Parental leave/benefits question - sorry a bit long

[Aimsmum]

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Hope it is some help. You mentioned your age somewhere else - on the Member's Profile section?

My wee boy is a month older than yours - but I am a LOT older than you!

Hi I gave the YWCA a call this morning - their creche is only for people who attend the courses they run, but it was worth a try anyway. Thanks.
Its nice to speak to someone with a ds at the same stage as my dd. Hopefully we can meet at the next meet up.
I forgot I had put my age on the member profile, I thought you just guessed due to my bad spelling

Sorry it wasn't more help. The notice I saw with their rates didn't make it clear that it was just for people on thier courses - it looked more general.

Maybe we can arrange to meet for lunch some time - since we are not that far away!

Hi Aimsmum,

what about contacting some of the childminders direct and explaining your situation to them. You might find that although they don't normally do school pick-ups, they would be prepared to do it for a limited (9 week) period. I say this because I had the same problem when ds started school - he's now 7 - and I did this. It turned out the childminder I spoke to had actually just stopped childminding because she was going back to do teacher training but because the course didn't start till October, looking after my ds worked out for her.

Meant to add that instead of waiting till you get information from the council, why not try \link{www.childcarelink.gov.uk\this}
Also, are there any other schools nearby that run an after school club that do pick ups from your dds school.
Finally, if you're in a union, they might be able to give you advice or failing that, what about Citizens Advice?

Thanks Tabitha, I've not contacted any of the childminders direct, but Its worth a try. T/he main issue though I think would be that there are actually no childminders at all in the area I stay in so it would mean someone coming from another area to pick up DD, and as they don't even pick up from schools in their own area i think the chances are pretty slim, but I will give it a go, and hopefully I'll get as lucky as you
No other after school picks up from DDs school I already phoned them all
Failing that I'll wait to speak to the school again when we go to enrole in January and then speak to my HR dept etc.
Thanks very much for your help.

Aimsmum - I'm reviving this thread because I wondered if your nursery had given you the Glasgow City Council survey asking about your preferences for the way the new intake starts school.

Essentially they are asking if the children should a) go part days until the Ocotber Week, b) go part days until the September weekend, c) go part days for a week or d) start full time straight away.

The intention is that whatever the result of the survey, the change will be made from the August intake. My SIL, who works at the council, thinks that it is probable that they will go for the September weekend option, as they have been under pressure to follow what all the surrounding councils do.

So you may be lucky and not have such a long time period to cover after all!

Have you enrolled dd this week? I enrolled ds at the primary school that I had been wanting him to go to all along: it turned out that we're in its catchment anyway, even though it is about half a mile further away than our closest primary school. There's a really weird boundary line - but who cares, as it is to my benefit!

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I'm sure it says on the survey form that it would apply from the 2005-2006 intake - ie this August. I've got it at home, as I've not handed it in yet (only needs to be in for 11 February), so I will check.

aimsmum, what a nightmare for you! and how bizarre that the school has so few working parents - especially with you being in the centre of a major city!

Does the school have a noticeboard? I'm just thinking there must be someone who has had a similar problem - perhaps there's a nanny who would be willing to have dd for the afternoon. Is there anywhere you could advertise for a nanny share for those hours?

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Don't feel guilty. I don't know which primary school you are talking about, but if it close into the city centre and there are no working mothers, it may well be because a) they can't get jobs or b) are on benefits and don't want to get jobs. Be proud of what you are doing - working and providing a good example to your daughter, all as a single mum.

I am not the exception in being a working mum - and nor are you. If there are no other working parents in the school, then it is the exception. You may have put your finger on it when you said you couldn't get your dd into the attached nursery for being too well looked after and not at risk. What does that say about the catchment?

Ds doesn't really have any concept of going to school, so is not excited about it per se. He's loving nursery though and had no problems settling in, so I don't see that he will have any problems at primary. He's a very sociable wee boy. The primary school is small - only just over 200 pupils, so the trnasition shouldn't be too difficult. This year's Primary 1 class is just 22. There will be a couple of other children going to it form his nursery, so there will be some familiar faces. I suspect he won't really understand until he goes to the orientation days in May - when someone form nursery will also be comng along.

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The questionnaire defintiely says it will "be effected from the start of the school session 2005/2006".

By the way, I wasn't meaning to cast aspertions on the school - just commenting on the profile of the catchment!

Ds' class will have a teacher, a classroom assistant and an "English as an Additional Language" teacher. One of the advantages of being a multi-racial school! Although unlike the other promiary school (where the non English speakers were 98% of the school), the English speakers are about 50% of the intake.

The headmistress has a brilliant reputation - the Primary 1 teacher who took me around spontaneoulsy told me that one of the reasons the staff was so stable was because the school had such a good atmosphere. It impressed me as much - but in a different way - as the £5-6,000/year private school we looked at. And quite apart from my ideological issues, I'd far rather spend that money on taking ds to see elephants in the wild or learning to ski

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Prettycandles is someone else - I think she is in London.

The school is on the South Side. I'm in Pollokshields, ie right on top of the largest Asian community in Scotland (hence 98% of the children at the closest primary having English as an Additional Language - source: the HMI report!).

Could one of the other mums look after your child after school for those first weeks? I guess if she was paid she'd have to register as a childminder, but that probably isn't too hard - or you could come to some non-financial arrangement (you'd have her child/ren for a night a week for three months in return or something!). Might be worth putting an ad on the school noticeboard - a mum of an older child may be interested even?

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Aimsmum - didn't see this (I was away on holiday at the time).

The Council aren't being very helpful are they - how are people supposed to make arrangements?!

Looks like your best option is applying to take unpaid parental leave or having to use up your holidays.

Can you organise to take holidays first - with the option of applying for parental leave after July/August, if they make a decision to keep the starting full days for after the Ocotber Week?

Not ideal - but it doesn't lok like reducing your hours is a feasible option.

Aimsmum, Do you not know any sahm's that live near you and maybe they wouldnot mind taking their children and yours to school. I have been involved with Surestart in my area since my dd was nine months old. Hence, I know many parents in my area and I am sure if I was stuck one of them would pick up for me.

Dont know if that helps. I live in London. There are quite a few after school clubs in my area.

Sue