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Original poster

If your DC go to private school, how do you arrange childcare in the long school holidays?

198 replies

MandMand · 03/10/2012 21:27

If both parents work, its hard enough to cover childcare during the ordinary state school holidays, but how on earth do you cope with the longer holidays at private schools?

If both parents need to work full time all year round in order to pay the school fees, what on earth do you do when your children then have three or four weeks off at Christmas and Easter, and two months off in the summer? Do you end up having to find even more money to pay for holiday camps/activity weeks etc?

I'd be interesting in any estimates of how much to budget for longer holiday childcare on top of school fees, but I suspect this may be a bit like asking how long is a piece of string ....

OP posts:
hatsybatsy · 08/10/2012 12:05

Surely OP should have fully investigated this before getting herself pregnant though Jabed? Looking into it now with only a few years to spare is not prudent (in jabed land)

rabbitstew · 08/10/2012 12:06

At what age do people generally start trusting their children to be able to get themselves to after school activities? (eg orchestras, etc, if they don't take place within the school itself).

hatsybatsy · 08/10/2012 12:07

For ds, I reckon the suggestion of age 13 as being reliable is probably right? He's so easily distracted - am not sure he will have grown out of that by 11? dd on the other hand, could probably be trusted sooner - head screwed on the right way!

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:07

jabed - does your school actually have provision to teach special needs children?

Actually we do but not very many come our way. I think we currently have two ASD on roll. They have special provision made for them ( as their parents wish). We did have ( left this year as she was 16 ) one MLD child. That is about it really in SN

We have rather more dyslexics ( mild usually) but we do not specialise there and thats not SN in the sense I think you mean.

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:10

statistically, older mothers have higher risks of having children with chromosonal abnormalities

Statistically younger mothers also carry a similar risk.

PostBellumBugsy · 08/10/2012 12:10

Well there you go - that's why you don't see many of them at your school! It has nothing to do with the age or wealth of the parents at your school - but quite simply because your school doesn't take SN kids.

hatsybatsy · 08/10/2012 12:10

Jabed - that is becasue most parents with SN children have made other provision for them - I certainly woldn't want a SN child of mine coming to a school where even one of the teachers referred to them as being not "normal".

rabbitstew · 08/10/2012 12:13

Why doesn't dyslexia count???? I don't see that as a special case, or different from other types of special educational need.

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:15

ROFL at the idea of anyone proposing to jabed......

Well, when I did propose, she said yes. Thats all it needs isnt it? At least she doesnt require me to have outgoings of £2100 a month and think its normal :)

rabbitstew · 08/10/2012 12:15

What do you mean by younger mothers, jabed? Presumably you don't mean mothers in their 20s and 30s?????? The risk of chromosomal abnormalities in mothers in their 20s to early 30s are most definitely lower than the risk in mothers in their 50s.

hatsybatsy · 08/10/2012 12:16

Am now concerned -a maths teacher who doesn't understand statistics....

Jabed - older mothers have a higher risk. Younger mothers have a lower risk. Get it?

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:17

Well, don't you know, we could all have two houses and no mortgage if we lived with mum and dad for years so as not to have to waste money on rent (which is more expensive than a most mortgages....)

Os that what you would do rabbitstew? My mother kicked me out at 16. I had to get a roof of my own.

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:19

Jabed - older mothers have a higher risk. Younger mothers have a lower risk. Get it?

No, you are incorrect, younger mothers carry a significantly higher risk just as older ones do. Its the middle population who carry a significantly lower risk.

rabbitstew · 08/10/2012 12:23

And don't you realise that you are mainly talking to the middle population on mumsnet, jabed? So when you refer to younger mothers, they think you are referring to them...

CaseyShraeger · 08/10/2012 12:23

Statistically younger mothers also carry a similar risk

Do you have any source for that statement? It seems at odds with any reputable study I've ever seen.

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:23

but quite simply because your school doesn't take SN kids

Have you deliverately not read what I said? We do take SN kids. Is it our fault most parents of such children do not want to pay out/ send them to us/ cant afford it / fix your own reason.

We just do not see many. But we do see a lot of older parents with normal kids

hatsybatsy · 08/10/2012 12:24

quoting some research from the land of jabed then? am not familiar with that.....

PostBellumBugsy · 08/10/2012 12:27

Jabed, two ASD and a few dyslexics doesn't really count as taking SN kids!!!!!

Like I said, most private schools will readily admit that they don't / won't / can't take SN kids - they don't have to & many of them quite simply chose not to.

rabbitstew · 08/10/2012 12:27

No, jabed, I would not stay at home. My point is that you did not have an identical situation to the one in existence today, so you are preaching about the past as though it is still the present. I am paying far less in mortgage repayments than I would have to pay in rent. And your view that a 5% rate on your mortgage repayments was high is utterly bizarre - that's a great rate. High is 12 or 13% or more. My parents at least have the grace to admit that they benefited hugely from the ridiculous state of the housing market and the timing of their lives working out so that they always benefited from both the booms and the busts.

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:27

Normal is a statistical definition. SN by definition are not statistically normal.

Why doesn't dyslexia count????

I thought we were discussing SN that could be attributed to parental age. Dyslexia is not one such condition

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:29

What do you mean by younger mothers, jabed? Presumably you don't mean mothers in their 20s and 30s?????? The risk of chromosomal abnormalities in mothers in their 20s to early 30s are most definitely lower than the risk in mothers in their 50s
No I mean mothers in their teens up to around 22 I think it is. .

jabed · 08/10/2012 12:31

rabbit - I am not at all sure what population I am talking to on MN. One that doesnt seem at all real to be honest. :)

CaseyShraeger · 08/10/2012 12:32

But you still don't have a source for that assertion?

rabbitstew · 08/10/2012 12:33

Actually, I think it has been found that parental age does have some influence on the incidence of dyslexia, jabed.

hatsybatsy · 08/10/2012 12:33

jabed - don't hide behind mathematical terms. your use of "normal" has not been in a statistical context. You have been referring to SN kids as not "normal" - as I said, this is offensive.

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