If you do require childcare you will want your child to be with someone you can trust. All children under the age of 8 needing childcare for over two hours a day should to be with a provider registered with the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), unless the care is provided by a close family member.
Remember, children do not have to attend a care or educational setting until they reach school age. They can stay at home! You may feel that your child would benefit from being in a different environment; good childcare can help a child to relate with other children and adults, build confidence, enhance development and lay the foundations for success at school. You might need childcare in order to work, train or study. It is important to choose a provider that will suit both your child’s and your family’s needs and you will need to consider things like:
- The type of care provided
- The age range that the service covers
- The size of the group
- The times when childcare will be needed
- The location
- Avoiding tiring journeys for yourself and your child
- The costs and what you can afford
- Whether your child has any dietary, physical, emotional, religious or cultural special needs
- The quality of the care
Quality of Care
Registered Childcare
All childminders, pre-schools and nurseries are registered and inspected by OFSTED, as are out-of-school clubs when any of the children attending are under eight years old and the club is open for more than 2 hours a day for six or more days in any year. Registration means that a setting must meet minimum welfare standards. These will ensure that:
- Staff are CRB checked. (This also includes other adults over 16 years living in the house in the case of a childminder)
- Premises, including outside areas, are safe for children
- Key staff are adequately trained
- Appropriate management and effective policies and procedures are in place
Once registered, all settings are then inspected by OFSTED. Groups have no warning as to when an inspector will visit, and childminders are only given a few days notice to ensure they will be in. Inspectors work through a rigorous checklist and complete a detailed report acknowledging good practice with action points. They award a grade of outstanding, good, satisfactory or inadequate.
Recent inspection reports and grades can be viewed on-line at the OFSTED website. Please note that childminders’ reports have only recently been placed on the website and may not be available until their next inspection. Alternatively ask the childminder to show you their latest report.
Quality Assurance Schemes
In addition to registration both childminders and group settings may have met the requirements of a Quality Assurance Scheme. The best schemes encourage continuous self evaluation where practitioners reflect and review their practice and make any necessary changes to improve their quality of care.
Providing for Special Needs
In Wiltshire the Early Years and Childcare Team provide a network of support staff to improve quality through focused visits, an extensive training programme, network meetings and specialist support to enable inclusion for all children.
In group settings a child with special needs will be allocated a keyworker, one member of staff will be the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) identifying and supporting any child with additional needs and at least half of the staff will have a childcare qualification. In many groups this figure is higher.
Voluntary Childcare Register
Changes in the law mean that those not obliged to register with Ofsted for the reasons identified above, can now choose to join the voluntary part of the Childcare Register. These include childcare providers who:
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provide care for children aged 8 and over (such as childminders who only care for over 8's or care provided in out of school and holiday clubs).
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offer activity based care such as sports, drama or arts clubs.
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provide care in the child's own home, for example, nannies, au pairs or home-based care for disabled children.
If a group or activity has chosen to register on the voluntary childcare register, parents can use the childcare element of working Tax Credit to help with the cost and they can be reassured that the setting meets the welfare standards designed to safeguard children.
When Making Your Choice
Parents often wonder what to look out for when they are choosing suitable childcare. Before deciding it is worth taking time to look at the various types of care on offer and to visit a range of providers with your child. Talk to friends and neighbours; ask them why they chose a particular childcare option.
Remember you are looking for a warm welcome, possibly a combination of care and education, enthusiastic adults, good resources and an approach that will meet the needs of your child.
Our Information Workers can advise you about: providers with current vacancies; providers with experience of caring for children with disabilities and special educational needs; providers who offer overnight and anti-social hours care; providers who can take and collect from a particular pre-school, school, before and after school club, or holiday provider; and any other needs you may have.
Settling In
Leaving your child in the care of somebody else is a big decision and it is worth spending time planning a settling in period so both you and your child can get used to being apart before you have to return to work or training.
For many parents it is much harder for them than for the child, so it is not unusual to feel guilty, weepy or anxious when you first leave your child; conversely it’s fine to feel relief, happy and free!
All childcare providers are happy to negotiate a settling in period to build confidence and trust in this new situation.
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