thinking of working in a nursery

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Hi all

I am a childminder and have been registered for 18 months, I have had a couple of children, all of whom have been temporary. Now I have been without children since March 2011. I feel like all my hard work I put into childminding has been wasted :(

I want to continue working with children, so the only other thing is to get more qualifications and work in a nursery. How do I go about getting the qualifications? I haven't got much money so are there any funded courses. I am in West London.

Thanks in advance

try the local colleges, or some nurseries do offer people jobs without the level 3 qualifications and offer training while working,

Be careful in nurseries, they can be very bitchy working environments with low pay and little money spare for training their staff, I wouldn't go back to nursery work now for any thing.

thank you both for your advice, I just feel lost at the moment, not knowing what i should do.

Could you nanny for the time being or become a paid helper in a school?

Why don't you try being a nanny?

ooooohhhh thank you I like the idea of being a paid helper in school. Do I need extra qualifications for that? I will google it now. You are so kind. Thank you.

You could do some volunteering in children's centre's and they may help with funding for courses. They put you through your first aid course level 2 and 3 etc. You have to commit at least 10 hours a week to get through your course and they are great places to work. You can be assessed at the centres. Plus you may get a really good enjoyable job out of it. They are really helpful and may lead you on the right path in what you want to do. It's worth giving them a try.
Good luck in what you dedcide...

I work in aa nursery and think there are many pros. I can bring my own children so never have to be apart from them. Its fun and a laugh. If your a popular type that gets on with everyone you will have an amazing social life

We are always gong to the theatre, weekends away, trips out, dinners, parties etc and I think motherhood would have been a lot harder for me if I didnt have that. Yeah pay is a bit low but I got my degree all paid for free and am going to use it for when the kids are older to get on a social work masters. I have been on loads of free training courses as they are all funded by the council.In 2 years I have done Forest School Leader level 3, advanced and basic child protection and advanced and basic first aid.

I think its so much better than being a CM as to me CM is the bad bits of being a sahm as you havent got all your friends round you all day so I personally think it would be boring and lonely.

Hi ytseb I went to the children's centre, they won't offer me anything :(.

Hi jellybeans208 I consider myself to be a friendly outgoing person. I have gone to quiet a few nurseries and asked about volunteering, and being a nursery assistant (until I am qualified to be a nursery nurse) but they have all said no :( Well done you on all of your success :) So I think the only other thing is to be a classroom helper in a reception class.

Thanks everyone for your replies, :D

I'm sorry about that, maybe different areas have different funding etc, my local one is really helpful with things like that. It was worth a try. Good luck in what you end up doing.

I have spoken to somebody at Parenta she said there are funded courses available, but there is a long waiting list for my area, so just have to wait now.