From 3.20pm until 5.15pm – how do you do it? And how much does it cost?

No “after school club” at their school ?

Everywhere seems to have them now.

If Primary level it used to be After School Club for us too. I can’t think of a Primary in our area that doesn’t do this.

Yup – After School Club. At my wife’s Primary there’s one on school premises but others who collect the kids and take them to other club locations for the afternoon (lots of church halls etc in the area).

Billing is usually by the day but see if your employer does childcare vouchers / the after school club takes them as that can help with the cost. I think the on site one is £8 / kid / day

After school club. It’s not at the daughters school, it’s a central one in our (small) town that caters for all the primary schools and is held at the high school. They collect the kids and walk to the high school. Cost about £10 per day for3:15 till 6. Book each month for the days we need.

Used to use a a registered child minder, that was about £4/hr. Again we only used a couple of days a week, but was less flexible to drop in/out or mix up days. It was two fixed days a week, every week.

Childminder would usually feed them a meal (about £1.50 extra), but the kids club we have to feed them later as they only get a snack.

There are a couple of after school places I could send my kids to , they pick the kids up from school and “entertain” them till 6 o’clock.

Costs £12.50 per child per “session” ( irrespective of time actually spent there) x 3 kids x 5 days = £187.50 per week x 40 weeks per year = £7500 per year. 😯

If i were to employ someone directly on minimum wage at £6.70 per hour to look after the kids in my own house and stick a bit of dinner on before I got home for the same period it would be…

3 hours x £6.70 x 5 days x 40 weeks = £4020 per year plus NI etc.

However, my circumstances mean that I rarely have to pay for child care as my wife only works two days a week ( Monday and Friday) and doesn’t work at all during school holidays and my mother in law (who is a truly wonderful lady )lives 200 yards from the kids school and is able to take the kids on those two days and feed them before we come home from work.

After school club at school. Doesn’t every school now have a legal requirement to provide one or at least attempt to? Bloody ridiculous that they are not just provided by all schools as part of the normal school day. Would it really cost that much more? Ours costs £8 per day from 3:20 to 6pm. It is a hassle that they don’t feed them a meal as by the time my eldest gets home she is knacked and needs to be in calm down mode for bed.

No “after school club” at their school ?

It’s full and there’s a waiting list.

After school club at school. Doesn’t every school now have a legal requirement to provide one or at least attempt to? Bloody ridiculous that they are not just provided by all schools as part of the normal school day. Would it really cost that much more? Ours costs £8 per day from 3:20 to 6pm. It is a hassle that they don’t feed them a meal as by the time my eldest gets home she is knacked and needs to be in calm down mode for bed.

I’m assuming, no, hoping, you missed an ironic smiley off that…

That’s very frustrating, if it’s full we use an after school club, till my wife got layed off

If you’re work for childcare vouchers you can use that to her a small tax break on Afterschool club fees

The nursery my youngest is at alsi does after school, might be worth asking around at them.

From 3.20pm until 5.15pm – how do you do it? And how much does it cost?

Changed my hours with an employer that supported flexible working.
Not much extra cost as I cut my lunchtime by half an hour and reduced my weekly hours by 3.
Win.
It was great being there for them at the end of the day.

A child minder would charge per child for the full two hours. Here that would be 5-6 pH per child.

We have exactly this. Childminder lives in the road behind us. Charges £4/hour I think for a 9 year old, plus £1 if we want her fed.

LittleMissMC doesn’t really enjoy it, but then, sometimes you have to put up with doing stuff you don’t like for a couple of hours for the greater good, which is quite a useful lesson in life.

Changed my hours with an employer that supported flexible working.

Not an option.