Childminder registration

[NaturalBaby]

I am so lost! I did the 1st aid course and cypop course last year then put things on hold and moved house, childproofing is nearly complete and I have no idea what to do now! Other than all the forms that have to be filled in and sent off, what do I need to do regarding paperwork, policies etc? Please give me some hints and tips because I feel like I need to write everything myself from scratch and that it can't be that complicated?!

I wrote a lot of my policies from scratch as part of my local authority course.

There are lots if exames available online.

Oops examples!

Did you do the workshops? If so registration has to be completed within 6 months or you have to re apply and do the workshops again

Argh don't scare me! I did they cypop course - is that what you mean by workshops?

What do childminders do about contracts - does it all come in one of the NCMA packs? I've written the policies and procedures and am filling in the EYC and EY2 forms so what next?

Have you contacted your Local Authority as they will give you a list of what you need to do to register.

Once you've filled in the EYC and EY2 forms and submitted them Ofsted will then send you a medical form, DBS checkforms (the new CRB) and identity check forms to fill in. Once you've sent these back and paid the fee it's just a case of waiting for the m to carry out all of their checks. Once this is done they will then arrange a visit. My visit took about 2hrs and was mostly an interview to check I understand how to implement the eyfs and understand all of the safeguarding procedures. She also briefly looked around my house. There is a document called something like preparing for the visit' on Ofsted's website which has a list of questions to answer to help you to prepare for the visit.

Good luck!

Oh and you can buy contracts to use from PACEY or Morton Michel.

All they've said is fill in the forms and submit them to ofstead. The policies etc where covered in the cypop course so am o.k on those but it's all the contracts and the information booklet about my and my house and extra bits like that I'm not sure about. I didn't want to buy the big kit from Morton Michel if there was another option. I feel like I'm making this so much harder than it actually is!

I've just had my registration visit so not much further along the process than you. My plan is to use the PACEY contracts at least to start off with but use my own policies and procedures. I've been looking at lots of different childminder's websites as a lot of them have allof their info about them and their house on there and use ideas I've gained from this to write my own. For the visit the inspector wasn't interested in this, she was more interested in how I would record children's development and how I would find out information about them when they started.

Is there a local childminder's group near to you? It might be worth asking at your local sure start centre. Also I've gained a lot of ideas and information from a couple of Facebook groups. There's one called child minding chat and activity ideas that's been really useful.

The facebook page looks great, thanks. I'm getting the impression that Ofstead aren't as bothered by the paperwork as there is pretty much no information on it. The local childminding groups are in the afternoon when my little one sleeps so we keep missing them, but there are a couple of ladies at the council who have offered to help so I need to catch up with them when Dc's give me 5mins peace!