SURESTART new policy in our area has childminders up in arms!!!

[BONKERZ]

Im an ex childminder, gave up in Aug 2008 due to pressure and stress surrounding my DS and Autism DX. I still however run a childminder support group so am in contact weekly with the childminders in our county.

we have about 6 sure start centers in a 15 mile radius and all the childminders have always made good use of the free messy play, music and movement and toy library session offered.
Last week the toy library decided they would no longer open the doors to childminders as they felt SURE START was purely for parents and that childminders use valuable parent spaces! The toy library runs a toddler session every thursday and myself and a few other childminders have used it weekly for the past 5 years!
As you can imagine the childminders are fuming that these resources have now been taken away from them without warning.

Is this standard for surestart in your areas? all the posters for surestart activities say parents and carers!
Surely by banning childminded children they are depriving those children of the same opportunites as those with a SAHM?

what would be the way forward with this?
thanks for reading

Opposite is happening in my area. Got a letter from my local CIS telling me that my local Children's Centre has an open evening for childminders (I'm not a childminder, so not sure why I got the letter, but hey ho) so that childminders could see the facility and talk about forming some kind of support group which could meet at the venue.

one childminder rang the local council to be told that each center had been given the same guidelines but each was interrpreting them differently! Not quite sure what that means TBH but reality is that all the activities that were being fully utilised have now been taken away from the childminders!

Our surestart has a childminder group once a week for them and mindees,

and several CMs bring mindees to stay and play and are welcomed.

Seems odd and unfair.

is it possible to start your own group? in our area the childrens centre is very much aimed at new parents (breastfeeding cafe etc) so it is important that people who dont know others can meet and find new connections. The childminders I know tend to be experienced and confident without that 'need' to find other adults to hang out with - its a shame that there isnt space for all but i wonder if new parents are finding that there isnt space or its intimidating?

specific groups for childmnders in my area

we already have 3 groups run by childminders on a tues weds and fri morning in different areas which are attended by childminders and parents, the tues and friday ones are advertised as open toddler groups. The 2 surestart groups that were attended by my childminder friends were a monday morning messy stay and play, a thurs morning toy library and fri afternoon sing and dance.

no plans by surestart to offer usage of surestart centers to childminders and no plans for specific childminder groups either!

Wonder what happened to every child matters!!!!

I think that's awful
Surestart are there to help the children, regardless of who is looking after them
I used to go to a surestart funded playgroup, the leader once told me that no one came from the flats the group was targeted at but from my end of town but if it wasn't for us going it would close

i think this is what has annoyed the childminders. The activity sessions are not full! Only about 8 of the children that attend are with childminders and the sessions have only ever peaked at about 23 max when limit is 30! IF the groups were full it would be the childminders who would be the first to step aside for parents with less children. For certain the thursday toy library session will now have about 4 parents attending with 5 children!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats not good. The Childrens centre i work at his a CM group once a week, and they open the toy library especially for them. I know we had some trouble with some of the CMers attending arts and craft sessions over the holidays as they were bring 5-6 children and its only £1 per family, and one had a pop at me as i wouldnt let her bring her buggy in (she brought 6 children with her) but other than that always welcome

Surestart used to run a parent and toddler session in my area but stopped it after they found it wasn't being used by the people it was supposed to be used by! Work that one out? When I went it it was full of mums/carers with children - who was it supposed to be for.

this is what i am struggling to understand....surely sure starts aim is to offer new opportunities to all children in the area. The government are trying to encourage parents to go back to work and ofsted are encouraging childminders to become part of the community and offer huge varieties of activities and experiances.
By blocking childminders they are basically saying to the parents that use childminders that their children are not as important as SAHM children which means parents will think twice about working or using childminders and limits the opportunites available!

we do have target groups we HAVE to show we are reaching how is sometimes beond me!! if they dont want to come we cant force them

i go to EVERY activity they offer, i also volenteer at some of the sessions. i would be so angry if this happand in my area as i have found the sessions really frieendly and less clicky than other groups.
i would try and get an appointmet with the centre manager and ask her/him about the decision, maybe get questions from all the chilminders who are unhappy, and one or 2 of you go and speak to them and find out whatelse they offer carers and their children if not theese sessions.

As a parent with ds1 at CM and ds2 at home with me (I'm on maternity leave) I think that's a real shame. My local council and children's centres do a lot of work for CMs and I'm sure ds1 is getting the benefit as CM does an astonishing amount of activity and teaching him things, and she's doing a course which can only improve her skills (though she's already great).

I suspect that some of the reasons that groups are closing are actually cuts in funding and they're using failure to get target groups coming etc as an excuse.

An aim of Surestart is to benefit kids who are at risk of being deprived in some way - I'm a middle class mum in an area with quite a lot of social problems and deprivation, and it's true that the groups at local children's centres attract more people like me than maybe the target groups.

All chidren should benefit from the resources offered by SureStart centres, regardless of whether they access them via a parent or carer - and regardless of their background! . Happily, around here, access is equal and we all make a happy bunch of children, parents and carers - we work together to make out centre a stimulating place for us all. Any centres that don't do this are surely not complying with their own guidelines ??

The activity sessions are not closing or being cut! The childminders have been told they cant access them anymore! NOthing has been planned for the childminders as an alternative, they are literally left high and dry!

we are in the same position i have being using our sure start center scince ny youngest boy who is now 5 was born as a mum but then registred as a cm .just before xmas last we wer all told cm s that due to numbers thaat we could no longer go to messy play on a wed or a fri we only went on a wed and had to stop immediatly we were fuming but they gave us a tue afternoon session just for us insted we r gradually getting used to it now but we were so angry as spaces were hardly being filled .

Bonkerz, i would take this matter further if I were you. Surestart is for all children. Your CMs are well within their rights to be highly peed off. I am not sure who to aim the complaint at - perhaps have a look at the Surestart website and find a way of going "right to the top" or as close as you can get to it!

Good luck.

We have a number of Surestart Children's Centres in my area and CMs are welcomed with open arms. And rightly so!

We have a difficult start to a relationship with our children's centre.

They opened a nursery which we lost a lot of our children too & they haven't been terribly supportive to childminders. A fair number of childminders have closed due to lac of children - most of you know the problems I had last year, but children are now leaving the children's centre and moving back to childminding

But that is starting to change- they have agreed to advertise us & 2 days ago they photocopied all three OFSTED reports 12 times to distribute to the parents

It is a tricky relationship

My understadning is that the guidelines/requirements for Children's Centrres is that theyhaveto work with childminders as part of their remit. Therefore I would strongly argue this point with the Centres & ask them to review their policies.
I am lucky that my local children centre plus the two satellite ones welcome childminders & support us & our childminding network.

We have a dedicated session at our sure start centre for childminders only. We however are not allowed to use the stay and play facilities open on other days for parents AND carers as we don't live in the postcode.

Bonkerz, badgerhead makes a good suggestion.

I would write to someone more senior within the Council's Children's Services, and maybe ask that someone meets with you and members of the support group.

I would also contact the local councillors for the areas involved.

Are there local papers you could contact?

As a parent (ds1 nearly 2 years, ds2 9 weeks, currently on maternity leave but returning to work and continuing to use paid childcare), I would be most upset if the Council closed children's centre groups to CMs and cared for children.