Only in the school hols !

[Helen1]

I am new to childminding and need some advice please ! I have had an enquiry from someone who only wants me to have her two children on a Wednesday 9-1pm in the school holidays. One child is 3 and goes to pre-school and the other one is 4 in foundation at school. So they are both in my early years ratio. Obviously will charge her my going rate per hour on a Wednesday.But what about term time, will I have to save two places on a Wednesday ?

[AliceK]

The 4yr old in reception at school will not count in your EY's numbers. So you would be saving 1 x EY space and 1 x 5-8yr space for the Weds only in school hols. You would have to make it very clear that the spaces will only be held for school hols and NOT available during term time. Not sure I would be prepared to save an EY space just for half a day in school hols though?

xxxxx

[doodles]

All depends on what other children you take on. If you get term time only children then you will have space in the holidays but if you take on another child year round, would you want to keep a space for just 4 hours a week in the holidays?

[samb]

If I was to take a child on for school holidays only I would do it on as ad hoc basis. I explain to parents that I work all year and so therefore can only guarantee places for contracted children all year as I need an income all year. I say I take bookings at each school holiday for the next school holiday so if I couldn't accommodate a request for hours the parents would always have 6 weeks notice to look for alternative care. I am lucky that I have some term time only children too and so it just seems to work out. If the parent wants a guaranteed space all year I would offer to keep it open but letting them know that if a child came along who wanted to actually use the space all year then I would either nees to charge the parents a retainer for the term time or take on the other child.

[Zoomie]

Assuming you do want to work in the all year round (less your own holidays, of course), if you take on a holiday only contract (12-13 weeks a year), you would need to find a term-time only mindee (39 weeks a year), or you are only earning a 1/4 of potential.

Personally I would take on the contract, on an adhoc basis - taking a booking for each holiday period. Make this very clear to parent though. If you manage to find a term time only contract, then great, but if you found a full time contract, then you would have to tell parent, that the space is no longer available.

[Helen1]

Brilliant advice,thankyou everyone. I am going with zoomie's advice.Want to offer flexible childcare but also need to run my business as a business (if that makes sense),

[miffy]

I would also ask parent to book the times/days wanted one month before the holiday and pay for the place in full then - that way if she changes her mind or the child is ill you are not left either out of pocket or chasing fees owed.

Miffy xx

[JulieA]

I have a mixture of contracts at the moment, a few term time only, some all year round, even a couple on an ad hoc basis to take to school, or collect from school (these are all 8 and over).

At the moment I would happily accept ad hoc care during school holidays, but I do point out that as I have my own children this is also when we take our own holidays so cannot guarantee I will be available. Obviously I give as much notice as I can.

Also, my own children who are now almost 9 and 7 get frustrated during school holidays with having to do 'baby' things - their words. So I have booked them into a holiday club on my busiest day each week where they get to mix with a group of friends their own age, and have a go at activities for their age groups. The rest of the time we try to get out to the woods or parks.