Just received my DBS and submitted application....what now?

[Newbielou]

Ive attached references and I have my health declaration form here to send off. Do I wait for ofsted to ask me for that or can I post it off. If posting it, where to? Im hoping Ofsted are a bit quicker than 12 weeks as I have a child waiting for me, his current minder is retiring and parents have no other cover.

Also im building my portfolio ive put in all about me and my family and pets. Ive added all certificates and a couple of references. Ive written most of my policies, is tere anything else I need to include?

Ive got development matters, early years outcomes, eyfs, and safer food better business printed of so I can use them as reference documents.

Ive also purchased some daily diaries for babies and toddlers, i'm considering tapestry though for learning journals to stop being reliant on printer ink....(where does it all go)? Any experience of tapestry, is it worth the fee?

I was thinking of risk assessments and safety checks being in a seperate folder as these need to be easily accessible every day?

I dont know if im overthinking things. Have you any recommendations or suggestions of anything ive missed?

Thank you

[sarah707]

Welcome to the world of childminding!! :clapping:

There is lots of help for pre-reg in the pinned thread at the top of here - Starting Childminding and Pre-registration visits (http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/forum/starting-childminding-pre-registration-visits/)

Sounds like you are well on the way to being organised - send off what you've got and speak to your referees asking them to reply quickly.

I hope it works out for you :D

[moggy]

Tapestry is good for learning journals, I find. It can be very in-depth if you want to go into all the analysis stuff but is also great for just putting obs on and easily linking to Areas/Aspect of learning and Characteristic of Effective Learning, parents love it, they can easily leave comments and 'like' and add their own obs and photos. Check if your local authority have the subscription to the Foundation Stage Forum which gets you a discount when buying Tapestry- see the list on this page: Subscription - List of Participating Local Authorities (http://eyfs.info/join-us/local-authority-subscription-scheme)

[moggy]

Risk assessment and safety checks I do not access everyday. I do not have safety checks written down at all. I did a written RA when I started and only review it if is there is a major change, and an annual read-through and sign-off to record that all is still relevant. RAs do not need to be written at all. I do it all in my head day to day.

[moggy]

In your portfolio you might like to put typical menu if you are serving food, daily routine (school runs etc), photos of things you do and places you go (even if you set them up using your own or friend's children)- people love seeing photos, your fee structure and details of how you will take holidays (when/how long/paid or not etc).