Email or write a letter! Make your feelings known

[sarah707]

Email or write a letter to your MP ... to Ms Truss... to the Department for education... to Ofsted... to your local authority...

Here are some thoughts about what you might want to put -

Your address

Date -

Dear xx

I have read the document ‘More Great Childcare’ and I want to disagree with -

Agencies for childminders because...
• • I do not want childminding to become a 2 tier system.
• I do not believe it will be sustainable in my local area for more childminders to be registered - there is not enough work to go round at the moment. This will be especially pertinent if nurseries are to be able to increase their ratios (as also suggested in the plan), schools start taking children at age 2 and the government make it easier for schools to provide after school care.
• I want to be regulated by Ofsted - not forced to join an agency in order to accept funding and (continue to) offer 2 and 3 year old funded places etc. This situation is very unclear and many childminders are asking for clarification from the government.
• I want my business to remain sustainable, not be pushed out by lots of newly qualifying childminders.
• I do not want to be told how to run my business by an agency and have to adopt their documentation. I am self employed because I can run my own business successfully and because I want to set my own terms and conditions.
• I do not want to be managed by a local nursery whose standards of care and learning might be lower than mine / I do not want a local Children’s Centre telling me how to run my business.
• I do not need help with finding new business - I work on ‘word of mouth’ and parents prefer to find me that way. I value online companies such as Childcare.co.uk and my local FIS network which helps me find new business and I do not feel that a middle man will be able to do any more. FIS is already well established - why get rid of that and introduce something new that will cost millions of pounds to implement at a time of financial hardship?
• I do not need an agency to tell me where to buy my childminding insurance.
• I do not want to be told by an agency that I have to attend training after working a 10 hour day - I want better options available to me such as weekend and online (in house) training.
• I want to continue to be self employed and independent.
• I do not want to pay an agency part of my income.
• I do not want to be forced to join an agency on the premise that if I don’t I will be seen as a ‘second class’ childminder.
• Agencies are supposedly being set up to support my business - the main part of my business I find hardest is finding the time after a 10 hour working day to do my paperwork - agencies are not going to do that for me so I do not need them. Or is the intention of agencies is to create a further 2 tier system where agency childminders do not have to implement the requirements of the EYFS? (conspiracy theory which concerns many childminders).

Changes to ratios for early years providers because...
• • I cannot ignore the fact that this plan is putting outcomes for all our children at risk.
• I do not believe it is safe for one adult - with or without a degree - to care for so many children at one time.
• Floor space requirements are there for a reason - to make sure our children have space to move around safely and develop their essential physical skills safely.
• Every child deserves individual care and attention. They cannot possibly receive this if providers are allowed to have 6 x 2 year olds in their care at the same time.
• The EYFS tells us that children need personal, social and emotional skills embedded from a young age and I feel that so many 2 and 3 year olds in group care will lead to conflict and behaviour issues which will be of detriment to their PSE development.
• I do not believe it will be sustainable in my local area for more childcare places to be created. I am not aware of my local authority carrying out an audit to check whether spaces are needed and I can tell you - nobody locally is full to capacity so where are these extra children coming from?
• If the changes to ratios for 2 year olds in nurseries are linked to the 2 year old funding, then it is only 15 hours a week of free care. There are very few parents who will find work just for 15 hours.
• Increasing the number of children in provisions will not make any difference to the amount of parents going out to work and looking for childcare - benefits changes and tax benefits to parents might make a difference.
• The EYFS already allows childminders to make exceptions to their ratios for continuity of care in exceptional circumstances. We do not need further tinkering with our ratios - we are perfectly capable of following the current rules.

The statement that childminders are ‘lagging behind’ other providers because...
• The vast majority of childminders are very professional people who offer high quality care and learning for the children.
• Until recently (Sept 2012) Ofsted inspectors guidance stated that newly registering childminders would not be well enough established to be graded better than satisfactory - and I believe this has contributed towards the lower grades that Ofsted are now saying mean childminders are ‘lagging behind’.
• I am a very highly qualified childminder with xx years experience - talk about your qualifications and how they ensure you offer an exceptional service to families.
• My Ofsted inspector said, as she arrived at my house, ‘I do not give childminders outstanding’. I believe views like this have distorted the figures.
• I regularly attend courses and other training to make sure I stay up-to-date.

I understand that the government’s proposal is an effort to decrease the fees parents pay for childcare, but this should not be at the expense of children’s safety and level of care. Early years providers are, for the most part, running quality, sustainable businesses offering a very high standard of care and learning to the children. Tinkering with ratios will not result in lower prices for parents, but create a two-tier system of childcare in this country.
Please do not risk outcomes for future generations of our children by making these changes.
Yours,

[sarah707]

Write to Elizabeth Truss

This is the Government minister who wrote these proposals. She is pushing these changes through in the mistaken belief that allowing more children per adult, risking the business sustainability of all early years providers and marginalising many thousands of well qualified and highly respected childminders will not affect outcomes for children and will somehow bring down childcare costs -

The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP
The Limes, 32 Bridge Street
Thetford, Norfolk IP23 3AG

Or email - elizabeth.truss.mp@parliament.uk

.............
Write to the Minister for Education -

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Department for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT

Or e-mail - Sec-OF-STATE.PS@education.gsi.gov.uk

Include a copy of the petition leaflet if you are sending a letter by post - attach it to your email if you are sending it electronically.



Let's get our message out there!

[SJ35]

Thanks so much for all that work Sarah!!! Will get onto it tonight x

[sarah707]

Thanks so much for all that work Sarah!!! Will get onto it tonight x

It's not just me Jade - I have a huge support network of proof readers and people who give me ideas about what to write.

There is a huge outpouring of feeling about these issues so we really need to make our voices heard.

[silvermist]

Excellent! Im onto it tonight!

[tori4]

This is gr8 - thank you to all who were part of it. Will do my part xT

[kazh69]

Great work Sarah and thanks for sharing.

Ms Truss and Nottingham South MP Lillian Greenwood - Awaiting my letters.

[loocyloo]

thanks ..

i emailed liz truss this afternoon ... got a bit carried away and went on a bit! but all relevant!!

xxx

oops just forwarded it to david cameron!

[mazza58]

Have e mailed all three, first time I have ever done anything like this, just feel so strongly against this

[desiderata]

Working through them Sarah, and Truss hasnt knocked me off twitter yet x

[hectors house]

Way to go Sarah and everyone on the forum who contributed ideas - day off tomorrow, so will sparks coming out of the keyboard, steam coming out of my ears and probably death threats towards Ms E Truss coming out of my mouth!

[Porridge]

I have never done anything like this (writing to MPs etc) before in my life. I honestly don't think I have ever felt this strongly about any work issue.

I am truly horrified by the proposal, and, like most others, have absolutely no idea how on earth any of this can possibly lower childcare costs for parents.

As a working mum myself I am even more horrified at the thought that once my business has become unsustaneable, I will be forced to leave a proffession which I AM GOOD AT, and have to go back to an insignificant job which I don't enjoy, for less money than I earn now, and be forced to spend the majority (or more) of my earnings on sending my own young family into a childcare system that has absolutely NO WAY of supporting their individual needs.

How on earth is this ever going to work for me? And the 14 families I and my co-minder currently support?

Totally and utterly horrified. I don't know another word for it.

I am re-drafting my letter as we speak, and will be sending it on to as many people as I can think of who might listen. I will be newslettering my parents too to ensure they cannot possibly miss this.

Does anyone actually support these ideas? Am I missing something?

Thank you so much for all your hard work to everyone involved.

I really hope we can stop this from happening.

[jackie 7]

sent her and email and copied to my mp. now who else can i annoy?

[AgentTink]

Have just sent my letter to Elizabeth Truss, Michael Gove, my local MP Joe Benson, Michael Fallon - Small business minister and, and Toby Perkins - Shadow small business minister. The more people who do this the more chance of our voice getting heard

[loocyloo]

just re-read sarahs first post ... i hadn't thought about actually writing to my LA!

think they are next on my list, along the lines of WHAT are you going to do? !!!

my DO rang me today as she had been asked to get the 'statistics' for childminders in her area ... wanting to know how many 2, 3 & 4 yr olds i had, and how many were funded! ... i asked why and she said county had asked, but it was for somewhere else !!! i asked if it was dept of ed and she said she didn't know, but thought it much be and would be related to something to do with everything!

[mum26]

Yes - I was asked how many funded children were with me - split into age groups by early years.

[welshgirl]

Another 4 letters and 2 glasses of wine done!

[sarah707]

my DO rang me today as she had been asked to get the 'statistics' for childminders in her area ... wanting to know how many 2, 3 & 4 yr olds i had, and how many were funded! ... i asked why and she said county had asked, but it was for somewhere else !!! i asked if it was dept of ed and she said she didn't know, but thought it much be and would be related to something to do with everything!

Funny... that's one of the things I challenged Ms Truss with in our www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/mgc document!

I asked - have you done a sufficiency audit of LAs to check that all these new childminders you are intending for agencies to register are actually needed??

Maybe somebody has read it then??

I wonder if anyone else will get a call?? Please report back if you do...

[mum26]

Have sent letters to my Mp, Michael Gove, Liz Truss and also emailed Local Authority - wonder if I will get any replies!

[The Juggler]

I have just e-mailed Ms Truss and cc'd in Mr Gove. I am getting more and more annoyed at the whole proposals the more consultations I complete and the more I write and e-mail. off to do some housework to calm down