3 days on 3 days off

[Redderick]

Hi there, do any of you using a nursery/ work in a nursery have children that do 3 different days a week to fit in around shift work? e.g. one week monday, tuesday wednesday following week its shifted a day so tuesday, wednesday, thursday and so on. Have any of you come across this? How is it managed/ charged? Are you charged for a full week as effectively you are taking a full time place, or would you charged for 3 full days a week, even though it could full for 2 days over the weekend? any thoughts greatly received

I think a lot probably depends on how full the nursery is.

A friend of mine managed to negotiate with our local nursery to just pay for the days she needed but it was a couple of years ago when their numbers were down a little due to the recession and they had just expanded (so had spare capacity) She was able to tell them her shift pattern well in advance. A couple of years earlier when the nursery was very full I think they'd have turned down her request though.

Another friend of ours (shift pattern 2 days 2 nights, 4 off) has to pay for set days a week - they are lucky that grandparents do 2 days' childcare and are happy to be flexible on that. So think they pay for 2 set days a week and then their ds spends some of the time with GPs and some with his dad depending on how the shifts fall. Sometimes the nursery days fall on his dad's day off but that was unavoidable.

As a nursery manager with a very full nursery, I couldn't accommodate that shift pattern. I would offer you the days I had available and you would have to book set days and pay for them whether you used them or not

My nursery allows different days per week but only if you say in advance which day they will be. I think it works on a two week basis. I think it may have to be the same number of days per week but not hundred percent sure.

My dd goes to a nursery (also pretty full as rated outstanding) that completely accomodates shift patterns. It is near a hospital and police station so perhaps has a large enough number of shift working parents to make it work. You have to say for the month ahead what days you want, which fits in with the release of shifts at the hospital. You are then simply charged for the sessions you have booked. If your child is ill and can't attend a day you have booked, then you would be charged just as anyone booking a set day is. If you go on holiday then you are charged an average of the previous 4 weeks usage. I'm not a shift worker and so don't use this flexible system myself as I need set days, but I think it is fantastic. It is not the norm (it's the only nursery I am aware of doing it) but it clearly shows it can be done.

We are a busy, school based nursery. We wouldn't be able to do this as it would affect the number of staff I would need to bring in for certain sessions, and we don't have the flexibility to do this.

Also, by January we are full, and therefore, would not be able to change days within a week.

We would have to charge you for the full week.

I agree Overrunwithlego that you might be better looking for a nursery near a hospital or airport as there likely to be more shift workers there.

DD's nursery is pretty flexible for extra sessions, I don't know how it would work financially but they could probably accommodate Mon/Tue/Wed as fixed and then pay as you go for Thurs/Fri. You'd still end up paying for days you didn't need though.

Thank you very much for all your feedback and comments it has made for interesting reading and food for thought. I'll come clean and state that I am a nursery manager and this is something that has been requested to us and whilst my initial reaction is 'I don't think we can accommodate it' I wanted to know if others had experience or not to see if there was something I could do for this family. Thanks again

Very clever! I'd expect to pay 5 days a week, though if you had been genuinely posting for advice I'd say that hospital nurseries are sometimes more flexible as they know their staff have odd working patterns.