Drop-offs versus all dayers and more...

[hollyberry]

Hiya

From what I've been reading, if I had a child to drop to school in the morning, would they count to my daily numbers? If I state in my contract with the parent that the agreement is drop safely to school only and as soon as dropped at school the child is once again the responsibility of the school/parent?? Is that allowed or not? Had been considering doing drops but if this reduces the number of all day children I could have, I'm not sure that it makes much economical sense.

My initial planning as a newbie is hoping to get three children under 5 - is that realistic (or would many of these go to a playgroup instead?).

Also, what factors influence if you can be registered for overnight/weekends? Is it your choice or OFSTED/the local authority? Just wondered what the criteria was for that.

I'm also a bit unclear on why childminders tend not to have children over 8 - is this because of the difficulty of mixing younger children and the needs of older ones?? Is it ok to have (well behaved calm) older children 11 or 12 years old - is that allowed? I only ask because for parents working full time at a distance and not wishing to have full on latch key kids, there seems to be a paucity of care available before and after school (as per my own position at the moment). Thankfully my childminder happily accommodates my 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter along with her own 15 month old!!

Thanks!!

[The Juggler]

if the child is in full time reception class (not all day nursery/wraparound care) they count as an over 5 (rising 5's) but you'll need to ring ofsted to get that clause put on your reg. certificate - it's a formality and they should arrange over the phone for you hon.

[sarah707]

I take child A to school... I pick up child B from school ... 2 children taking up one over 5 space.

You can't do it with under 5s going to pre-school / nursery if you are responsible for them while they are there (getting paid).

However if they go home before lunchtime and another child arrives at 1pm for a few hours in the afternoon that's fine too.

Is that what you mean? :D

[rickysmiths]

Hiya

From what I've been reading, if I had a child to drop to school in the would theymorning, count to my daily numbers? If I state in my contract with the parent that the agreement is drop safely to school only and as soon as dropped at school the child is once again the responsibility of the school/parent?? Is that allowed or not? Had been considering doing drops but if this reduces the number of all day children I could have, I'm not sure that it makes much economical sense.

My initial planning as a newbie is hoping to get three children under 5 - is that realistic (or would many of these go to a playgroup instead?).

Also, what factors influence if you can be registered for overnight/weekends? Is it your choice or OFSTED/the local authority? Just wondered what the criteria was for that.

I'm also a bit unclear on why childminders tend not to have children over 8 - is this because of the difficulty of mixing younger children and the needs of older ones?? Is it ok to have (well behaved calm) older children 11 or 12 years old - is that allowed? I only ask because for parents working full time at a distance and not wishing to have full on latch key kids, there seems to be a paucity of care available before and after school (as per my own position at the moment). Thankfully my childminder happily accommodates my 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter along with her own 15 month old!!

Thanks!!

If the child is dropped at school and they are in for the full 10 sessions, so full time then they would not count in your numbers again until/if you collect them from school in the afternoon. Therefore you could and indeed over the years I have had part time children during the day who have left before 3pm and the school run. What you need to bear in mind is will the parent require cover on any Inset days or holidays? If so you would need to make sure your numbers work then. Maybe consider working with an Assistant during these times and as Ofsted to increase your numbers a bit to cover these times.

I have had three under fives every day for the last 5 years and for 2 of them a Variation for 4 under fives and am about to ask for another Variation for 4 under 5s. If the go to Pre-school when they have normally been with you and you are taking them and collecting them you charge for the time they are at Pre-school.

You do not have to be specially registered for weekend care.
Overnight care is approved by Ofsted and is dealt with as a Variation to your Conditions of Registration. Again I am about to go through this process for one family and my belief is that you do Risk Assessments, Escape Plans, explain the proposed sleeping arrangements. You need Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms. So nothing different to what we are doing anyway. I think they prefer Hard Wired to Battery Operated Smoke Alarms but views about this seem to vary. Mine were all hard wired when we had an extention built this summer.

I have cared for over eights (the oldest 14yrs) over the years. In my area there does not seem to be much call for care over 8-9yrs, not sure why except there are quite a lot of Grandparents who pick up from school and we do have a high number of sahm and I think the older ones tend to go to after school clubs and once they are at High School they are given a key.

Sorry the reply is so long. Good luck with your registration.

[caz3007]

I have all sorts of ages between 2 years and nearly 12 years and they all mix, although I have just started a 4 year old after school and the older ones have kicked off, although its an excuse cos they want to put pressure on their parents to stop coming here after school and just be holiday care. But I have worked out a strategy that should work to keep them all happy for now :laughing:

Up until now its worked fine for me, and know the kick off is cos the older ones want their independence.

[Lady Haha]

Agreeing with others about combining different mindees in various spaces!

Before breakfast club opened, I dropped A to school and then picked up B after school, but they were all sharing the same out of school place - ie One place, but two children.

Same for hols - I have C term time, but not hols and I have D hols only - one place taken up by two children. (I only do schoolies, but if I had littlies too, I could even have a third child using the same space 9am-3pm termtime only)

As long as the children don't overlap (for instance A arrives at 1pm, but B doesn't go til 1.30pm, meaning you would have both A and B for half an hour), then it's fine!:D

[hollyberry]

Oh good! Thanks everyone. Will be sure to keep a proper eye on not overlapping any of them should I be so lucky to have that many!!!!! Thanks for your replies.

[mummyof3]

I'm also a bit unclear on why childminders tend not to have children over 8 - is this because of the difficulty of mixing younger children and the needs of older ones?? Is it ok to have (well behaved calm) older children 11 or 12 years old - is that allowed? I only ask because for parents working full time at a distance and not wishing to have full on latch key kids, there seems to be a paucity of care available before and after school (as per my own position at the moment). Thankfully my childminder happily accommodates my 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter along with her own 15 month old!!

Thanks!!

Some days I can have 20mth, 2yr, 4yr, 5yr and three 10yr olds after school (along with my own 3 children) and its fine I don't see it as a problem with the mixture of ages. :)