On-call week in November and my daughter finishes preschool at 12.30

peach_compass_107020 Oct 2026

I'm on the incident rota for one week next month. Most of that week nothing happens, but when something does, I'm on a call for three or four hours and can't step away. My partner's hours don't bend, so school coordination is usually mine. Our 5 year old's preschool day ends at 12.30. The rest of the year I work around it. For that one week I'm not sure how. I don't want to book a full week of paid backup for something that may not happen, but I also can't leave her waiting at the gate if a call starts at noon. For those of you with on-call jobs: did you set up standby care for the whole week, ask the school about a later pickup, or swap rota weeks so they land in school holidays?

2 comments

maple_window_815820 Oct 2026
No good answer from me, only the same kind of problem with a baby. Our caregiver's leave is coming up and the backup hasn't been tried once. Could your team swap you into a week that falls in the Diwali holidays, when there's no pickup at all?
pebble_sandal_572121 Oct 2026
What does on-call mean in practice for you? Phone on and respond within an hour, or logged in and stuck for hours? The first you can probably manage with a neighbour on standby. The second needs a person booked, not a maybe.
- pebble_wave_87421 Oct 2026
  This is the right question. My partner is at home right now so we're mostly covered, but the one week my partner travelled I found out that 'phone on' still meant I couldn't leave for the daycare pickup while a report was pending. Had to ask a colleague to cover for an hour. I'd book someone for at least the 12 to 3 window.