How do parents drop children off at school if they work 8-5pm

[Mrstumbletap]

DS goes to school next year, and I'm trying to fathom how people drop off and pick up when they work longer than the school day. What do you all do? Childminder? Childminder then breakfast club? After school club?

I couldn't work this one out either so in the end I gave up the career I loved in a city an hour away and took a 9-2 job as an office junior/admin in the next village.

It sucked and it still sucks, but that was the only option at the time.

I'm worried about this too. Mostly because at nursery it's consistent but with school, it's a lot if cup and change for my little one to make it work

Sorry chop and change. Not cup...

Breakfast club in the morning, childminder after school. Have you tried popping into the school to see if they have a list of childminders who do pick up/drop off there? I found my childminder that way.

Sadly we couldn't make it work, we had kids and life changed , we could cope in the nursery days but we couldn't get them into breakfast club or after school club and childminders were all full who dropped off at our school

So I went part time 9.30- 2.30 and took a financial hit

Get an au pair. This is when they are perfect.

They do 7.30-9am, so the finishing breakfast and walk to school sorted.
Then 3-5.30/6pm, covers after school care and starting homework.

Au pairs work max 25hrs a week. So if you needed 4 days morning and after school it works perfect, and allows for one evening babysit

Now mine are both secondary school age I'm glad though, 12 years old don't like childminders and 2 hours on the xbox until I turned up didn't appeal ! For me not them

Have a look for out-of-school breakfast/after school clubs too. There are several in my local area, running from community halls or similar, that drop the kids off and pick them up. So even if your school club is full there may be other options.

You could also ask the school if they keep a list of childminders, mine did.

My breakfast club opens at 8am, thankfully I am a short drive away work wise, so I'm in work at my desk by 815. Then after school clubs until 6. Wrap around care, which causes arguments with the teacher when I won't allow them to spend their hour at home before bed doing homework!

Au pair, I'd get the kids up and dressed for the day, then at 8.30 we'd all leave the house - au pair would walk dc to school and I'd go to work. She'd pick up at 3.00, spend 2 hours playing with the dc till either me or dh got home from work, then looked after/played them whilst we cooked dinner. But it does mean you need a spare room and be ok with an extra person living with you.

Dh drops at breakfast club & I pick up from after school club. Long day but can't be helped. Although I only work part of the week so that helps.

I often wonder how many parents are in the same boat of slowly changing their hours until eventually giving up on what were good careers. I have changed my hours and will eventually have to change my job I think, despite having years of experience in my field.

Sorry for the rant OP! To give you a more useful answer, I agree with PPs about word of mouth to find help. I found my childminder through fluke really. Also I think the key is a short commute if possible. The main reason I struggle is my 1 - 1.5 hour in rush hour commute.

I'm surprised I'm the only one who's mentioned nursery so far.

Purple me none of our nurseries offer that service

Childminder, the school does have a breakfast club and after school club but the times are just not enough for me. The other advantage of using a childminder is that she also goes there in the holidays and the childminder will have her if the school has to shut for a snow day (or any other reason)

I am a state school teacher and DH is a lecturer. We've sent DD to a private primary as they guarantee wrap around 7.30 to 6pm for every parent that wants it. I also changed job so the school holidays would roughly match. I still have to rely on DH to do 3 days of drop off/pick up, all school events like parents' eve (same night as ours!) and have to get a taxi from school to the station on my days to make it to an early enough train. It's crap, isn't it!

It's really difficult. However be wary of " the lady who will have them before school for a fiver" type arrangements. You must have a registered childminder if you are paying for child care. That's what the law says and from a numbers / training and actually keeping your child safe , is what you need.

" mum share /child swap" arrangements can work but often go wrong at some point if you read the threads here. They have to be utterly fair, the kids need to get on and you need to be sure you agree about discipline / food etc etc.

Have you asked at the school to see if they have a list of childminders that pick up/drop off there?

I'm a single mum with one in nursery one in school. Over the last few years I've used a combination of au pairs, before and after school club, nursery, working 4 days a week. Au pair makes like a lot easier for only £80 a week.

It's a juggling act - can you spread your hours over 5 days and finish earlier for pick up? Or work less hours? The school my children go to doesn't have breakfast club & we are both teachers so need to be in school 8ish ourselves. So have relied on in-laws & I am part time now. There is no magic answer unfortunately. When we got the school place we applied for after school club, and didn't find out until quite late on if we had a place or not. Then it wasn't possible to use after school club until reception class were full time, which was a whole month into term. There are no childminders that drop off/pick up.
I think a childminder is possibly better than being in school for such a long day - it's not ideal for little ones to be there for so long if you can help it. A childminder is more like being at home (assuming you find a good one)

Go on the ofsted website and you can search childminder by area. Mine is a little more expensive than the before and after school club but so much more convenient in terms Of location, plus I can use her for holidays.

Ask the school for a list of childminders. Ours has a list that pick up and drop off from our school.

It's a nightmare tbh. When I first went back to work DH took them to school and had a later start, then they went to a CM after school and I picked them up on my way home from work. Then the CM stopped collecting from their school and it all fell apart ; no other CMs with spaces, no breakfast club, tiny after school club with a 2yr waiting list. I ended up changing my hours to work four shorter days instead of three long ones so I could collect from school.

I was returning from mat leave with dc2 just when dc1 started school so I put in a flexible working request to reduce my hours.