Childminding in school holidays only

[wishful]

Is it viable to childmind DURING the school holidays ONLY.

I am at the very very early stages of registration (ie waiting for the next briefing session from the LA) but would like to start making a business plan (sounds very grand) now.

I'd be very grateful for any advice please. :)

[Zoomie]

Suppose it depends how much holiday club competition there is in your area, now and in the future.

Do you already have a term time job ?

[wishful]

Yes, I'm a supply teacher, but that income is dying now that Heads can use unqualified teachers to teach classes.

The local primary school does not have a holiday club that I am aware of.

I'd be particularly interested in older children, ie 5 years upwards.

[butterfly]

You'd definately need to do some research into whether parents do use some sort of holiday club - these can often be near their work, in sport centres etc. I don't get any holiday work from over 5s as there is a holiday club run at the sports centre in the next town which only charges £15 for a whole day 8-6! I could never compete with that price!

Over a year a go I used to offer holiday activities which ran for half days and each had a theme eg pirates or seaside etc. These were quite well taken up as they gave parents a few hours off here and there but I didn't make a huge amount of money on them! I used to charge £10 for 3.5 hours.

[tashaleee]

It depends on the area you live in - neither of my local schools have holiday clubs BUT there are holiday schemes due to the area I live in that a childminder could never compete with. For example, my son will go to a football club - I provide lunch and only pay £15 for 2 days of 10-3! Other clubs are not all day, but there are lots of parents not working in my area so they dont need full day childcare so the clubs are fine for them......

Sorry dont mean to be as negative as my post seems - areas do vary - maybe talk to the school and see if they feel there is a need for school holiday care?

[Ripeberry]

You might get more interest if you give 'school hours' from 9am until 3.30pm as working parents will snap those up! Just make sure you find out what is in your area and see if they get oversubscribed.
Good luck in whatever you do :thumbsup:

[wishful]

Thank you everybody, that has been a massive help. I'll look into what is available in the school and take it from there. Once again, many thanks

[Minstrel]

To supplement your income could you offer term time short notice/holiday cover/ad hoc contracts etc

Obviously work it around any supply work you get but i get a lot of call for this sort of thing especially ad hoc contracts. I do it on the understanding that it's on a first come first served basis and it works well.