Before/After School Care

Hi Everyone =)

We will hopefully be settled in London for the next school year (starting September?) and I plan to be hopefully working as well as my husband at that time.

I've researched up on school based before and after school care for working parents but would love some first count experience?

Do most schools offer this service or will that be part of our school selection process? What are the fees like? Here in Brisbane, Australia it costs $7.50 for before school care (per child) and $12.50 for after school care per child (up until 6pm).

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Anyone who has moved from Australia to London's experiences with schooling and child care differences/similarities would be awesome too! But I don't want to ask too much lol

Thanks!


Jenny

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Hi there :wave:
I have to admit that this isn't my area of speciality as my daughter isn't quite at school age yet, but from what I hear it's not standard for a school to offer a breakfast/homework club I think it's just up to each school individually. On the up side though, where it's run as part of a state school, the costs tend to be minimal and are just to cover running expenses therefore it may well work out much less that the costs you mention in Australia.

I found this link which gives a good summary and points you in the right direction for more info.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/ExtraCurricularActivities/DG_10013559

Hope that is at least a start - hopefully some others with more knowledge and experience will add some more details too :)

Good luck!

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Where abouts in London are you moving too?

I don't know much about other schools but my sons school in Fulham do a breakfast club & an after school club too..... my sister in law works there too.

I do know that 3 other local schools don't do this but the playcentre staff do pick ups from the local schools & take the kids to the playcentre.

Sorry i can't be of much help.

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Sooz - Thanks for the link! Checking it out now :) and thanks for the info on the costs not being too high! I was a bit worried they may be comparable to a full day's childcare which sounds quite high over there (childcare fees are ridiculously high here too, but over here the government does subsidize it slightly...I'm not sure if you have that there? but even so I would assume an expat wouldn't be eligible for any fee reductions! We have one child who isn't school aged and will need to find full day care for him, he's 3).

Daisy - We haven't actually decided on an area as yet! My hubby is keen on an area close to where he'll be working (City of London or Canary Wharf) but I'm hoping we can find a compromise and find somewhere kid friendly with great schools. You've definitely been helpful! lol. I now know to refer to it as a breakfast club/homework club and to refer to a daycare as a playcentre ;) I won't sound completely clueless! Good to also know that playcentre's are another option for care of our older children also...might be more convenient to pick all three of them up from the same place!

Thanks guys! I appreciate it!

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No worries and good luck with the move - hope it all goes smoothly :thumbsup:

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