Childcare for reception age toddlers

[LoveShortbread]

Hello, I wonder if you could help me...
My DS is 2 now and he is at day nursery during my work time. (I work 3 days a week)

My friends' kids are starting reception this year and made me think what to do with the childcare when my DS is at the reception.

We need someone who can look after my DS after the reception school and 3 full days a week when school holidays.

What are the option for the childcare for the reception age toddler and primary school kids?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

Find out if the school you're aiming for has an after-school club. Most working mums I know muddle through with a mix of after-school club, after-school activities and childminders (who appear to be plentiful in my area - many are school mums themselves).

In my experience, if you don't have any family to do it, people use either a Childminder to do the pick-ups (not sure if they do holidays) or before and after-school clubs plus a variety of holiday clubs.

I am very lucky that DS1's school has fab breakfast and after-school clubs and there are always loads of options for holiday clubs around.

Around here (south Wales) the options are childminder or out of school clubs.

Start looking early though - good childminders often have waiting lists.

DSs (from reception) have had breakfast club and after school club. Then a school holiday club in holidays.

Child minder, or clubs. You need to check which breakfast/afterschool clubs your school has. Usually quite a few holiday clubs to choose from.

My DC school have a breakfast club from 8 and after school club till 4.30. But there is a long waiting list for both so names need to go down early.

I have waited a year for my DC to go to after school club for 1 day a week.

Thank you very much for all the great advice!
And thank you for the quick replies!
I guess everyone is doing the same? (After kids off to bed, you started reading emails, blogs and news on the internet ;-)

I am going to check breakfast/afterschool/holiday clubs now.
I wants to search around early as I left too late for DS's nursery serach before I went back to work. ( Not that panic again :-)

Thank you again and have a lovely Sunday!

We have a nursery that does after-school and holiday club (including inset days and half-terms). They do drop off and pick up from 5 local primaries.

Worth looking to see if there is something similar in your area.

Some schools have breakfast and after school clubs. Some of these do holiday clubs, but only a tiny minority - they usually don't.
Childminders are great.
A lot of Nurseries now do before and after school care and holiday care (until your child gets to 8 when you'd have to re-think).

Google you local 'Family Information Service' as they try to keep track of what's available in each area.

Look what potential schools are offering. Check with your local Family Information Center about childminder in your area. Check any local Internet pages about holiday cover.

I was astonished how much differences are in our area. While DD's school has a club next door, open 49 weeks a year, my friend has a DD at a school which offers nothing.

We also have various clubs running through the holidays, often doing 9-5 but you can book extra hours to get a 8-6 cover.

For the holidays We use a mix of childminder, DD gets a bit bored being there a full day, to doing child swapping with friends to various sports and holiday clubs. DD enjoys the clubs most as the is always something to do and lots of other children.

During the school terms we use a childminder for after school as I re-arranged my working hours so I now can do the school run in the morning .

My dd's chilminder does an afterschool session which includes pick ups and she also does holidays.

Some schools also share their after school clubs so in our town the out of school club is hosted by one school and children from other schools are transported to it. So might be worth checking with any schools that you're considering whether they have provision like this.

May I ask how early should you put your name down for this? Mine is 2 like the OP. But I assume it's not as early as birth is it? Should we start asking about the after school club the September before they start school? Or when you apply to school? Or when you have been accepted? I'm pretty sure I'll get into my first choice so I could start early if I needed!