PDA

View Full Version : Accredited childminders...



balloon
06-01-2010, 11:17 AM
My development worker is coming to see me soon about becoming accredited. Apparently I have to make a portfolio or something, anybody got any advice please or experience, for example is it worth going through it, what funding do you pull down, is it equal to a reasonable hourly rate etc???

Thank in advance x

Kes
06-01-2010, 01:06 PM
Mine brought me a list of things she wanted to check like policies etc and some questions that I had to answer. It seems to differ depending on where you are some people have to do more work than others. I had quite a bit to do to become accredited but now its done its just a matter of keeping on top of things like planning which you would be doing if you were'nt accredited anyway. I find it nice that I have support and training sent my way. The money is about £3.25 an hour or there abouts which is'nt loads but you do get it in a lump sum which is nice.
HTH
Kerry.

mumx3
06-01-2010, 01:22 PM
so if it is £3.25 per hour do parents top up the fees for those hours?

Kes
06-01-2010, 02:30 PM
No your not allowed to charge them top up fees. You can however charge them your normal fees outside the funded hours. This is why some nurseries complain that the funded sessions are losing them money.

Kerry

Heaven Scent
06-01-2010, 02:48 PM
In addition to this you are not allowed to insist that they attend more than the funded hours but you can state when you provide them e.g. some nurseries time table their days in the following way

8.00 - 9.30 - Breakfast
9.30 - 12.30 - Morning Session
12.30 - 1.30 - Lunch
1.30 - 3.30 - Afternoon Session
3.30 - 5.30 - Tea After School provision

That way they can charge for the sessions outside the free sessions and its up to parents if they want to use them - for us its a little more difficult as we don't have sessions like that but we could still dictate to a parent who wants to use the funded sessions only when we can provide them i.e. when we have spaces - but we cannot insist that they stay for extra hours.

As for the hourly rate - I charge £3.60ph but do special daily & weekly rates so what the gov is offering isn't that much out of the average for this area so I wouldn't be bothered especially if it meant I could fill odd hard to fill spaces here and there and would be guaranteed income from them. I had a terrible year last year with no mindees and just before Christmas I filled a place 3 full days pw with a brother after school on the same 3 days but the mum lost her job and now those spaces are empty again :mad: if I had the funding then she could continue to send the younger one to me while she looked for a job and the child would have some stability and continuity of care - now if someone wants the space I will have to give it away and then won't be able to take LO's back on. :mad:

nannymcflea
06-01-2010, 02:50 PM
Now the EYFS covers birth-5 theres not a lot of difference being accredited and not being.

You need to show that you plan and evaluate your work and prove what the children are learning with you.

If your area is on the Pathfinder project then the child will get 15 hours with you or you and another provider,pre-school,nursery etc.

The child needs to use the hours (12 1/2 non pathfinder) over at least 3 days. That could be 1 day with you and 2 at nursery. 2 with you, 1 day at nursery. 4 days with you part time etc etc etc.

It is a good way to keep children that would otherwise leave to get funded places somewhere else.

Personally i think it's a great idea and good to work with a local pre-school to give the child a varied start.:thumbsup: