New childminder - help and advice re 4-year-old - confused about what inspectors want to see.

[allegin]

I'm a new childminder and so far it's going great (my first mindee - a baby - has settled really well).

But I have a 4-year-old starting with me next week before and after school.

What do I do with him? I know that as a kid when I went to childminders after school I was exhausted and just wanted to flop on the sofa, but should I be planning activities?

And what should I do in the half hour before I take him to school. Is it ok to just let him choose what toys to play with?

Sorry if these are stupid questions - finding the whole EYFS paperwork aspect of this job a bit stressful...

You still have to follow EYFS for him - observation and assessment file - until the end of reception. You have to show how you share your info with his school and how you work together towards the early learning goals.

Absolute farce for a child in reception who, you rightly say, will be tired - especially after school. I didnt have an obs/assessment file for a child who was 5.5 and with me 4 hrs a week - it cost me an outstanding grade

Remember activities are supposed to be child-led - just have a range of activities he can choose from, most of what you already offer will cover all of the areas of learning and development. Don't plan activities as such - unless you will be having him full days in the holidays. I have - sorry had [forgets winding down from cm mode ]- monthly 'themes' and provide learning opportunities around them. Example, October was always Autumn, so we would collect leaves on the way back from school and make collages with them - conker hunting goes down well too. Then we have good old Father Chrismas visiting soon - autumn term is brill .

Good luck, am sure you'll be fine.

Wow - glad I asked - thought I'd read in amongst all the stuff ofsted have sent me that I didn't need to do obs/assessment for reception child. Doh!

How frustrating about your grade - though guess it doesn't matter if you're quitting cm?

Thanks for the theme ideas - great!