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mushpea
03-09-2012, 02:51 PM
I have 2 schools within 5 mins walk from my home and within 5 mins walk of each other, I have always had plenty of work from them but this year I have had 3 sibblings move away and another 2 children leave my care for various reasons all schoolies and now I have one schoolie 2 days a week plus there are at least 4 childmminders I know of visit these schools. A school which is about a 10min drive in the school rush hour only has one childminder and lots of people are asking me if I collect from there so I am now considering forgetting the local schools and driving to this other one instead, has anyone done this before or do any of you drive to school and back if so what are the issues you've encounted and what are the pros and cons.

LauraS
03-09-2012, 03:07 PM
Would you be able to fit enough kids in the car to make it worthwhile?

Would you be happy to commit to going to the other school long term? What if you had an enquiry next month for a local school?

Would it interfere with the other schoolie you have at the local school two days a week, or your own child? Could you do both?

Do you need the money, or are you happy to be less busy?

No experience, but those are my thoughts x

Daftbat
03-09-2012, 03:10 PM
I have collected by car in the past but now only collect from the school within walking distance. It worked for me for a time - it depends on how busy you want to be. I often have 8 or 10 kids after school so it wouldn't work for me now.

Kiddleywinks
03-09-2012, 03:54 PM
Also, we're heading rapidly into winter - it's 10 minutes now, how long would it take if we have severe weather again this year?

AliceK
03-09-2012, 03:56 PM
What about if you had car trouble?
I have bad luck with cars (or rubbish old cars :) ) so I won't commit to anything that involves having to rely on one. I always walk to school and nursery.

xxx

CH1957
03-09-2012, 06:14 PM
What about if you had car trouble?
I have bad luck with cars (or rubbish old cars :) ) so I won't commit to anything that involves having to rely on one. I always walk to school and nursery.

xxx

I definately agree with Alice. My car has just died and its going to cost more to fix than its worth, so no car now and Ive got the school run starting again on Thursday - Its going to be a LONG walk, especially in the rain!!

vickie-marieo
03-09-2012, 06:37 PM
If it suits your needs it can be a benefit. I was in a similar situation where i had a local school, with lots of childminders, but a school a bit farther and no one picked up from there.

It can be difficult if you have small ones, particularly if it falls on the cusp of nap times. I.e. trying to get sleeping children from bed, to car seat, to pushchair, to do school pick up and to do it in the reverse.

Then also if you offer to do tea - how much time you'll have once getting everyone back to the house, and cook or serve tea...

bunyip
03-09-2012, 06:47 PM
I'm not a driver so can't advise much. But check your motor insurer, as it will need to be covered for business use.

mushpea
03-09-2012, 08:21 PM
thanks folks, lots to think about there, my children are both at high school now so would be able to walk home and let themselves in, if there was a problem with my car the school is within walking distance theres a shorter route than the road we can take but although its walking distance it would take me about 20-30mins at a guess so lovley on a nice day but not so on a raininy day I suppose but could be done. As for bad weather I guess if the roads are that bad the schools would be shut anyway and if not I am sure they would be understanding of parents/carers not arriving on time. as for numbers of children I have a 7 seater so would stick to my 6 children but then thats plenty anyway.
the only real worry i think would be the bad weather thing but as I said if the weather was that bad I cant see the schools being open.

gegele
03-09-2012, 09:29 PM
i did this when i started minding but had to join local school when dd started.

it can be hard work when you have little ones : buggy in and out of car....and you might regret not being able to take on under 5 because of school pick up of a 8yrs old for example. depends on how much money you need. good luck

georgeypie07
03-09-2012, 11:35 PM
My 2 children attend a school which is a 5 minute drive or a 20 minute walk so when I started childminding that was my only real option to do pick ups/drop offs. I have found it to always work, we walk on nice days with the double buggy/scooters and turn it into a activity (ie sometimes its a nature walk and sometimes we spot the different coloured cars) and on really rubbish weather days or days when I'm abit pushed for time we drive. It is hard work but isn't childminding in general lol?

The decision is entirely yours, sit down with a cuppa and do a list of pros and cons

Hope this helps.

jadavi
04-09-2012, 04:50 AM
I did this andbadly regretted it as I had to oblige
little ones to go in the car at 2.30 plus it limited how many I could take and affected my over fives numbers. Getting them in and out of the car plus pushchair was a nightmare and i regretted it as soon as I started. I managed to get out of it finally by the girl taking a school taxi back to me and it wasn't too much more expensive for the mum.

Bumblez
04-09-2012, 07:42 AM
Does the school have parking facilities? I collect my own child by car as she was already at the school when we moved house. I have to leave the house between 2.30 - 2.35 to collect her for 3.20 otherwise I wouldn't be able to park near the school. Weather has never been a problem for us, the school closes or allows children who travel by car to stay home if the roads are bad due to snow.

linzi133
04-09-2012, 09:12 AM
I have a school literally across the road from me but I've never had any enquiries as it has a few childminders attached to it. I work from a school about 5-10 mins in the car but again walkable in about 30mins.

I'd rather work from the school across the road but I couldn't wait for the work to come through when others were well known to the school...so I took the work that cam through the door.

Although at times I hate getting in the car to do the school run you get used to it. It does restrict your numbers a little.

Bad weather....I have a bad weather policy that says if I am not comfortable driving in severe snow then I cannot do the school run. But as yet I've never had to use it as the school has always closed when it is really bad...or parents don't want to drive to mine.

HTH
Lindsey

Mummits
04-09-2012, 12:18 PM
I'm down to one schoolie (though that one does play nicely with my son so they are no trouble really). There are a few childminders covering his school and many of them live nearer to the school than me, so I'm not surprised to be struggling to pick up work there. Once my littl'un is in year 6 and can walk home alone, I might try my luck picking up from somewhere else. I do get a lot of enquiries from another school - still just about waslking distance though, so wouldn't mean always taking the car (luckily, because parking there is a nightmare). I think if driving there every day was needed, I wouldn't want to tbh.