Argh. Am I being a bit thick? Need a CM

[dreamteamgirl]

Now its completely possible I am just being a bit thick but ....

I am looking for a CM for my DS (4.5) starting after Christmas
I have googled and googled and only only website has come up and I have phoned them and we are going tomorrow but she did seem a bit vague so I would like to go to see a couple at least.

Then I found childcare.co.uk which seemed perfect and brought me up several good options. However I registered and now they seem to want me to pay £30 to email any CMs - and there are no phone numbers.

Is that really right or am I being dim? Is there not any sort of register of CMs so I can call a few people? And if there isnt, why not!? LOL

Thanks if anyone understands my ramblings!!

(PS Am in Farnborough in Hants and looking for pick ups from ** Farm if you happen to live locally

your local county council website should have a list of cm's and chilcare options, try there.

try here

It doesn't work very well but you might get somewhere

Try this:

childcarefinder.direct.gov.uk/

It wasn't exactly the page I used, it must have changed, but this is the URL you need.

And of course it's not right that they - whoever they are - want you to pay £30, and no, you are not being dim!

Thanks all

I have managed to find 2 or 3 nearby now, and I am going to see a couple. Hurrah, but boo at it being so hard
You would think googling childminders Farnborough or even childminder Hampshire would have brought me those links!

It's a new system & very poorly written & tested - & I doubt it registers with Google much at all

Not a great advert for the companies involved tbh

If it's of any added help, Hampshire County Council have their own system running at ParrentKnowHow.hants.gov.uk.

For a list of childcare providers via phone/post, call Hampshire Families Information Service on 0845 603 5620, email: [email protected] or visit Hants.gov.uk/childcare

When I type in
childminder farnborough
into google.co.uk, childcare.co.uk isn't the first entry I see. It didn't appear until entry 8 and that's not counting the list of links next to the map.
Google does adapt pages based on previous search history, so the page I see may be different to what you saw... but I do wonder what you typed into google to not get any useful results?
I did however spot that childcare.co.uk had an Advert on the Google listing at the time I searched... remember with Google the Sponsored listings (ads) are at the Right side and sometimes at the top of the main listings. What Google term to be Organic Listings I find are better usually than the ads - as when you click an ad, it costs the advertiser money, so chances are they will want you to pay for whatever service they were offering.

With regard to childcare.co.uk, it's free to place an ad - so as a parent you can register and put in the Childcare Requirements section (or whatever they call it) about what you are looking for. To contact people it costs, but some Childminders in your area may have paid, so they could contact you.

Farnborough has a local Childminding Association which some childminders are a member of - so can be worth contacting the association to see if they know any minders with vacancies - Farnborough Childminding Association

I agree with IvanaDK you should look at childcarefinder.direct.gov.uk/
this is the government website for registered childminders who advertise through the local authorities

Why not ask on Netmums? Most CMs regularly look on there and its all free

Hi all

NannyNick
No, childcare.co.uk wasnt the first link. the first was a childminder which wasnt ideally located, then 3 listings sites of which childcare.co.uk looked the most promising

What I menat was I was suprised only 1 childminder came when I googled as I would have expected lots more to have websites.

thanks katymac, nick, footchick and ripeberry, I had a good look through those sites and have found several to talk to and visit.

I have 1 I saw today and another to see Thursday, plus going to the after school club so fingers crossed xx

LMAO Cat
Good point. Well made.

Ah that makes more sense... not many childminders seem to have websites. More do than they did 5 years ago, 10 years ago but I think those of us with websites are probably still in the minority.

Sounds like you now have a few to visit, so with luck you will find your ideal childcare solution.