Accreditation - do I or don't I????

[sarsar3nch]

I am trying to decide whether to become accredited and therefore able to claim 3/4yr old funding. Have been reluctant before as I think pre-school is beneficial but with EYFS it seems we will be part way there anyway so why not go the whole hog?!?!
Have heard pay is not good (I am currently charging £3.10 ph and funding is about £3.30ph) but this is hopefully changing soon.

Any words of wisdom...................................??

[sarahnev707]

As a parent, I would have loved my children to have received one-to-one education - unfortunately, the option wasn't available in Cheshire, so I couldn't go the accreditation route and do it for them - I needed to earn while they were at Nursery

Plus points - one-to-one/two attention, lots of chances for child-led activities, not wasting the day sitting around, whole child education, real opportunity for bonding with the educator, real life education, guaranteed income for at least some sessions each week

Minus points - children not being socialised fully (solved with outside visits I know, but some don't go out very often), children not learning school decorum eg sit and wait, permission for loo etc, the limited curriculum which some people might offer, falling out with the educator / parent - then what?

Personally if I had a chance, I would go the accreditation route -whether I'd get business though is another question.... I think many people are conditioned to want nursery for their children

Sarahx

[angeldelight]

As a childminder I can only say it is hard work trying to fit all the extra work in

I am working towards mine and although you do it at your own pace I was hoping to have finished by now
I did not do it for the extra pay and a good job too because from what I can gather it is not really much extra
I rather got pushed into it really because not a lot of childminders want to do it and there are none in my area at all

I have no idea if parents would come to me rather than a nursery

What I do know is that I care for 5 children under the age of 3 and all their moms are happy that their children will be able to stay with me rather than go to a nursery

There are a few extra standards too that you have to know ...

Network childminders who wish to be accredited to offer early years education must demonstrate that they meet the following additional standards.

1. Taking the professional approach:

NCMA Children Come First childminders:

are willing to be inspected by an Ofsted Inspector (England) or Estyn Inspector (Wales)
have or are working towards an appropriate level 3 childcare and education qualification.


3. Promoting equality of opportunity

NCMA Children Come First childminders:

have regard to the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs and to any additional statutory or local guidance
promote inclusive education
meet children's individual learning needs.


5. Promoting children's learning and development

NCMA Children Come First childminders:

assess children's development through observation of and interaction with the child and through discussion with families
plan activities and experiences to suit each child's stage of development, building on their achievements and interests and setting individual goals
produce written records of children's progress and curriculum plans which can be shared with parents
evaluate planning and children's progress, to inform future plans
ensure that activities and experiences provided enable children to make expected progress according to foundation stage guidance (England)
ensure that activities and experiences provided enable children to make expected progress towards Desirable Learning Outcomes (Wales).


10. Seeking support

NCMA Children Come First childminders:

liaise with early years teachers or other professionals as required by the local authority.


To be honest a lot of it is what we do anyway but you just have to do more of it if you know what I mean ?

You have your network co- ordinater come out to see you all the time to give you support - sometimes this can be a pain

There is some more information here

www.ncmaccf.org.uk/Templates/Information.asp?NodeID=90191&i1PNID=89795

Hope that helps

Angel xx

[sarsar3nch]

Thanks to both of you for advice, I think I will discuss it with network Co-ordinator. I am not sure if there will be demand for it really but think training may be useful in everyday even if I don't access funding.
Do you think training would be available to me if I don't have families wanting the service??


Sarah

[angeldelight]

Yes of course

I started training and I had no one interested in it at that time - well a lot of parents still have not even heard of it

Good luck whatever you decide to do

Angel xx

[teacake2]

I am an accredited childminder, as yet I have not had any children old enough for me to be able to offer the funding, I did it ready as I was looking after 3 children who will all be able to have the funding in the next few months, and one of the children is disabled and his parents did not want him to go to pre-school as he is not ready for it.

There is more paper work because of planning and OFSTED inspect you on this differently from the "normal" inspection, your network co-ordinator will visit every 6 weeks normally (she/he does this anyway), and for accredited minders they are checked for their planning and that it covers all areas.

It is not much more payment wise but my parents are grateful that I have achieved the accreditation and of course if you need to advertise then you can make a big point that you can offer the funding (particularly useful if you live in an area that cannot offer pre-school because of your location).

Most childminders are working towards the foundation planning anyway so once you have done your planning ( I have done my for a 12 month period) then it is easy to use and of course things can be changed to suit situations, like mine to-day, picking leaves even though it was pouring with rain, we were able to see what happens when the leaves get wet which is part of a planning area.

I am enjoying preparing for my children reaching 3 and we have been working with the Birth to Three /Foundation Stage to gain experience for all of us.

Sorry about the long reply.

Teacake2

[jo]

Sounds interesting! You must put a lot of effort in. My hat goes off to you both, definatly a good thing to have!

[mum26]

Hi,

I have just become accredited and am receiving funding for my own daughter which is brilliant! She does go to pre-school for two mornings, but as our network are on the pathfinder scheme I can claim for ten hours whilst she is with me.

I did loads of planning initially, however my Network Co-ordinator more or less said it was too much. At the moment I am working to a theme and making sure I am covering all the areas of learning, however I am flexible and if she doesn't want to do something then we do something else! I don't have any children that I childmind in the right age category-although one would be next year but it is likely that she will leave as her mum is expecting another baby.

I think the parents of the babies I care for may like me to offer the early education to their children when their children reach the correct age-maybe doing the same as me-their children spending part of their time at pre-school and the rest at my house. Who knows-things can change so quickly in childminding-I just hope they are still with me in two years time.

Karen

[custardcream]

Teacake ------ you make it sound so simple and easy.

well done to both of you.