Before and After School Care

[Binney]

Hello everyone,

I usually provide care for under threes only and have never done nursery/school runs. However, I am considering changing this next September when my eldest son starts school. But I have so many questions. For example:

- Should I do term-time before and after school care only or should I also offer care during the holidays?

- What is expected for after-school care? Homework help? Would I need to offer a meal or just a snack? Would I need to provide activities or after a long school day would I just need to let the kids play/watch TV/unwind?

- What should I charge? (both for before/after school care and during the holidays if I gave holiday care).

- If I offered holiday care, what would happen about my own holidays? Could I stipulate in the contract set weeks when I will not work (e.g. two weeks in summer and a week over Christmas for example)

- If I wanted to offer 8am-9am before school and 3pm-6pm after school, would this be reasonable? I understand that may limit the number of parents I would appeal to to those who work no longer than a standard 9-5 but I wouldn't want to work earlier/later as I want to be able to reserve some time to get my own children sorted (dinner, bedtime, etc).

Any advice from others offering before/after school care would be much appreciated including how you carve out time for your own children and also whether you find it profitable to do before/after school only without offering day time care for babies as well.

Thank you!

[sarah707]

we have before and after school children - we start at 730 and take them to school ... then offer care to 6pm.

The children play - read school books - do homework if we have time - eat tea and watch some tv before going home.

We charge a set fee for before / after and before and after - have a look at what other local cms charge so you are not over or under pricing :D

[Merlot]

Hi Binney, I have after schoolers but won't take anyone on at the moment. I will keep my LO's on once they're full time school and I currently have after schoolers that don't require me in the holidays, but it's difficult to satisfy everyone with activities in the holidays when you've got 10 year olds and 2 year I find the older they get, they just want to play on computer games - Wii, X box etc so get bored with things easily. When I first started I used have just after schoolers as I was struggling to get business.

- Should I do term-time before and after school care only or should I also offer care during the holidays?

- What is expected for after-school care? Homework help? Would I need to offer a meal or just a snack? Would I need to provide activities or after a long school day would I just need to let the kids play/watch TV/unwind?

- What should I charge? (both for before/after school care and during the holidays if I gave holiday care).

- If I offered holiday care, what would happen about my own holidays? Could I stipulate in the contract set weeks when I will not work (e.g. two weeks in summer and a week over Christmas for example)

- If I wanted to offer 8am-9am before school and 3pm-6pm after school, would this be reasonable? I understand that may limit the number of parents I would appeal to to those who work no longer than a standard 9-5 but I wouldn't want to work earlier/later as I want to be able to reserve some time to get my own children sorted (dinner, bedtime, etc).

- I offer term time contracts with half rate in the hols to keep the space open for the following term. Any care required in the holidays has to be prior arranged. I did a summer holiday working every day and never had time for my family - never again!

- It's up to the parents and what the children want to do. I have a variety of toys, games, and activities to suit all ages. The older children can use my computer with written permission from parents as I have age limits on the computer. I also have Wii games for them to play - providing they do not fall out which they tend to do. Sometimes they just want to chill out and watch a dvd or tv. I have no objection to this providing parents are happy. Some childminders are strictly no tv. My under 5's have planned activities throughout the day but the older children I give them a choice when they've finished school. I don't think it's fair to make them do activities if they've had a long, hard day at school and want to do nothing. Regarding the tea meal, are you offering a tea meal? I offer tea at a price but some parents don't want this so I provide a snack when they get in from school. This is sometimes a problem when I'm feeding everyone else. Also if you are preparing tea for 6 children which I often am, I struggle to do a planned activity with them. It's often a case of help yourself to toys, games or play in the garden and they will play together whilst a meal is prepared. When you're against the clock because parents are collecting you're not wonderwoman!

- Do you charge for your holidays? I give all my parents plenty of notice so no one can complain as I need time off in the hols for my family. I took some term time off earlier this year which was a first - people frowned upon it! I needed time to myself without my kids or anyone elses! It was bliss! :D

- I offer those hours too. I do make some exceptions for early starts and late finishes but I try and restrict them whenever possible.

I personally like the odd nights when it's just our family sat around the table for tea and not everyone else's. I try to restrict my days where I work until 6 as it's lovely to have family time. I started childminding to fit in around my family and sometimes think I'm fitting my family around my childcare which is not good. Another reason I don't like offering tea meals is because all parents say their children will eat anything and you find that they don't like anything! Grr!:angry:

[pinkzed]

I provide after school care. At the moment I don't have anyone staying late enough for tea. I have 3 children of my own who have tea between 5 and 530 so if a mindee was here they would be included at an extra charge. I provide holiday c are to. It depends what you want to do and what parents want. I charge the same hourly rate for everyone but tea is an extra £1.50. Good luck.