Creches - what to expect?

[chloejessmeg]

Hello. I work in childcare myself but the one thing I don't know much about is a cheche. I have been thinking about using one occasionally for my DD if I join the gym or something and they have one at our church that I haven't used.

I just have no idea what they are like, what to expect, do they have ratios/set age ranges/crb checked staff/qualified staff etc?

Any details you can give me as to what to expect would be great.

Thank you

Bumping for you.

Don't know about gym creches but my son goes to creche when we go to Church, the creche is run by members of the congregation - generally it is the same three people every week, 2 ladies and an older gentleman. It is in another part of the Church. DS likes it very much, he is always very happy there. They have a good range of toys (donated by parishioners).
There is a sign in sheet where you sign in your child and also whereabouts you are sitting during the service(so they can come fetch you if there is a problem), plus a tick box for if they are allowed a drink (squash) and a biscuit (usually a rich tea or a digestive). I put in the drink box that he has water and they are happy to oblige with this.
They put a label on his back with his name on and staff sign to acknowledge his arrival. When I collect him at the end, they sign the sheet to confirm he has been collected.
They have a little bible related story time, and prayer like song at the end of creche. The children and helpers are all sat quietly in a circle for this.
This creche takes up to 3 year olds.

My friend does go to a David Lloyd gym and the creche available for gym users is actually a nursery which is the same building.

The gym creches I have used are registered. All the staff are checked and qualified. They definitely have ratios for different age ranges. (Can make it difficult to get an under 2 in, actually). They usually only take children up to 5.

Hi I am a leader in our church creche its mostly just to let them play for the 1 hr there parents are in church we have a wide range of toys for all ages group our creche is 0-3 my kids both go and love it we dont have a set routine mostly go into church for 1st 15mins then go back to hall n play .and we are all registered through child protection most church creches are now for saftey .

creches under 2 hours are generally not registered with ofsted go and visit creche see what they like ask about all things worrying you and how they are organised regarding times, staffing etc there may also be creche that can accommodate your needs on site of gym if you are worried about distance, all you can do with church creche is see how you feel I personally refused to leave my child in creche at gym as was horrible was offered free place but no child or parent moved in room for over 10 mins when I went to visit and found this unnatural. I eventually tried my ds 21 mths at time for 6 weeks thinking I was being bit overprotective for 5 weeks I stated he looked like he had been crying whole time I was gone, first week he was curled up in ball asleep which worried me as he normally only slept with his cup of milk in a pushchair/cot and he still had his coat on which he hated wearing endured 4 more weeks of feeling awful on his 6th week my daughter had day off school so went with him creche staff told me he had been naming all the thomas trains e.g. edward james when I asked him names he said his usual choo choo when we got home my daughter who was 6 said he had cried for whole time i was gone and was not allowed near her cos he was under 2 so had to be in seperate area so she had to watch him cry my ds was used to playing with 2 year olds as i childmind and not playing with babies who could not sit up yet there was no space for him to play at all as area was tiny. Luckily I found private creche 5 minutes walk away which were brilliant and he looks forward to going to see julie at the creche every week after i moved him.

at our church:

run by parents (2 at a time) on a rota system. All CRB checked. Strick ratios - no more children allowed in unless parent stays. Children between 1 and 4, then they can go to Sunday school. Perents asked to sit in certain section of church so they can be found easily if child is not settling.

Think that's all!

I am actually wondering about asking if I can volanteer in the cheche and help them out. I am a registered CM so should benefit them in terms of being CRB checked, qualified etc.