

(89 Posts)
Hotpotatofood Sat 20-Apr-13 22:00:45


Hotpotatofood Sun 21-Apr-13 22:13:25

Can i find a chold minder who could drive him to school? And my mum picking him up by bus from school?

christinarossetti Sun 21-Apr-13 22:15:28

Well, you could try but most child minders look after a number of children and if they do school drop offs, it will be to local schools.

It's more a nanny or au pair that would do a special trip for your ds - how much are you budgeting?

difficultpickle Sun 21-Apr-13 22:48:31

Surely it would be cheaper for you mum to take him by taxi than paying for a CM to take him?

clam Sun 21-Apr-13 23:03:22

You cannot expect to drop a child off into the hands of the teacher at 8.15 in the morning! They are doing a million and one other things at that time preparing for the day and cannot childmind for you.

seeker Sun 21-Apr-13 23:08:55

I know this is a daft thing to say- but what on earth did you think you were going to do when you applied??

snice Sun 21-Apr-13 23:13:03

I agree with clam-no-one is going to be available to take yr child at 8.15 unless there is a paid breakfast club at the school. At our school the doors from the playground don't open till 8.50

5318008 Sun 21-Apr-13 23:17:35

lot of CM don't pick up from the child's home as there can be insurance issues around providing a taxi-type service (I forget the terminology)

seeker Sun 21-Apr-13 23:27:40

Is it worth asking our local schools if they have a place?

Hotpotatofood Mon 22-Apr-13 06:38:40

yes, I have a younger son - he will be 16 months in September. if my mum took younger one in the taxi - then there is a question on child seats...? too complicated probably? will taxi have child seats? the main reason for the school is that it is catholic and if we want the secondary catholic - this is important aspect that child needs to attend catholic school. i know it is a big sacrifice but in present time in london when there is such a big competition maybe I need to sacrifice? on the other hand, there is a local school nearby CoE, so if I really stuck - I can put myself on a waiting list

scaevola Mon 22-Apr-13 06:45:32

Read the OP: it's leave house at 8:15, arrive school at 8:45.

Would your DM be able to accompany him in a minicab?

BeckAndCall Mon 22-Apr-13 06:47:51

And I assume you've looked at adjusting your working hours? Maybe you can change to starting an hour later and yourDH can finish earlier or the other way around?

seeker Mon 22-Apr-13 07:22:36

Are you sure about the admissions criteria for the Catholic secondary? I would check those before I made any decisions. my understanding is that catholic primary is not usually a requirement.

clam Mon 22-Apr-13 07:33:37

scaveola The OP said at 21:18 last night: "Ideally, would prefer to find one person who could do driving and giving ds to the hands of teacher. Say, leave house 8.00 to be at school at 8.15 am."

difficultpickle Mon 22-Apr-13 07:54:26

At ds's old school they run a breakfast club (albeit no breakfast provided) from 7.30am. That was the deciding factor on why he went to that school (his CM changed her mind about doing the school run so I had to find a different school).

If parents dropped off children before 8.30 they were automatically charged for breakfast club.

SilverBellsandCockleShells Mon 22-Apr-13 08:23:22

My children get bussed two miles to school every day for an annual fee equivalent to about a pound a day each. It's worth checking with the council whether they can provide anything but the service is only available to my children as they are piggy-backing on other children who are entitled to free transport.

scaevola Mon 22-Apr-13 08:54:53

Yes, clam but I took "ideally" to mean exactly that, an ideal, but that the pragmatic limitation was that in OP.

In London, where the secondaries can be extremely variable, if this primary has a close feeder link to one you'd be happy with, then it might be worth putting up with this logistic nightmare.

JollyPurpleGiant Mon 22-Apr-13 08:58:48

Why can your mum not walk with him to school? 2miles is really not very far.

noblegiraffe Mon 22-Apr-13 09:04:20

Are you thinking it's too tiring because you would need to leave the house at 7 or because he'd have an hour with a childminder before school?

If it's just getting up early, then an earlier bedtime might help?

tiggytape Mon 22-Apr-13 09:10:32

seeker - OP is right about needing a Catholic primary to get into Catholic secondaries on London.
The popular Catholic schools in London require baptism before 6 months, First Holy Communion, weeky mass attendance and spending all of primary education in a Catholic primary school.

The reason for the ctrict criteria is that hundreds and hundreds of true Ctholics apply and they need to whittle them down

I agree though that this seems a huge sacrifice to go through to get to a Catholic secondary school that may or may not be any good and may or may not have the same admssion criteria in 7 years time.

It isn't just getting to and from school - although that will be hassle enough - it is snow days and parents' evenings and the days when the school call to tell you to pick him up as he feels sick and concerts and the days he forgets his PE kit..... for 7 years!

sashh Mon 22-Apr-13 09:10:55

Have you thought about asking at church?

Sometimes there are funds for this sort of thing and even if there aren't then they may be another parent living locally.

Katnisscupcake Mon 22-Apr-13 09:33:34

My DSis uses a taxi for two of her DCs and a couple of the other pupils in their village. They all split the cost between them.

The taxi driver also sees the youngest (reception class) into school and on pick-up, waits at the school gate for all of the children to come out.

It works brilliantly and it's the same taxi-driver every day so they all know her.

Theas18 Mon 22-Apr-13 10:52:18

Lots of 4yr olds of working parents do long days in wraparound care with grandparents/childminders/clubs etc

Scooping out of bed in PJs at 7.15 to go to grannies to get up/breakfast sounds fine to me. Ditto after school care.

Mine were in nursery 8-5.30 4 days a week though by the year before school. DD1 especially was very cross the school day was so short!

seeker Mon 22-Apr-13 11:20:43

"Why can your mum not walk with him to school? 2miles is really not very far."

8 miles for mum though! An 4 miles a day before any other exercise is quite a bit for a 4 year old just starting school, surely?

AnythingNotEverything Mon 22-Apr-13 11:33:39

Our LEA has funding for school transport for kids who attend faith schools but who live too far to walk. Faith schools often have large catchment areas.

However, our LEA is consulting about ending this transport subsidy from September.

There will be other families at church whose dcs start the same time as you who you could speak to.

School may offer a breakfast club which will would help.

Also, plenty of parents rejig their working hours, esp start times, to accommodate the school run.

Best of luck.

adeucalione Mon 22-Apr-13 12:49:57

I think you need to find a childminder in the vicinity of the school, and drop your DS there at 7.20am - he will get used to the early time, and the childminder will be used to little children arriving in a sleepy state. I am sure she will be happy for him to spend his morning at her house doing pretty much what he would do if he was at home - playing, watching tv, having breakfast.

IMO this is the best solution because then she will be able to collect him if he feels ill during the day, injures himself or the school closes due to snow or a boiler breakdown.

The next best option is booking a taxi to take your mum and DS to school every morning, and providing a car seat for baby.

Join the discussion

Join the discussion


Register now