voluntary register childminder

[Ashtee]

I am thinking to opt childminding as a profession ( voluntary register childcare, home based premises) . My registration with ofsted is in process. I can only take kids over 8+ years . how much is the rate per hour per child? Is it the whole package childminders offer including pick drop, morning and after school care, breakfast and tea? We have 2 receptions. My 2 children are grown up so spend time in their own rooms. how many maximum children a childminder should keep at one time?

I’m a childminder, but look after under 8s predominantly. So my business is different from yours to start with, but fees, they differ massively depending on where abouts you are. It’s best to see what others are charging locally, decide what your expenditure will be, how much you would like to earn and kind of take it from there. You don’t want to be a lot more than the other local childcarers, as they are established and have a reputation bringing them new families, you don’t have that at the moment, so I think need to be competitively priced (note- i didn’t say cheap though).
As for what you should offer, I think that depends on what you want to offer and what the demand is like in your area. I don’t do meals for my before and after school children. I did at one point but it was so stressful and rushed I stopped. (One child was very fussy and so wouldn’t eat a school dinner, but I was expected to cater for his fussiness). I now say they have to have breakfast before they come in and I give a snack after school, they go home for their tea. But I know others who don’t mind giving meals and I guess part of this depends what time you are open from and to. If children are in at 6.30am, they probably won’t have time for breakfasts before coming to you.

How many children you can have depends on what your insurance company says, so best checking with them than us for that one.

Is there a reason you have chosen to only register for over 8s? In my area I would struggle to fill places for over 8s. Generally they already have childcare in place by that age and would stick with that as they are already settled there.