Childcare while at university

[dotvicky]

Hi guys,

It's still a bit premature (lucky I'm not superstitious and worried about jinxing myself...?!) but I'm hopeful that this October I will be starting either a 4 or 5 year course in medicine.

Just wanted to pick your brains about how you manage childcare and study.

If I end up in London on the 4 year course (48 week year, I understand), I'll be moving my whole family to the city.

The current thinking is to move to Surrey Quays. It seems fairly pleasant (if you stay nearer the peninsula), is close to my parents for emergency childcare, and is an easy commute for me.

My husband will be working full-time and I have two sons, one is 3 in June and the other one is 1 in July. Currently, we have a full-time nanny.

Assuming we can't afford to have a nanny in London and that other people are doing what I'm attempting to do. How do you manage childcare and an intense course if your partner works full-time?

Nurserys are fairly full-time but schools have lots of holidays. Do you just use family and friends or are there other ways to do it?

If I end up on the 5 year in Bristol, I'm hoping the holidays will work out that I can do childcare myself then and that there will be before and after-school clubs to cover off the working day.

Anyway, any tips from anyone? Am I missing something obvious?!

Cheers
Vicky

[Frank's mum]

Hi
A few things that come to mind
I startd when my son was 3 on a 6 year course (standard 5 plus foundation year) in London. He was already in nursery full time as I had a job so we left him there. His hours were 8 til 6 all year option (so only 'on holiday' for Christmas) and it cost us about 800 per month, this would now cost around 1000 per month in London.
I wasn't sure how much childcare I would need but found I did often have to be in uni for 9am so we did need the early start, and could finish often at 5, so needed the late finish. This was by no means every day, varied from week to week, and annoyingly we often had loads of free time during the day.
I turned it to my advantage by studying or doing paid work during the 8 til 6 time period, which meant I didn't stress so much in the evenings and weekends.

Due to the cost, it may be that a nanny is the better option for 2 children, you will know how much that costs, I have no idea.

Surrey Quays would be a good location for Barts as the East London Line is re-opening this spring and so you'll have a good journey there and home, the area has everything you need and lots of housing choice. There are also some nice local primary schools (thinking ahead), and having emergency childcare nearby is always a bonus.

The trouble with thinking you can take care of the children during the school holidays is that the uni exams are often directly after the school holidays at christmas/easter/may half term, so I found that it was easier to leave him in childcare so I could revise.

Please pm me if you want any more info, I live near to Surrey Quays, hence the local knowledge!