How to work out charges for shool children

[nadmaj]

Hi ya,

I've had my first enquiry and it was about school age children - two girls under 5 so i'm assuming they are going to be at school full time or at least most of the day and i'm going to do the dropp off and pick ups.

So what do i charge and from what time - do i charge for all day or only the time that the chidren are in my care and what if i'm the emergency contact

I have session rates at £16
and before and after school rates at £3.75

also i have said that i'll give a discount for siblings so how do i work that out aswell

a really confused new childminder!!!!

[susi513]

My nearest school does mornings only for reception class for the first half term before starting full time sessions. Another school does a week of mornings, week of afternoons and the 3rd week onwards is full time.

As they still count as under fives until they go full-time, I charge for the time they are in school the same as I would do while they are at preschool. Because I only have 3 under 5 spaces and I can't fill the space during the time they are at school/preschool.

Once they go full-time and are counted as an over 5, I charge £4 for 8-9 am and £12 per after school session and no charge for time at school because the only time I have over 5s on a school day is one child who comes on an ad-hoc basis - he goes to a different school with different holiday dates. And he's on top of the 3 under 5's i'm allowed.

NB A point to consider when agreeing to be emergency contact - the most likely reason to collect a child early is if they have been sick or have diarrhoea. In which case you shouldn't have the child in your care unless you have no other mindees and don't mind getting it. I've had 2 calls from the school (I've never agreed to be emergency contact btw) one was while we were eating lunch and the 2nd was when 2 toddlers had just fallen asleep.

[nadmaj]

Thanks susie513,

I only have 2 under 5 spaces so i'm assuming that i'll be charging while the girls are at school aswell.

Gosh your after school rate seems really high and higher than your before school rate - don't the parents mind?

ps thanks for your advice

[susi513]

I would charge while they are at school but only til they turn 5/attend school full-time. At that time you'll have 2 under 5 vacancies again so I would then drop the charge for time at school.

Re my charge for after school care - because I've rounded the cost up to the equivalent of 3 hours @ £4, I don't fuss if they're a bit late - I give them til 6:15 pm before I charge late collection fees. Most collect much earlier but like the flexibility in case they have a meeting/get stuck in traffic/roadworks or something.

I do discount to £55 for whole week or £10 per day if with younger sibling(s).

People are happy to pay even though the after school club works out at £2.80 per hour. Some are happy to pay extra for evening meal too. I had one family come back to me after trying the after school club out