Do any of you childminders out there provide the free sure start nursery place,and if so,how do you goabout it?

[ClareVoiant]

Hi,

a question (s) really about the free sure start nursey place for 3-4 year olds.

ds will be 3 in sept, so will be entitled to his free place from january. he currently goes to cm 5 mornings a week. when i looked on the bucks website, it said that the free place can be provided by a range of nurseries etc incl childminders.

will my childminder be able to provide a free place? and if so does she need to do anything?

is it possible to split the funding so ds can go to 2 sessions of the local preschool during term time? (and if answer is yes, re cm, can she claim the rest of the available funding?)

all help appreciated.

only accredited childminders can offer the funding, if your CM is interested she will need to contact the NCMA to be put in touch with the local network co-ordinator for her area. or you could contact the CIS and ask for a list of accredited CMs. yes you should be able to split the funding.

thanks hellsbells76
tried to call the bucks cis but they've gone home for the weekend. do you know if there is a list on the internet somewhere?

cheeky sods! we're still here till 5pm try www.childcarelink.gov.uk

Clairevoiant - are you asking about the free places (12.5 hours per week) that all 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to? If so, they are not surestart places. (Not trying to be picky - just trying to make sure I've understood correctly)

Whether you can split the funding or not depends on which nursery you are thinking of. Some LEA nurseries will not accept split funding.

yes littlefish, I am. are they not one and the same thing?

they're the government funded places available to all 3 and 4 year olds, nowt to do with surestart. and littlefish makes a good point re the LEA nurseries - if you're using even one session at one of them, you won't be allowed to claim the rest of the entitlement elsewhere, but the vast majority of nurseries (90% in our area) are private so hopefully that won't apply.

oh, ok. I didnt know it was a different thing. its the 12.5 hours a week for 38 weeks a year i was meaning.

Those are the government funded places (sometimes called NEG - Nursery Education Grant places).