Not nervous of the actual process, I feel very confident that I do a good job, and that my policies and procedures are good, and that I havea great relationship with my families.

I'm a relatively new Childminder still, only had mindees for 4 months so under no illusions that I will get above a 4!!

Anyway, my question - am finding filling in the self assessment thingy really quite hard!! I am finding it hard to

: put into words what I do,
:know how much/little to put in
:identify "weaknesses"
:know exactly what some of the statements are actually wanting if that makes sense??

I have read a few posts on here saying that the system will favour people who are good at getting it down on paper, and I know exactly what they mean now, I am worried I am waffling and entirely missing the point!
I've ordered the book from SCMA - Meeting the Standards - which I only knew about as saw it mentioned on the SCMA forum :rolleyes: hopefully that will be here by the end of the week.

Doesn't help that this has all turned up at a very stressfull time in my life, sorting out fertlity treatment! My head is going to explode If I print off what I have done and show it to my DO will they tell me if I am on the right wavelentgh??

ANyone filled theirs in recently can advise me??

I must admit I did waffle on a bit with mine aswell. What theyre looking for is how you comunicate with the parents. ie: newsletters, parents nights, daily diaries etc

parents nights? you are kidding me? oh goodness you aren't are you!! :panic: Is it not going to look suss if I suddenly arrange a parents night right before my inspection though hahaha! Maybe I could use that as an improvement?

I do wish they'd just use plain English you know, instead of all this technical jargon ffs, make it far less intimidating! I've not been able to get place on any of the SA workshops, might not feel such a big deal if I had!

I waffled alot too lol - the more info you can give them on the e-form the better! Don't be afraid to praise yourself either. I was really annoyed because of the 4 Care Commission Questionnaires I gave out to parents, only 1 of them completed it and returned it to my CCO :angry:
Thankfully I had my own questionnaires which I had made up & given to parents which I was able to show as evidence during my inspection.
As for weaknesses, my CCO told me she hadn't given anyone a 6 because she felt that everyone has room for improvement. They really want you to pinpoint areas for development.
Good luck with it. If you have any specific questions you need help with pm me

Emler, I have given mine out - although I thinkthat one parent will "forget" to do it :rolleyes:

I wondered how the CCO talk to the parents when they don't ask on the form for their details? I understood that parents were consulted too?

I have been doing a bit of writing on my eform today, found out there's an info button with handy hints :rolleyes: so taking my lead from that and padding it out.
Also ordered the Meeting the Standards book from SCMA was hoping it would be here today but it's not yet.

I may copy over to here some of the stuff I write to see if you think it's ok, if you don't mind offering an opinion?!

When I got my inspection the CCO asked for the parents phone numbers and she called them the next day to speak to them. She also said that she wasnt grading anyone with a 5 or 6 as there was room for improvement. She also asked for a copy of my parent pack and policies.

I was also asked to make up a child questionaire for the small ones using happy and sad faces so the kids can draw these faces where appropriate.

If you need any help just shout.

Hi Fiona

I've seen that written a few times around and about now, that certain cco's say upfront they will not grade you a 5 or 6 - pretty unfair if you ask me though, saying we will get grades 1-6 but then saying well actually even if you are 100% perfick you can't get top two grades!

I''ve just dashed off a quick questionnaire for parents - I will do a child one too at some point, but tbh I think it's a daft thing when they are young :rolleyes:

One thing I am fast realising is that up ehre, they reg you and send you on your way with no advice on what you should have in place other than the 9 is it basic policies etc - and then suddenly from nowhere you are supposed to know all about everything - I dread to think what someone with no net access and not a member of somehwere like ehre would cope. I think it is all really really unfair, they need to produce a booklet or something detailing EXACTLY what you should be doing.

No-one mentioned anything about evaluating, observing, planning etc at pre reg - how the hell do they expect you to just "know" what to do?

The more I think about this the more riled i get!!:mad:

Tell me about it! We are expected just to know what they are looking for :angry:
My CCO took parents phone numbers from me at my inspection too and also took away a copy of a newsletter I had done. She was very interested in the childrens questionnaires I had given out & had a good long look at them. She was scribbling notes from them so I expect I'll see some quotes from them in my report!
Anyway good luck completing your form - its such a relief when its done & dusted!

Can I ask how you did your child's questionnaire? How old were your mindees? My ones would just say yes to everything :rolleyes: not enough understanding just yet, so would it be a pointless exercise?