Wraparound - what are people actually doing?

[khaa2091]

Slightly panicking about the start of school..
what are people actually doing? I am aware of options but am curious as to what is actually working.
Especially those who do shift work …(nights, weekends and school holidays)

If you're working shifts you'll need someone around to cover the parts where paid wraparound doesn't cover. What hours does your child's dad do? Are they your partner?

I started working school hours as wraparound care was really stressful and expensive.

School clubs if they have them, childminder and grandparents.

Dh works shifts. I don't. I work 4 days 9-5. We always used breakfast and after school club and holiday club with the grandparents doing odd days too. Very lucky with wraparound as never could not get a space. We just booked the sessions we needed online. Holiday Club ran 8am -6pm. Again always space. For us which helps is that is that we live, work and have a school within 10mins of each other.

My DH works nights and takes the kids and picks them up, and just sleeps in between. We occasionally use breakfast club if he doesn't manage to grab an extra hour or 2 sleep during his shift, and I will take them at half 7 before work. But at £6.50 each, and 2 school age kids, we don't do that too often. After school club is £13 each until 5.30 so we don't use that at all. We use holiday clubs or I book time off during the school holidays. DH is agency so if he doesn't work he doesn't get paid. Our 3rd child is at a childminder all year round, 7.45-5.30 so I drop him off and pick him up. DH does want to get off nights but I just can't see it happening any time soon tbh.

I work full time, my husband works abroad for 5 weeks then home for 5 weeks. When home he works full time too. Grandparents live over 5 hours drive away so they can’t really help. We use a childminder drop off at 7am pick up at 6pm. Luckily I have weekends off.

I've got to ask, how on earth do you WFH and care for your child? My job is pretty intense as is my husband's and we both can WFH 50% of the time. But we are both working ....we definitely couldn't look after our son at the same time.

School age children who can just help themselves to a snack and watch TV for a couple of hours presumably!

But then even before that age ( which I would assume is around 9/10 years old) you would have needed childcare? So question still stands?

For my children more like 5 but of course depends on the child. I'd think 9-10 is probably at the top end of that though!

We are very fortunate that there is a private wraparound facility at the scout hut near our house. They pick the kids up from school, bring them to the hut and give them a hot tea. There are organised games and arts and crafts. It runs until 6pm.

We are so lucky we got a place because the school wraparound provision is always fully booked with a massive waiting list. We’ve actually been on the waiting list for nearly two years and never been offered a place!

I’d suggest looking at non-school options... Childminders etc. Facebook groups can be a helpful place to look.

Both DH and I work shifts with one DC in school and another still in nursery.
To keep costs down we both have fixed days off - 1 week and 1 weekend day each. This leaves us with only 3 days to cover with wraparound care and nursery. The same thing with school holidays - we usually book 1 day annual leave each and have eldest in holiday camp just for 1-2 days or (rarely) with grandparents.

It is a bit difficult, as DH and I rarely have days off together unless booked in advance, but financially it has been amazing - we've never had to pay for full time childcare.

Thanks so much for everyone’s experiences, and I have emailed the school to see what wraparound is actually available.

How did you get on @khaa2091? does your child start school this September?

I’ve just come across this thread as an in a quandary about wraparound care. The school indicated at the open day that this was available, but it turns out that it’s so oversubscribed that new starters can’t even apply to be on the waiting list. Obviously all the local childminders are full.

When parents not available the options are school clubs, childminder, grandparents or other family, friends, arrangements with othe parents from the school