Before-school childcare, 7-9am?

[gourd]

How/where do you find before-school childcare?
DD (4 yrs) starts school in Sept 2015. After school club fine, but it’s not Ofsted registered so each child is only allowed 2 hours in total a day (i.e. DD cant use before school as well and the before school club is not open till an hour after we'd need care to start anyway). We need childcare 7-9am (2 hours, 4 days a week as I don't work Fridays) with drop-off at school. There is only one registered childminder in area who drops at the local school, who I’ve never met and couldn't contact in the summer when I tried to find replacement care as our wonderful CM ceased child-minding. DD went to daycare nursery rather than local school nursery in Sept 2014 due to CM stopping and no replacement CM in area.

Do private nurseries usually do a breakfast & school-drop service? Our daycare nursery does, but only to a school near the nursery (which is over 2 miles away from our home & our local school). The two daycare nurseries near our house/school did not have place & neither were open long enough hours so never explored whether or not they do school-drop-offs for Seopt 2015. We couldn’t afford a full-time nanny/babysitter as they are double the price of day-care nursery which we already struggle with but my main concern was that the ones I saw on-line didn’t seem to have many qualifications or much experience. They were mostly young, often teenage students wanting part time work to fund studying for childcare qualifications. Probably less of an issue if only wanting 2 hours a day before-school, but do any nannies actually do 2-hours a day, mornings only? Would this be an option and how much roughly does it cost for 2 hours a day and a 4-day-week? We use childcare vouchers but I dont think nannies take them, and the after-school club also doesn't either, so it is going to be expensive despite DD starting school.

I couldn’t actually find any nannies in our area on-line, so they would have to travel to us. I haven’t been able to contact the only other local CM on the number the council gave me and there isn’t another one registered in the area at the moment. I have tried a few internet sites including a local one our old CM recommended, plus the local council list of CMs and nurseries, but no luck so far. Where should I be looking?

1. au pair ?
2. stagger hours - prob the most practical solution
3. employ old cm/babysitter/nursery assistant/TA to get DD up in the mornings and get her to school with after school club doing pm's
4. Go to 5 day week and spread your hours.
5. Go full time and use extra cash to pay for nanny

Advertise at the school now for the hours / service you want and check the level of interest.

Out of interest will your DH collect DD on his way home, feed her, do her homework and get her through the bath before you get in at 7? Or do mornings?
Is part of the problem that you do all the hands on stuff with DD and he doesn't or you don't want him to?

I am a morning person, definitely not night owl, so usually show tiredness by 3 or 4pm (start making mistakes at work etc). I go to bed at 9pm and am in dressing gown by 8 with a cup of tea, so to not get home till 7 will be interesting! Road might be better for commute though so maybe not as dangerous though it will be dark for more of the year coming home, so slower (but lighter going into work in winter which may help me a lot). I thought I was tired now though. How on earth do people manage it... Someone asked why I couldn’t cook if not getting in till late, but think I’ll be too tired and get indigestion if trying to sleep straight afterwards plus living in bungalow means kitchen is next to DDs room so if cooking after she is in bed, she is going to get up to see what’s going on, at least to start with (has done in past if she’s heard the fridge opening!) so I probably just won’t as it will be easier not to.

Treadsoftly - partly yes. He is very good at being fun and will also read to her for hours at a time (whole younger readers paper backs in one go, like Jill Murphy's The worst witch and Julia Donaldson's Dinosuar's diary etc) but doesn’t know anything about the national curriculum for the different year groups or how the school teaches phonics (he didn't learn to read that way). He is a brilliant dad but I think he will struggle to help her with reading and writing in the way the school teaches it - at least, unless he really wants to do it and finds out how to. The same with Maths. I did phonics at school myself and have been doing a lot of reading around, using on line primary resources sites and we have jolly phonics books we use at home (when I say we, I mean me and DD). He isn’t as patient with her as me and I'm not that patient, but don’t get as visibly impatient - but that may be due to me not currently working 5 days a week so not being as knackered as DH. Ideally I just wanted to be there for her in the evenings for wellbeing reasons. Someone posted that she will be so emotional and grumpy after her long day that we won't have a nice evening so i may as well be working later and not see her till morning, but to me that's not really the point; If she is tired and emotional then it is even more important that I be there for her. The 5 day week on same hours for me is looking the best option if we can’t get a CM in place. I need a month or two to apply for it and get the response - it took a month to receive the reply when I asked for a 4 day reduced hour week on return from mat leave. I’d have to re-apply for different job in the institution to get a full time/5 day job again, as my job is now 28 hours, so hope that isn’t the case just for a change in the number of days worked – but the hours would be same, so it should be OK.

Off to the school on Friday afternoon for their Xmas songs/performance (and to meet old CM) so will ask at reception about childcare/school club arrangements and CMs. We've been going to family assembly for a couple of years on and off so even though she didn't end up going to the school nursery DD’s used to assembly, knows some of the songs, kid’s faces/names (she knows some anyway from CMs), knows her way round the school, and knows teachers names etc. Ironic that should I work same hours over 5 days I won’t be able to go and see her do her songs/readings or whatever once she actually starts going there for real! Anyway will see on Friday if school has any information.

OP had you thought about the consequences of working so far from home?
At my DC school they have " share the learning" afternoons when you can go into the childrens classes, there are also book fairs and at Christmas time watching Father Christmas give them a present. Most parents do work at DC school, but as they are close by, most parents do make it to these events.
I have friends who have found child care through the local church. They have mainly had students, which have worked really well, they come to the house first thing in the mornings and then collect them from school.
If you are both working will you get a chance to meet the other parents and DC who will be starting school at the same time? Parents at DC school arranged a get together before school started.
Good luck with sorting out the problem, I'm sure you will find a solution.

Excatly - yes this is why ideally I'd want to keep that one day off a week so I can attend the assemblies and other events. In the past my work have been really good about letting me take a particular day (rather than my usual Friday) off in order to attend a special event significant to DD or for her doctors appointments. Obviously cant do that except by taking leave if working same hours over 5 days.

Just asked colleague what they do, and both his kids (one is currently aged 4 and in reception class, the other is 6) use both the before and after school clubs, open 7:30 till 6pm (our school’s starts at 7:50 and closes at 5:30) and love them. I asked him if they were ok with the long day and he said yes they enjoy the clubs so much. He said the after school club is really good. Perhaps it depends what’s on offer.. Their school has both options available to all though, whereas at our local school you are not allowed to use more than 2 hours in total per child, per day, so cannot use both before and after school clubs. His wife works 4 days too, so she takes kids to school (or any medical appointments) on that day off and attends the family assemblies and events going on at school which I will miss if I work same hours over 5 days instead of 4 but which could be important to DD. Hmm still no obvious answer then..

Exactly, even..