After-school club or Childminder?

[NooNooMummy]

Quick question. (Im clueless)
Which is the best option for us?

LO starts school in Sept. i work part-time, mostly from home but am in the office for 2x short days a week. (Yes, Im v lucky to have such an amazingly helpful work situation, I know...).

I currently pick up LO from nursery about 5pm-ish on days that Im in the office. But Im clueless what Im going to do when she starts school and will be finishing at 3/3.30pm.

Nearest family members are 3 hours away, LO's dad is a useless who's made it clear that childcare is not something he's going to help with - he rarely sees LO and doesn't help financially either. We've just moved house and the peer group friends we have are now 30mins away.

Would after-school club be too much for a LO from week 1 of school? Surely a childminder she barely knows wouldn't be much fun either? There doesn't seem to be any reception-class summertime orientation/ getting to now you sessions planned so we wont get to know any other kids and their parent before term starts but Im thinking of placing an ad on a local forum to see if I can find another parent who'd be willing to do school pickup on my office days and i could do their days of the week for them in return - this would still mean leaving my LO with virtual strangers, so not sure...

And ive no idea what my finance options are - currently get 30 free hours of nursery but haven't applied for tax-credits/ childcare vouchers/ whatever else there is.

Any ideas? Ive got til Sept to find an answer.

I would go for a Childminder if you can find one, but if not, then After School Club 2 days a week will be fine. She is used to longer days at Nursery so it will just be like that.
Third option is seeing if a local Nursery (if I've read it right, you've moved away from current Nursery?) do out of school club. Many do, but, if she is having to start new somewhere, it makes more sense for it to either be with a childminder or with the school afterschool club.
Remember the school club will close at the end of term though, so you really only have just under 3 weeks to sort it, if that is one of your choices.

I personally wouldn't go with the sharing pick up with another parent option until you know someone well. A childminder might only charge you for the hours you need on an hourly basis whereas an after school club usually has a fixed fee no matter what time you pick up. Childminders are inspected etc so you can usually trust them but they do vary in quality in my experience as do any people in any job. If you find a good CM they might offer settling in sessions over the summer.

Is after school club actually at school? We use one that is and it's fine. It will help develop friendships with pupils in other classes/year groups and it's no longer than she's currently in nursery for.

Sorry her dad is opting out. Can you go to the CSA (or whatever it's called now)?

Can you get tax credits? Find out if your employer offers childcare vouchers, find out if potential clubs etc accept vouchers, then go on moneysavingexpert to see if you'd be better using vouchers or tax free childcare scheme. It's not much, but it helps.

After school club can be great, especially if it's on the same site, as she will hopefully have friends there to play with and if she's forgotten something at school there's more chance of being able to retrieve it on the same day.

But a child minder might also be able to offer holiday cover, whereas most after school clubs are term time only (though may advertise holiday clubs or know where to find them)

Thanks everyone! Im thinking the after-school club might be our best option. It looks fun and it's onsite. Just feel terrible that she'll be doing some long days there when she's so new to school. And i'll have to pay the full whack (£15 per day). It could be worse 🙄

DS (and 5 others from his class) were in after school club 3 days a week from the start of reception and DS loves it.

They have a snack then can play or chill out on the beanbags if they are tired. They have great toys and the staff do activities with them - football, baking, craft etc.

He actually likes after school club more than school

Oh and you should register for childcare vouchers too.

Things to consider...

Reception typically do a staggered start.....one week to 12 one week to after lunch so you need cover for that time.
After school clubs doi not always cover training days and school holidays - 14 weeks a year so you need to check that out along with any closing times if your delayed.

When a child starts full time they can be more tiered and want to go to a home environment and chill out rather than stay in a busy one with maybe 1 adult to 30 children some can prefer 1 to 6 or so and will develop close ties with the others and with the cm sharing days worries.
It can also be nice to get away from anyone who has been unkind through the day.
Most cm's will only take on a child if they can do a few visit before hand and get to meet the others a typical day here is a visit to the park then home for snacks and free play with crafts messy play board games garden and numerous selection of toys from kinex and lego to cars small world - I have so much I run a toy library.
Once a child starts they tend to stay right trough to between 11 and 13 even coming here after walking home from senior school for some its a point of adult contact if they have had a bad day and don't want to go home to an empty house so I still get 15 and 16 year olds at my doo.

Thanks! That's really helpful

Jannier - can you move here? (You sound like perfect CM!)

NooNooMummy....there really are loads of us all over equally as interested in the children and about giving them the best childhood they can and as close to what mums and dads would want if they didn't have to work. look at the childcare.co.uk website and your local families information service then visit a few.

I agree with Jannier
My CMer was wonderful when ds (my eldest) started secondary. He only walked back to hers for about the first 3 or 4 weeks, but it was just one less thing for him to be fretting about with everything being so new, at the change to secondary. I know you won't be thinking about that now OP