Childminder/nursery help

[Aprilmaymum]

Hello, I am new to mumsnet and was hoping for some advice please. I have three DC and work PT around partners hours. I have been offered a full time job which would mean a CM or nursery. I have looked at. two nursery’s and our local CM. I really am torn what is best to do. The nursery’s seem really good but very pricy and the CM although really lovely I do have concerns about. she works with another lady and I know from others that they spend a lot of their day ferrying children to and from their homes and schools etc. this doesn’t sound ideal to me but it may be the norm as I am all new to this. I don’t like the idea my Dc will be driven around throughout the day and sat in a car etc. I thought that childminding would be just that in a home environment. Any thoughts on options pros and cons etc would be really appreciated. Thank you

Hi @Aprilmaymum not sure what area you’re in but most nurseries & childminders are full where I live (SE) due to the government funding for 2 year olds starting next month (plus the nursery staff recruitment crisis meaning nurseries have to limit numbers as not enough staff!)
Do both the childminders take all the children on the school run or does 1 take the older children to school whilst the other stay at home with the little ones? Try contacting other childminders in the area as not all do school runs, if you can’t find contact details your LA childcare contact will be able to provide details.

Thank you for your comments.
There is space at the nursery and it seems very good though expensive. Both CM from what I have been told collect children to take them to their home and back again and also school throughout the day. One of the mums at school said the CM does at least 6 shuttle runs two and from different locations and this has put me off a bit to be honest. There are no others in the area that I know of but maybe best to do some digging. If our Mortgage hadn’t gone up I would be sticking to PT but if I use the nursery I will be losing a chick of the money anyway. 🙁

Yes nurseries are expensive but if you register with government choices you can save some money on the costs. For every £10 childcare costs the gov pays £2 & you pay £8, there is a max but can’t remember. Also 15 hrs funding for over 2year old starts after Easter increasing to 30 hrs in Sept and also 9m old will get 15hrs (subject to availability). You say 3 children but don’t mention ages, if at school you need to factor in costs of school holidays etc.
good luck!

Thank you for being so helpful. It is a bit of a minefield for me at the moment. One of my DC is at school so would mainly be for the two youngest as my older DC can be collected by my MIL after school. ( too much for her to have the little ones too ).

Some people make assumptions of how childminders work I would advise going and talking to a few. My co-minder would do one am school run and I'd do the pm we never collected children from homes except to help one disabled parent and that was done by co-minder on her way to school. We don't do nursery drops....we offer the same as school nursery so why would we?
We take the same funding too.
School runs can be very educational like doing colour and number hunts. Looking at leaves and plants. Spotting signs and talking about what's under the drain cover. It doesn't have to be drag the children along.

Thank you for your response.
I was not in any way criticising CM. I was looking for advice as to best options. My local CM does shuttle runs to and from collection and pick up points around our village which can be up to 5/6 runs a day , these are not school runs as that is in addition. I know this as my friend used her for her DD. If that works for some that is fine but my DC is not a good traveller in the car and I do worry that any activities are constantly disrupted for the car trips. I have been and spoke to the CM and this information has been confirmed. I have decided to turn down the full time post as to be honest having worked out the nursery costing I would struggle to break even.
i am located in a village just outside of London and it is a really expensive area sadly.
thanks again and I really didn’t mean to offend in any way.

You don't need to apologise I just meant maybe you had been misinformed because others assumed all children went etc. As you said people had told you.

We didn't stick with a CM for this reason, she just seemed to be constantly dropping off and picking up from nursery and school and DS didn't sleep in the buggy well.

Just ask her though what the routine is during the day, as the PP says, it may be one CM doing the school/nursery runs and the other stays at home.

the CM does shuttle runs back and forth to a collection point as where she lives is such a narrow muddy lane and drive . My friend says she does around 5 a day. The assistant stays with the other DC and she takes a few with her to keep the numbers balanced. They both share the school nursery runs.
we decided this was not what we wanted for our son and I have turned down the post.
thank you for your response.