what do you do with your (young) school age DC during the school holidays?

[bessie26]

I don't really have to worry about this yet as DD1(3) & DD2(8m) aren't going to be going to school for a while yet, but I just wondered what you did with your DC during the summer holidays?

I've been planning how I'll change my hours at work & do short days so I can pick them up from school, but hadn't thought about the holiday thing at all! I'm sure the GP could have them for a bit, but not the whole 6 weeks! I'm wondering if a child-minder might be a better solution than them going to nursery?

Not sure how much advice I can offer as we are struggling with this at the moment but up till now we have used a lovely childminder who looks after my dc's 3 days a week between 9-5 throughout the year. My eldest dc started school this year and my youngest is due to start in September so I am hoping to change my hours to school times, however my childminder can not guarantee a place during just the holidays so I am still looking into other options! Some employers do offer term time only hours and a couple of people have mentioned holiday clubs to me but I'm not sure if these are more suitable for older children.

I think you are sensible to start looking into this early, good luck!

There are holiday clubs but these are usually from age 4. You also need to check what weeks they might be closed. Our local
One was
Closed for 1/3 of the school hols? Wtf?!

It does take planning but not much you can do really

Holiday club - we chose ds's school on the basis of its every holiday having care and wraparound care.

Those with grandparents able to help seem to be able to patch things together a bit more, but we have to fill in the blocks so we have leave for all the odd days that nothing is available for

This is a good site for looking into local holiday clubs and nurseries that offer childcare through the school holidays

www.openfamilyservices.org.uk

The nursery we currently use is open all year round, 7am-6pm, so I don't have to worry until they goto school!

I thought holiday clubs were for when they're older, but I guess when they are very young it's just a safe place to go & do some organised playing? (like nursery!)

My work is really good with flexible working, so perhaps I'll have to think about changing to a term time contract. I can also buy extra A/L or perhaps they would let me take a couple of weeks of unpaid leave if needed?

I guess I'll have to do some thinking about what we think we might like to do, and some sums to see how much it will cost

We have used holiday club since ds1 started school (also useful for inset days and even opened on strike day). It was easier to start as the staff were all from the nursery ds1 had attended (and dd2 still does), so it was not a big leap for him. But they happily take all school age children. Other holiday clubs locally are for 5 and over. They group children by age. I think provision is very patchy depending on where you live though.