How Many Under 5's if there are two of you?

[artyjoe]

My partner and I are currently going through the registration process. My partner will be the main childminder and will have an assistant two days a week, I will assist on the other three days, so there will always be two people looking after the children.

My daughter is 6 months but we really want to mind 3 under 5's...i know you are only allowed 3 (including your own) if you are a single childminder but I'm assuming we'd be allowed more as there are more of us?

Any ideas?

We are having our inspection next Monday - eek - she sounded terrifying as well...any advice?

Thanks - Joe

DH & I have 6 under 5's (and 3 under ones - cos we had twins)

Separatly we can have 3 under 5 and 2 under 1 (so we could have the twins)

Loads of luck - if you want to chat about multi-minding just let me know I've been doing it for 2yrs

Have you remembered the contract stuff?

When you have your inspection, make sure that you promote yourselves as very capable and able to deal with the multitude of children that you'll be able to have!

You don't want them to think that you're a bit "airy fairy" - have a few ideas written down about how you'll structure your day (nothing too technical), what you would do in an emergency, how you would involve the children in out-of-home activities (toddler group, music sessions, library, park) etc.

If you haven't already got written policies on how you'd cope with unacceptable behaviour, suspected abuse, blah blah blah, you can still tell your inspector that you've got the wheels in motion for such stuff.

If you are providing meals/snacks, again - make some notes. They love stuff written down!!

Have you got a copy of the National Standards?

Remind yourself that your OFSTED inspector is a real person, despite the fact that she may be breathing fire!!

The Prisoner is right say you are going to write some policies....like
Fire/evacuation
Safety (ie ifyou were taken sick/had an accident/lost a child/child protection)
Equal Opps (giving each child an equal chance)
Behaviour Management
Special needs (my one of these is in my equal opps policy)

Think about food/menus - talk about newsletters/info sheets

How will you do the school run if you have 6 under 5's and it's snowing, so you can't get the buggy out? stuff like that

As she says do write things (just bits of notes) down.

I am a newly registered childminder - I have an assistant who has also become a registered childminder and is registered to my address in this capacity. I am registered for 6 under 5's whilst working with another childminder (although as yet we have not even had an enquiry!!). As I understand it, if the 'assistant' is not a registered childminder then you may not be able to care for more than 3 under 5's as the child is not allowed to be left in the sole care of the 'assistant' unless registered. Discuss this with your Inspector.

I am the only registered childminder in my house, but I registered my husband and three dds as assistants (they had to be police-checked anyway).

My certificate states quite clearly that I can mind a total of 6 children under 8 years (as normal), but I can have ALL of them under 5 years if I want, so long as one of my assistants is present. I wouldn't then be able to have any children in the 5-8 years bracket. I can also have two children under 12 months (with an assistant).

I would be allowed to leave children in the sole care of any of my assistants if there is an emergency. I do seem to remember that there was information about leaving a sleeping child, for instance, if you had a school run to do, but not sure if this still stands.

I don't make a habit of using my assistants, they are there purely for back-up, and it has proved useful on occasions (during school holidays, or if someone wants some extra days/hours, or occasional minding).

If you employ a non-family member as an assistant, you are liable for all the usual tax, NI, etc. I found this out after I'd registered a friend as an assistant to cover a short period of time!

Thanks for all this information, it is a real help.

I haven't actually written up any policies yet but I have full weekly menus, facilities, environment, philosophy, etc on my website which I'll print off for her and we'll have to refresh ourselves on the standards. We don't actually intend to do the school run, hence the under 5's, but obviously we'll wait and see if we get any mindees first before being concrete in that decision

Any more tips, please share! Thanks a lot - Joe