How do you manage in the school holidays as a lone parent and without family??

[Pebbledashery]

I'm a single parent, no family, DDs father only has supervised contact centre visits.. She starts reception next year and I'm wondering about how I'll manage during school holidays😳.. Is it simply just a case of booking holiday clubs? Im starting a new job in 4 weeks that going to be quite full on and intense.. What do it other lone parents do in these situations?

My friends have all used childminders and nurseries in the main...private nurseries are usually open aren't they?

Schoolchildren don't go to nursery though

Yes they are.. She won't be able to use a nursery on school holidays from school though, or will she?...

@rainbowthoughts snap

I used a holiday club which was great.
At one point I had a childminder the only issue with that was trying to get the same holidays off as the childminder was difficult.
I used to take one day a week off in the holidays to reduce the cost too.

Find a child minder or a holiday club that offers wraparound care (most of them work from 10 to 3)

If you qualify for universal credit, make sure you include cost of holiday clubs, breakfast and after school clubs in your yearly reviews. The support for childcare will be spread over the year so it is important to save it monthly so you do not get out of money in the summer.

Usually lurching from one holiday to the next. Childminder, holiday/ sports clubs, sharing with friends. Finding a teaching assistant who was prepared to work as a nanny in holidays was a godsend. It’s not easy!

I manage by having chosen a job that offered flexibility to my hours, wfh etc.i also opted for part-time, as that means fewer actual days to cover in the 13 weeks school holidays.
Once they start school, it's not solely the school holidays, it will be wraparound that's needed as well for many roles.

Same situation here. My DD has recently started school. The way I see it is I have 4 weeks leave per year - so that's 8 other weeks I need to cover. Will be mainly vacation care club at school and some play dates with friends. You won't be the only parent in this situation - you will likely be able to share some days in holidays with other parents.

@KarmaNoMore

That’s in no way how UC for childcare works.
You’re talking about tax credits.

UC you report childcare costs monthly and they are no reimbursed until after the payment is made AND the childcare taken, so the OP will necessarily be out of pocket in the short term because of how the system works. It’s very very shit, but how it is.

I used holiday clubs and found they were particularly good at private schools, in that they tended to cover all but two weeks in the summer and one week at Christmas. Get in there early though!
The other thing is to check your rights to unpaid leave to care for children. I think there is a certain amount for under 16s per annum. Not ideal but it's good to know it's there in an emergency.
Just an aside...also check with the primary schools what the arrangements are for when they are starting school. The most difficult period to cover is often the first few weeks when they can be in part time.
Good luck-it's possible, there's just juggling involved!

Holiday clubs work great for my two.

Also universal credit pays back up to 85% but as mentioned only afterwards which is frustrating.

I actually feel less stressed when they are at holiday club as it tends to stay open later than the hours I need so I'm not rushing off to collect from Childminder's like a mad woman at 5pm

I don't know if it's standard but DD's nursery dose take a few extra older kids during holidays, I but I think their all either older siblings or previous attendees, not something openly advertised. They also offer term time contracts for kids on funded hours, or whos parents are covering holidays for older ones anyway, so the school age kids fill in those places in the holidays. Might be worth asking her current nursery, incase they do something similar.

Unpaid parental leave (But I think you can only qualify for it once you've been with an employer for a year?).
Holiday clubs and credit card.

Every day is planned so that DD is with either a friend or at one of a mixture of holiday clubs, lots around us that do different sports or arts & crafts, or I'm on holiday so she's with me.

Does your DD go to wraparound care that offer holiday clubs?

Some nurseries take reception age, especially the term time only ones which take 2-5 and the often do holiday clubs. Appreciate that only helps for one year though.

I don't know if it's standard but DD's nursery dose take a few extra older kids during holidays, I but I think their all either older siblings or previous attendees, not something openly advertised.

I would find this nursery questionable.

As the parent of the older children I would be asking why they have so many empty spaces?

As the parent of a nursery ages child I would absolutely not be happy with older children being thrown into the mix.

@rainbowthoughts

I don't know if it's standard but DD's nursery dose take a few extra older kids during holidays, I but I think their all either older siblings or previous attendees, not something openly advertised.

I would find this nursery questionable.

As the parent of the older children I would be asking why they have so many empty spaces?

As the parent of a nursery ages child I would absolutely not be happy with older children being thrown into the mix.

Many of them are licensed for 2-5 year olds (ours was), nothing questionable about it.

And I would have thought it was pretty obvious why they have space over the holidays. It might even be the only way some of them can afford to run over the holidays.

I was in the same position as you for many years. Unfortunately, childcare provision in the UK is abysmal. Many holiday clubs opening hours were too short to be of any use to me, ie from 10-4 or similar! And you have to book well in advance, which is tricky with an unpredictable workload, or if you are self employed.
I used a childminder until my daughter started school, which gave me some flexibility during the day with late pickups etc, but the price of that was having to take the same holidays off.
Once she was at school the breakfast and after school club had a holiday club with ok hours, and I was also able to make friends with some other single mums and we would take turns over the holidays. The holiday club sometimes wasn't quite enough to cover my job so I had to ask work if it was okay to catch up when I was supposed to be on holiday and the other kids were round so they were keeping themselves occupied. officially they were going to say no for legal reasons but I was pretty desperate and it worked out 😬 I was lucky that I could also catch up in the evenings too.
Later, I started using one of the workers from the club as a babysitter or for ad-hoc childcare. If I needed to be late, she would pick up and take to my house! I was so grateful.

I imagine it's a lot harder now with covid and many childcare operators.

I was a lone parent for a while with my first. I used some clubs. And I also shared with other parents. So I have their kids and use annual leave and then they do the same for me. And I use all my leave to spend time with them anyway. Even now that I have a partner and more kids I use the same technique. Overall it works for me.

My local nursery does run holiday clubs for older kids its an additional thing they do, they are not in with the toddlers! Barracuda s do 8.30 until 6 its the one with the longest day round here.

@rainbowthoughts

Schoolchildren don't go to nursery though

Well no, but I was just saying what my various friends did. The ones with little children used nurseries, others used childminders and some clubs.

Childminder. I find it a bit restrictive in term time as they can’t do after school clubs etc except on my day off but I’m so glad I have her in the holidays when I’m not scrabbling around for holiday care and trying to juggle clubs which don’t cover the whole working day.

My DS' 'nursery' took on DD who is older during the holidays. Many private daycare providers do, they aren't just for preschoolers. They would come and pick them up! It was ideal. Look into your local childcare providers and see what they offer, or a childminder might have an opening.

My grandaughter goes back to her old nursery in holidays.....they take key stage 1 children ( up to 7 years) in the holidays....it works well as her younger sister is also there and my daughter only has to pay half price for her to attend as her sibling is there.....so £12 for 9 to 3pm ( obviously would cost more if longer hours).....it’s a council nursery...so not sure if that makes a difference