Variations

[Carls]

I know this has been covered before but I have read all I can and still am not convinced! I was under the impression that the new eyfs has been so relaxed that if one day I was so needed desperatly by parents I could in theory care for 6 early years children as long as all necessary risk assessments etc are in place! It's not that I plan to do this but another childminder has said that it is still most definatly no more than four no matter what? I was in a situation this Tuesday where if I had let children cross over like the parents needed I would have had 5 under 5 with me but I was scared and let them down???

[cathtee]

the EYFS says that you can have no more than 6 under 8's only one of them can be under 1 so I think you would have been ok to have
done it.

[Carls]

That's all the restrictions I can find x

[sarah707]

You must be able to confidently demonstrate through your risk assessments and planning that you can support every child's care, learning and development effectively.

You must also be able to show you have talked to parents about it and taken their views into consideration.

Variations are not about stretching your numbers - and yourself - to breaking point or putting yourself under so much pressure that you cannot cope.

One way to think about it - you change your numbers... someone complains to Ofsted ... you get an unexpected knock at the door... how do you cope?

Hth :D

[Carls]

As I said I would never do it unless its neccessary as I totally agree! I like to keep my numbers minimal to ensure all children get exactly as they deserve! I do not want to spend my day controlling children! I give my children everything I can x