Originally Posted by
loocyloo
I think the confusion is not so much for childminders, but for the inspectors, who don't agree with the childminders decision or say we can't care for more than 3 EY children at any one time!
be it for continuity of care or for new business/overlap etc whatever! the problem is, that regardless of what Ofsted/DfE SAY the inspectors should do/think etc, they don't, and that is why I think we need it in writing. we all know of inspectors who don't follow their guidelines, but at least they are there! with ratio issues, there is not even a guideline to fall back on, and for all we are told to read the EYFS - we all know how differently that can be interpreted!
I frequently have 4 EY children due to parents needing extra care and I am happy with this, and that all children still get quality care and attention etc, however, an inspector could turn up and decide that they didn't agree! ( because regardless of how well I look after 4 children, and however well it works, when an inspector arrives, the dynamics change and I could have all 4 children have a 'crisis of confidence' etc and the day could be horrendous and the inspector could/would assume that everyday is like that and that I shouldn't have the 4 children! )
if we had it in writing EVERYONE was know where they stand, and childminders would have more confidence that what they were doing was ok!