Sadly I am going to have to get a new nanny for after-school care. Any ideas? Should I ask at the school or something??

[CountessDracula]

We have had the same nanny since dd was 6 months old and have known her longer. She is fantastic with dd but has been gradually getting more and more unreliable to the stage where we just cannot rely on her. She must have had 6 weeks off sick this year She does have health issues but she also is a moaner and takes the piss I think.

Now I would rather do anything than upset the status quo but it is really starting to stress us badly that we can't rely on her.

What is the best way to find a replacement? I need to sort something out before I get rid of her as I just know she will skive off during her notice period so I am just going to pay her off. Hence I can't advertise in local windows etc.

It will only be for 2/3 days a week 3.30 to 6.30, I was wondering if I should approach the school and see if they can recommend anyone. Any other ideas?

sorry, slight hijack CD but kookaburra, the thing is (with after school nannies), what do you do in the school holidays? do they then do the whole day or do you organise something else?

we have a nanny with her own child who works 1-7 for us - doing laundry etc for a couple of hours before the school pick up.

we got her through Tinies.

she also does extra hours in school holidays and covers sick days, inset days etc.

it's worked well - and will stop next sept only because her child starts at a different school to mine.

might something similar work for you or do you not need the housework side of things covered anyway

Yes I guess we could do that
Or get a full time or nearly so nanny/housekeeper/dogwalker and get rid of cleaner and dogwalker too?? Do you think someone might go for that?

I have emailed those after school nannies
what was wrong with them BK?

I think that is definitely doable. And I think you will be a lot happier with the flexibility that an employee provides. You just need a nanny who is willing to do a bit of housework and likes big dogs. That shouldn't be too tall of an order.

The hols were not a problem because I always took my 4 weeks unpaid Parental Leave (the entitlement then was up to 16 weeks per child until they were 5 - Gordy may have upped that by now.) As that hasd not prived detrimental to my job, I managed eventually to get my employers to agree to make it contractual, so work term-times only now (with a pro-rata reduction in salary, tho' am available via phone and blackberry as required)

I do worry then that all eggs are in one basket

At the moment if the nanny is sick I still have a cleaner and a dogwalker

Also I only wnat 3 days a week as dh and I want to do it the other days

Do you think someone would go for 6 or 7 hours a day 3 days a week?

they didn't come up with too many candidates. one they sent me had a bad reference and they still sent me her details. we did actually hire one from them but she left after 6 days due to family issues. not the agency's fault i suppose - but still, as i said the overall quality of the candidates they had was rather poor. imho. we have just recently hired again for this role and it didn't cross my mind to use them this time.

CD What are you doing for school hols?

Several friends have successfully used Gumtree to find a local mum of toddler who is happy to do a few hours of "nannying" and can do school pick-up and ferrying to ballet etc. Hopefully if you make clear what the hours would be you may be saved a lot of the pointless applications. CM would be good but you may have to do ballet on your nights not hers. Another mum may be able to pick up slack for inset/sick/unexpected things too.

I'd recommend the undergrad student route (but then I'm biased!). I would say beware of early years/teacher training degrees though as they usually require placements which might play havoc with hours.

Well things are looking up

My mum has offered to to 2 days a week and dh and I can cover the others between us

Hurrah

ooh you jammy sod . Hooray for your mum!

I've always found jobs through gumtree and while I accepted an after school job it's only covering my rent - so I've been looking for dog walking / cleaning work in the mornings to enable me to fit around the afternoon nannying.... if you find yourself in the position where you need to advertise, boosting it with those extra hours would surely bring you a whole flood of applications from less experienced nannies like me, or people that prefer older children (I love kids around reception age and don't mind cleaning in the mornings to get that real sparky interaction with a child who's into EVERYTHING and can talk about it!)

It's more of a mother's help role, so it depends on whether you were really wanting a vastly qualified, experienced nanny or someone with a good head on their shoulders but still quite new at it.

No that is what I am after Niftynanny
Someone like you.

Not sure if my mum is viable long-term option really but she claims she is! It is great having her too as dh and I go out on Thursday nights if she is here, saves us loads in babysitting!