My daughter is trying to find work as a child minder

[VickiCK]

Hello, my daughter is trying to get experience in order to work in child care. She is 27, has no experience, no qualifications, but she is very practical, very patient and has a lot of energy. She has applied to an agency, but will be rejected without experience and references. Can anyone help? She lives in Lewisham.

Could she work as a nanny for a bit?

You can do a home based child care course which enables you to begin childminding in your home

Could she do volunteering at a group like Brownies/Cubs?
However if she wants to be a childminder she will most likely need to go to college to be qualified.

Can she find a college course? It's donkeys years ago, but my SIL was a child minder and she did a NVQ2 and NVQ3 in child care at college, despite already working for years as a CM.

I think the rules changed and you needed some kind of qualification? CM are Ofsteded and all sorts nowadays, it's not just babysitting children so Mum can work.

https://childmindinguk.com/becoming-a-childminder

Does she have any experience with children at all? Babysitting or spending time with nephews and nieces?
You don’t need qualifications to be a nursery assistant. She will need a DBS though.

Just checking whether you mean childminder (works in her own home, Ofsted regulated, own business) or nanny (works for a family in their home, on payroll)? Sounds more like a nanny if she went to an agency as CMs tend to find their own clients.

Indeed childminders are self employed. I don’t expect parents will want to leave their children with a cm who is not experienced or qualified

I think the best route to getting experience will be as a nursery assistant. Lots of them work while working towards qualifications

Apprenticeship at a nursery for a few years should give the skills she needs if wanting to do this FT?