Last updated 17/02/2023
Is your childminding planning system simple and structured? Do you feel your plans are actually useful to your setting, or just another Ofsted chore? Keep the following in mind when you write your childminding plans:
If you feel you are wasting time with planning, then you probably are.
GOOD planning is not a waste of time. It shows parents that you are a childcare professional – not ‘just a babysitter’. Good planning helps you to stay organised, ensures that you are providing a balanced and varied experience for the children you look after, and that you have the resources you need to offer the experiences you have planned.
Don’t overcomplicate things or you won’t be able to use your system.
Whatever system you are using for your planning needs to be usable by you every single week. The more complicated you make it, then the less likely you will be to use your own system. If the system you are using currently feels too complicated for you to maintain, then it may be time to try a new system.
Involve the children and the parents in writing plans for your setting.
Ofsted loves it when children are involved in the planning for your setting. It’s great to ask older children to help think of activities for younger ones. It’s also nice to ask parents what activities or themes they might like you to explore with their children. Getting parents involved in celebrating festivals that are relevant to the children in your care (like planning to celebrate Diwali if you look after a Hindu child) allows you to tick off the ‘diversity’ and ‘parent communication’ boxes in one seriously-Ofsted-impressing-activity that everyone will enjoy!
Plan to do something NEW this year.
Planning new things is a great way to keep yourself fresh and to keep things interesting for the children too. You might want to celebrate a festival like Diwali or Easter or Eid that you’ve never celebrated before? The Kids To Go free Diversity Calendar could inspire you? Or teach the children about stranger danger, or mini beasts using ideas from the Be Safe Be Healthy Pack. Whatever theme you are planning to do will require a little preparation on your part, so if you put it into your written planning then it is more likely to happen.
Your planning system needs to work for your whole setting AND for each individual child.
If the system you use works for your setting, but does not take into account the needs of different children in your setting, then your system needs a rethink. A planning system must work for your whole setting AND take into account the needs and interests of each individual child.
Learning and development observations must link into your planning.
Writing observations and next steps into learning journeys is pointless if you don’t have a method to put those ideas into your planning. All of the ‘next steps’ you record MUST link into whatever planning system you are using, even if it is one that you don’t write down.
Get the right mix of planned activities and unstructured free-play time.
Children need daily opportunities for free play indoors and outdoors so that they can engage uninterrupted in activities that interest them. They also need you to organise learning activities and outings for them that address the different learning and development areas and characteristics of effective learning. Making monthly and weekly plans will help you to get the balance right.
What are your plans for improvements to your setting, and improvements to yourself this year?
Part of creating a year plan is to think about what new equipment, training and other resources you may want to buy for your setting this year. A formal list of this kind, made once a year, is a great way to make sure you think about your setting as a whole.
It’s also a great time of year to make plans for your own Continual Professional Development (CPD).
You might think about more training you would like to receive? You might think about getting training for special needs children or becoming a Forest Childcare Provider? All of these things directly benefit all of the children who attend your setting.
Your long term planning is a little like a performance review. It is a chance for you to take a step back and ask yourself what you do well in your setting and what could be improved. What could you buy or do differently that would help you to improve what you could offer? If you want to become a Forest Childcare Provider, for example, how would you work in weekly trips to your schedule? How would you make time? What special equipment (outdoor gear, reflective jackets, off-road buggy etc.) might you need?
Childminding Best Practice Newsletter
Sign up for the free Childminding Best Practice Newsletter and I will send you best practice ideas, childminding news, EYFS tips, outstanding ideas, stories from other childminders, arts and crafts project templates, new products, and links.
About Kids To Go
Kids To Go was established in 2008. Products include the Ultimate Childminding Checklist, and best practice resources promoting diversity and childminding in the great outdoors (Forest Childcare). S
Hi Kay going to do my evaluation cannot remember if you was selling something to do with evaluation struggling a little.
Thankyou Sent Mary Hewson Childminder from Samsung tablet.
Hi Mary,
Thanks for your email. I sell SEF model answers for £10 if you’re interested. Here is the link: http://kidstogo.co.uk/childminders/Paypal_Childminders.html
Best wishes
Kay
Hi I am wanting to buy the complete childminding package. Is there anything on seco please. I can pay more if you could write me a disability mission statement I could use as a template to fit around my setting. I find children the easy part but struggle with the paper work. I know what I want to say but putting in in writing is hard for me. I feel with your help I could stop stressing and be on top of my game.
Look forward to hearing from you
Donna
> On 07 January 2016 at 10:05 Childminding Best Practice
Hi Donna
I will send you a private email to your blueyonder address about this. It is fine to get the package and I think you’ll find my disability policy will work for your setting.
Regards,
Kay
I have always struggled wirh planning
A good way of working in partnership with other settings is to ask for their themes and plans and include it in your own planning.
I ask for a copy of the parents’ newsletters and plans from nurseries and schools that the children attend.
If one nursery is doing minibeasts and a reception class is doing growth, then a gardening themed plan for us covers them both. And, of course, you can share an overview of your planning with them.
I have never heard of anyone doing that before, Julie, asking nurseries and reception classes for their ideas. I think it sounds like a great way to work in partnership and extend an idea the children will already be interested in