It's the beginning of a new school year and some parents with little ones starting this year have been surprised to discover that there is no one available to monitor children before and after school.

Generally most schools will have a playground teacher on duty from around 8.30 in the morning as the majority of pupils arrive. But parents must be aware that if they drop their children off before this time, there is no one to supervise them unless the school has an official before school service(for which you need to register your child) or if there is no Out of School Hours Care service on or near the school premises you will need to make alternative care arrangements.

This is a very tricky area for working parents, for whom the school hours are simply unmanageable for their working day, no matter how flexible their employer is.

For most parents with kindergarten age children, the first term is even more of a nightmare while kindy kids are generally released half an hour before the rest of the kids, so 2.30 in most cases. This puts even more pressure on a working day.

The best option is to get your children into Out of School Hours Care (OOSH) if available at your school. These centres are generally on the premises or nearby to the school. However, they are not part of the school and are independently run, although they do work closely with the school in terms of providing seamless care particularly for the youngest children, such as picking up kids from their classes.

They are pretty good value as well and deemed “approved care” so you should be able to claim the child care rebate (CCR) for any OOSH centre – that’s 50% of your expenses.

OOSH centres are very much in demand and there may be a waiting list for the start of the year, so it’s very important to get in early and also think about alternative arrangements if you can’t get a place straight away and make sure you remember to re-enrol your child before the end of the school year for the following one. You will not be guaranteed a place if you don’t.

They are a great support resource on a casual basis if you should ever be running late or need to get in for an early meeting. So even if you aren’t likely to use the service much, register anyway, because if you’re ever running late and can’t get to school in time for pick up, if your child is registered, the after school hours carers can pick up your child with the other kids and look after them until you arrive.  For more information on Out of School Hours Care, click here and to find out about services near you or to check your school has one, click here and pop in your postcode in the search.

If you don’t have the option of an OOSH centre at your child’s school, then there are some other options you can consider:

• Grandparents living nearby are a great resource for before and after school care. They love seeing their grandkids on a regular basis (though not ALL day!) and it gives the children and grandparents great bonding time. Of course they may not be able to do this every day but a couple of days a week or just as an emergency back up is always very useful.
• Nannies and au pairs are often employed for this sole purpose. Not as expensive as all day care, but very useful and generally a flexible option. Click here to find nannies in your area.
• Family Day Care – ask some of your local Family Day Care services. These services often offer before and after school care and are often happy to do school drop offs and pick ups.
• Non-Working Mums and neighbours: Are there any mums or neighbours you know with kids in the year who could take your child before and after school on a regular or casual basis? Many mums are happy to do this, especially if you compensate them for time and any refreshments etc. It’s also great for helping to build a sense of community.
• Form a club – if you can do one day a week or a fortnight and you can get enough mums together, then a before and after school club can also work, whereby each mum is allocated a day of the week to do before and after school, so your kids know where they’re going and mums and dads can plan their working week accordingly.
• After school activities – there are usually after school activities on offer throughout the school term, such as drama, sports, art clubs, foreign languages and music etc. Enrolling your child on these is great for the kids, and buys you a bit of extra time to get back from work although you will still need to arrange transport to and from the venue.
• Employers – most employers will understand and be happy to accommodate to an extent and you do have the right to ask for flexibility to manage your child care responsibilities, such as agreeing to no meetings before 8.30am or after 5pm. Be up front about emergencies or child sickness and make sure if both parents work you divide these responsibilities equally so one parent’s job is not affected more than the other.

Right to Request Flexible Working
If you have been working for your employer full or part-time on a permanent or casual basis for 12 months or more, as a parent, you have the right to ask for flexible working arrangements.

These can include, flexible working hours; working more hours over fewer days; job share and flexi time; making up additional hours for hours taken off due to parenting responsibilities.

Your employer is not bound to agree, but generally speaking they will try to accommodate you if they value you as an employee and you don’t overstep the mark!

For more information on flexible working visit Fair Work Australia.