CM CLUB - what do you do when several children move up to school at the same time (numbers questions).......

[looneytune]

This is doing my head in so any advice would be fab.

(will be quick as kiddies will probably wake up soon).....

I have one mindee who should be leaving me in September 2011 to go to private school nursery (I say 'should' as they were due to go this year but they couldn't stand her leaving yet so gave it another year). Anyway, they want me to do school hols if I can and as my ds1 will be 8 next year, I said I'd do some workings and see what my thoughts were at this stage.

Well this planning has made me realise I have a lot of changes all around the same sort of time which means my under 5's become over 5's.

Obviously I need to fill my full time slots due to needing the income (I wish it wasn't the case) but then I'd have too many children in total.

What on earth do you do in this situation? Obviously some others could leave me before then but IF they stay and plan to all have before/after school/hols care, how do you decide who to keep and who not to keep?

I'm a way off but it's all made me think as trying to decide what to say to mum who wants me to change to hols only care from next Sept.

If you've been through this before, I'd love to hear from you

Oh and if anyone has had to work this stuff out in the past and done charts to show the different moves, I'd love to hear from you as I'll be TRYING to put all this on a chart shortly and I can already see how complicated it's going to be!

I feel your pain!

We just upped ours at our inspection a few weeks ago. But I was in your predicament last year and the year before for that matter (I will never learn) however I do this.

A register for each day on a page stating Under 5's Over 5's and Over 8's. anyone under 8 I basically put in anywhere as my reg says no more than x children of whom x number in EY reg X no on CC reg, so my thinking is as long as I don't have more mindees than my reg allows regardless of ages, I'm ok and the inspector could see how i do it and was completely ok with this. I can send you a blank register form if you want so you can have a shufty, it does however mean that you need to slot day mindees between Before and after schoolies, which can be a bit fiddlie to say the least, but we have adjusted some of the little ones days / times to suit us so working well atm. However in Sept I will have to make an executive decision on who to keep / give notice as we have a few off to school and the amount of care they will need is not cost effective for us. I will base my decision purely on financial / business, sounds cold hearted but their you go, if I think about how much we will miss them or watched them grow up I won't be able to think. It's the hardest part of being a minder.

How many would you be over your numbers by as you maybe able to get a variation.

Have you got any others due to turn 8 soon?

I have a grid I use to work out children I have various things to take into consideration such as ages of children over 8's and whether assistant is present it makes life easier.

My excel spreadsheet has days across the left and children down the side. It is split into under 1s, pre school, school and 8+. Only problem we have is having to use 2 cars, which we hate! I have school children on holiday contracts only, because I really don't want school children in term time . I don't really think this is any help to you, but it's how I do it.

oops! Days across the top

Just read your post again, don't forget you can use the rising 5's rule. I often have a 4yr old at full time school in an over 5's one day and an under the next if needed, or am and pm if needed.

To the mum who wants holiday club only, any chance of a retainer over Term time? or can you slot around a mindee that comes term time only, I have 3 that I do this with, so don't charge retainers, but make it clear that if they need TT or HC I can't guarantee a place.