How did you find your childminder

[Praisebe]

Im not due till November but i read online childminders often have waiting lists and im going back to work after 3 months so need something sorted for then.
I joined childcare.co.uk and messaged a few childminders in my area to get a rough idea of how it all works and the pricing etc
Id need someone to do around 30hrs or less per week depending on what im doing that week and so far I've had i responses all saying they won't work before 10am or they don't do Saturdays or anything short notice how did you find the right one ? The ones in my area seem frankly bonkers and the nurseries won't accept babies under 18months so that's a no go area

I said i need childcare for a 3 month old for 26hrs per week and they said they don't take kids under 18months due to "not having newborn experience" i don't get how they can get those wires mixed up.
Is it normal to only have a "Good" Ofsted rating some of the childminders I've viewed don't have anything above a good rating and those are from 2016- shouldn't they have ofsted checks every few months ?

I think this might be a wind up...

In Wales we get inspected every 3 years, I imagine England is similar. Have you read the reports for those that say 'good'? The difference between good and excellent may just be down to paperwork. There is a feeling in Wales that it's particularly hard for childminders to get excellent as we are judged against the same criteria as nurseries and the system is weighted against us. Again, it may be the same in England.

No its not a wind up
Going to phone around a few more nurseries today and try find a childminder that will work before 10am

Most of our nurseries start at 4 months, not 3, that might have been what they meant?

And I doubt it's the 26 hours that's the issue, it's that they basically need to block book you set hours. Most childminders can't manage Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday one week then Monday, Thursday, Friday the following week

I've never met a childminder who won't work before 10am! Saturdays I can understand

Our childminder does 8am till 6pm, but doesn't work weekends/evenings.
She was new and had only set up the business. We just chucked a few adverts out and spoke with various different childminders till we found one that seemed normal.

I suppose they say not before 8am to allow them to do the school run, so they don't have to drag toddlers and babies along as well. Ours starts at 8am, but will allow at 7:30 drop of if your desperate.

Our childminder allows changes to days, something called 'continuation of care'. So basically if hours change they can technically have more than they are meant to. Hoping she's not made that up and it's an actual thing

Have you considered a flexible work request with work and state that childcare isn't possible every Saturday but you can do 1 in 2 or once a month etc. Same goes for start times. So start at 9/10am and work till 6. Naturally this will depend on your employer.

Im self employed. And the 26hrs a week are set hours ie 8-6 everyday so its not lile my hours are all over the place i don't get how people who work 0hr contracts and shift work find childcare if they have to block book it when they have no idea of what they would be working

Praisebe, I’m afraid IME and that of everyone I know:-
1.Do opposite shifts to their OH so they don’t need formal childcare but are permanently exhausted and never see eachother.
2.Family / friends provide childcare
3.They change jobs (or give up work), potentially wrecking their career and earning potential for the foreseeable future.

1. They pay for far more childcare than they need in order to have the days ‘booked’.

I chose option 3. I appreciate I was lucky to have the ability to do that but it really sucks. I’m also hugely sympathetic to the struggles that childcare providers face so I don’t know what the answer is.

The normal grading is good, the next grading up is outstanding, if everyone got outstanding they would actually only be normal if you see what I mean. The gradig is the same as with nurseries and all other early years settings.
If you are only ringing outstanding childminders they may well be full up and you are also missing a lot of very good childminders who offer very good care.
Ofsted inspect on a rolling cycle ideally every 3 years but often longer my last inspection was after 6 years as I had been graded outstanding again and they seem to prioritise by grade.
I often select parents to interview on how we gel in that initial conversation if they are only money orientated and don't ask about care they are less likely to get to meet me I need to feel that we can work well together. I would drop the Saturday thing if you have that covered elsewhere and then ask for the 4 days you need in the week but be prepared for an earlier start if you are asking for 8 it maybe that they are off on school runs at this time. I don't want people arriving at 8 and doing a 10 minute hand over as im getting others out the door.

Missed the ratings thing. My childminder is ‘good’. I would class her as outstanding and would read an Ofsted report but it would only be a very, very small factor in my decision.

i don't get how people who work 0hr contracts and shift work find childcare if they have to block book it when they have no idea of what they would be working

It's the latter, generally.

You have to remember that a childminder needs a guaranteed income of their own. If you say that this week I'll use you for 5 days, but next week I only need you for 2, that means the childminder has 3 "empty" days when she is not getting paid. It's frustrating as the parent trying to arrange childcare but you have to remember these are all business, and very few childminders are in a position to have so many empty spaces during a week.

As I mentioned before, we were organising childcare around shifts. We agreed with our childminder that we basically reserved a space 5 days a week, but paid for a fixed number of hours care every month, say £600, for 100 hours care a month at £6ph. We were then able to tell them a few weeks in advance what hours we would need during a particular week. If we needed more than 100 hours care a month, they billed us for the extra cost. If we used less than 100 hours care, though, we certainly didn't get a refund. They needed their guaranteed income every month, and to be honest that was a great deal we cut because it was cheaper for us than reserving a full-time place.

It's frustrating working it out, but that's just how it is. Gets easier when they hit 3 and you get funded hours to cut your costs.

Could some of the childminders saying 10am just be meaning after school drop off so they keep their numbers right? When my daughter started with her CM we had to drop her off just after 9 as the CM would have breached her numbers if she had taken her before dropping the school kids off. Surely I can't be all the CMs saying it though??

And as for the ratings don't read too much in to it. Make sure you read all the report as some of what they will think is important isn't what you you will think is important