Extra hours to afternoon session

[Firsttimemummy9724]

Wondering if anyone has had a similar situation or can shed any light on this!
I am putting my little boy into nursery when he turns 11 months and I go back to work, he is going in 7.30 until 1.30 but the nursery have just informed me morning pick up is at 1, I finish work at 1 and can't change my hours any more so I'm a little stuck on what to do.

I WFH and only live a 5 min walk away so would never pick him up later than 1.10pm, the nursery manager isn't in this week to confirm what I can do but I'm hoping either my remaining funded hours will cover this or I can pay and extra? Has anyone experienced similar?

It depends, do they let you pay by the hour?
Normally with nurseries they just offer mornings, afternoons or whole days as they won't be able to fill the leftover random hours.

I’d be very surprised if their answer was anything other than- morning session ends at 1, if you cannot pick up by 1 then you need a whole day session & to pay for that accordingly. It makes no difference to them whether you pick up at 1:30 or 5:30, it still requires you to pay for a whole day and the ratio’s are such that you taking the extra 30 mins blocks another child from doing a full afternoon.

Anyway you can take a break - so 12.50-1 to pick up and then do the 10 minutes when you get back?

It'll depend on the nursery.

Some will help out by giving you ten minutes grace, others won't. There is usually a fee for picking up late so you could potentially just be five minutes late everyday and pay the fine.

You may be able to get away with it. I've picked up from nursery at this time before and they're supposed to finish at 1pm, but inevitably it's a couple of minutes after and then they hand out the children one by one so if you're at the back of the queue you're not getting your child until a bit after 1pm anyway.

Another option is to see if any of the nursery staff want to earn a bit of extra cash by brining him home on their lunch hour. Again, some nurseries will allow this and others won't.

In general, big chain nurseries will stick to clearly defined policies, smaller/family run nurseries will be a bit more flexible to meet individual needs.

Are you due a break in your own work schedule? If so could you take that at the very end of your shift eg 1245 rather than in the middle?

@VikaOlson they let you pay more to drop off earlier so drop off is at 8 but I pay to drop at 7.30 instead. I'm hoping I can do the same for the end of his session but will see what they say, I have mentioned my hours during all his settling in sessions so I'm surprised no one mentioned a difference sooner

@BallerinaFall I'm not entitled to a break but I do have a good relationship with my manager so may be something that can be arranged between us, failing anything I'll have to do a full session and just pick him up earlier which will be fine

@NuffSaidSam they do have a late policy but it's not very clear so something I will ask on Wednesday!
They are a chain and staff seem to do big shifts but it's an option thank you!
Being last in the queue could work too haha I'm not even 5 mins away so could just sprint and count that as my daily exercise

I think realistically you will need to find a workable solution rather than just hoping to be late each day and pick him up last. If you finish at 1 then sometimes I'm guessing you won't actually be done for 1 so you need a back up plan.

I would definitely ask but it's unlikely they will just be able to add on an extra hour due to ratios and staff getting lunch so I'd expect to have to pay for a whole day.

A 1.30pm pick up will be very disruptive because all the other babies that haven’t gone home at 1 will be sleeping at that time. I’d be very surprised if they allow it as it would need him to be kept awake, separate and quiet whilst the others are all put down for their naps. And that’s without staff scheduling and ratios to contend with. I’d talk to your manager to see if you can take a short break to do pick up at 1 then agree to make up the time by logging back on later when baby is sleeping. Failing that you’ll just have to do a full session but be aware they may not allow regular pick ups over nap time and they may want you to wait until 3pm-ish: ours were always quite funny about it when I wanted to do the odd early collecting before going on holiday.

What time does the afternoon session begin? If they are expecting another child at 1pm, they would be over ratio.

the 0730 extra half an hour is a bit different as they can split the cost of staff across those who need an early half hour and are unlikely to have it at full capacity like the day slots. At 1 they may have staff going on lunch break etc.

could baby’s dad do the drop off so you can start a little earlier and finish a little earlier?

i wouldn’t assume you can pick up late every day even if you do pay the fine.

@SheilaFentiman I have had a look through my emails and can see they do have the pebble app which you can book extra sessions and hours on so they do offer extra im just not sure to what extent so will need to ask on Wednesday.
Unfortunately dad starts before and finishes after so can't be much help here, I also moved over 200 milsles away from family beginning of the year so we are a little on our own currently.
I'll ask the question with an open mind and go from there, it may end with me needing a different job as my work can't get anymore lenient then they have with my position

We would allow it if we had free spaces in the afternoon session but not if it would put us over ratio. We wouldn’t pay a staff member to be in just for being 10mins over ratio.

All you can do is ask them. My guess would be that your child's am space finishing at 1 corresponds to an afternoon space with a child starting at 1. Therefore you need to pick up at 1 at the absolute latest, so that they have the right adult/child ratio when the afternoon child arrives!

I guess if there is currently a free gap in the afternoon, they might not mind your child overstaying, but they might need to change the rule at short notice if they got another afternoon child.

I would chat to your manager and opt to take a break earlier, to pick him up, but to be available overlapping the lunchtime period so as to give more cover when people are taking a break - make it appealing to the company, as much as it is to you.

Just wanted to update this incase anyone else comes across a similar situation! I spoke with the manager this morning and there was no problems at all I just need to pay for the extra 30 mins so all sorted.
I will just say the nursery he is at (busy bees) has alot of groups and staff so they are well covered for each baby which I think allows them to support parents as and when it's needed, I know not all others will be the same.