Interesting email...

[Penny1959]

Hello All
Penny in Cornwall here. Getting to grips with phone and signal. Have laptop with me but no internet so just phone as and when.

I have sent reply to Mr House - can't work out how to copy and paste from phone to here but if Sarah has managed to get it via email hopefully she will add it. I have sent his and mine to our friends at Child Care Journal and also to Nursery World.

But get this I have had a reply for RH saying what a good idea to all discuss to together and he did not mean my letter by his comments! Again if Sarah has managed to open his reply hopefully she will add it here for me. Sorry for my lack of ability to do much from here in Cornwall but doing what I can.

Oh and if any of you writing to him remember I wrote the original words to the petition that Debbie helped fine tune so he is insulting me the.

Oh well back to the holiday agenda

Penny

[Penny1959]

Oh that is very good

well said

Penny

[loocyloo]

wow.

well done sarah great letter

xxx

[sarah707]

Here is Penny's reply to Dr House - posted with her permission thank you Penny


Dear Richard

I have seen a copy of your letter that you intend to send to Nursery World, and which you have sent to childminder ECA supporters asking for signatures in support of your letter.

I can understand why you have not sent to me - despite that fact that I am a ECA suppporter - as my letter that is one of the ones you refer to.

I am writing to you to urge you to reconsider sending your letter to Nursery World in its current format.

I, and thousands of other registered childminders and well respected early years professionals from a wide range of fields have signed the e petition asking the government to consult widely before making any changes to the regulation requirements to childminders.

Our campaign is NOT about the EYFS and most agree that the EYFS is too restrictive and has 'goals' that are not appropriate or even achievable.

Our campaign is also not in support of Ofsted as the regulatory body, again most would agree that the 3- 4 year cycle of inspection is not an assurance of quality and that the inconsistencies in inspections are not acceptable.
Our campaign is about the right to be regulated in the same way as every other early years setting and for the children in the care of a childminder to be safeguarded through that regulation.

The issue of if Ofsted are the 'right' regulatory body and the whole debate about EYFS are not to be confused with our campaign.

Your letter gives the impression that you are in favour of deregulation of childminders and that childminders should be treated differently to other early years settings in respect of regulation.

I have clearly misunderstood the aim of ECA as I thought you wanted to remove the EYFS as the statutory framework and that you consider registered childminders as professional early years practitioners.

Please consider rewording your letter to make it clear that you want childminders to remain regulated the same as other early years settings.
ECA is campaigning about many things that I support - however I personally would have to withdraw my support for ECA if the distinction between the campaign for childminders to remain regulated the same as other early years settings, and the campaign about the EYFS is not made clear.

Registered childminders do not want to be to be treated differently they want to be regulated to protect their professionalism and most importantly the right of every child to be safeguarded through that regulation.

The campaign against the EYFS should continue and must not be used to confused the debate about the principles and benefits of regulation.

Yours
*****
Registered Childminder

[The Juggler]

My opening remarks -


I cannot begin to tell you how insulted I felt when I read your email last night.

To call my attempts to retain my professional standing in the early years workforce ‘simplistically ideological’ is an insult to me and to childminders as a profession.

It appears from your email that you do not understand anything about the anti deregulation campaign we are fighting or you would not be asking childminders who support both you and Ofsted registration to sign your letter!

It also appears to me that you are using our anti deregulation campaign as a means to further your own campaign which is shabby and ill conceived, especially as you appear to have a limited understanding of what we are fighting against and why.

The fact that you have chosen to vilify a letter written by ***** to Nursery World magazine underlines this! Penny is a supporter of ECA and has promoted it to childminders in the past - in fact the reason you have so many childminder members is probably a result of Penny’s work on your behalf.

However, Penny, like many other well educated and professional childminders also recognises the value of both Ofsted registration and the EYFS in the lives of young children. Like me she is a tireless in her support of an anti deregulation campaign which aims to protect childminders from becoming under valued, over worked and underpaid - all very real risks with an agency model as purported by Ms Truss.

Hmmm this could be a long one... coffee now

exactly how I (and I'm sure we all) feel. thanks Sarah. and Penny yours too - fab letters - I am so disappointed in Mr House. It seems that even academics are too dim to understand how we childminders can work with subtle differences to nurseries but still be professional and offer the same quality and standard of care (if not better)

[notts]

Excellent email

[Bridey]

I received his email this morning and replied to it very briefly, hours before reading this thread ... I just told him that I had absolutely no intention of signing his letter! I'm glad I'm not the only one who found it very rude.

[uf353432]

Here is my response to Dr House

Dear Dr House

I write in respect of your open letter to Nursery World, sent to your ECA supporters last night, particularly Registered Childminders to canvas support for your letter and asking them to add their name to it. Seems a rather odd way of trying to ingratiate yourself with registered childminders by insulting them, but stranger things have happened.

As the 'simplistically ideological' creator of the petition 'UK Government: Reject proposals to deregulate childminders' I hope that you will indulge me a few minutes of your time to explain why I think you are wholly wrong in embarking on this open letter in its current format.

The petition has nothing whatsoever to do with the merits of the EYFS. It has everything to do with childminders preserving the integrity of their professionalism and protecting the sustainability of their businesses. It has everything to do with ensuring that parents have the choice of flexible childcare in warm loving homes with men and women who 'know' their child and help promote their wellbeing - by being mindful to nurture them emotionally as well as intellectually though play opportunities. All that EYFS does for us is give us a common language when working in partnership with other Early Years settings, and a loose framework to better understand the developmental norms.

Please do not misguide people that deregulation means that we won't have to deliver EYFS, because feedback from my letters to Department of Education and Ofsted state the contrary. Currently how we deliver EYFS in our settings is entirely our business - but under an agency reform I fear that EYFS will become a more regimented, meaning childminders who feel like ECA do about EYFS may well be forced to deliver EYFS as the agency directs, rather than how they wish deliver it.

For the avoidance of doubt starting a petition to appose the deregulation of childminders was not a 'knee-jerk' reaction - on the contrary. I am passionate about my job and the children I care for - this is about protecting the professional status I have worked hard to build up which puts me on a par with other early years settings. Just because I am professional does not mean I don't operate my setting as a 'home from home' nor does it mean that I am 'preoccupied with EYFS-driven early learning protocols', for example when R (age 3) was asked if he likes going to 'Debbie's' he said "yes, she's like a mummy!". Its like home from home for him (quoted by his mum earlier this month).

Childminders are signing the petition regardless of their feeling on the EYFS, including the same people you are now targeting, which I am sure you are just starting to realize. The irony that you have cited *****, when in fact she and I have worked exceptionally close on starting and then promoting the petition along with many others and whom I know has been an advocate of ECA promoting your campaign. Dr House, we understand your stance very much - but this is an entirely different campaign. If you want a vehicle to drive your agenda forward then I urge you to reconsider this particular letter, we are working exceptionally hard to be heard, and I fear that this will be an unwelcome distraction.

Of course the utopia would be that ECA would do some careful investigation themselves and then consider if our campaign is one you would actually like to support. I dare say that childminders would be more receptive to your campaign if it came from a place of mutual respect instead of what can be perceived to be right now.

Your Sincerely

--
Debbie Broadhurst
Durweston Childminding

[Smiley]

Childminders are signing the petition regardless of their feeling on the EYFS, including the same people you are now targeting, which I am sure you are just starting to realize. The irony that you have cited *****, when in fact she and I have worked exceptionally close on starting and then promoting the petition along with many others and whom I know has been an advocate of ECA promoting your campaign. Dr House, we understand your stance very much - but this is an entirely different campaign. If you want a vehicle to drive your agenda forward then I urge you to reconsider this particular letter, we are working exceptionally hard to be heard, and I fear that this will be an unwelcome distraction.

Of course the utopia would be that ECA would do some careful investigation themselves and then consider if our campaign is one you would actually like to support. I dare say that childminders would be more receptive to your campaign if it came from a place of mutual respect instead of what can be perceived to be right now.

Your Sincerely

--
Debbie Broadhurst
Durweston Childminding[/QUOTE]

Well said Debbie
I have also been a supporter of ECA and Dr. House for several years, perhaps I need to send him an email but I need to read what he said first