What to look for in a new CM?

[AdviceOnCM]

Tomorrow morning we have arranged to meet a new CM for September, because it's just not working out with ours.

We've looked at her OFSTED report, which is fairly glowing. She's newly registered, so it's her first report, but has all '2's in the grading bit, apart from one '3' in the 'effectiveness of partnerships'. This is in contrast to our current CM who has all '3's (an improvement on the mostly '4's she had previously - we didn't know to check!) & the new CM's report is full of positive adjectives.

So far so good... Just wondering what to ask / check for tomorrow morning. I'm sure there's a lot, but I'm all of a panic, because it's all come about in the last hour or so that we're going tomorrow & I'm so desperate to get it right this time

Do a search for alibubbles. She has a list of questions to ask which are v helpful

Oh fab, thank you.

i have families visitng tomorrow ..but tomorrow night
i would expect to be asked..

what i do with the children, where do i take them, what groups do we attend, what do i do if its raining/no groups, do i smoke, have any animals, how i tackle road safety, behaviour, development etc..but all my present parents have mainly chit chatted as well as asking or rather me telling them most of this during our chat, it does have to be formal, just informative and see how she/he is with the children..sometimes we dont get chance to chat if the children are excited in the new environment, so if your LO is excited, you may want to pop back alone to finalize contracts when you can talk without interuption ..good luck

A good CM will have the toys out (age appropriate) for the child and the questions above are good ones to start with.
I've had parents over and a couple did not know what questions to ask, so I gave them a list to go through .
In the end it's whether or not you 'click' with the CM and that your child is happy.
Also, don't feel pressurised into signing straight away, the CM should give you a couple of days or so to think about it and then if you want to go ahead, then visit again so that you can go through the contract with a fine toothcomb.
Also make sure you ask about retainer fees for holidays or what would happen if you picked up late.
Hope you find your perfect CM soon

Just a word of warning. A Childminder with a glowing Ofsted report basically means she's good at paperwork.
Children will get ignored so she can get all her paperwork done.
Me, bitter?

Steady Frazzlerock!

That's a very sweeping judgement! You can get outstanding with minimal paperwork if you know which bits to do. So yes it does mean the childminder is good at paperwork but that doesn't stop you being a good childminder.

You must have had a very bad experience to feel that strongly.

IMHO the best way to choose is to listen to your gut instincts.

Visit lots of them - even ones you would not use - just to get a feeling for what's on offer. Take your child and make sure the childminder is interested, sympathetic to the child feeling shy and speaks to the child in an age appropriate manner. That isn't as daft as it sounds because I have seen early years practitioners who have no idea how to communicate with children.

I would also choose one who plans ahead very little and uses the children's strengths and interests to decide on activities. This is because children learn best by playing in ways which interest and excite them. You can't predict what a child will be interested in months, weeks, days or even hours ahead. It's much better for practitioners to follow and support the child.

HTH

Good luck

It's so intimidating - DS has been with the current CM since September & loves her. I feel awful taking him away, but she's not really doing her job very well at all, to be honest. So it needs to be done for DS's benefit.

I'm scared that we'll realise a few months down the line that we've made another mistake & he'll be unsettled again. Hence wanting to make sure we cover as many of the bases as possible beforehand!

Which is my long-winded, stressed way of saying thanks for your advice

Also, the OFSTED report is all '2's, which is only(!) 'good' - the thing that really stuck out were the descriptions of the CM ('highly-attentive', 'caring', etc) which are entirely lacking in a lot of the others.

So it sounds like you know what you don't want from experience, can you write a list of what you feel are the negatives now and turn them into questions to see how this other CM would / does handle the situation(s).

It sounds like your DS has formed a good bond though, so I'm presuming that it's not particually due to bad care rather a difference of opinion or way of doing things. Is it not worth having a chat to see if you can iron out stuff?

yes very disappointing experience.

I had been a nanny with glowing references and was always told how good I am at my job. Then I became a CM. I didn't have all the paperwork I was supposed to have - mainly because I was unaware and assumed it was like nannying but from home.

I got Satisfactory.

Luckily it hasn't affected getting any work and, three years later, I still get wonderful references from parents and the children really enjoy their time with me.

Obviously I have updated my paperwork since but, because I do a minimal amount (with regard to EYFS), I'm not expecting much more than "good" if not satisfactory.

After all these years in childcare with constant compliments and excellent references, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth but hey ho!

I just think parents should be aware of the expectations from a one person childcare business

Do you feel able to share what you feel she's not doing well? I only ask because if he "loves her" that's a very important plus for her. It makes all the difference for a child's learning.

I think it's one of those things where it's difficult to iron everything out, because she doesn't understand why what she's doing is 'wrong'.

She feeds him entirely inappropriately (I posted a thread under an old name fairly recently about her giving him KFC! He's 1 year old!) & we have spoken to her about this, but although things have changed, they've not changed much. i.e. he now has chicken nuggets & potato faces with peas every day, IYSWIM.

A lot of things are difficult to prove - I'm pretty sure she spends a lot of time listening to her iPod (the earphones are around her neck when she answers the door, which she doesn't hear the first few times you ring / knock), & the dog doesn't seem to be kept in the garden away from the children as she claims (the dog can be heard in the house, & the OFSTED report mentions her 'overseeing' the interaction between children & the dog, which is fine, but she says that they never come into contact!), etc.

She also minds a relative & doesn't tell us when the relative is ill, so DS gets every cold going.

They never go out & do anything. We asked her if she could take him to toddler groups or similar, or if we needed to reschedule so we could, but she said that she would. She doesn't. They spend all day every day in the house & garden.

It goes on.

She is also the most expensive CM in the area, which isn't a deciding factor, but we are by no means well off & would hope that she was providing a fairly amazing service for the money, to be honest.

Frazzle - as a parent, only a lot of '4's would concern me in terms of the ratings. The content of the report & the CM's references, etc, would be far more important

Frazzle - fair enough. You obviously got a raw deal but are clearly doing a good job so that shows how much Ofsted ratings mean!

AdviceOnCM - I can see where you are coming from and you have clearly tried to sort out these issues already. Just one thing though - I would not worry about colds. They are everywhere and your son will have to build up his immunity to them at some point. Now is as good a time as any. If it were more serious illnesses I would be more bothered.

I would still say look around a few childminders before making a decision. You've got time so take advantage of it and have a really good look around. I hope you find someone who you feel happier with very soon.

It's not only colds - he's had impetigo & a few vomiting bugs. I do actually take your view on building immunity, but I feel it's sort of the principle of it - if a child is clearly unwell (not just the slight sniffles), it's surely polite to mention it in passing, at least? Especially as the CM lets them share cups, etc.

& yes, we will look around Thank you

Haha. Outed myself Never mind - I only changed so as to not out myself to my CM if she's reading, but it's exceptionally unlikely, so I'll cope

Ok. Impetigo, vomiting bugs and clearly unwell are not acceptable. I would not care for a child in any of those circumstances. As for sharing cups!!! I'm getting the picture more and more. You do need to move him.

AdviceonCM

Alibubbles List of Questions to ask Childminders'

How long have you been working with children? Why did you decide to childmind?

What training have you had? Any qualifications? Are you part of a network, achieved a quality assurance qualification, look at registration certificate, insurance details, business use for car. First aid must be no more than 3 years old, food hygiene certificate, Certificate in Childminding practice, Home based Childcare or NVQ 3, Contracts and record forms

Do you enjoy being with children and why?

Can I look around, see the rooms, where children sleep and outside play space? If there is no outside play space - how will you make sure my child gets the chance to play outside?

Where will my child rest? Own cot, are there enough for each child? Linen etc Is all equipment clean and well maintained?

Pets, where are they allowed to go, eat, sleep, garden clean of waste

What kind of food and drink will you give? Can I see a menu? Is food included in the daily fee?

What will my child do all day? Weekly planning sheet or diary

How do you encourage good behaviour? How do you deal with unwanted behaviour?

Will my child be with a regular group of children? How old are they? How will their timetable fit in with my child? How many school/nursery runs do they do?

How will you make sure I know how my child is getting on? Diaries, learning journals, EYFS

What hours is she open? What if I am late?

How much does she charge? Childcare vouchers?

What about when my child is sick, holidays, days off

What do you do in an emergency?

When was her last Ofsted, can you see the report?

Top 10 Quality Pointers

When you visit possible childcare options, look for these Quality Pointers:

Are the children calm, safe, happy and busy?

Do children play and talk together?

Is the childminder listening to the children and answering them carefully?

Is the childminder friendly and proud of her work?

Is she joining in joining in with what the children are doing?

Are there lots of fun activities planned to help children learn and play? Can children plan some of these activities themselves?

Are there plenty of clean toys and equipment for children to use?

Is the premises clean, well kept and safe for children with a fun outside play area (or will the child go to parks and other places regularly)?

Do parents have plenty of chances to say what they want for their children?

If there are other things you want to know, don't be afraid to ask. Good childminders expect you to ask questions and will be happy to answer them.

Always take up references. You could ask for names of other parents to talk to about the service

Listen to your child and find out more if he/she is unhappy
Always trust your own feelings about your childcare - you know your child best'

alibubbles, those questions were really helpful, thanks

To update:

We visited this morning & were very, very impressed. It highlights even more what DS is missing out on. By the end of the visit he was cuddling the potential new CM, so I don't think that'll be an issue, although removing him from the current CM is going to be one of the most difficult things ever, I think! I really think she'll cry & I just can't face it