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jadavi
26-04-2012, 06:43 AM
I'd value your advice. Im gonna put a piece in the free local paper now I've been Ofsted rating and I think that'll influence where we go childrenwise.
My question is offering nursery hours or schools ( do people do both)
As I have 2-3 assistants I can ( assuming I pass my Eyps) offer nursery provision from September. I could feasibly run an informal nursery school with 6 in morning and six in afternoon.
I could alternatively start and build up schoolies.
I have experience as a teacher with all age ranges and to be honest, love them all.
I realise there is more money in schoolies than nursery children.

Any general thoughts on this? I also know nursery would be slow to build up but I am sure there is a Market for parents wanting a quieter homey setting for their 2,3,4 year olds .

Advice and thoughts much appreciated. Maybe I could do both and muddle thru?

Love ja xxx

AgentTink
26-04-2012, 07:59 AM
I suppose alot will depend on the demand in your area. Is there more demand for schoolies or little ones?

I am not sure how feasible you would find money wise just sticking to one age range if you have assistants to pay every day.

I am assuming that if you go for the nursery type set up then in order to have 6 little ones under five you would need to make sure your assistants are available for as soon as you get busy. Are you assistants flexible about how many hours you may or may not be able to offer them? If people leave are your assistants happy not be to paid while you fill up the spaces. What if you have 4 children wanting places on say a tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon. Would you be paying an assistant to help you at these times even though you are not making much more money. What if assistants are sick or on holiday?

In regards to the free 15 hours a week, again you would have to think about you would only get paid for the hours that people take. Some parents like to share their hours with another setting. In regards to the local area can the school nursery not accomodate all of the local children who need the free 15 hours care. From my own personal point of view My little girl is 3 the end of july, and so she can only have one year in pre-school before she gets to reception class. I feel it is important for her to get used to bigger numbers of children her own age prior to going into reception.

With the 15 free hours, what if the parents only want your cover for the funded 39 weeks of the year, will you be okay fiancially if most of your families dont need you in holidays?

With afterschoolies you could on your own have 6, and then just use assistants as and when you need for things like trips or just on certain nights. But again if you are relying on a certain amount of money and you limit the ages you take on, would you be okay if you for example could only get 3 afterschoolies each night.

Feel free to ignore everything i have said I was just throwing some questions out there for you to think about :)

The Juggler
26-04-2012, 09:04 AM
i would be careful with just doing nursery hon, as some areas are really strict about topping up the funding. You CANNOT top up the funded hours and the rate is usually very low (lower than our hourly rate). Here we can just charge more for the other hours so they in effect pay the normal monthly rate less the total amount of the funding but some LA's are more strict.

good luck though

Mouse
26-04-2012, 09:55 AM
As far as possible I would keep an open mind and see where things go.

If you can build up a reputation as being an exclusive little nursery type setting you could do very well. It would appeal to some parents who want a smaller setting for their child, but want to access the funding & get their children socialising. You will always find though that a lot of parents think a 'proper' nursery is best.

If things did take off on the nursery side of it, you could offer sessions that finish at 3pm, then switch yourself to an after school club for the schoolies. Any younger children could still stay if they were doing full days, but the emphasis would switch to after school care. With assistants you could easily offer activities for mixed ages.

Is your house big enough to offer different activities in different rooms? In holidays could you manage lots of children of all ages?

jadavi
27-04-2012, 04:14 AM
Thank you very much for this detailed thoughtful advice. Lots to consider. I was assuming I'd have to do the school run but An assistant could do that while I did the hand over of the nursery los. I like the idea of doing both. We have a big setting and I have flexible assistants and family members. It'll be slow build up for nursery but quick for schoolies once ball gets rolling.
At mo it's a babies babies babies.....

shazza06
07-05-2012, 08:12 PM
hi..i`m in the predicament of having lots of parents wanting spaces from sept and am looking to build an extension and have a smallish nursery setting , i will have 1 assistant to start with but to be honest i`d need 2 if I took on all that have asked for spaces..,can you believe that i have 15 children [under 5`s ] wanting spaces..mad!!! from sept i will have 4 per day definite but the only thing thats stopping me from taking on more is ..where do i put them all to sleep and how do i get out each day as i hate staying at home..i`d need a minibus but theres money to made from little ones!!! in theory could be making £300 per day!! I would go with smallish nursery myself but again depends on demand and i have parents preferring me over a nursery, especially for the babies as its more 1-2 attention and cosier...
what age do you prefer working with?

jadavi
08-05-2012, 06:39 AM
Thanks. I'm getting more bedrooms registered to put them upstairs with baby monitors so they are not woken up.
I like both age ranges and quite like the idea of a shift of energy as the schoolies come in and use an assistant to look after the Los in the change over....
I guess I'll see what comes along.
What worries me Is - It's hard to promise an assistant regular work
And my own energy level as I'm in my fifties....

suzyblue
08-05-2012, 06:39 AM
I started as a normal childminder with babies but as the years passed, I extended my house, took on assistants, the children grew into schoollers and now I have an age range of 6 months to 11 years old. I wouldnt restrict yourself with certain ages or sessions unless you want more of a playgroup/after school type setting. I love the varied ages, the older ones help get dinner ready, they play in separate areas of the house/garden depending on their interests and they come with great ideas of what they want to do. I love all ages too!