Exam season with a student au pair: a family's guide to May and October

If your au pair is a student, two things are certain: exams in late May and June, and exams again in October and November. Neither is a surprise, and neither has to be a crisis.

Ask for the timetable early

University exam timetables are published weeks in advance. Ask for it as soon as it’s out, and mark the dates on the fridge grid. Most exam sessions are a morning or an afternoon; the days before them are when a student needs time. Ask which days they’d like lighter and which they can keep.

Three ways families handle it

Reduce the grid for three weeks. Keep the school run, drop the sport afternoons, and use aftercare or a grandparent for the gap. The au pair keeps some income; you keep continuity.

Short-term cover. A gap-year or non-student au pair for two to three weeks. Post a short-term request on Au Pair Nation stating the dates plainly; there are always candidates between placements. Pay the normal hourly rate.

Swap the hours. Some students prefer to work more in the week before exams and less on exam days. Ask what they’d like; it’s usually easy.

What to write down

• Which dates are affected and the reduced grid.
• Whether pay stays the same (fixed monthly) or follows hours worked. If you’ve agreed a fixed monthly amount, a fair approach is to keep it and accept fewer hours for three weeks; it’s the single biggest reason au pairs stay loyal.
• Who is covering the gaps.

The contract guide covers how leave and reduced hours interact with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

Keeping them for next year

The families who lose their au pair over December are often the ones who made exam season difficult. Flexibility in May buys you January. Be generous with exam weeks, ask how it went, and tell them in October that you’d like them back in February.

The December question is part of the same conversation

October exams roll straight into the December break, when most students go home. Settle both at once: exam dates, December plans, and the January restart. See school holidays and au pairs for the December options.

A note on Grade 12 au pairs

If your au pair is a matriculant writing finals in October and November, the same applies, with one difference: they may not know what next year holds. Ask anyway. A gap-year au pair who knows they’re wanted in January often stays.