School.

[dan220282]

Hello! I've been a member here for a while a you've always been so helpful. My son starts school in September 😭 myself and my partner work full time. Her family live about an hour away and are a bit useless. My family live hundreds of miles away. Friends all work. I'm trying to arrange working from home for me to make the transition for us all easier. If this doesn't come off. Then we're going to need to get a childminder. I'm after some reassurance really that other parents have gone through this and it worked out okay. I'm anxious enough about him starting school let alone him being with a childminder as well😢 fwiw he's been at nursery since he was 2 and is an absolute diamond. Anyone's stories would help greatly.

Thankyou.

I've been a teacher for well over a decade. I've known plenty of children go to after school clubs or childminders after school and they've been fine. I think you're worrying unnecessarily, OP!

Hi! Thankyou. After school club doesn't go on long enough for us. He finishes at 3:15 and I finish at 5pm. The childminder thing I think is bothering us because we've had a bad experience with one before. Thanoyou for the reply.

Nothing wrong with a good childminder- have you spoken to your employers about flexible working though if concerned. Ie. One of you stating earlier but finishing earlier, one of you starting later and finishing later?

I'm in the process of a flexible working request. So if that comes off this thread will be redundant. My other half works for the nhs so her shifts are all over the shop. It's the "good" childminder I'm concerned about. No doubt there are thousands of them. It's picking the best one. Our previous one got shut down.🤦‍♂️

Yep both my children have gone to either a childminder or after school club all through Primary up until covid hit and I've been working from home since. In Sept I'll be going back into the office so the youngest will go back to after school club.

Flexible working for both of you so you can juggle drop offs and pick ups?

That’s what we do. Although we did use a childminder previously who was amazing. Don’t let one bad experience put you off.

Personally I've had better experiences with a really good childminder then the after school club, but as its only for an hour now for us (DH finishes earlier then he used to) and shes only two years left at Primary its just easier to use school club. With a little one I would 100% go back to a childminder.

Thankyou! Silly question childminders do pick ups from school as well don't they? We'll need them to have him for about an hour a day until I can get him. My other half works about 45 mins away so I'm trying to sort it so I can do it all. So she doesn't need to worry. If the working from home request is approved then I'll be able to pick him up and be with him till mom comes home. Then finish my final hour or so at work whilst she does bedtime etc..

I used to drop mine at 8, she took them to school for 8.40 and picked them up at 3.30 and kept them until 5.

Cost was £5 before school and £13 after school, she also did meals if you wanted. I think that’s about average where I am in the South West.

@Granohlaa

I used to drop mine at 8, she took them to school for 8.40 and picked them up at 3.30 and kept them until 5.

Cost was £5 before school and £13 after school, she also did meals if you wanted. I think that’s about average where I am in the South West.

Thankyou. We're going from £300 a month in pre school fees to hopefully a lot less. £18 a day is a lot better than £56😭 I'm south east so I'll be checking that out. You're all so helpful. Thankyou so much. Do childminders work during holidays as well?

My childminder worked all year round with 4 weeks holiday at 1 at Xmas, 1 at Easter and 2 in the summer for which I paid her half pay for.

A lot of the others I know are term time only. It seems to be the younger ones with children of their own that are term time only and the older ones who are all year.

Lovely thankyou! We'll be asking that question of course if needed

Yes mine had them from 7.30 / 7.45 on a morning and gave them breakfast, picked them up from school and worked until 6 ish. She would give them a proper cooked meal for tea as well. I think it was around £5 before school and about £12/£15 after school.

My reception child goes to breakfast club and after school club and absolutely loves it. She gets to play with friends, eat snacks and cereal that we wouldn’t buy and watch tv in the mornings. I wouldn’t use it full time but it does the job for 2 days a week and she’s more than happy.

Mine started reception in a new area last Sept, goes to a cm 4 nights a week after school until 5pm, she charges £10 per session.

The baby goes to a local nursery as I couldn't find a cm I was happy with for full day baby care and the one we picked for DS1 already has an under 1 in her care (they're only allowed 1)

it's a nuisance having them in 2 different places after work but they're both well settled now.

Mine went from full time nursery 5 days a week to starting school and going to breakfast club from 7.50am then after school club. He is out of the house for a similar amount of time as he was when he was at nursery. It works fine. In the holidays we use holiday club run by local nursery. Other friends use childminders (there are usually certain ones that pick up from each primary school so ask around) and don’t seem to have any issues either. I think you’re making this into an unnecessary drama!

@welshweasel

Mine went from full time nursery 5 days a week to starting school and going to breakfast club from 7.50am then after school club. He is out of the house for a similar amount of time as he was when he was at nursery. It works fine. In the holidays we use holiday club run by local nursery. Other friends use childminders (there are usually certain ones that pick up from each primary school so ask around) and don’t seem to have any issues either. I think you’re making this into an unnecessary drama!

Probably am tbh. My other half suffer with anxiety so I'm trying to make sure I've got all the answers. And with our limited support network I'm probably overthinking it as well. Thankyou!