Sorry: long bit if pre-amble before I get to the point... whizz down to the dotted lines if you can't be bothered to read it all!

I am in the process of RE-registering as a CM, having had a break to move house and re-think career options. Really missed CM-ing and decided to start up again. I have my pre-reg next week and I'm busy working on my Parents Info Pack / Welcome Pack etc.

However.... I have only just got back in 'the loop' about Ofsted & various MPs Hoo-Har over de-regulation, general diss-ing of CMs etc. I am disgusted and deeply upset about what I have read. I'm feeling the need to retaliate somehow! I cannot believe how CMs are being undermined by Ofsted and I don't feel like playing ball with them this time around.

My stance, as a Parent myself and a CM (pre and post EYFS) is that most of the requirements relating to health, safety and wellbeing are a good thing and I'm happy to adhere to them.

However, I think that the learning and development parts are not all appropriate and I do not see why CMs must become 'mini nurseries'.

My experience of talking to 11 sets of Parents was that they did not want me to 'teach' their children and found developmental stuff a bit scary and OTT. In my last inspection I was (only) Satisfactory, due to not having adequate recording/paperwork of learning, progress and planning.

Nothing in my home was unsafe and children were well cared for, safe and happy, communication with parents was noted as excellent and I provided a good range of activities.

The parents made it very clear that they could not care less about my Ofsted 'grading' and were upset on my behalf.

.................................................

So, what I'm thinking of doing is putting an introduction in my new Parents Info / Welcome Pack, which clearly states my stance on the EYFS and Ofsted inspections, backed up by links to various articles. I will clearly state how I CHOOSE to run MY business and that my approach is largely based on what PARENTS want. I will state that this might mean that I get marked down in various areas at my next full inspection. I'm not expecting to be Outstanding, because personally I do not agree with what Ofsted are doing or expect CMs to do in order to reach this 'goal'.

NB: this document would be just given to parents as a way of explaining why I expect never to be 'Outstanding'.'

Or should I just toe the line, keep my trap shut and 'do what I have to do'?

Opinions / advice please?

I can see where you are coming from as I dont think parents DO expect us to teach, but not so sure about putting that in writing either. To me I see it as fascilitating the childs learning,providing opportunities to try new things, have fun, make friends..... let the children play without being "graded"

Am sure someone with far more experience will be along soon :)

I think you are looking at wrong I do not teach my mindees. They play and hopefully learn from it and hopefully introduce them to new experiences.

The eyfs is fundamentally about the children learning through play. Yes we do observations on the children, yes we link them to the development matters the do the 2 year checks but that should be secondary to the children playing. Also it still should be mostly child led not adult.

Yes we have to know ages and stages etc but thats what makes us professional. We do the same as a preschool, nursery etc and we do it great in fact even better.

I tell all my parents that the eyfs is there for me to show that Im doing thing properly.

Its entirely up to you but I would be careful of giving parents an information pack saying I dont agree with ofsted and the eyfs as it could be used against me incase of a complaint.

I have to say i agree with fussy elmo. We do all teach lo's all the time. Whether its repeating words when they are really little or reading books while following words with your fingers to look at the really basic side. We then progress what we teach the children on to all sorts incorporating their interests.

I understand how frustrating it must be to people who have done a fantastic job for a number of years to have to change their thinking.

But put yourself in the place of most working parents in our current way of life. They carry enough guilt about not being with their lo's every possible moment. So why cant we document the progress we see all the time? And also when using next steps, let the parents know what the next stage is we are looking for?

I agree some parents just want their children minded but put the onus on them to put it in writing to you. Then you are fulfilling the working in partnership part of our job.

Have you tried looking at it all from a different perspective, in that we are in actual fact, aiding the children? They dont need to know about our paperwork after all x

Sorry its a long post but as im new to CMing i feel that ive come in at this stage so can look at it all in a different light. Hope i have raised some worthwhile positives for you?

When the revised eyfs came in it coincided with me struggling with paper work and a general fed up feeling of doing stuff for the sake of it.
I took a good hard look at the way I did things, I went through the revised eyfs with a fine tooth comb, no where does it say we have to do masses of written observations etc, it say we must observe and plan for the children from those observations. We must know where they are In Their developemnt and have plans to help them achieve their developmental goals.

For me this means knowing my children inside out, I can tell you what makes them tick, their proffered way of learning/playing and how they best achieve. The types of activities they get the most out of and what are their interests at this particular time. I don't need to write that down, it will not help the children any more if I write it down, I can tell ofsted all of this about each of the children I care for.

My written observations are mostly one liners and are only done when I feel they are purposeful, I take lots of pictures for parents to share their child's days with me and talk with them daily.

So whilst I still feel I comply with the eyfs fully I no longer do as much written formal stuff and feel less stressed, I enjoy the job more and am relaxed playing with the children without keep rushing for a pen to write things down as evidence for ofsted which has no more use and is of no benefit for the children.

Whilst I would not write down your dislike of some of the aspects of eyfs I would be bigging up what you do do, how this benefits the children and supports the family in general.

Bluebear - we were told on our new eyfs training to only do obs when something amazes and delights you. Not to do obs for obs sake :thumbsup:

When the revised eyfs came in it coincided with me struggling with paper work and a general fed up feeling of doing stuff for the sake of it.
I took a good hard look at the way I did things, I went through the revised eyfs with a fine tooth comb, no where does it say we have to do masses of written observations etc, it say we must observe and plan for the children from those observations. We must know where they are In Their developemnt and have plans to help them achieve their developmental goals.

For me this means knowing my children inside out, I can tell you what makes them tick, their proffered way of learning/playing and how they best achieve. The types of activities they get the most out of and what are their interests at this particular time. I don't need to write that down, it will not help the children any more if I write it down, I can tell ofsted all of this about each of the children I care for.

My written observations are mostly one liners and are only done when I feel they are purposeful, I take lots of pictures for parents to share their child's days with me and talk with them daily.

So whilst I still feel I comply with the eyfs fully I no longer do as much written formal stuff and feel less stressed, I enjoy the job more and am relaxed playing with the children without keep rushing for a pen to write things down as evidence for ofsted which has no more use and is of no benefit for the children.

Whilst I would not write down your dislike of some of the aspects of eyfs I would be bigging up what you do do, how this benefits the children and supports the family in general.



I think that sums it up perfectly Blue Bear, at my last/first Ofsted inspection the inspector was lovely and told me that some of the best obs were very slick, with a photo, brief comment and next steps. She told me she would be happy to see just a hand full of obs done each term (making sure each area of learning had been covered in some way).

I tend to agree with the original post, I personally feel that parents are looking for a home from home. And like everything else in this country there is to an endless paper trail for everything.

I am not degree trained so feel that "teaching" is beyond my capabilities. I do however love looking after children. I am by no means fluent in EYFS but do like to know that I am offering children the opportunity to learn from what I provide.

What I object to is ofsted coming into my home and marking me down for not looking like a nursery. On my last inspection (although graded good) I was asked what I thought about my wires from my tv to the plug socket? And I responded with " it's a modern world am I expected to box them in?" She said "others have" well we are all individual and I'm sick of it. I don't have an endless pot of money to make adjustments to my home. The children don't think twice about the tv lead as they have them at home .......

I guess some inspectors cross that very fine line of OTT

I do think we need the EYFS to an extent, Defo the safety aspects but surely if the children and parents are happy that's all that should matter!

At my recent ofsted inspection she didn't look at ANY of my paperwork for learning and development. I had read that the focus really wasn't on paperwork anymore and that was true. We sat and chatted (as Blue Bear said) about all the children I cared for and she asked me about where they were against a particular area of learning and where they were going. Eg. She asked me to pick an area of learning, I picked Physical Development, and talk about Child A and where they were currently in terms of PD, where their starting point had been and therefore what progress they had made and what things I had planned to support their development further. I had to do this for most of the children I care for for a different area of learning each time. She didn't 'check' any of this against learning journeys at all. She was just concerned that I really knew each of the children and what they needed.

The EYFS I think on the face of it, yes may seem unnecessary but it does really help me do all of the above and make sure that I am supporting the learning across the board for all the children. It isn't necessary to write it all down, if you are able to talk about it fully. If you might go to pieces, as many of us understandably do, in the face of ofsted, then something written might be helpful. Also if you arent' going to write down obs and track learning in writing you need to think about how you are going to help parents support their child's development at home - another big focus I think of ofsted and the EYFS now. This doesn't have to be in writing - if you decide to go record free then you might do it in termly meetings for example and daily handovers.

I do write things down and keep written learning journeys but I just wanted to make the point that the paperwork really doesn't have to be really heavy now - you can have it all in your head and just get on with the job - as long as you can talk about the children and show you know them inside and out and are planning for their development that's fine I think.

I wouldn't write any waiver etc down for parents myself - I reckon you are probably doing all of the EYFS naturally, you obviously will know the children and plan for their interests anyway - it doesn't take long to go through the development matters sheets once a term to highlight off what you know the children can do. And you will know them well enough to be able to justify in conversation where you have plotted their development on here - you could do that.

I personally love doing the learning journey/scrap book of "wow moments" , art and photos. I feel it's the least I can do for the parents to show I am worth the fee I charge! It's just some aspects I disagree with.

Last summer my friend had her 2 or 3rd inspection and was quite literally ripped to shreds by a particular inspector. My friend is one of the most dedicated childminders I know and what the inspector did was out of order.

I wonder if the same inspector has a different agenda under the new EYFS.

I love this web site, although I couldn't sign in under my old name and password with the app but I always leave it feeling inspired!
Xx

Shabby what was she caught up
On by the inspector.?
Mine made a big show of seeing if the next steps were evidenced as carried through - the ongoing loop.

Thank you for responses... I have calmed down a bit now! :-)

Before my last posting I had just read all the articles and watched the Ofsted Annual Report video and was feeling really upset about everything. ie: working long hours and spending loads of money on training and equipment to get through Ofsted, when they clearly have a bad attitude towards CM's from the top down.

My last inspection in 2011 was a dreadful experience and I was also (quoting below) 'ripped to shreds'. Each child had a Learning Journey book and I pasted in loads of photos, artwork, quotes etc (I too enjoy doing this), but she said it was 'just not good enough'. When asking how I planned next steps and knew where each child was in terms of dev I completely 'lost it' and could not respond. She was with me well OVER 3 hours. Of course I knew each child well and what I would do with them next and why, but she freaked me out totally and I just could not express it :-(
So I scored inadequately in that section and overall got Satisfactory as a result.

I have decided NOT to put my feelings in writing, but to express it when I talk with parents. I will explain the EYFS to them and how I intend to show their child's progress, but that it might not be thorough enough for Ofsted to grade me Outstanding ever.

I'm hoping the focus has changed and that I don't get the same inspector again (she is well known locally for being harsh).

I just wish that Ofsted would provide some examples / specific guidance for how they want to see the info / evidence. Something you don't HAVE to follow, but can if you just don't know where to start.

Why do we always have to guess what they want and cope with constantly moving goal posts?

Silly things, like the washing line wasn't covered. It was being used at the time so she didn't cover it.

The little girl mindee is very shy so didn't make much effort to communicate, so inspector asked why she hadn't reported a speech problem