I have emailed Ofsted about the new criteria - mainly that continuity of care is no longer mentioned in the revised EYFS - and thought I'd let you know their response.
The emails below are from 2 different people - this one was received on 23/4/12
Thank you for your query.
You ask first if you must still go through a variation process if you wish to care for more than one baby. You will still have to do so up until September 2012 when the new EYFS is implemented. After this date, you may decide yourself if you meet the circumstances set out in the EYFS that allows you to have more than one baby. Ofsted will not set any conditions relating to the numbers and ages of children you may care for, and you do not need to let us know where you care for more than one baby.
You also ask about the removal of the criteria for continuity of care. I can confirm the revised EYFS does not explicitly mention continuity of care and would appear to prevent you having more children if a parent of a child already with you wanted to extend their hours. The EYFS is not Ofsted's document. It is produced by the Department for Education and you may wish to check your understanding with colleagues there. We will also follow it up on your behalf and produce any additional guidance when we update our current factsheet on numbers and ages of children that childminders may have.
I hope this response is helpful.
and this one today
Thank you for your further correspondence.
From 1 September 2012, as per Statutory requirements childminders may care for a maximum of six children under the age of eight. Of these six children, a maximum of three may be young children, and there should only be one child under the age of one. Any care provided for older children must not adversely affect the care of children receiving early years provision. (3.39)
From 1 September 2012 providers will not have to seek variations to their numbers. Providers may decide for themselves if they meet the circumstances set out in the EYFS that allow them to have more than one baby. Ofsted will not set any conditions relating to the numbers and ages of children providers may care for, and they do not need to let us know where they care for more than one baby. They will be responsible for self-regulating their provision within the requirements of the new EYFS. New certificates will be issued to reflect this and generally no conditions will apply. From the information available at present any issues regarding continuity of care would need to be addressed within the requirements of the EYFS, (see above). If there are any exceptions or flexibility in the requirements, this has not yet been made known to us.
Ofsted will be briefing local authorities during June on the changes to the EYFS and you may find it helpful to raise your queries with them at this time as their role is to advise providers such as yourself. From the end of June/ early July we will publish key documents on our website so providers can read them and prepare. Ofsted will be following up enquiries in order to produce additional guidance to update current factsheets. I am sorry that I cannot give you an exact date when these will be available as the EYFS is not Ofsted's document and information is dependent on any developments resulting from DfE activity. I cannot name a direct contact person at the DfE but I hope that any response you receive to your independent enquiries is helpful.
I hope this is helpful
Best wishes
Both responses come from Ofsted's Quality Assurance National Team.
I have also emailed DfE but had no response yet (can take up to 15 working days according to their website).
Miffy xx
Bookmarks