Can someone clarify?

[Narnia34]

We might be posted to either Wales or Scotland in the next couple of months.

I know if we go to Wales, and I want to continue to Childmind, I need to include Welsh language awareness or something along those lines. Could someone clarify what this means? I speak no Welsh at all (apart from one song) and I wouldn't know where to start, are there courses available? How well do you have to speak/understand Welsh to be able to work? Will this prevent me from registering?

This is all just pie in the sky stuff, as we may well not be posted there, but just in case, I wanted to see what the options were.

Thanks in advance!

[manjay]

Not speaking any Welsh will not stop you from working You will get a range of settings here that speak very little Welsh to ones which are completely Welsh. It is however as you say an important part of the education system in our schools.

I moved from England having no Welsh experience and I can now honestly say that my setting is not far off being bi-lingual. A large percentage of my families are first language Welsh speakers so it was important to me to embrace the language. The are so many courses available and mostly free! but it is also about the culture which is easy to incorprate into a childminding setting.

So I guess what I am saying is you will be absolutely fine

[tulip0803]

Hi

I moved from England to Wales and spoke no Welsh at all. I have done Adult education courses which were no good for talking to children . I have attended TWF sessions (Organisation that teaches a bit of basic Welsh to parents and songs) anf Ti a Fi which is a Welsh language mother and baby group ( may sound daunting but they are all really friendly and help with words and phrases). I have also done the Geiriau Bach course which is provided by the WAG for Early Years workers with little or no Welsh (Manjay signed up last year) and that is the best Welsh course I have done all free . Some areas of Wales are mainly English speaking but they have bought Welsh lessons into all English speaking schools. My children attend Welsh speaking primary & English secondary.

There is no requirement for childminders in Wales to follow a curriculum unless they are doing the free childcare placements. You do not have to speak Welsh but it is good practice to include "curriculum cymreig" (all things welsh culture not just language) and understand the Foundation Phase for 3-7 year olds. We are inspected by the care body same as care homes and not the education body like in England and they inspect looking at the care you give not the curriculum you follow.

One word of warning if you move from England to Wales or Scotland you will have to re-register as a new childminder - even attending a briefing session to tell you all about childminding . They debated me doing the ICP again. It is not like just moving from one area of England to another unfortunately.