11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi,

My daughter starts her year 7 at RHS from Sept'14. I made some enquiries about the after school care available in RHS and from what I can gather, there is none. I contacted the PTA and their response was on similar lines.

So, I would like to understand from the most esteemed forum members whether this was an issue for them and if yes, what solution would they recommend? Any after school nannies that people would like to recommend?

We are already progressing some well known websites and routes.

Many thanks in advance and in anticipation of some great suggestions!

AndyPop,

My dd2 is in year 7 at RHS. There are no after school clubs, mainly because most girls go home by bus.

She's at school now, but I think the library is open until 430, if that's any help.

I think 11 is quite young to go home to an empty house, but I have friends who have had no choice other than to give their kids a key, they let themselves in. Other friends are using friends of their own to look after their daughters. Do childminders take 11 year olds?

My 11 year old walks home, she has let herself in a couple of times but her older siblings are only ten minutes after her. She quite likes being home first and has even collected her eight year old brother on her way home.

Sorry I have no great suggestions, I can see it's a problem. I'll ask my daughter when she gets home. Good luck.

DS1 carried on going to our childminder's house (under his own steam) in year 7 and year 8. This was a long-standing relationship, but you may find someone either in your area or near to the school who will take on an older child. We found ours through word of mouth back before DS1 started at primary school (she was - still is - registered, though); there used to be a site called Childcarelink with links to all areas, but I think that disappeared years ago. If you want someone close to home, you could try asking at your current primary school - they will know which DC are collected by childminders at the end of the day. Presumably the local authority has some record as well (Ofsted just identify them by an ID number in their inspection reports).

Many thanks to both of you. We will continue to explore, but it looks like a bespoke solution.

It definitely does tend to be a bespoke solution - the kids grow up incredibly quickly and even if you thought they needed to stay in after school in year 7 (if there was such) by half way through the year they would be wanting to be allowed home like everyone else.
We found that it was actually easier to both be at work and arrange childcare when the kids were aged 0-11 - it was the years 11-14 that were tricky and easier to have one parent at home....

Thanks.