My journey to get an assistant....
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  1. #61
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    St Helens, Merseyside
    Posts
    105
    Registered Childminder since
    May 11
    Latest Inspection Grade
    Good
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Apprentice Assistant :D

    Hi all,
    Just to update you on my recruitment!
    I had a few applications for a self-employed vacancy,and then didn't get any appropriate applications for an apprenticeship vacancy.
    So I changed apprenticeship provider had about 20 applications within 2 weeks! Of which there were about 5 that sounded good. I ended up offering 2 self-emp interviews and 2 apprenticeship interviews. The 2 self-emp people didn't come! And the 2 potential apprentices were both lovely!

    I have just had one on a trial morning to see how she was with the children, and we are both excited about the prospect of working together so are sending of EY2 form to Ofsted before the end of the week!

    So fingers crossed I am sorted and everything will go smoothly! Good luck if you are still searching for an assistant; it feels like a hard slog sometimes.
    Hope everyone else's assistants are still working out ok too. x

  2. Likes Bluebell liked this post
  3. #62
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    1,484
    Registered Childminder since
    Apr 11
    Latest Inspection Grade
    GOOD
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    UPDATE **

    Ok so my assistant has been with me for about 6 months and I am leaving childminding in a few months. She has been brilliant so I was a bit nervous to tell her - she has become a really good friend who I enjoyed working with. However, she has been working extra shifts in her other job and doing a course so has decided to leave as the 1 day with me was just too much (and to be honest probably not worth her while by the time she drove over.)

    I think the upside is being able to take on extra children, have an extra pair of hands, have company, have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off. And the children absolutely loved her. One with speech issues I have been encouraging for months to say things and he just naturally tells her things. She was amazing with them.

    The downsides was the siblings leaving and me deciding to keep her on and still pay her til i sorted something else out, having to get to grip with employment law, registering as an employee and getting my head round payroll and PAYE, feeling guilty sitting down to do paperwork when the little ones were sleeping while she played with the other 2. Not being very good at asking her to do things, never wanted to take on 6 as thought it would be too many, worrying about her being off - although she never let me down, and having someone in my house. I actually didn't mind her being here as we got on so well but I had a student here which was ok but not as relaxed and I do prefer days when I am on my own! Although I worried about her being off her day was my OH's day off so I knew he could step in if needed (he is also registered as my assistant) - I think that was why I was reluctant to add other days as I wouldn't have that to fall back on for cover on the other days.

    So I have 5 children on that day and 1 was a variation/exception as he changed from another day so I can reduce down to 4 and have an exception for him (and 2 of the children are term time only.) The other child had asked to move to another day so I have asked them if they can move to the other day which I will also do as an exception as will have 4 children, and will be temporary as 2 children on that day leaving t end of summer term.

    I'm glad I did it but to be honest it was more stress than it was worth. Just the paperwork and being an employee - not the person - she was amazing and I was very very lucky I found her. I have learnt a lot - I did the whole recruitment process: applications and references etc and finding a payroll system to do wage slips etc and I even did a 3 month staff appraisal. Think it may be useful for me in the future to say I was an employer and was responsible for that stuff (?)

    I think if I had a bigger house or could move to bigger premises then there would be a really viable possibility that I could have offered her more days and taken on more children, (rather than just the 2 extra on one day) making it more worthwhile for her and more economically viable for me. But it would still have had the same issues of me feeling anxious if she was away and getting cover and being busy registering with HMRC and doing payroll etc. Maybe that's just me!
    Last edited by Bluebell; 12-05-2014 at 10:36 PM.

  4. Likes Jollybones liked this post
 

 
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