Starting up a nursery

[jadavi]

Does anyone know how you would go about starting up a small nursery?
Can I do this in my own home? What would it involve? I want to manage it and be able to have holidays. I have the requisite qualifications (teacher and early years professional status)
My assistant is willing to do a course in order to keep it running in my absence. Would this have to be a diploma?
We looked at the idea of her doing the twelve week childminding course but she'd never get approved in my home and doesn't want to do it in her home.
Any ideas much appreciated.

[The Juggler]

wow! big adventure. I would think that your assistant would need to do at least a level 4 course to be able to manage a nursery in your absence, due to the staff mangaement side. I am sure that is the requirement but maybe check on the ofsted website.

[christine e]

Would you be able to get planning permission to change use to a nursery? A friend of mine was a childminder but when she started working with an assistant hit problems re planning permission so decided to rent premises and go down the daycare route, this was about 18 months ago and she needed a level 3 qualification to do this (which she did) she is now looking to open additional premises

[jadavi]

Thanks we would still have the same amount if children

[jadavi]

I did hear that the manager of a nursery can't be included in the ratio amount which would obviously put the kibosh on the whole thing if its true x

[christine e]

Why can't your assistant get registered as a childminder at your home? I have friends who are mother and daughter (2 sets) and the daughters have their own homes but I feel sure both daughters are registered to work on their own mum's premises

[The Juggler]

Thanks we would still have the same amount if children

if you are not having any more children and there is no staff management involved then level 3 should be enough :thumbsup:

[jadavi]

Thanks. I was told you can't register as a c m in another home. She lives with her intents.

[christine e]

Thanks. I was told you can't register as a c m in another home. She lives with her intents.

I think you can - who told you that you couldn't? Will check out with my friends for sure

[christine e]

Just checked out with my friend who confirmed that her daughter does not live with her but is a registered childminder at my friend's house.

Also found this old post which says the same

http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/forum/general-childminding-chat/68341-two-childminders-working-one-house.html

[jadavi]

Thanks
this looks promising - will check it our with my local child minding matters team

[The Juggler]

any two registered childminders can work together if they choose too hon. lots of people do :thumbsup:

[winstonian]

My assistant is registering as a childminder at another childminders home. My old assistant was also going to do this here so I could go on holiday and she could still open up.

[sarak31]

I looked into this myself. There are several options.

- you can register another childminder to work from your address. I found several problems with this - would they be employed or self employed, what happens about the split of bills etc as it is in your house if they are self employed, and they will have their own ratios assigned to them - so what if they are away etc? You are capped at 3 assistants / childminders working together at any one time. What happens if you want to get out of this arrangement - it is more complicated than if they were simply your employee.

- you can set up as childcare on a domestic premises based from your home. This will enable you to hire a deputy to manage in your absence (as long as they have a level 3) and you don't have the 2 hour restriction on how long you can leave the premises as you do as a childminder with assistants. You can do this if you have 4 or more adults working together on the premises (and this will take you away from the agency changes that are coming in as you will be registered as a nursery not childminder). There are different regulations you have to comply with for this, you can find the info on ofsted website. you will need planning permission for this - to run a childcare business from a residential property.

- if your ultimate goal is to have a nursery that you can put a manager into, in a premises that is not your home you can set up as childcare on non domestic premises - I found this very complicated tho. If it is in a residential property, you have to apply for 2 stages of planning permission. 1 stage to change the use from residential to business then a second stage to get permission to run a childcare business there. Obviously it's easier if you find a premises that already has business use (like an old doctors / shop etc).

Hope that all helps a bit!

Good luck

[bindy]

Can't have your home as a nursery, only allowed to use your home for childminding with out it then having to register as a bussines, different rules! Need to get all kinds of permission from council. Better to rent a bussines unit. Can have only 3 people working together in one home, childminding, this can be 1 childminder with 2 assistants, 2 chidlminders with 1 assistant or 3 childminders. Good luck with it all. It can be done, My friend changed her daycare to nursery because she wanted all the holidays and shorter days. Only 1 child left! One person has to have level 3 to be left in charge. Do not need to have level 4. Did lots of reseach, very interested in doing nursery myself. The biggest problem is getting the building! There is a web site that sells nurseries. You need to register with them, which is free and they look what is around in your area. Could be better, all the hard work as been done.

[busybee_mummy]

I am registered from my mums house, she is also registered and my dad is our joint assistant.

This is great for me as i only work term time (and we have a lot of term time contracts) but the playroom stays open, so no loss of business.

Money wise, and this is obviously only an option but works well for us - all money goes in to one account and we take out a share, depending on what days we work and any expenses. We have it all written in a joint contract and works good for us.

I have looked at opening a nursery but I really cant see any extra benefits than childminding jointly, personally I like that I can give the children a home from home experience, that I feel nursery's just cant offer. (Just my opinion)

Do you mind me asking why you want to keep the same amount of children but be a nursery?

X

[CLL]

It seems like a lot of hassle and money if you are not even going to expand your business. I can not see and financial gain, am I missing some crucial piece of information?