Childminders - is this ok?

[rickman]

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DEFFO DEFFO DEFFO NO NO NO NO N0 NO

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would any sane mother let alone decent childminder consider doing this ...NO!!!!!!

IMHO she should be struck off and be reported

OFSTED needs to be contacted and the childminder will have to have good answers to some very hard questions or closed down

Sorry Kanga keep x posting ya

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I would take my child out from the childminders straight away and not pay any notice money for leaving as she is in the wrong. I would also report her.

I now do a school run as my dd started school, so brought a 7 seater car all with the 3 point belts so everyone is safe.

Some childminders do charge when they go on holiday, so that isn't something unusual.

However, the only way anyone else should ever look after the children (other than the childminder) is if there is some kind of emergency. Taking 5 children to school in this way is not an emergency.

How did she find out, and has she said anything to the childminder yet?

It is something that needs to be dealt with.

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Her public liability insurance will be void
Her car insurance will be void

If Ofsted find out she will no longer be a C/Mer
If NCMA find out she will be asked to leave

Well serious

But I get paid holidays

Again, no-one should be looking after mindees unless there is a good reason for it. Why has she left her dh or dd looking after children? Is this something she does regularly, did she ask parents, how did your friend find out?

I can understand your friend's worry about not being able to find another flexible childminder, but it doesn't mean that she should have someone irresponsible or who breaks the law (5 children in 4 seats?)

Re. holiday charges - some charge, some don't. We can basically organise what we charge for holidays/sickness etc. (ours or mindees) how we want to, but parents obviously have to know about it in advance.

We are looking for a childminder to drop ds at school - there is one on our road who used to drop and pick up his classmate, and seemed ideal - however, we have been told (partly by her and partly by one of the other mindees classmates) that since she drops off children at 3 different schools each morning she leaves the first child (7yr old) on the pavement outside the locked school gate, the second one she drops off on the street outside the second school where her friend is, her friend then walks the child into the school playground (4 yr old at reception)..the friend's child then gets into the childminder's car and has a lift to the last school with the remaining mindees.
It seems complicated, but I was wondering is this actually a normal type of set up for childminders who do school drops? A lot of the local CMs don't take school age children so we are very limited in choice... Is hoping for someone who will take ds to the school and at least see him into his class line-up too much?

sorry about the hijack Rickman.

Bluebear - I would be concerned about leaving a child outside locked gates (what if they didn't open for some reason eg school closed and C?Mer didn't know?)

I would also be concerned about giving a C/Med child to another person (other than a family member or teacher) to look after - I hope she has the Mum's permission for this

I think before & after school care is very important - I run our (very) small school's out of school club and despite being full of babies I rarely have afterschoolies - I hope you find someone acceptable to you soon

bluebear IMHO NO NO NO NO

How can they leave a 7yo outside a locked gate? My DD is 7 and there is no way I would leave her outside let alone give a CM permission to do so.

I am surprised at how lax some of these CMs are. My DS's CM seems very good. She used to have to take one of her charges to playgroup in the next village after dropping the others at school. But she always until all charges were in their classrooms. The doors open at 10 to and she is always there by then. Now the little girl is at the school nursery so it's more straightforward. I'm fairly sure this is what she does because I see her on the two days I don't work. Also I have a friend who is a SAHM with a boy in reception with DS so she would let me know.

bluebear - I guess that any of that is OK (although not something I would do as a childminder) if it is something agreed to by the parents.

I don't like the idea of leaving a child outside locked school gates, I assume that there isn't a staff member there? Perhaps another minder or parent is around? I know of minders who literally drop children off on pavement and watch them run into playground, but it is something that the parents are fine about.

Do the parents know the minder isn't staying with the 2nd child? If they are happy with the arrangement, then I guess it's OK. (No, I wouldn't do it myself, I stay with children myself until they go in).

If you have a problem finding minders to do school runs, I guess parents take what they can get. I hope that the parents know that this is the arrangement.

I am so relieved at your answers - I am stressing a lot about finding some way of getting ds to school safely - (he's usually dropped off by a family member but she's going abroad for a month).
The CM on our road has registered her daughter as an assistant so that she can leave the little ones in the charge of the daughter whilst she does the school pick ups so she knows that she shouldn't leave them with other people...The reason I know about the locked gate is that my neighbour's child is in the mindees class and they often get to the school to find the mindee stuck outside waiting for the gate to be unlocked.
I'm torn between putting ds into after school club for a month (which I know will be pretty draining for him as he's only 4 and used to coming home straight from school) and changing my hours for a month...and persuing a childminder without a 'personal recommendation'.

you need to find another childminder. The other day, a neighbour offered me a lift from school while i was walking a mindee and my kids home and i turned it down for insurance reasons .(dont know ins and outs, just wasnt sure if i would be covered).I dont drive and one of my mums doesnt either, but my partner is a taxi driver, so my husband is contracted to pick kids up in morning, drive to our house, then 30 mins later to school, and pick up after school. This was all discussed with parents at the first meeting. Today the taxi was in the garage cos hubby tried to change wheelbearing and job ended up complicated, so i asked mum if i could use different taxi and escort them home myself.As it happens my father in law is also cabbie so that was fine. But i always ask parents first .Occasionally my partner gets very irate with me for sticking ridgidly to the rules, but i think it is important to keep parents trust, keep kids safe and cover yourself too. We are not all like this woman, personally i treat my mindees as i would hope someone would treat mine if they were at a minder.

I treat my mindees far better than I ever treated my own children ...

must admit i do sometimes feel i have been a bit unfair to my kids when mindees are here. Usually something like an argument and i dont know who started it, so i may be harder on my kids. Think its mainly that however good a childminder you are, the mindees are probably a bit envious of not being at home with mum, so i do make allowances for this unless they really take the p--s. Think it has been good for my 11 y o dd on the whole,(except when mummy is being totally unfair which i hope i am not often.). She used to let people walk all over her but she now sticks up for herself more.

I wasn't a childminder when my own children were little, and didn't start till youngest was 8!! They loved having a houseful of babies and toddlers, just like having "real dolls." My mindees have my total attention, whereas when I was "just a mummy", I had to do housework and watch "Neighbours", and doing painting and playdough with my children wasn't high on my agenda! I was a bad bad mummy, but at least I didn't leave them outside locked school gate.

when I start CMing Im only going to drop at one school for that very reason I want to see them into a classroom thats what I would expect if I left my children with someone.