Clueless about childcare

[Worrywobble]

DS is 2.5 and both my DP and I work full time. Childcare is currently split between nursery and parents. It's fortunate that nursery is open 7.30-6 as I work 8-4.30 with a half an hour journey between work and nursery.

I am absolutely clueless and have started getting worried about what to do when DS starts school. What options are there? I've been trying to research and honestly I'm none the wiser.

You'll need a school with wraparound care - breakfast and after-school club. Also, where is your partner when it comes to dropoffs and pickups? They're his responsibility too.

DP works 6-6 Monday - Friday.

Some childminders might provide wrap around care too - and take child to school and collect from school. It is worth putting feelers out now- our old school after school club had parents registering for their places in the March/April prior to the school year starting in September, and often had to pay a registration fee. There were never enough places for everyone that wanted them, and for a few years were allocated first come, first served. Thankfully that changed to be fairer.

Also - I know its still a little way off, but the first few weeks of school are usually all over the place for settling in, so is worth having some leave saved up for then.

My daughter was at nursery 8-6 before she started school. When we started looking at schools I made sure to look into the wraparound care on offer - her current school covers from 7.45 to 5.45 which is just about manageable for my husband and I. I have friends who have to wait for a space at breakfast/after school clubs to open up and didn't have one at the start of term, or have to book days in advance so it's worth looking into.

Childminders often do wrap around and hours tend to be a bit more flexible than school clubs...7 to 6 or later. They also cover the 14 weeks school is shut.... but tend to fill up with their rates under 5s who transition to school and siblings so look early.

Childminders who do wraparound care around here are like gold dust! I would get your name down early. Also, check which schools have wraparound care on-site. I know a couple of schools near us that people out as their first choice and for a place, only to discover no wraparound care, so they had to find another school

That's because spaces are taken by existing children another reason to use a childminder over nursery.

Childminder

Our nursery did wraparound up until a certain age, they also did holiday care.
School wraparound can be very hit and miss. My school didn’t do it, they would do clubs which didn’t last the full term anyway. I had a very flexible childminder though. I’m not sure a school morning session would start early enough for you anyway.
It’s the holidays that get difficult as they get older but it can be hard to plan, a childminder who will do holidays is a good start.

@jannier

I meant they don’t have any wraparound provision at all, it’s not provided on site. Crazy!

I meant childminders are like goldust because childminders give spaces to existing children as they start school....you can only have 6 under 8 so if 3 are toddlers that gives 3 school places until the older children's 8 the birthday ...so unless a family move hands are tied for 4 years....I have two 6 year olds I've had full time since 6 months so 1 space and 3 starting school I can only take 1 of them as wrap around care and my next space will be September 25.