Anyone else got opinions about Birth to Three Matters?

[ThePrisoner]

I've attended a couple of evening sessions re. the Birth to Three Matters stuff. It is causing several childminders to seriously consider giving up minding. Has anyone else attended any sessions/courses yet? Did you come away feeling positive/negative?

We were informed that childminders will be "brought up" to the same standards as other childcare professionals (like nurseries) without any thought seemingly given to the fact that, perhaps, parents have chosen a childminder instead of a nursery because they prefer the (possibly more?) laid-back, home-based setting, particularly for babies/younger children.

We've come away with the feeling that we've all got to do more planning, write down said plans, make observations of children, do more writing based on observations, so that we can do more planning for the next stage of development ... and on it goes. We've obviously got lots of time to do this. Ha ha.

Yes, we mentally do all the things that they want us to do, but now we have to put it in writing. The general feeling amongst minders I know is that they don't want to have to do this, parents don't need us to do this, but OFSTED will expect to see this level of input if we want a decent grading on our inspections.

And we've also been told that the CCP (Certificate in Childminding Practice) is being stopped, and we will be encouraged to do a new NVQ. I'm so pleased I spent so much time on my assignments ...

Yes UCM, but they are not alll al lovely and active with the children and it is for those peoples sake that i feel standards need to be made and inspected far more.

The painting, the downstairs being 'dedicated' to children etc tells you that she is providing a stimulating and happy environment for your children. But not everyone does provide that at the moment!

UCM - thank goodness for that!!

Hattie05 - I have already spoken to some of my minding parents, and I don't think I've been too negative about it (unless they all log on here and read it!) They already know that I have my CCP, and have done numerous courses which hopefully enhance my ability to care for their children. They are not as interested in my portfolio full of certificates, they want to know whether I will cuddle their babies because I want to, not because it says I have to on a tick chart!

However, I don't think that any legislation will make any difference to those minders who do the "TV all day long" brigade. They will either give up, do it unregistered, or lie to OFSTED.

UCM - the "thank goodness" remark is because you agreed with me earlier, not because your minder charges less!!

"give up, do it unregistered"

Is that such a bad thing? I hope not many parents would trust an unregistered childminder as that should ring alarm bells. If the cm gives up then the new system has served a purpose of weeding out the crap.
After all, don't you want to be thought of as a skilled profession, rather than an easy job to do at home? which i think is what happens too much at the moment.

And they lying to ofsted - well we can only put our faith in ofsted that they will train their staff to pick up on this sort of thing and inspect more regularly.

I nver got daily diaries from my childminder, nor am I aware of whether she (or her mother or MIL, who work with her) wnet on any courses. I never really knew waht ds did when he was in with her. And I don't really care.

(Actually, 's she is the house next door, in the summer, if we were still in the house, we could see ds and his wee friends having a whale of a time outside)

What was important is that for the 5 years ds went to her, he was happy and seemed to have fun.

And she has a whole cohort of loyal parents - most of whose kids stay with her for years.

I've even met a 15 year old who still talks fondly about the time she was there, over 11 years ago.

THAT is what is important to me, not whether she had any plans or could prove that she was "properly observing and monitroing ds", or meeting a particular programme of activities.

Nooooo, if my CM put her prices up I would pay because I want my son to be with her. Also if she went unregistered, I would still be with her.

The NCMA have it sussed. ThePrisoner, you sound like an extremely good childminder. Thank you from a parent who went through 3 before finding a good one. This one is the first one that was networked via the NCMA. The other ones claimed they were but weren't.

The parents who send their children to the 'cbeebies crowd childminders' must know. I did and my son was only 1. I found out by talking to the other children who went there.

Really bad mummy as we have Cbeebies on in our house permanently when DS is around.

Sorry to go on. But a childminder who is not registered with the National Childminding Association is mad. Their checks are soooo much more stringent than Ofstead.

Please mummys, make sure your CM is registered with the NCMA. They should take over the whole thing.

The differences between the two are unhealthy.

UCM - can you write me a reference for my next inspection, even though we've never met??

Hattie05 - parents already do use unregistered childminders (I know several in both camps). The parents want cheaper childcare, or the minder may be a friend, not that I am condoning this.

Some of the childminders giving up are brilliant childminders, just really fed-up with all the continual paperwork, then more paperwork. And now they want more.

I really do appreciate what you are saying, because it does make some of us look at the service we are offering, and maybe think twice about providing different/alternative activities etc. I just hate this "let's make childminders be the same as nurseries" when we are talking about babies.

I'm ashamed to say that I will probably fulfill everything that OFSTED wants because I want the best possible grading from them. It will not make me a better childminder, just one who will have to spend more time on paperwork.

UCM - you don't get registered with the NCMA. We have the choice of being a member of it, but they don't do the inspections. Any registered childminder can join.

Being on a childminding network (which is maybe what you mean because it is following NCMA quality assurance guidelines?) is a plus point. We produce written policies, have more regular checks, have to undertake a certain amount of training per year etc.

TheP, this will make you laugh. When we visited our current childminder, she told us her hourly fee and we upped it by 50p. Our other CMS were crap and were charging more, a pound more. I know this sounds mad, but I wanted to pay her more. I was lucky as a friend worked for the NCMA.God sound like a record. I am pretty sure I am a good mindee parent as I pick DS up early most of the time. Don't really ask what he has been doing (he is 2 FFS)

So do you agree that the NCMA should be running the childminder network in the UK? They obviously have standards. The wheat from the chaff (chavvs )

Can't I look after your ds then, pleeeze? You can pay me more than my hourly rate too, and it looks like you don't want any written evidence of what we'd do in the day

Oh I know that I am going on, but I don't care. The NCMA check on CMS much more than Ofsted and it's not right. When I was looking for childcare I knew none of this. I actually became friends with one woman who taught me this.

You sound like you have got it just right and I applaud you. If my DS was in your area, yes you could and that is without meeting you!!!

xx. mutual appreciation society starting now.

Oh I lied, can you please stop providing me with evidence that my son can

a) make loads of mess with paint on a big huge type poster bit of paper

b) stick a very small star on a big huge type poster bit of paper.

One was great, 50 are a bloody nuisance.

Our childminding network in this county is run by an organisation who follow the NCMA guidelines (in several adjoining counties). I'm not sure whether that counts as the same thing? I am happy enough with the way that it is run.

I quote from my leaflet: " 'Children come first' is the only nationally recognised quality assurance scheme for childminding networks. It was developed by NCMA in partnership with Dept for Education and Employment (now the Dept for Education and Skills) and OFSTED."

However, they are the people who did our recent Birth to Three Matters session, and had to put up with a lot of negative feedback from us childminders. However, I guess that they are duty-bound to follow the party guidelines!!

So how come the CMs that I originally chose were apparently 'ncma' networked and 'they weren't, but were 'checked by Ofsted one a year. What a load of crap. At least Ncma checks every 6 weeks and TBH who signs up for this if they have something to hide.

Doesn't the law under Ofsted state that you will have a check every 12 months?

As far as I am concerned, it should be unnanounced and every 6 weeks. I would not be bothered.

I think that the network co-ordinator, who comes to my house every 6 weeks or so, gets a far better and more realistic impression of me and how I work than an OFSTED inspector ever can. I can ask her opinion or get guidance on things. The OFSTED inspector just needs to be impressed by everything you do or say.

OFSTED also don't do annual inspections either, unless there was an issue highlighted in previous inspection or a problem has arisen (or cm has moved house etc.)

Lied a little bit there as a few days ago DS was running around with a Mousetrap thingy and I must admit, it wouldn't have looked good. I don't even know where he got it from (sheepishly). The cupboard he can't open.

UCM - I hope your posting name doesn't stand for Unregistered Child Minder!!!

Thats the one - network coordinator. Fabulous people. You are right, they are there to offer advice and stuff.

So TheP, do you think this should be mandatory?

Nope, just concerned mum who went through 2 CMs before finding out about NCMA.

In Essex, it really made a difference. The CMs were more upbeat because they knew they were offering a better service. I feel so strongly about this.

There are several different schemes (I think) on this "quality assured" route. I ought to know what they all are, but I don't (because I haven't read all my paperwork!) There is a maximum limit on how many minders can be part of ours, and I think it's around 25, and includes several towns/surrounding area.