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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Childminders and playgroup pickups

6 replies

grannygavemeslippersagain · 27/12/2007 22:08

We live in a village and there are no childminders actually in the village, although some within 3 or 4 miles in bigger villages. I'd like my DS to carry on at the village pre-school (3 mornings per week) when I go back to work in September, as it's a fantastic pre-school with close links to the infant school.

Is it reasonable to ask a childminder to drive to the playgroup to pick up DS at 12.00 or 1.00pm, and look after him for a couple of hours until I pick up at 3.00? I would expect to be paying for the morning anyway, as there will be care on the non-playgroup days too. Is it unusual for childminders to have transport sufficient for all their mindees?

How am I going to sell this to a CM? it is looking very bleak atm, no-one is interested at all.

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ChasingSquirrels · 27/12/2007 22:18

My cm did this with ds1, and does with other kids.
Our village has a school, but the play-school is in the next village (only just over 1 mile, but tbh once they are in the car it doesn't matter whether is is 1 mile or 4).
I dropped ds at cm's at 7.20am, she dropped him at play-school at 9.15am and picked him up at 11.45am, I then picked him up from her at 2pm.
I paid full rate for the hours he was with her and retainer for the hours he was at play-school. Plus £1 travel each way - which seems steep but then I guess it is 3 miles round trip, and at 40p a mile that is £1. It did seem a bit off that she almost always oicked up more than one, and so would be getting travel from all of them - but not something I was going to quibble about.
Our cm is very much ad-hoc though, she only had ds1 1 day a week, and did a few hours here and there for people, in the 5 years I have known her she has never had any full-timers. I guess it depends what the cm wants to do.

fishie · 27/12/2007 22:34

am confused, isn't this full (well till 3pm) time 5 days? why should a cm mind dropping a child off for a couple of hours during paid time? am i missing something?

LOONEYplayingachristmasTUNEy · 27/12/2007 23:20

Can't see a problem at all, it's all part of the job imo. At least you understand about paying for the time at pre-school, that's the main thing. Basically you're wanting full time til about 3 by the sounds of it which could be ok as long as they are not on the school run at that time (I would be). You may need to collect slightly earlier, slightly later or meet at the school if they are picking up at that time, apart from that it sounds fine. I wouldn't worry about transport, a lot of us have 7 seaters and if they haven't and can't do it, they can only say no

Have you looked at the Childcarelink website?

Original poster

grannygavemeslippersagain · 28/12/2007 12:35

Yes, I did look at childcarelink, but there is no-one at all listed for our village school or playgroup. People round here seem to have a great suspicion of places they don't normally travel to!

I will do a bit more ringing around after Christmas, but I find childcare link a bit daunting - effectively a list of strangers. Do you think it is too early to be looking for September 2008?

I would be hoping to pick up the child either just before school run or meet at the CM's regular primary school to swap.

OP posts:

ayla99 · 28/12/2007 19:02

Not all childminders drive, and those that do might already be committed to a particular preschool or they may have other minded children being dropped off or picked up at the same time. Most childminders work alone so can only collect from one preschool at a time, which is usually the one nearest their home.

I think its worth ringing round now granny...slippers - you'll weed out any non-drivers from the CIS list and you may be lucky to find someone who will have a vacancy from a child starting school in September. Do phone your CIS, some childminders withhold their details from the web listings. Also, if you haven't already, try asking at the preschool - they may know of childminders who are already (or previously) collected children from them.

maximummummy · 29/12/2007 12:40

i think this would be a normal request to be honest - and yes i would charge for the time mindee was at pre-school as they would be taking up a full-time under-fives place - some minders may even charge a weekly/daily rate - i guess it's just a matter of finding someone with a space and that could fit this pick-up in with their other commitments - that is the hardest part for me as i have lots of different kids at different places inc. my own kids so it can be a nightmare working out how to fit the jigsaw together!!!

GOODLUCK

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