CMs: WWYD - I want to study but need an afternoon a week off.

[Numberfour]

I want to register at a nearby university to do a Post Grad course in Professional Studies in Early Years Education. It will start in Oct this year and will mean that I must leave home at 4pm each Wed (Oct to Feb).

I will have two Year one girls with me (and DS also Yr 1) those afternoons.

I was considering taking on an assistant obviously through the usual and formal route. The idea was that I would prepare tea and fetch the children from school to be home by 3.30. The assistant would arrive at 3.30, I would leave at 4, she (more likely to be a she than a he, let's face it!) would keep the kids safe and happy, feed them at about 5 and then the parents would collect at 6.

The assistant would then stay on with my DS until DH arrived from work. This is usually by about 7 and I would pay assistant til, say 7.30, just in case DH is later.

However, I discussed this with DH and he says that he would not be happy at ALL if DS was with a CM and she did this to him / us. I also spoke to another person (my lovely aunt) who was concerned about liability - though I do have employer's liability.

I was considering talking to the two mums to guage their reaction. Neither of the girls come to me on a Friday so I could have them then instead if they chose rather to go to after school club, which one of the girls does twice a week anway. The other girl is quite new to me (though wonderfully settled already) and is with her mum on Friday afternoons.

So, in a nutshell: NOT studying further is not an option - but how should I deal with my responsibility towards the children I care for ???

I would tell them that you want to do X, this means you can't have the children on X days but you have thought of a possible solution. Then give them a week to think about it and get back to you with any questions or concerns.

Yes, I thought that would be the sensible thing to do, Trainsetter. I think that my problem is that I do not want to upset anyone. I wonder what their reaction will be???

For some reason I am surprised at how timid I am about this, because I did the EYPS last year and just TOLD my families that I would not be available on XYZ days!

And now, I quiver in my paint splattered trousers!

I understand you don't want to upset anyone but this is about doing something for you and making inprovements in your life, yes? These families you childmind are not going to be around for the rest of your working life. What I am trying to say, and making a hash of, is don't make decisions on the basis of what someone else will say/feel/think if they are not seriously significant people.

Thank you, Trainsetter!

You are right. And you put it brilliantly. Thank you!!

And modest of top of wise!!

ON top of!!! (of course)

LOL.

I wholeheartedly agree that you should follow your own needs and take the post grad qualification. However I don't want to sound like a party pooper but i suspect you'll have a couple of issues re assistants.

1. its highly unlikely (although not impossible)that Ofsted will allow an assistant sole charge for a whole two hours. Current guidlines suggest that they can only grant permission for short periods to cover times like:

"if a baby is sleeping and would have to be woken up to go out"

"leaving children at home when you or your assistant collects children from school, for example in bad weather"

"when you take one child to an appointment and may not be able to fully care for the other children."

"We do not set any period of time but we look at why and how you would leave an assistant alone with children, as set out earlier. The ?two-hour rule?, where people can care for children for two hours or less in one day without being registered, does not apply to assistants because you are responsible for the children at all times. However, we must agree why and how an assistant is left alone with children so we can be sure that you are responsible and the assistant is not giving unregistered care."
(taken from Ofsted own guidance on using Assistants)

Secondly the whole process of registering an assistant is likely to take approx 3 months. They wil need a full Enhanced CRB and you will not be able to apply to ofsted for permission to leave them in sole charge until they have been approved as an assistant. They will also need paediatric first aid before you can apply for sole charge.

Perhaps an easier option (and the one I used to facilitate my time off to take my foundation degree) would be to see if any of the childrens own relatives would be able to pick them up early on these days.

Hope you get everything sorted.

Go for it! Good luck with it too, I wanted to do the Early Years Degree but because they only offered it from 4pm - till 9 I wasn't able to do it as the parents would not help and I have no assistant.

I think it should be offered as home learning, how do they expect Childminders to progress if we cannot access courses because of our jobs? Its the same with training, after a day of childminding, who wants to go and do a course and then come back and do more paperwork?

Tameside are cutting back on everything, we used to get a small buffet if the course started at 6.30, you don't even get a biscuit now! I was starving last time as I did not have time to have tea first and did not enjoy the course one bit!

Thanks for the input, PinkCanary. Seems I am running out of options. On the plus side, I have one little one for 3 afternoons and the other for 4 afternoons a week. The 3 afternooner could perhaps swap after school club days and the other's mother could MAYBE!!! swap work days.

I do have to let them know asap, but although I have received telephonic confirmation from Kingston that they will be calling me for an informal interview, I have not received proper notification yet.

Mum2Luke, I know what you mean! The short courses I go on are 7.30 to 9.30pm and the last one I went to was a ridiculous waste of time: Signing (which I had done before so my fault)but the presenter of the course made us sing frigging nursery rhymes. Prob about 8 or so!!!! After looking after children for 10 hours that day, singing was the LAST thing I wanted to do!