Childminding, no spaces and pregnant! Variation?

[childmindermk]

Hi i am a childminder and work with another childminder in my home.
We are currently full and are very unlikely to have any spaces until September 2011, when one mindee starts full-time school.

I am almost 20 weeks pregnant and the baby is due in December.

My query is that what do OFSTED do in this circumstance?

I cant imagine them telling us we have to give notice to any of the children, as thats not in the best interests of the children, but with no spaces how do i accomodate my own baby?
I know they count your own children on your numbers, so will they give me a variation for my own baby?

Has anyone else been in this situation? and if so what was the outcome?

We have been childminding for 7 years and were inspected earlier this year and graded 'outstanding'. Do you think this will mean it is likely that we will get the variation(if thats whats required)?

Thanks in advance, any thoughts would be much appreciated!

When you contact them to ask for the variation make it very clear that you have thought through all of the potential difficulties you may face with an extra child and explain how you would be equipped to deal with them.

If you can show that it won't have a negative impact on the children in your care you have a much better chance of getting the variation. Although given your outstanding rating and the fact that there are two of you, you have a good chance anyway.

Thanks for your reply, we hoped that would be the case, but wondered what might happen if they did say no to the variation? and is it common to get a variation for your own baby? or will they give the variation for one of the other children, given that i have no other option regarding my baby?
If the variation was for one of the other children, would it be likely that it would be for the mindee leaving to start full time school September 2011, even though that is so far away?

Sorry for all the questions...but i keep trying to think how things will work and all the 'what ifs' keep popping into my head!

Also how long do you think i can leave it before telling OFSTED?

How much time will they need to apply the variation if we get it/ ot if thats whats required?

I would like to leave telling them for as long as possible!

How many are you and your assistant allowed in total as things are now?

Just show you've thought of EVERYTHING and I'm sure they'll say yes. They let me have variation when ds2 came along and this meant having 4 EYFS at the younger end (10 wks, 8 months, 17 months & 19 months) which I never thought they'd agree to. The only thing I don't think they'll do is give extra OVERALL numbers - is this what you mean by totally full?

As for how long until asking, I left it until the last couple of months I think.

Thanks looneytune, we are registered to care for 6 children in the early years age group and currently do have 6 children aged between 8 months and 3 1/2 years.

The eldest 2 children will both be at preschool every morning from January 2011, but dont know if this makes any difference!

We are both fully registered childminders, so not like im working with an assistant.

We just cant imagine how they will do the variation! It seems weird to think that i will need a variation for my own baby!

Was your variation for your baby, for a certain amount of time, or until a child left?

How many OVERALL though. If you are allowed 12 and this would be 13 then I don't think they can. But if your baby would be ok in your OVERALL numbers, I think they'd approve the extra under 5 year old - does that make sense?

On my certicate they reduced my allowed numbers once my baby came along (as you'd expect) and then added the extra variation to say that I was allowed 3 in the Early Years group (ds2 was the 4th but they don't include him on the cert of course) and of which 2 could be under 1 until my ds turned 1 (but they could say until the oldest under 1 turns 1).

I'm pretty sure though they can't give you more than 6 OVERALL per childminder so it depends on whether you're going to be over your total numbers or just your ratios within those numbers.

I'm shooting off for a while but will be back (within the hour). If you want to email me for help with the letter/a copy of what I sent, my email addy is enquiries at helenslittleangels dot co dot uk (with . and @ instead of dot and 'at' )

Thanks so much looneytune, i have emailed you.

if you were already full when you were pregnant then I think you should be granted a variation but if you knowingly took on a child after discovering you were pregnant then they may not as the space should have been left for your own child.

Hi and thanks Danthe4th, we were already full, have been for quite some time now, so i hope thats the way they see it too!

I just dont think its fair to have to give an existing mindee notice, just because im having my own baby.

They give variations for continuity of care and you would be asking to be allowed to provide continuity of care for the existing children, so I should think they will allow it (with all the extra info as suggested above).

Just emailed you back. There's a few things to think about so I've included all that.

My variation was granted and included 2 mindees who started AFTER I knew I was pregnant but they weren't interested in when these mindees started with me, just that they were with me when I asked.

Anyway, good luck with it all x

Hi childmindermk

Sorry to jump in but

We are in the same situation as you. 16 weeks pregnant and have 6 mindees between us.

Just wondering

How did you get on or what have you been told,

cheers