HE childminding exclusion from registering

[InvaderZim]

Hi everyone,

I came across this exclusion whilst researching childminding school-age children who are HE'd - I plan to HE my soon to be 4 year old and I know there's a market for HE childminders.

There is a document OFSTED produces PDF-linky which tells you when you do NOT need to register as a childminder, and one of them is this:

You do not have to register with us in the following cases:

10. If you are providing a home-education arrangement where a child of school age receives full-time education outside school, and is partly or completely taught by a person other than a parent of the child. Care provided to the child is incidental to (not the main focus of) the education offered.

What does this all mean? Only if you are actually sat down teaching the child? Or, maybe if you have an "art class" and happen to provide them lunch and a runabout, that's ok?

Just thinking ahead. It's not that I mind registration, I just hate jumping through needless hoops.

[greenbananas]

I am a childminder, and I rang ofsted the other day, asking about this (well, actually, I wanted to know if I would be required to meet all the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage if I was looking after a pre-school aged child whose parents were planning to home educate.

Basically, there is no way around the EYFS and all the planning, paperwork and constantly assessing young child that it entails. If you charge money to look after a child aged 5 or younger for more than 2 hours a day, then you must be registered, and you will be inspected against how well you are delivering the EYFS curriculum. The EYFS is enshrined in law, and the only people exempt from delivering it are family members, and friends who do not charge any money (or equivalent payment) for providing childcare.

With older children, the situation is more complicated, but perhaps slightly more flexible. You don't have to register if you are providing education (teaching), rather than childcare and play opportunities. Of course, anybody who understands the first thing about autonomous home ed knows what a nonsense this is. I should think it would be possible to make the case for not registering, but that might involve some unpleasant arguments with the authorities, and becoming a fully paid-up childminder would probably be easier in the long run. The record-keeping required for older children is not nearly so onerous, and the first aid/safeguarding training is probably a good thing.

(By the way, if any of you live in the Gloucester area, and are looking for a childminder, I'll be very happy to provide your children with some great play opportunities and support their home education in every way that I can..)

[greenbananas]

By the way, the EYFS applies to children until the September following their fifth birthday (so for the whole of the reception year if they were in school). If you do decide to go ahead with not registering, please don't get caught out by that.

[ThisBitchIsResting]

I think that exclusion applies to say music, art or sports stuff - specific activities, that happen to be 2 hours or so in your house with the parent not present. That's how I read the bit about the main focus being not on just caring for the child. I provide activities in my home for HE children and I don't need to register as a cm but it does give the parents a break!

[greenbananas]

Yes, I think it is designed to make sure that home tutors don't have to register. But it's rather badly worded, and a rather grey area.

The way I read it (and the way ofsted person I spoke to on the phone also read it) is that you could look after somebody else's child full time if you had their nose to the grindstone doing planned educational activities. This could maybe include providing a rich and stimulating play environment so that children can be home educated? - but it's open to interpretation, and you must register if you are "just" providing childcare (which ought to involve good play opportunities and supporting children's autonomous learning in any case!)

The ofsted helpline person totally agreed that it was confusing.