under 5's

[bigisbeatifull]

my friend was told by her ofsted inspector today that she can have 3 under 5's plus her own under 5. what on earth are these people on. i have never heard that before. has anyone else

Isn't that normal - only one under 1 though ?

from ncma site
"In England childminders are allowed to care for up to six children under 8 - the actual figure will depend on your personal circumstances and the size of your home. Only three of these children can be under 5, and of these, usually no more than one child may be under one year old although exceptions can be made for brothers and sisters. Childminders in England can apply to Ofsted to have their registration amended to be able to care for more than one baby. They will need to show that they are able to care effectively for more than one baby at once. "

oh, but cm 's own should be included - is that the issue ? Is it different if they are already in school but not yet 5 ?

There can be several reasons to permit minding of 4 under 5's (including own child), such as:

continuity of care for siblings would be most usual.
CM is level 3 qualified in childcare - after all nursery ratio for 3-5's is 1:8, so argument could be made... not sure anyone has ever managed to get that though.

If any of the under 5's are aged 4 and attend 10 educational sessions, for ratio purposes they are aged 5 - so yes, attending school is a factor.

she wanted to raise her under 5s to full amount of 3. inspector said why and she said she looked after one and had her own so would like the option to have one more. inspector said, oh, your own 2yr old doesnt come in to it.......this is in england.

That's shocking, actually, no it's not - it is OFSTED after all

Seriously though, you'd think we should be able to do something about their complete lack of consistancy!!! I don't know one single childminder who hasn't had problems with them!!!

im just so peed off because i have to have an assistant for the 1 1/2 days i have 4 under 5s and i earn nothing because i have to pay them.....i am going to ring friends inspector next week and see what i can get done. why is it in scotland (not sure about wales?) they can have four under 5s and in england we cant.