Childcare for older children

[Ella19902]

My children currently go to a childminder in the school holidays which has been great and works really well for me & my husband as it fits around our work patterns. However my eldest (nearly 6) has started to complain about going & I suspect she has outgrown it really. I’ve looked into holiday camps but the ones I’ve seen tend to only run 9-3 so that’s really not convenient to us when we work until 5. I was just wondering what anyone else does for childcare for older children?

Does she focus on babies? In the holidays I have two 7 year olds and 8 year old and an 11 year old plus baby were always out doing things.

There are holiday clubs that run 8-6 you just have to look harder for them. In my area there are 3 out of about 20 odd holiday clubs locally. Ask around at the school. The other parents will know where they send their kids

This.

The ones run by council linked schemes tend to only be school hours, the private ones at places like drama clubs, outdoor pursuits centres, trampoline parks etc are 8-6 and usually more expensive.

DD goes to one at an outdoor pursuits centre for £53 a day.

We tag teamed - a friend picked my children up and dropped them at a holiday club in the morning and in return I did the collection at 3.30 - 4 pm and kept their child till her husband came home from work (for 1 - 2 hours). Worked well as by time I got them home / gave them a snack and a little TV (they'd been doing sports all day) they were tired. Could that be an option?

I presume you can't WFH?

We have an out of school club that offers 7:30-6 in the holidays and then a few camps as well to mix it up. The camps tend to be short days (although scouts is 9-4 which is great) but we take half days or let her veg in front of the TV and it's fine. We don't say that in term time but I think the downtime over the summer is good for her.

It does vary hugely by area, so definitely ask around the parents at school - those with older siblings in particular will have it sussed.