Childcare Options (Please help!)

[SalhaK]

Hello, this is my first time posting and I would appreciate any and all advice.

I am an international postgrad student and will be studying at the University of Glasgow for the first time. I have 2 young children, a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old. My biggest concern and main cause for stress is finding some childcare that will suit both of them. I have no family support and my spouse will not be able to stay with me most of the time.

My class timetable is all over the place. Some days I have morning until afternoon classes. Other days I have afternoon to evening classes, and my timetable changes from week to week.

I can cope with studies and children as I have done it before, but I really need childcare advice for my situation. I honestly don't know what I can do in order to have someone take care of my children while I am in lectures/seminars.

Please help me.

If you’re on Facebook there are a couple of GLasgow centric women’s groups where there are often nannies posting or recommendations for nannies. To me that’s a better starting point than childcare.co.uk as you’ll get personal recommendations. I can DM you these groups if you like.

You got as far as being accepted before looking in to this?

You need to register your eldest in school, find out which childminders cover that school and try and get a place for your kids. School starts quite soon in Scotland and they started a year ago so it will be a steep learning curve for your eldest if they haven't been to school yet. My dd missed a year of school due to living overseas and it was a rocky first half term

I would probably just ‘home school’ the 5 year old for this year. Seems a lot of upheaval otherwise.

I would also suggest registering with a GP is a better bet than the council as a staring point for school placement as you will get a health visitor who will have to help you establish the children in education and settling them in their new home. Y

Lots of kids start P1 at 5.5 in Scotland because of the cut off dates for birthdays in Feb. I don’t think joining school a few weeks late will be an issue.

You got as far as being accepted before looking in to this?

To be fair this is always the situation when coming to UK as you need an address until you can register with school and until you know which school they are at it is difficult to arrange wrap around care.

If you can afford a nanny that will be the easiest option, yes they will do school pick ups, you need to work out a full job description and on average hours cannot exceed 48 hours per week, and must exceed the minimum wage, you also must pay legally (that is deducting tax and ni) and you must offer a pension, companies like nanny pay can do this for you, or use an agency but they charge more. If you need advice on payroll there's a few mumsnetters including me who know the legal side. Finding a nanny outside of London isn't easy because there aren't many agencies, most people find them through word of mouth, local advertising (eg Nextdoor app, gumtree) etc. Best of luck

Hi OP- it could be helpful to post on Scotsnet- you’d have plenty of advice from mumsnetters in the west end of Glasgow. There’s lots of childcare provision in the west end, but it’s in demand too so you might find yourself on a waitlist. For schools, Glasgow city council education dept can be called anytime, you don’t need to wait for the schools to return- just to get a guidance on P1 or 2 for your DC and an idea of available places in the west end schools, even though you can’t apply for places until resident. Maybe have a think about further out north or south of the city e.g. Southside- Shawlands or going into East Renfrewshire council areas or North like Bearsden, for example, both great places for families and easy enough travel to the uni- if you’re happy to travel. I knew a few families in the Southside with a nanny share arrangement- specifically to cover a later finish during the week.
Hope you can get sorted, childcare is always so stressful to sort- but on top of an international move you’re doing really well with finding headspace to try and sort it from afar. Good luck.

Op- have a look/post here: Mumsnet>Talk>Scotsnet

I would find a nanny through an agency as they will be able to help you with contracts, payroll etc so you do everything legally. Tinies is a large national agency which will cover Glasgow.

As a previous poster mentioned, your 5 year old needs to be in education but that doesn't have to be a school, you can choose to home educate if your prefer.