding with a childminder for full time care finding one that starts early.
Childminder’s will follow EY learning anyway and take your child to playgroups etc so you don’t need both. It is doable but you will likely have to pay for a full day. I’m guessing you’ll get the 30hrs a week finding so even if you did pay a childminder 6-6 or similar, with the funding you’ll only need to pay for around 20 hours a week for full time. If you have a day off a week that’s only 10.

Why don't you just book preschool for the handover period?

If we are on a late shift we have to leave the house around 1.30-2 so not sure if we could just do pre school 1.30-3. Suppose we could just do afternoon sessions but even then it's the other one not getting home from
5-5.30
Think we are going to wait to see if we get the 30 hours and go from there. It's annoying as oh is always so laid back about everything where as I'm a panicker so I want it all sorted now and he seems to think we can sort it the week before or something