Can I have some general advice re part-time childcare for primary school DS?

[SolidGoldBrass]

He is currently at a nursery 2/5 days a week but obviously that will stop when he starts school. Do childminders usually offer afterschool care for children ie pick up from school and look after till 6pm-ish? And do childminders take kids just for holiday time? And can anyone give me a rough idea of hourly rates (am in Croydon).

Hi we take children up to 15yrs, after school and before, we do pick up and collection service from schools and home as well. I charge £3.75 per hour this includes tea, breakfast, snacks etc, craft activities and trips to soft play etc after school. For holiday club I charge daily or half daily rate which works out cheaper than hourly. I don't think you will have a problem finding a CM in your area, pop up a wanted on MN but if you need one for Sept don't leave it too long we tend to get booked quick this time of year.

Not a CM bt looking into the same for my DS:

Hourly rate in my area (village near Tunbridge Wells) is more like £5ph and my SIL in Bromley currently pays £4.75ph for her CM.

CM round us have a minimum daily 3 hours for over 5's but whilst my DS is still under 5 (& up to August after he is 5 I think) I have to pay the whole day even though he's at school due to CM/child ratios as he is taking up the space of a FT under 5. Obviously because we will be paying for a full day he will have a guaranteed place during holidays which we will need.
LCN

The school may have a breakfast club and an after school club as all schools are suppose to provide an extended schools service from 8-6 so whether on site or via another school then this should be offered, also they will have childcare provision in hols at these breakfast and after school clubs

I am a childminder and have children before and after school, my minimum attendance is 2 hours a day.

I thought the extended hours 8-6 was from Sept 2010? That's what I'd understood - in any case our school has neither and I am also trying to figure out how to manage come September. I only need someone to take to school in the am - how realistic would it be to find someone to come to us (or us to them if local) at 7.30 and then do drop off - free from about 9.15? And how would I find someone?
We've got after school sorted via the nursery he's currently at - is that a possiblity SGB?

Lechatnoir, once your son is attending 10 sessions at school, therefor 5 full days, he moves into the 5-8 group, so you shouldn't have to pay for a full day.

sophia, your morning requirements are very similar to mine! I tried lots of routes to find someone; word of mouth locally is prob best as you may find an existing au pair type willing to do extra hours. What worked for us was an ad on Gumtree being v clear about hours and requirements - we got a lot of interest (from students, language students, part timers wnating a second job etc)and have ended up with someone absolutely lovely! So it is possible. I pay her £10 a day to do 0730-0845 roughly. HTH!

roquefortlover - that is really helpful, thank you! I honestly didn't know if what I was thinking of was even an acceptable "job".
I will try Gumtree and see if I'm as lucky as you!

Lechatnoir - if your DS is in full time education even if he isn't 5 yet he can be clased as over 5 for the purposes of carer:child ratio's, all of the 4yr olds we have in f/time ed we class as over 5's and only charge for before / after school. We then free up the under 5's space for a new child so don't need to keep a place for them IYSWIM, come holiday club the child will still have a place in the over 5 ratio.

Quite a few of the schools don't offer breakfast / after school facilities as yet so best not to presume you will get a place, and even if they do they can be limited numbers. In our area, as their are a lot of providers with vacancies the councils will hold of for sustainability reasons until their is a real need.

sophia - what you want is exactly what I had when I was working. I put an advert in the local paper and got quite a few replies and choose a lovely lady who is still with us 4 years later. Don't know anything about gumtree but we don't live near any large towns so I needed someone with their own transport so students probably wouldn't have been interested.
Good luck.