Childminder liaising with nursery

[Abbottscat]

Hi there, I'm currently arranging for a childminder for my DS for 2 days a week; he has a nursery place for a couple of days as well. One of the ladies I've seen had a form to sign about sharing info between the two settings and sounded like she had a plan but the other, my preferred choice, hadn't come across the situation before and seemed to want me to suggest how best to coordinate. I'm not sure as DS is my first baby, he's only 10 months and I don't entirely understand all the early years stuff so don't quite know yet what they'll need to coordinate on. Has anyone any suggestions? If we can get something in place I think this childminder would be a really good fit for my son but I want to make sure having two different settings doesn't impact him too much.

I'm wondering why you are sending him to a nursery and a cm? Why not one or the other?

I have childminded babies who have also gone to nursery and never found the need to co-ordinate anything with them to be honest. It's certainly not a requirement that we have to follow here in Wales but perhaps it's different in England?

I do a daily diary and share information with parents and I have always worked on the assumption that they will share that information with the nursery if need be.

Lots of people use both settings. Will the cm be picking him up from nursery? If so, they will just need to pass on the relevant info about his day which she can relay to you. If it separate days I don't see why the cm and nursery would ever need to liaise unless there was a safeguarding issue.

Seems like it should be very straightforward

Oh, as for whether being in 2 settings will impact them, it massively depends on the child. I have had very chilled out babies who cope well with the changes of setting and more sensitive ones who would have been better off in one place.

Insancerre, my customers have tended to use both when they would prefer a childminder but I haven't had space for all the days they need - sometimes the child is well established and happy with me but their working patterns change and they need extra days but I can't fit them in.

Most nurseries have a policy for these kind of things, we use Link Books to share information between nursery and a childminder or a second nursery.

The idea behind them is we will write in what the child has enjoyed with us, any particular interests and any developmental next steps we are working on, the idea is the second setting reads this, hopefully follows the interest on, helps with the next step and then writes back about the child's day with them, any new interests and next steps etc that we can then progress with.

They are really useful if both settings use them well and continually, we then share progress reports between us and cross reference that we both have the same understanding of where the child is developmentally, all in all to provide the best level of care to the child. I know that might seem a bit much at just 10months old but it's just good practice to get it sorted from the start!

And on top of all that it's always good to be able to talk to Ofsted about children using two settings and how we support them with this!

Thanks for all the suggestions.

insancerre not that why we're doing it matters, but it's because neither have the availability for full time and I'm going back to work. We're on a waiting list at the nursery but if he settles well with the cm then we'll stick with splitting the week. His dad will be collecting him from both settings, so no interaction between the nursery and cm.

Sounds like actually it's not a big deal; I think the first cm I saw maybe put more emphasis on how she would manage communication than might be necessary. I really like the sound of chelsbells link books so will suggest something like this that can be used on a semi-regular basis. Sounds like that will be enough and any important info can go through me. Thanks all.

Thanks, I just wondered why people would choose to use both.
As a nursery manager it helps me enormously to get my provision right if I understand what parents are looking heir
We use home link diaries with parents so it wouldn't be too hard for the cm to write in the diary too

As a nanny, pre-school shared information with me once a term by giving me an A4 sheet showing developmental progress and plans/ideas for improving weaker areas.

Limited information is shared but the vast majority of it is done through parents directly. A 3-year old child who does not speak at pre-school may be very talkative at home, so pre-school would ask other carers of the child about how verbal they are. Then pre-school knows that it isn't a case of not being able to talk but more a confidence issue when in large group care.

You are right, it is not a big deal. It is to ensure that children don't fall through the net and if an issue is detected that a bigger picture is built up and thus a plan of action can be made, involving everyone who has contact with the child.

I am a childminder and at every inspection I have been asked if I liaise with other providers. I have looked after children who are in two different settings and have always communicated with the nursery, not regularely but on occasion, such as if the child is a late talker or has other developmental issues. Also when trying to potty train as it's nice if the child has some consistency. I also shared with them the two-year check with permission from the parents.

We are supposed to share our observations with other people involved in the child's care.

I had a child who did 9 hours at pre school and 6 hours with me a week. I just gave them a copy of my observations once a term, for them to add to his learning journey. I never physically saw them.

For another child I did a drop off and pick up and just gave verbal updates about whether he'd had a sleepless night, ate breakfast, or whatever and they did the same at the end of the day, for me to pass on to his parents.

50/50 care it would be ideal if they could somehow read each other's leaning journeys. Ofsted will like it and they will each see if there are particular strengths or weaknesses.

Reception teachers have visited children in my setting, for observation before school. One parent asked me to go with them when their child had their first parents evening at school.

There will be no secrets and you should always know what is discussed.

For whatever reason you need to use a nursery and childminder it can be down to lots of reasons like availability at the childminder or at the nursery so some parents use both.

As a parent you don't really need to do anything other than sign contracts and make payment etc.

It's up to the nursery/childminder to make contact with other settings that the child attends and this is a requirement for all early years settings which have to follow guidelines/something called the Early Years Foundation Stage for all under 5's

I've been childminding for 15 years and have been asked at my last two inspections by Ofsted how I communicate and liaise with other settings that a child attends i.e. nurseries. I've only had one feedback from a nursery after contacting them and so as long as I can show I've tried then that's all Ofsted need to see.

It's a strange set up as one nursery I regularly sent photos/observations to on a child got an Outstanding on their report for communicating with other agencies yet I had never received any communication back from them!

I have a letter that gives permission for me to work with nursery as the nursery doesn't seem to like to do so otherwise and it evidences that we have tried to Ofsted. Having said that many nurseries don't like to work with cm's anyway and don't understand that we are inspected by the same inspectors and actually often have as much or better qualifications and experience.

rachyconks its actually a part of the eyfs for childminders to communicate with other settings that a child attends. It is a must and something I am always asked about at ousted inspections. Unfortunately though it seems to only be childminders who get stung with this, ofsted don't seem to care if nurseries aren't communicating with childminders.

It really depends on your son's personality how well he settle in with two settings. Some children will be fine, some will take longer to settle at both settings. The only way to find out is to try and see how it goes, but if both settings are good, then it should be easier for your ds to move between the two each week.