School admin job - flexibility with hours

[Twirldream]

I have seen a school admin job (not frontline) that I am considering applying for and it is for the core hours of 8.30 to 4.30pm (4pm on Friday’s). The advert states “Flexibility of start and finish times may be considered for the right applicant.”

How flexible would you think they could be?

I have been investigating childcare for my 6yo and have hit a wall already with availability.

And what’s your child’s father’s work situation? Can he flex his hours usefully? If not, why not?

School is busiest at the start and end of the day - does this school have an after school club or breakfast club you can slot your DD into and nip out to drop her off?

I would apply & ask for reduced hours until childcare became available 🙂

For a childminder ask at your child's school who does drop off and pick up already. Tbe office staff or teachers will likely know who they are.

Phone the local council for a list of childcare providers that picks up and drops off at that school. Check them out when you visit and you'll be fine. My before and after school childcare costs me £20 a day with a snack.

@doughnutcraver

Phone the local council for a list of childcare providers that picks up and drops off at that school. Check them out when you visit and you'll be fine. My before and after school childcare costs me £20 a day with a snack.

I was just coming here to say that! If you Google your council name and family information service you should get the right department to call/email.

I’d appli with an explanation of your hours-it may be that with budget restrictions they might figure out that they can manage with .75 of the role and use the .25 saving to buy much needed resources.
Sell it as a potential advantage!

People ask on our local FB group regularly which childminders serve the local schools so if you search the local FB group the info might already be there.

Do you live with the children's dad? Are they able to do their share of drop offs and pick ups if you're working?

I'm not sure you're really suited to working in a school OP with your attitude:
"schools don’t seem to be like other job sectors where you can negotiate reduced hours"
Schools can't offer reduced hours because, you know, there are children on the premises during set times. And the staff who work there are needed to look after those children. This includes admin staff. So a 9.10 start and 3pm finish is not likely to work. As previous posters have said, the busiest times for school admin are just before the start of school and just before pickup. Hence the hours advertised.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but the amount of people I interviewed in my days as a headteacher who didn't understand this used to be so frustrating.

@Macaroni46 I have already previously stated that I will not be applying for this position because I am well aware that childcare issues are nothing to do with the employer.

In general - DH cannot do the school run. Some jobs, their location, or the inflexibility of the employer, means that often a parent can’t just drop everything to suit childcare. If this was so easy to have from an employer then very few people would need to pay for childcare etc.

I didn’t realise that you can ring the council and ask for a list of registered childminders so I will do this.

Do you have a local Facebook page at all that you could ask for recommendations of Childminders?

We have one and people are always asking for recommendations on there, they're always happy to provide certificates/DBS etc and you're being recommended them aswell

I would still apply. I work in school admin and we've appointed people on a 9-3 basis to fit in with childcare. If you are the right applicant and have the skills needed this could work. This obviously depends in the role and a lot of our more flexible roles are "back office" so finance, marketing etc.