question about cms / parental responsibility and pre-school

[fishie]

ds is 3 and with cm pretty much full time (8.30-5.30ish). he'll be going to nursery school in the mornings only after xmas.

my question....

if dh drops him off at school and cm picks him up at lunchtime do we still pay for full time or will he be part time?

and who is responsible for him while he is at nursery, the school, the cm or the parents?

I suppose it depends on what your arrangements will be out of term time? If you want your ds to go to the cm in the mornings during the holidays then you'll probably have to pay her full time to keep the place open for you. Unless, she's very nice and doesn't charge you. If not, then you might get a reduced rate starting from the time that she has to leave the house to collect your ds. I guess its up to her really. What has she suggested?

Well, from what I understand of things it would depend on who would be responsible for picking up from nursery if, say, your ds was ill whilst he was there or there was an emergency which meant that the nursery had to close early, for example.

If you'd expect the CM to do any emergency collections and be contacted by the nursery for that reason then you'd probably have to pay the CM for her time as she would have to keep the place for your ds out of her numbers and couldn't fill the space your ds had left.

If, however, you'd pick up in an emergency and you would only ever need CM in the afternoons I don't think you'd have to pay.

Best thing is to put the scnario to the CM, she might well have come across this before and have a plan in place.

or even scenario!

thanks. dh could collect in emergency, he works fairly close. but if we are really asking her to keep the place open for hols i suspect we will end up with continuing full time. at least i now understand why. oh bugger it is SO EXPENSIVE.

i know, we have the same problem here. was hoping that childcare bill would go down when ds starts preschool, but because we need the place in the hols and require cm to pick up and drop off it will cost the same. plus we are limited to when cm's daughter go's to preschool too, as she doesnt want to do the preschool run, if her dd isn't going!

As A CM I have this policy to explain it to parents.

UNDER 5?S IN OTHER SETTINGS

A child is counted as an under 5 by Ofsted until they are in full time education i.e. at school for 10 sessions a week.

A child who is at pre school is a under 5 and if they are with a childminder before and after pre school, and require a fulltime space during the holidays they therefore are taking a childminders full time space. As such you are required to pay retainer fee for the time that they are at preschool, as the childminder cannot then fill the part time that they are at pre school.

thanks shoshe, i have just sent that to dh who is convinced we should get a reduction.

out of interest, do you think us dropping ds off would ever make a difference? it seems to me that us wanting mornings in the hols means it will always be full time.

No, I dont think it will ever make a differance as your childminder can not fill the morning space while your child is at pre-school with another child as you will require that place for your child during the holidays. It would be differant if you just wanted afternoons all year around. All the childminders I know charge in full whilst a child is at pre-school for these reasons.

I suppose your other option would be to put your DS in a nursery for the mornings, then he could go year-round (i.e. private nurseries that get the early years funding, but that open 52 (or 50) weeks per year). Then you could save a bit on the fees. However, perhaps your CM wouldn't do the pick-up from there?

I think limiting pick-up's to days that her DD is going is a bit off if she's charging you for a FT place, but that's just my opinion, and I'm not a CM.

'I think limiting pick-up's to days that her DD is going is a bit off if she's charging you for a FT place, but that's just my opinion, and I'm not a CM.'

I agree. Interestingly enough... the fact that I am a childminder and I do not have my own child stands me in good stead apparently... all my parents have said this.

Back to the nursery scenario.. one of my kids starts nursery in Sept and will need half day with me during term time and full day with me during holidays.

I am conflicted re what to do as I really cannot afford to not charge for those empty afternoon vacancies and they are odd hours so I HIGHLY doubt I would be able to fill them, but I feel weird charging for them too, as they will have to shoulder nursery costs.

Anyone have any ideas? I am looking for a fair solution for us both.