Childcare in school holidays

[ChildcarePanic]

I'm in a massive panic. My son is due to start school in September. I'm a lone parent and work full time. I'm trying to find play schemes for the summer holidays but can't seem to find anything that will cover up to 4 weeks, and holiday clubs in all the half terms. I'm worrying that my son is going to struggle having no down time. I worried I won't be able to find enough childcare to not affect my work. I'm worrying he's going to suffer because I'm going to have to use a lot of after school/breakfast clubs. How do other lone parents do it? How do you cope with working full time and also balancing childcare when your child is in school?

also maybe look at local churches whose volunteers often run little clubs for low cost at Easter and Christmas? Also a very supportive environment (if you don’t mind religion)

In my experience these clubs (while lovely) only run for a few hours a day. They can help, but they don't really cut much into 13 weeks of school holiday and depending on where they are or where you work, they may be inaccessible anyway.

and also don’t be shy with other mums and dads at school - trading childcare favours is a classic way to handle situations like strike days, inset days, or the inevitable “school has closed due to a swarm of bees” outage once a year in my area!

The problem I had with this is that I was never really in a position to trade.
I use my leave to have time with my children and wider family, rather than mind other people's children.

I have found that there are very, very few full time lone parents working full time.
A childminder was what saved me.

Oh and OP, do check what your school is doing for the first term when your DS starts. Some have a phased start e.g. mornings only, then until after lunch, until they're full time and all manner of alternatives.
I've heard of others where they have some kids in for a week, then a different lot, or just mornings until 1/2 term.
I know parents who kept their child's private nursery place for this period as it was a working parents nightmare.

also maybe look at local churches whose volunteers often run little clubs for low cost at Easter and Christmas? Also a very supportive environment (if you don’t mind religion)

I don't recommend this unless you are absolutely sure you know who works there!

DBS-checked individuals who have been through as much (or as little) scrutiny as anyone else working at a children's club?

Unpaid parental leave

I worked out childcare costs across the year, put it to one side so it was spread through year.
It's tough but it's tougher if you are looking at the hols as being paid for as you go.