Pacey accreditation?

[lor]

Has anyone done the Pacey accreditation assessment?
are there any guidance notes? feel like I'm completing complicated Sef and not even sure it's necessary

Thanks xx

[shortstuff]

Has anyone done the Pacey accreditation assessment?
are there any guidance notes? feel like I'm completing complicated Sef and not even sure it's necessary

Thanks xx

Im sorry but I havent completed it and im also not sure if there are any guidance notes. I hope someone comes along shortly with the answers for you

[Simona]

What is the Accreditation for? and when completed what does it entitle you to do?

[moggy]

Our LA used to use NCMA Accreditation to allow CMs to offer free entitlement. But that has stopped now. Is it something like that? Has your LA asked you to do it?

[lor]

My DO has told me that in order for me to give the funded 15hrs (have a parent that wants this)
I need to be accredited, but not sure that from Sept it will be necessary to be accredited or be graded good (which I am or outstanding)

XX

[Simona]

It sounds like this refers to those cms in the Children Come First Network which was the ncma model...I believe some still exist

My LA has now come away from that model and have their own which recently meant opening the network to ALL cms rather than the few....at last! (although the conditions to join are still very strict and duplication and additional paperwork are incredible)

You are right Lor ...from September there is no need to belong to a Network or be Accredited..it is the Good/o's grades that will allow cms to draw the funding although in some LAs even the Satisfactory ones will be included where there is acute shortage of spaces

I was Accredited when I did belong to my network a long time ago but there was really no difference in what I had to do that other non accredited cms did not and since the introduction of the EYFS Accreditation seems to me another layer of paperwork...
sadly when the EYFS was introduced I feel there should have been the opportunity to allow all cms to draw the funding as long as their Ofsted grades were high and the LAs missed the opportunity to provide equal support to all not just the network ones especially when ncma had Quality First still going...mine runs out this year and yet my LA has never recognized it!

If you are Accredited do you do anything different to a non Accredited cm apsrt from having more supsrvision from you co-ordinator??

[Wheelybug]

If you are Accredited do you do anything different to a non Accredited cm apsrt from having more supsrvision from you co-ordinator??[/QUOTE]

Ha ha ha, sorry still on the floor laughing More supervision, that's a joke, in our area we get less supervision and less training if we are on the network. When I joined the network about 3 years ago we'd have visits every 6 weeks and at least one unannounced visit every year, now you are lucky if you see a network coordinator once a year. They have only recently reintroduced termly training after we all complained that non network childminders were being offered far more (+ free gifts to attend training). I know I don't do anything different from non-network c/m's apart from the initial paperwork to join. I only stay on the network so I can draw the funding, if that changes in sept, then I might leave.

Cathy

[Simona]

How interesting!!!
in my LA network cms get 2 visit a year + 1 unannounced + 3 meetings a year + 15 hours of designated training + an annual review as part of their 'contract' for being in it and have been personally surveyed to express their opinion on how in future they want to continue to access those services..at a cost and even if they want to pay for a m'ship!!
The rest of the cms call their consultant when they need support and the support is focussed on satisfactory and inadequate cms...the rest more or less fend for themselves!

I can't believe that LAs cannot run anything on a kind of standardised service...I understand about meeting local needs but the network should be run in an equal manner if the brand was 'Children Come First'?...not sure why network cms' children come before any others' ...but there you have it...two tiers of cms have been in place for a long time!

[Wheelybug]

Yes we are supposed to undertake 15 hours of training a year too. I raised this a while back with a coordinator, as they had cut right back on training and weren't offering 15 hours worth over the year! All that was available was from the council, geared more towards nurseries and pre-schools as it was run during the day on weekdays. I was told not to worry as no one checked anyway!! Several of us also emailed the local council to ask why they never put on training when c/m's could attend, seeing as we were paying a subscription to them and were told that pacey had the contract for providing support and training to c/ms
In our area the focus is definitely on inadequate and satisfactory c/ms, (with free resources for attending!!) which in some ways I can understand, but then if you don't offer training to good / outstanding c/m, how can they remain good and outstanding if their knowledge is not up-to-date. In our area c/m support groups were run by lead mentors, but pacey have taken back control of some of these, they are now run by network coordinators and attendance is by invite only!!

[Simona]

I totally back your argument about the need to support weak cms while not forgetting the others so that we maintain our grades via support, training and anything pertinent to our CPD

This issue takes me back over the years and I wonder why the networks have been allowed to continue in its present form for a long time.
ncma has always endorsed and encouraged the introduction of networks but my biggest bugbear has been the 'inequality' they have created between cms...surely over the years ncma would have become aware that the system was totally discriminatory and only served very few cms and was becoming a reflection of LAs local rules??

It is, for me, a hugely wasted opportunity not to allow cms to be included and recognised...if all networks had been inclusive of all cms while allowing them the choice to become 'accredited' we would not be in the present situation of having to beg the LAs to allow us to draw the funding and sustain our business from Sept 2013

I remember in November 2008 at the ncma conference when I asked the then Minister for Children, Beverly Hughes if, following the introduction of EYFS 2008 and its inclusion of cms, she would now allow cms to draw the funding as we were all delivering the EYFS...her answer was NO!

Look where we are now...fighting our LAs and I have not heard or seen anything from ncma to back us in our campaign

[lor]

To answer Simona's question about doing anything extra if I become accredited, to be honest I'm not sure, think I have to speak to my DO again to get clearer picture of what's required from me.
My main concern is that by the time I complete the paper work involved to get the accreditation it wont be necessary to be accredited to get the funding if that makes sense!
Feel like I'm chasing my own tail with all of this.
xx