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samb
09-09-2016, 06:23 AM
Yay! I found out I got a 2:1, just 1.8% off a first! And I was even more excited to find out that my dissertation that took more hours than the rest of the course put together (possibly slight exaggeration!) I got a first for! I can't get to my graduation - the university is 4 hours away and it's on a Monday, I'd need to take the Monday and Tuesday off work and I just don't want to have to shorten my Christmas time off to fit in with my contracted annual leave time- but I will have a little celebration here.

loocyloo
09-09-2016, 06:36 AM
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

That is absolutely amazing and fantastic. Well done you.

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

mama2three
09-09-2016, 06:53 AM
Congratulations samb , all that hard work paid off --what next for you?

BallyH
09-09-2016, 07:35 AM
Well done you. I love to see peeps rewarded for their hard work ethic.

hectors house
09-09-2016, 09:05 AM
Congratulations - what a fantastic achievement :clapping:

Mouse
09-09-2016, 10:04 AM
Well done!

:magnificent::goodjob:

Maza
09-09-2016, 11:34 AM
That's amazing! Congratulations!!!

k1rstie
09-09-2016, 11:45 AM
Well done, you must be delighted. It's a shame you aren't able to attend your graduation.

singingcactus
09-09-2016, 12:52 PM
Well Done :clapping::clapping:

Glad all your hard work has paid off x

tulip0803
09-09-2016, 01:11 PM
Congratulations xx :clapping::clapping:

sarah707
09-09-2016, 05:06 PM
Congratulations! :clapping:

watford wizz
09-09-2016, 06:56 PM
Congratulations perhaps your activity on Monday could be graduation and make cloaks and mortar boards🎓🎓

FloraDora
09-09-2016, 08:23 PM
A big well done - you should be so pleased with yourself. Getting a first for your dissitation must be such a great feeling!
You need a home made dedicated 'graduation' celebration with your family - you have earned this!

samb
09-09-2016, 11:13 PM
Thank you everyone - yes I'm thinking of doing my own little graduation celebration with my mindees. After all they were part of it too - using their experiences to write assignments! Next... Continue minding. :-) I love my job and it's the right job for me at the moment. I'm tempted to do a masters (crazy me!) in autism as my own children are autistic and I would find it interesting on a personal level. But I need a break before I decide anything. From a work point of view, I would love to do some sort of mentoring or tutoring of childcare workers - maybe nvq assessing or something like that? But not yet. I'm more than happy being my own boss and making a difference in a small amount of children's lives. My aim at the moment is to raise the profile of minders and show other settings what working in partnership is all about. I feel undervalued and that preschools etc only share basic info as a have to task rather than being genuinely interested and using the info - I want to change that. It may not be hugely ambitious but it's what I want to do. :-)

loocyloo
10-09-2016, 06:03 AM
preschools etc only share basic info as a have to task rather than being genuinely interested and using the info - I want to change that. It may not be hugely ambitious but it's what I want to do. :-)

I was thinking about this only yesterday, and chatting to a couple of mums about a local preschool I share children with. One keyworker always responds to my monthly email with something about our shared child, the others never do; yet I know they all get the email shown to them. They never initiate contact.
The preschool manager limits the number of key children each staff member has to 8. ('As otherwise it is too much for them to do' ... However, they don't seem to do much!) I frequently have 8 or 9 EY children and know I do more than they do.
The key worker who responds is conscientious about her job, but, although she likes it and the same goes for the other staff/manager, it is just a job . At the end of the day, they shut the door and go home. All 'work' stuff is done at work.
Whereas, on the whole, I think childminders do the job because we love it, are passionate about our little people/EY and find ourselves thinking about it/our children alot of the time that we are not working. Maybe it is because it is in our houses and we can't escape (!!)
Also, we have a vested interest in how our children do/how our business is run and is perceived as it is OUR business and our reputation, but preschool staff don't have that, as they work for someone else and ultimately it isn't their business, and so don't particularly feel the responsibility to go above and beyond (or even do more than the bare minimum)of what they need to do.

samb
10-09-2016, 08:55 AM
It's a shame isn't it. Currently I share care with just 2 preschools. 1 I have had various children shared for 3 years and last term I finally got through to the manager the difference between them allowing me a login to tapestry to see just brief info and to actually termly give me some sort of summary of where they're at and trackers and what I could do with each of them and what a difference we could make in the child's life with the different paperwork. She suddenly clicked and was fab and I got invited to transition to school meeting with them and parents and was able to put forward my opinion and felt valued. Hooray!

The other one is run by an ex minder so again she is on my wave length and it's great.

One of my other children came 10 hours a week and told me in July he would now do 18 hours at day nursery and only 5 with me. New nursery I haven't worked with before. I considered it but decided not to continue with the contract as I felt halving the hours worked but needing to build relationships with the nursery was too much for me to do (I've also had another 2 leave for school which has left me with some odd timed slots to fill and parting with the 5 hours a week freed the slot for a more reasonable new contract). Mum was only stating him there as she paid a hefty deposit to them a year ago (before starting with me) and couldn't afford us both. She wanted to keep the 5 hours and increase "when" she increased her work hours... I've been waiting 8 months so far for her to increase her work hours more and only had him 10 hours before! She told me she spoke to the nursery and asked how much work I would have to do to work with them? They laughed and said we will give her a sheet twice a year if she wants but that's all. I had to find a tactful way of explaining to mum that it wouldn't be working together and no benefit to anyone to do that and I would therefore spend the next school year challenging their perception of working in partnership. I said I was more than happy to rise to the challenge but not for a 5 hour a week contract.

Kiddleywinks
11-09-2016, 08:25 AM
Firstly, :happy banana::thumbsup:CONGRATULATIONS:thumbsup::happy banana:

Secondly, well done on your achievements with other settings so far :clapping:

I feel very fortunate with the other settings (preschools mostly) I have come across in my area that they are proactive with me when one of my LO's are with them.
It wasn't always that way, and speaking to other minders, they're not the same with everyone although we can't figure out why that is...

I've recently done a transition report for a 3 yr old going to preschool and their new keyworker was so appreciative about it! Said they felt they 'knew' the child without having to struggle to figure out their foibles over the next few weeks, which in turn makes it easier for her to settle them in.
They already save me a newsletter so that I can extend learning here, any wow moments we'll print off an additional copy for the other, and we have verbal handovers daily, so already I feel both our input is valued, which is how it SHOULD be.

Such a shame other settings sometimes come across that they are the only setting that matters...

loocyloo
11-09-2016, 02:50 PM
Firstly, :happy banana::thumbsup:CONGRATULATIONS:thumbsup::happy banana:

Secondly, well done on your achievements with other settings so far :clapping:

I feel very fortunate with the other settings (preschools mostly) I have come across in my area that they are proactive with me when one of my LO's are with them.
It wasn't always that way, and speaking to other minders, they're not the same with everyone although we can't figure out why that is...

I've recently done a transition report for a 3 yr old going to preschool and their new keyworker was so appreciative about it! Said they felt they 'knew' the child without having to struggle to figure out their foibles over the next few weeks, which in turn makes it easier for her to settle them in.
They already save me a newsletter so that I can extend learning here, any wow moments we'll print off an additional copy for the other, and we have verbal handovers daily, so already I feel both our input is valued, which is how it SHOULD be.

Such a shame other settings sometimes come across that they are the only setting that matters...

:-) that's brilliant :-) well done.

I know that school work well with me and the 'working together' thing with preschools etc is slowly getting there with me, but I know other minders who have no success. I think it is sometimes due to personalities and how you approach people. A 'how can we do this' works better than 'this is what you must do'!

Smiley
11-09-2016, 08:13 PM
Delighted to hear your news :clapping:
I also did my degree partly to show that childminders are capable of doing this and because I wanted other settings to take us more seriously!
Carry on and do your MA, I did at at High Melton where you did your final year, it's great to have the distance learning option as it fits it with our jobs

samb
12-09-2016, 06:57 PM
Smiley, I'm tempted by the MA especially now you can get funding for it. I am definitely taking this year off studying though. Out of interest, what did you cover? And how was the dissertation side of things at masters level? And how long did it take you? Was it recent?

samb
12-09-2016, 06:59 PM
Firstly, :happy banana::thumbsup:CONGRATULATIONS:thumbsup::happy banana: Secondly, well done on your achievements with other settings so far :clapping: I feel very fortunate with the other settings (preschools mostly) I have come across in my area that they are proactive with me when one of my LO's are with them. It wasn't always that way, and speaking to other minders, they're not the same with everyone although we can't figure out why that is... I've recently done a transition report for a 3 yr old going to preschool and their new keyworker was so appreciative about it! Said they felt they 'knew' the child without having to struggle to figure out their foibles over the next few weeks, which in turn makes it easier for her to settle them in. They already save me a newsletter so that I can extend learning here, any wow moments we'll print off an additional copy for the other, and we have verbal handovers daily, so already I feel both our input is valued, which is how it SHOULD be. Such a shame other settings sometimes come across that they are the only setting that matters...

Yes I've found the same. The preschools that work well with me, don't with other minders I know, but I think it is due to those minders not actually requesting anything or doing anything with basic information they are given either, so both parties are happy just ticking a box to information share. I am hoping to go to play for a morning with mindees at one of the preschools that another mindee goes to. I'm so excited lol!