Query re mindees w. no English

[hollyberry]

Hi there.

I fully understand and support needing to be inclusive of all types of issues - disability, learning difficulties etc etc, but am concerned - do I have to take a child if the child and their parent both don't speak English as a first language? I just wonder how this would impact me delivering the EYFS to that child/reduce the amount of time that I could give to other mindees, and then each day when I wished to update the parent I'd not be able to communicate with them, and the only time for that might be if and when an English-speaking relative for eg was available to translate. I feel this could lead to a parent who is not fully included in the childminder-parent partnership - just simply because the language barrier prevents this. What is the standpoint on this from Ofsted's point of view - I want to include wherever possible but just concerned about these few points? If I excluded because I felt it would adversely affect how well they could learn and how much their parents could be included, would I get into trouble????

I also wonder, from a data protection act point of view, what's the process or procedure required to share child-specific information with someone other than the parent, because the parent can't speak English (eg giving daily updates)? Presumably you would need to obtain some kind of permission to share info with other people. But then how would you obtain assurance - get the actual parent to initial that they had a conversation about such and such are have been updated?

Thanks!!!

[Mrs.L.C]

I have in the past taken on a child who didnt really speak any English. It can depend on the age of a child. If they are young say under 5 they will pick words up very quickly just the same as 1 or 2 year old who has English as there first language. The only thing I found hard was having to treat the child as though they were younger than they were, when out and about because at first they did not understand what I was asking to keep them safe and would run off.

Visual things/cards helped as well

I would be surprised if a parent came to you for childcare who could not speak at least a little English and over time they would pick more and more up from you. Maybe just writing a diary will help as they can take that home to some one who could translate there.

I always let who ever picks the child up know how their child has been that day even if it is a friend or grandparent for example. I would have permission for this person to collect

[mufftie]

i have 2 children who are polish , from different families where both sets of parents struggle with the english language , i took the huge step to go to college and learn the polish language and i am now able to speak to the children fairly fluently in polish and english .
i have found it very useful to be able to type all documents and news letters such as holiday dates in both languages which i have displayed in my hallway . the children have both learnt very good english from me as i have polish from them . infact one girl is 4 yrs old and she's been with me for 18 months and her dad said he was very surprised she could speak such good english when i told him what she was doing at nursery ,as he had never heard her .

i have found it a great privilage to have had the oportunity to do this and would encourage other's to take on the challenge rather than be concerned about the difficulies involved

[hollyberry]

Thank you both so much for that - I think it's concerns re being able to work closely with the parents if I can't speak to them each day and update them and so on - but as you say there are ways round that. I'm sorry it's taken so long to get back to you to thank you - but I was moving house last week and it was absolutely awful!!!!