Holiday childcare for under 5's in school nursery?

[needabreak5]

DS1 has just turned 3 and will be eligible for 30 hours childcare from January and a full time place at the pre-school attached to DS1s school. Will be so much cheaper and easier for us in term time (single drop off) and he can attend wraparound so we get childcare 8-6 but at a much more convenient location than his current nursery. However, there are no holiday clubs for those below reception age? Just wondering if others have faced this dilemma and have been able to access childcare in holidays for 3-5 year olds? We didn't have this issue with DS1 as he stayed in a private nursery until he started school.

We have this issue. We have put the 3 year old into the school hours nursery for this year as I am on maternity leave and we can manage the school hours and school holidays. Unfortunately for next year I can't see how it can work when I return to work.

The options are really just childminders who are willing to do drop off and pick up (they just don't exist in this neck of the woods) or nanny willing to do early morning/after school hours. There is no wrap around or holiday provision for nursery aged pupils.

Since we will have 3 children needing childcare next year we are thinking about a nanny instead of private nursery and wrap around, but we're not sure... We love the school nursery but the school hours for a preschooler are absolutely hopeless for most working parents.

Its such a dilemma isn't it! At least our school offers wraparound in term time so only holidays are a problem.
DS is in year 1 and there are so many local options for holiday camps with various activities, but they only accept school age children unfortunately.

there does seem to be a gap within childcare provision at school nurseries. i'm wondering if most who attend have a SAHP, and if there is no SAHP then need to stick with a private nursery. I'd much prefer the school one though as it seems great, would save over £1000/month and our pickups and drop offs would be more manageable than they are currently (two settings in different directions!)

@WakeUpTired if i had a baby then i think I'd go down the nanny route too - seems like the only solution for you.

My twins are on a term time only childminder contract to bring the cost down - SH and I just have to split all the holidays between us?

@tiggerwhocamefortea that's an option but I don't think our holidays would stretch that far, as there are 14 weeks worth of holiday/inset days to cover which is about 70 days - we can only cover about 50 of those days using leave so still at least 4 weeks without childcare (more if we ever want to take time together or for a family holiday)

I put my DS3 in a local holiday club in the summer holidays. They are a preschool that take extra kids over the holidays. Have you tried ringing round the preschools/nurseries in your area to see if any of them offer this?

oh maybe, that would be a great solution - I will definitely look into that to see if there are any.

You can't each buy a week? We've had to forgo holidaying together until they are 4 and then can go to holiday clubs

My local private nursery offer a holiday club for pre schoolers. Maybe this is an option?

We have DS age 3 in nursery, but when the funding kicks in in January we are averaging out his hours over the whole year, so he'll go 3 days a week, 2.5 is covered by funding and we pay the difference.

That way we don't have to worry about the holiday cover till he properly starts school next summer. We're in Scotland.

I think you will find most do have either a SAHP or a nanny, otherwise as you have discovered it just doesn’t work.

@tiggerwhocamefortea we can't buy holiday but could request unpaid leave which I suppose is the same thing - just a lot more expensive than holiday clubs

Usually it's childminders who do before and after school and holidays where I am. There are a couple of holiday clubs but they are short hours.

Why aren't there childminders ? Ask on your school chat / Facebook, as they often have a Facebook group rather than advertising on apps.

We have masses of childminders around here, masses. Only met one Nanny, and a few have after school babysitters at their home.

A childminder would be the solution for the summer and could take both kids out to do things, as summer clubs are often quite short hours like 9-3.30/ 4pm.

We had this problem too. Solutions we variously used were:

-nanny employed for short periods
-our term-time preschool ran a holiday club for a couple of weeks in summer
-a very few ‘regular’ holiday clubs took children from aged 3/3.5 (really had to hunt for them). More choice from age 4 onwards (last summer holiday before starting school was easier to cover).
-childcare swaps with friends
-begging a few days from grandparents
-agreeing flexible working with employer

Sooo much easier now they are both primary aged (now just dreading early secondary age!)

The holiday clubs are all 8am-6pm around here. DS1 went to various ones over the summer and is at a different one this week. I've not looked into childminders before so not sure re availability / demand in the area. Some people do have nannies though but all year round rather than holidays only.

@needabreak5

The holiday clubs are all 8am-6pm around here. DS1 went to various ones over the summer and is at a different one this week. I've not looked into childminders before so not sure re availability / demand in the area. Some people do have nannies though but all year round rather than holidays only.

Ah are they ran by the day nurseries? I thought you meant things like football or multi- sports day camp ? We have them at the leisure centres or run by football clubs.

I'm going to need summer holiday cover for the first time in the summer, dreading arranging it, but will find a childminder I think, as sports clubs a bit exhausting, plus I also have a younger one too.

@LastToBePicked to you have to still employe the Nanny yourselves if it's short stint?

This is exactly why we kept dd in the private nursery she had been going to (in the pre-school room) with funding spread through the 12 months of the year in the year before she went to school. By the time we had worked out holiday childcare and the headache that came with that especially over the Christmas holidays for a pre-schooler, it wasn't that much of a saving for us and the bit extra it was, was worth paying for the ease of knowing we had full time childcare sorted out.

[quote sleepingrabbits]@LastToBePicked to you have to still employe the Nanny yourselves if it's short stint? [/quote]
Well yes I say ‘employed’ but I don’t actually mean employed - we just used to pay ours cash in hand for a few days as part of the patchwork of childcare arrangements we had! This was someone we actually had previously employed as our nanny and was happy to do a few days work for us (eg when her new nannying family were off on their summer holiday)

@sleepingrabbits

Why aren't there childminders ? Ask on your school chat / Facebook, as they often have a Facebook group rather than advertising on apps.

We have masses of childminders around here, masses. Only met one Nanny, and a few have after school babysitters at their home.

A childminder would be the solution for the summer and could take both kids out to do things, as summer clubs are often quite short hours like 9-3.30/ 4pm.

A lot of areas you can't get childminders for love nor money.

Many also won't take children on just for holidays as it's disruptive - by the time they've settled it's back to nursery/school

Depending where you are, Camp Beaumont and Barracuda take from 3. I’m in N London/Herts borders and a local school holiday club, local nursery and a couple of holiday club providers all provide school holiday care from age 3. PM me if helpful.

@sleepingrabbits

Why aren't there childminders ? Ask on your school chat / Facebook, as they often have a Facebook group rather than advertising on apps.

We have masses of childminders around here, masses. Only met one Nanny, and a few have after school babysitters at their home.

A childminder would be the solution for the summer and could take both kids out to do things, as summer clubs are often quite short hours like 9-3.30/ 4pm.

You wouldn’t get a childminder to do holiday cover for a preschooler in our town. We are all full with our regular children and generally, over time, we’ve decided it’s not really worth trying to settle a child we don’t know for a week or two.
I have been asked several times about holiday cover and I’m always surprised parents choose a school nursery with no holiday provision if they know they need care all year round. I’m even more surprised if they tell me they left a private nursery to go to the school nursery knowing that there was no provision for a quarter of the year.
Op, if you are saving £1000 a month using the school nursery, you might be in a position to throw money at the problem. Advertise and see if you can get a nanny to come in and have your child over the holidays.

You could try for a childminder......but many won't take a child of preschool age for only pick up and drop off ....I won't the little does not get to know you so is unsettled at the busiest time of day, Ofsted require us to still do planning and learning for them, I'm registered to do exactly the same as nursery and school nursery taking the funding why would I pick up the dregs for a family that dosent think I'm the best option thats like saying I like shopping at Tescos but Sainsbury's have better delivery slots so I'll pay their delivery charge and they can get my shopping from Tescos and bring it to me.
Id say find a childminder near your school that you want and use your funding stretched all year with them. Or you might be lucky and find one who will do half days and split the funding 15 hours at each.

This is why I left mine in full time childcare until they went to school. The money save by using the school pre-school was not worth the holiday hassle. Also be warned the holiday clubs often don’t take reception aged children if they weren’t 5 and they’re often school hours only so no use for working parents.