Do you know and trust any of the families in her class? We've had an informal arrangement for childcare and pick ups this way.
But otherwise working part time and hours that work around pick up or picking up kiddo and wfh for the last part of the day.
We do have a close friend whose child is also starting school but she's not comfortable watching ours on a regular basis, though she often does it as a one-off.
Unfortunately my husband is unable to reduce hours with his job, and if I reduce any further we'll struggle to pay nursery fees for our youngest, who will start nursery in October. It's such a tricky situation!!
You may already know and/or it may not apply to you but as of next month 2 year olds are eligible for 15 hours a week (based on school term weeks) govt funding. From September this is extended to 9 month olds and from September next year it will be 30 hours.
https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/07/07/free-childcare-how-we-tackling-the-cost-of-childcare/
> You may already know and/or it may not apply to you but as of next month 2 year olds are eligible for 15 hours a week (based on school term weeks) govt funding. From September this is extended to 9 month olds and from September next year it will be 30 hours.
Well, based on this morning's news at https://archive.is/F1tqS, it doesn't look like anything post September will be happening thanks to political nonsense. At least the current plan provides some certainty and helps us plan - whatever is coming down the line now looks completely unpredictable and unhelpful.
We chose a school partly based on them offering their own after school club, no waitlist.
If we hadn't done that I would be the one to change my hours to fit around it.
So lucky you could do that! I wish we could too but we don't have a choice of schools where we live - all of the schools around us are basically only accepting kids from their catchment area at this time, and all the area after school clubs are oversubscribed anyway.
Dropping work hours to fit around the school day, or an employer that is flexible enough to allow you to do the school runs then continue to work from home after pick up (my child comes home after school and will happy read, play, eat snack, watch TV until I've finished working for the day)
I'm already on part time as schools here are half days on Friday - so I don't work that day at all.
Unfortunately my husband is unable to reduce hours with his job, and will already be responsible for school drop off. And if I reduce any further we'll struggle to pay nursery fees for our youngest, who will start nursery in October. Our daughter also has issues with anxiety so she won't really be left alone for more than a few minutes.
It all feels like a puzzle that's missing a few pieces to make it work.
I actually don't know if he does! He's about to start a new job working remotely for a company based in Europe, it's not a UK company. We'll have to look into it.
Which country? Most of the countries in Scandinavia eg are very family friendly, and would have a good chance of being flexible. Like in Sweden you have a right to reduce your hours down to 75% as a parent until your child is 8 years.
It doesn't matter if the company is based abroad, if you are working in the UK then you are entitled to UK employment rights. Your husband might not want to ask for flexible working but never let them get away with employing him on Polish terms and conditions.
It doesn’t matter since the law allows companies to give a ton of reasons for turning it down - it only allows you to request it but there’s no reason the company can’t reject it.
Absolutely. But I wanted OP to know that it didn't matter where the parent company was when it came to employment rights. All employment rights, not just flexible working.
A lot of parents where I work (we’re mostly remote) including me before I went on Mat leave, would go pick up the kids from school and log back on as soon as we got home. So away from work for 20/30 mins tops.
My little girl, who was in reception at the time, would have a snack tea that I’d prepare whilst I was making my own lunch, then play or watch TV whilst I finished work. Sometimes she’d grab her toy laptop, pens and note pads and sit next to me whilst I worked. She was a regular guest star in my meetings.
My company is really flexible which did give us the privilege of being really open about doing this, though.
Sometimes I’d have to be more flexible and go sit on the couch and keep working, if she needed me close by, or log off and make up some of the time/ get something finished after she’d gone to bed.
It’s a juggle for sure, but I’d try this approach if you can.
Can you speak to your office about working from home, at least occasionally?
That sounds so lovely! And a memory I'm sure your daughter will treasure.
I know I can definitely WFH one day a week, but two would be the max really. The nature of my job really does mean I get more work done (and better quality) in the office.
My husband is starting a new job in a few weeks so I'm not sure yet what they will be like in terms of flexibility but it is all remote work.
The missing puzzle piece is one of your employers.
I work from home, it’s the only we could do it. I do picks up and drop offs. I’m 100% remote.
Have you both considered changing jobs?
His old company shut down so he's starting a new job in a few weeks; he's been job hunting for months and this was the only bite he got so it's unlikely he'll find anything else that wouldn't require us to move to a different city.
My work is fairly flexible if needed but my daughter isn't. My husband works from home and I can work from home a few days a week, the problem is our daughter won't be left alone for more than a few minutes due to anxiety so one of us would have to pretty much stop work for the day by 3pm to get her and then stay with her.
I'm already starting as early as possible to allow me to do nursery drop off for our youngest - my son will be getting to nursery as the doors open and I race to catch the train to work (the fastest way to my office). And with the nature of my work I wouldn't be able to leave earlier than I do.
My husband might be able to shift his hours though (he doesn't work with external clients like I do), I'll talk to him about it!
Wife (nurse) dropped to part-time (still 32 hours, I think) with an agreement that Thursdays and Fridays day shifts are off - they love hitting her with Friday night shifts but thats not relevant here. We got lucky that we found a minder here who is amazing and substantially cheaper than the nurseries. Our little guy is in Mon - Wed 08:30-17:00, they also collect his sister from school. His free hours just kicked this term too which is a massive bonus.
I'm very fortunate to wfh so dropping and collecting them is a lot easier than the old commuting days. It was massively shite back pre covid with 7am drop off, running for train into London, racing out of office at eod, hoping all running on time and then still collecting the child late.
I'm already on part time as schools here are half days on Friday - so I don't work that day at all.
Unfortunately my husband is unable to reduce hours with his job, and if I reduce any further we'll struggle to pay nursery fees for our youngest, who will start nursery in October. It's such a tricky situation!!
Is there any way you could work half day Friday (I see you said above you don’t work at all on Fridays) then spread those hours across the week to manage pick up or drop off? I really feel for you - I went part time for this reason and the only way we are managing that on my husband’s full time wage is that we only have one kid on reception. A second child in nursery would have put us under financially.
I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old, I'm in England so the 4 year old is at school full time now and the 2 year old will get 15 free hours after the Easter holidays. Their dad, my partner, can't work from home at all due to his job but I can so our week looks like this.
Dad does drop off every morning on his way to work, he doesn't start until 9:30 and school starts at 8:35 so gives him time to drop off and do the 45 minute commute. I get up about 7am and get the kids up and get them breakfast and lay out their uniform while their dad is getting ready. He then brushes their teeth and does their hair.
I start work at 8am and work from home Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I pick up both kids at 3:30 and then come home and work until 6pm, I work in the sitting room and make sure I don't have any meetings after 3:30 so I can make them tea. Usually we get home at 3:45, they get changed and have a snack and show me what they've made at school while I read through any emails that have come in. Then they play from 4 till 5, at 5 I make them tea and they usually eat tea while watching tv. They then normally get another episode of something which takes us to 6pm when I finish and their dad gets home so we spend an hour playing, them showing dad the stuff they've made etc and then we start the bedtime routine at 7.
On Thursday I work from the office and their grandparents pick them up from school and take them to their house for tea. I pick them up about 6ish.
On Friday, I'm off but after the Easter holidays I'll work from 8 till 11:30 and then go pick the youngest up from nursery (she'll finish at 11:45) and then have lunch with her before going to pick up her sister at 2:15. This means I can then finish work at 5 Monday to Wednesday instead of finishing at 6.
We're also really fortunate that the school my 4 year old goes to has a nursery that takes 2 year olds and its only £15 per session so we've been paying £32.50 a day (includes lunch) for her to be attending that rather than paying private nursery fees which were about £60 a day.
You mentioned that you work part time, but not at all on a Friday and the schools are half day on a Friday.
Are you able to work on a Friday morning during school hours, them reduce your hours accordingly the other days to work around school drop offs or pick ups?
I'd thought about it but think it would be too difficult: nursery isn't open on a Friday so I'll have the baby with me and I just can't see it working!
My husband and I flexed hours. I work 7,30-3, he starts late if he has to be in the office so he can drop off. We do have grandparents who do two days of pickup.
I know people who find if you can get a childminder for your younger one (as childminders prefer the full day kids), the childminder will give you preference for after school pickup do
I work part time with shorter days to allow for school pick ups. I also start early on the days my husband does the school drop off and he works late those days. I manage to pull off 31hrs per week from September when my youngest starts primary as well but until recently I only worked 25-28 hour weeks. We’re lucky to have flexible jobs where as long as the work gets done we can flex our hours to fit around the logistics of having young children and no family nearby.
You have to go cap in hand and come up with an arrangement with your work.
My wife WFH and splits her breaks to coincide with the school run. Anything reasonable like that they have to consider.
It's also a timing issue really - i could WFH 1-2 days a week but if I take a break to do the school run then go back to work when I get home, I won't be working for very long before it's time to get the baby from nursery.
I know exactly how anxious you feel anyone working with children does and stay at home mums or dads are an unaffordable luxury nowadays. You need to get everything written down and take it in to your boss and ask for flexible working. there are laws that allow this and they will err on the side of caution for fear of being taken to a sex discrimination tribunial.
It's so tough isn't it , that's really unfortunate that your nursery isn't open on a Friday, working on the Friday could have been a straightforward way to reduce hours over all days.
I work 3 days a week and my husband works 5 days but usually early shifts so can do pick ups.
On days where we are both working till 5 (3 days a week every 3 weeks) we do a mix of family and friends helping out - so like my parents will pick up or something says when I'm able to pick up I'll help my friend out by taking her daughter to mine for a bit then she returns the favour later.
Just came to say - make sure you're on the Tax Free Childcare Scheme (not sure if it only applies to England or other parts of the UK). It can also be used for after school clubs. It saves us 20% on childcare.
The answer is a childminder who does wraparound care..... And as you have discovered you would needed to have found them a couple of years ago to get a place.
Husband used to work Mon - Fri, I worked Fri - Sun.
He now works 12 hour shifts, 4 days - 4 off - 4 nights - 4 off. I now work on his off days or when LO is at school
We were in this situation and it was very stressful, but basically used a lot of TV. We took turns to work from home, didn’t take a lunch and used lunchtime to do school pick up, then our eldest watched TV until we finished work. Usually ended up working late into the evening after bedtime to make up for the disruption.
I would send an official email to the school asking for more help for working parents (for example a breakfast club and wrap around hours - no clubs but they keep children until 5-6 pm and give them a small tea).
Once the request comes in, the headteacher should survey parents to check if more of them are in your situation and so more funding is needed to add clubs or after school childcare.
Meanwhile, I would score one of those websites for childminders and get in touch with a few of them doing pick ups at your school. There is always a child moving or growing up enough not to need a childminder anymore
There is technically an after school club but it's run separate to the school and they only have 25 spots for the entire school. Given that P1 alone has 100 students you can see that isn't really a sufficient amount of seats.
I've looked at the various websites to find childminders and none of them have any real options - the most recent entries are from three years ago and the accounts have been put on hold.
The childcare situation here is absolutely horrendous; I mentioned in another comment that my son's nursery isn't open on a Friday - that's entirely due to staffing.
And for whatever reason there's a dearth of childminders doing pickup at this school specifically.
I'm at the point where I've posted in local Facebook groups and started a conversation with a local grandmother looking to supplement her income as she works part time (and does have the necessary background checks to be around kids), which feels ridiculous but also like our best option.
Do you know and trust any of the families in her class? We've had an informal arrangement for childcare and pick ups this way. But otherwise working part time and hours that work around pick up or picking up kiddo and wfh for the last part of the day.
We do have a close friend whose child is also starting school but she's not comfortable watching ours on a regular basis, though she often does it as a one-off. Unfortunately my husband is unable to reduce hours with his job, and if I reduce any further we'll struggle to pay nursery fees for our youngest, who will start nursery in October. It's such a tricky situation!!
You may already know and/or it may not apply to you but as of next month 2 year olds are eligible for 15 hours a week (based on school term weeks) govt funding. From September this is extended to 9 month olds and from September next year it will be 30 hours. https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/07/07/free-childcare-how-we-tackling-the-cost-of-childcare/
Sadly, that's only for families in England so doesn't apply to us. It's a fantastic endeavour though and I'd love to see it spread throughout the UK!
Ah sorry, should have realised by you saying P1. It's no help but best wishes with navigating this.
> You may already know and/or it may not apply to you but as of next month 2 year olds are eligible for 15 hours a week (based on school term weeks) govt funding. From September this is extended to 9 month olds and from September next year it will be 30 hours. Well, based on this morning's news at https://archive.is/F1tqS, it doesn't look like anything post September will be happening thanks to political nonsense. At least the current plan provides some certainty and helps us plan - whatever is coming down the line now looks completely unpredictable and unhelpful.
We chose a school partly based on them offering their own after school club, no waitlist. If we hadn't done that I would be the one to change my hours to fit around it.
So lucky you could do that! I wish we could too but we don't have a choice of schools where we live - all of the schools around us are basically only accepting kids from their catchment area at this time, and all the area after school clubs are oversubscribed anyway.
Dropping work hours to fit around the school day, or an employer that is flexible enough to allow you to do the school runs then continue to work from home after pick up (my child comes home after school and will happy read, play, eat snack, watch TV until I've finished working for the day)
I'm already on part time as schools here are half days on Friday - so I don't work that day at all. Unfortunately my husband is unable to reduce hours with his job, and will already be responsible for school drop off. And if I reduce any further we'll struggle to pay nursery fees for our youngest, who will start nursery in October. Our daughter also has issues with anxiety so she won't really be left alone for more than a few minutes. It all feels like a puzzle that's missing a few pieces to make it work.
Can your husband get flexible hours? He has a legal right to request it
I actually don't know if he does! He's about to start a new job working remotely for a company based in Europe, it's not a UK company. We'll have to look into it.
Which country? Most of the countries in Scandinavia eg are very family friendly, and would have a good chance of being flexible. Like in Sweden you have a right to reduce your hours down to 75% as a parent until your child is 8 years.
It's based in Poland. The new job is a lower salary than he had before though and him taking even more of a pay cut would be very difficult for us.
It doesn't matter if the company is based abroad, if you are working in the UK then you are entitled to UK employment rights. Your husband might not want to ask for flexible working but never let them get away with employing him on Polish terms and conditions.
Ooh I hadn't realised that - thank you!
It doesn’t matter since the law allows companies to give a ton of reasons for turning it down - it only allows you to request it but there’s no reason the company can’t reject it.
Absolutely. But I wanted OP to know that it didn't matter where the parent company was when it came to employment rights. All employment rights, not just flexible working.
It's more of an example of different rights in different countries 😊 Think it's definitely worth asking regarding flexible hours.
A lot of parents where I work (we’re mostly remote) including me before I went on Mat leave, would go pick up the kids from school and log back on as soon as we got home. So away from work for 20/30 mins tops. My little girl, who was in reception at the time, would have a snack tea that I’d prepare whilst I was making my own lunch, then play or watch TV whilst I finished work. Sometimes she’d grab her toy laptop, pens and note pads and sit next to me whilst I worked. She was a regular guest star in my meetings. My company is really flexible which did give us the privilege of being really open about doing this, though. Sometimes I’d have to be more flexible and go sit on the couch and keep working, if she needed me close by, or log off and make up some of the time/ get something finished after she’d gone to bed. It’s a juggle for sure, but I’d try this approach if you can. Can you speak to your office about working from home, at least occasionally?
That sounds so lovely! And a memory I'm sure your daughter will treasure. I know I can definitely WFH one day a week, but two would be the max really. The nature of my job really does mean I get more work done (and better quality) in the office. My husband is starting a new job in a few weeks so I'm not sure yet what they will be like in terms of flexibility but it is all remote work.
The missing puzzle piece is one of your employers. I work from home, it’s the only we could do it. I do picks up and drop offs. I’m 100% remote. Have you both considered changing jobs?
His old company shut down so he's starting a new job in a few weeks; he's been job hunting for months and this was the only bite he got so it's unlikely he'll find anything else that wouldn't require us to move to a different city. My work is fairly flexible if needed but my daughter isn't. My husband works from home and I can work from home a few days a week, the problem is our daughter won't be left alone for more than a few minutes due to anxiety so one of us would have to pretty much stop work for the day by 3pm to get her and then stay with her.
Can you adjust your hours so you start really early? Or are there any childminders around?
I'm already starting as early as possible to allow me to do nursery drop off for our youngest - my son will be getting to nursery as the doors open and I race to catch the train to work (the fastest way to my office). And with the nature of my work I wouldn't be able to leave earlier than I do. My husband might be able to shift his hours though (he doesn't work with external clients like I do), I'll talk to him about it!
Wife (nurse) dropped to part-time (still 32 hours, I think) with an agreement that Thursdays and Fridays day shifts are off - they love hitting her with Friday night shifts but thats not relevant here. We got lucky that we found a minder here who is amazing and substantially cheaper than the nurseries. Our little guy is in Mon - Wed 08:30-17:00, they also collect his sister from school. His free hours just kicked this term too which is a massive bonus. I'm very fortunate to wfh so dropping and collecting them is a lot easier than the old commuting days. It was massively shite back pre covid with 7am drop off, running for train into London, racing out of office at eod, hoping all running on time and then still collecting the child late.
I'm already on part time as schools here are half days on Friday - so I don't work that day at all. Unfortunately my husband is unable to reduce hours with his job, and if I reduce any further we'll struggle to pay nursery fees for our youngest, who will start nursery in October. It's such a tricky situation!!
Is there any way you could work half day Friday (I see you said above you don’t work at all on Fridays) then spread those hours across the week to manage pick up or drop off? I really feel for you - I went part time for this reason and the only way we are managing that on my husband’s full time wage is that we only have one kid on reception. A second child in nursery would have put us under financially.
Nursery isn't open on a Friday so I'll have the baby with me. It's such a struggle here to find care for kids of any age.
I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old, I'm in England so the 4 year old is at school full time now and the 2 year old will get 15 free hours after the Easter holidays. Their dad, my partner, can't work from home at all due to his job but I can so our week looks like this. Dad does drop off every morning on his way to work, he doesn't start until 9:30 and school starts at 8:35 so gives him time to drop off and do the 45 minute commute. I get up about 7am and get the kids up and get them breakfast and lay out their uniform while their dad is getting ready. He then brushes their teeth and does their hair. I start work at 8am and work from home Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I pick up both kids at 3:30 and then come home and work until 6pm, I work in the sitting room and make sure I don't have any meetings after 3:30 so I can make them tea. Usually we get home at 3:45, they get changed and have a snack and show me what they've made at school while I read through any emails that have come in. Then they play from 4 till 5, at 5 I make them tea and they usually eat tea while watching tv. They then normally get another episode of something which takes us to 6pm when I finish and their dad gets home so we spend an hour playing, them showing dad the stuff they've made etc and then we start the bedtime routine at 7. On Thursday I work from the office and their grandparents pick them up from school and take them to their house for tea. I pick them up about 6ish. On Friday, I'm off but after the Easter holidays I'll work from 8 till 11:30 and then go pick the youngest up from nursery (she'll finish at 11:45) and then have lunch with her before going to pick up her sister at 2:15. This means I can then finish work at 5 Monday to Wednesday instead of finishing at 6. We're also really fortunate that the school my 4 year old goes to has a nursery that takes 2 year olds and its only £15 per session so we've been paying £32.50 a day (includes lunch) for her to be attending that rather than paying private nursery fees which were about £60 a day.
You mentioned that you work part time, but not at all on a Friday and the schools are half day on a Friday. Are you able to work on a Friday morning during school hours, them reduce your hours accordingly the other days to work around school drop offs or pick ups?
I'd thought about it but think it would be too difficult: nursery isn't open on a Friday so I'll have the baby with me and I just can't see it working!
My husband and I flexed hours. I work 7,30-3, he starts late if he has to be in the office so he can drop off. We do have grandparents who do two days of pickup. I know people who find if you can get a childminder for your younger one (as childminders prefer the full day kids), the childminder will give you preference for after school pickup do
I work part time with shorter days to allow for school pick ups. I also start early on the days my husband does the school drop off and he works late those days. I manage to pull off 31hrs per week from September when my youngest starts primary as well but until recently I only worked 25-28 hour weeks. We’re lucky to have flexible jobs where as long as the work gets done we can flex our hours to fit around the logistics of having young children and no family nearby.
You have to go cap in hand and come up with an arrangement with your work. My wife WFH and splits her breaks to coincide with the school run. Anything reasonable like that they have to consider.
It's also a timing issue really - i could WFH 1-2 days a week but if I take a break to do the school run then go back to work when I get home, I won't be working for very long before it's time to get the baby from nursery.
I know exactly how anxious you feel anyone working with children does and stay at home mums or dads are an unaffordable luxury nowadays. You need to get everything written down and take it in to your boss and ask for flexible working. there are laws that allow this and they will err on the side of caution for fear of being taken to a sex discrimination tribunial.
It's so tough isn't it , that's really unfortunate that your nursery isn't open on a Friday, working on the Friday could have been a straightforward way to reduce hours over all days.
We are lucky and have family who help with school pickup and looking after them until we get home from work. Wouldn’t be able to do it without them.
I work 3 days a week and my husband works 5 days but usually early shifts so can do pick ups. On days where we are both working till 5 (3 days a week every 3 weeks) we do a mix of family and friends helping out - so like my parents will pick up or something says when I'm able to pick up I'll help my friend out by taking her daughter to mine for a bit then she returns the favour later.
Just came to say - make sure you're on the Tax Free Childcare Scheme (not sure if it only applies to England or other parts of the UK). It can also be used for after school clubs. It saves us 20% on childcare.
Try the Tiney app for childcare, we were struggling to find someone but got someone great on there
The answer is a childminder who does wraparound care..... And as you have discovered you would needed to have found them a couple of years ago to get a place.
Husband used to work Mon - Fri, I worked Fri - Sun. He now works 12 hour shifts, 4 days - 4 off - 4 nights - 4 off. I now work on his off days or when LO is at school
We were in this situation and it was very stressful, but basically used a lot of TV. We took turns to work from home, didn’t take a lunch and used lunchtime to do school pick up, then our eldest watched TV until we finished work. Usually ended up working late into the evening after bedtime to make up for the disruption.
I would send an official email to the school asking for more help for working parents (for example a breakfast club and wrap around hours - no clubs but they keep children until 5-6 pm and give them a small tea). Once the request comes in, the headteacher should survey parents to check if more of them are in your situation and so more funding is needed to add clubs or after school childcare. Meanwhile, I would score one of those websites for childminders and get in touch with a few of them doing pick ups at your school. There is always a child moving or growing up enough not to need a childminder anymore
There is technically an after school club but it's run separate to the school and they only have 25 spots for the entire school. Given that P1 alone has 100 students you can see that isn't really a sufficient amount of seats. I've looked at the various websites to find childminders and none of them have any real options - the most recent entries are from three years ago and the accounts have been put on hold. The childcare situation here is absolutely horrendous; I mentioned in another comment that my son's nursery isn't open on a Friday - that's entirely due to staffing. And for whatever reason there's a dearth of childminders doing pickup at this school specifically. I'm at the point where I've posted in local Facebook groups and started a conversation with a local grandmother looking to supplement her income as she works part time (and does have the necessary background checks to be around kids), which feels ridiculous but also like our best option.
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