Would any parents use a new type of childcare, this is instead of childminding or nurseries?

[KatyMac]

It's called "childcare provider on domestic premises"

What do you think?

Katy.......?

Did I mention that I'm V excited?

Will you call the agents in the morning?

I'll be here to nag you!

QuintessentialShadows - I couldn't find your article in english

Me too - I am amending my cashflow (as we speak) to allow for the difference in borrowing numbers etc

Utility area will be fine as a sleep area. Ours is not much bigger and is obv now too small for our 12 babies. Most of our babies sleep on mats in the main baby room after lunch with the blinds closed. The small sleep room is only used for babies who need to sleep before lunch or later in the day.

Do you get a lot more demand for one year old places than for other ages? We are certainly finding that we are as maternity leave (AML) ends after a year and a lot of mothers in our area have to go back to work to pay for the stupidly expensive houses in our area.

Katy, basically it boils down to a small scale nursery in a domestic setting, with no more than 5 children and 1 employee. The idea is that this is a soft approach to a childs first meeting with life outside the home. The benefits is that it is in a domestic setting that will be familiar to the child, as opposed to something more "institutionalized". Emphesis is on daily life, but it also follows the national curriculum for nursery education. There should be one assistant, and one preschool or early years teacher to advice on the content of teaching and value of care who is in once a week. This means that it is possible to have another job outside, and have a "family nursery" at your home with one employee. This means that for contingency purposes, in case of sickness and holiday (from a staff perspective) the children will have continuity of care. This is in Norway, of course, but it might be that Ofsted is adopting a similar scheme.

Quint. I often think that the whole of Scandinavia has a much more enlightened approach to pretty much everything, really. Childcare most definitely.

Sounds far to nice for OFSTED

It's a bit like what we do atm (tho' we are slightly bigger 9 under 5's & 3 staff) it's very gentle and quiet and peaceful

Yes lots of 1yo - then I lose them at 2.5 or 3 to nursery

Bubble, LOL, you havent seen my recent thread about the Steiner nursery I went to visit....

Salary costs
Salary related costs (NI & tax)

Post & Stationery
Advertising
Heating & Lighting
Food
Accountancy & fees
Rates
Water
Waste disposal
IT Costs
Transport costs
Repairs & renewals
Insurances
Bank Charges
Insurances

Have I forgotten anything?

KatyMac I used to use a "nursery" like you operate now, it was fabulous. They ended up relocating and having to go smaller to 6 places, which was a shame.

We lose some of our sessional three year olds to state nurseries but as most of our parents need full daycare as they are at work, the sessions offered by the state are useless to them.

I think if you focus initially on babies you'll find that your nursery naturally grows as they move up to toddlers etc. Get some leaflets out to local employers as well as leafleting the houses in the area.

Leafleting is in our experience the most effective form of advertising. That, word of mouth and the CIS site. You are in a good position as you are already known for your outstandings. I would also get a piece in the local paper about your move to new premises and your new nursery status.

Will you need much more in the way of furniture?

Arts and materials.

I hope the outside space is big enough

Do nurseries have to provide outside space? Is there a local park or playground for outdoor activity?

I have some furniture (I may need a bit - Ikea?)

They were really running expenses - so I do need to add craft stuff

Do you charge extra for anything?

From Spetember it will be a legal requirement

The blurb just says 'small overgrown rear garden.'

How small is small, I wonder?

CarGirl. No. Nurseries don't have to provide a garden but if they don't they have to provide regular outside time throughout the day to local parks etc. There are some nurseries I've seen in central London without gardens but it's not ideal and most parents will choose a nursery with an outside space.

Katy, no we don't charge extra for art stuff or nappies. We order our nappies from ASDA and, although it obviously costs us to provide them , it creates a lot of good will as we don't have parents getting suspicious that their nappies are being used for other children (common nursery gripe!)

It is also a good selling point for us.

Interesting (I guess you charge a little more than I will )

I want real nappies

Don't know if that will work tbh but fingers crossed

Katy, no extra charges for anything.

I know I keep going on about them but I would really recommend the 'office type' partition screens. They are not particularly pretty but once they're covered in the children's artwork it doesn't matter. You can create a real cosy 'room within a room' feeling with them and you can move them around as your group sizes change.

It is missing on Google Earth

How did you fix the pictures to the screens - I guess not pins - are they the cloth ones?

Katy. We have three babies in real nappies, though I think the parents are losing their enthusiasm as they are handed a bag at the end of the day!

We've looked into Moltex eco disposables but, unless we order at least 100 huge cases we can't get a good price for them.

Yes, they're the fabric screens.

We use velcro spots in the baby room and staple gun elsewhere.

I will have to send disposables home - the council won't take them

Yes. That will be a much cheaper way to do it.