There is quite a lot going on in the childminding world at the moment. More than will fit nicely into the weekly email newsletter. Therefore I have put everything here this time as there is more room!
Contents
Health and Safety updates.
EYFS Reform Consultation.
Kids To Go Product Updates.
Health and Safety Updates:
New Oral Health Guidance
Keeping children healthy and safe is one of the requirements of the EYFS so with this on mind you may be interested in the new Oral Health Guidance published by the Department of Education:
Nearly a quarter of 5 year olds in England have tooth decay, affecting 3 to 4 teeth on average. This means that helping your families and the children themselves learn about and look after their oral health is not only a requirement of the EYFS but it is an area in which you can help make a real difference to your children.
The new guidance covers:
Why oral health is important from birth; information about tooth decay; tips for looking after children’s oral health including information about cutting down on free sugars; what to give children to drink and promoting good oral health at home. There are also some useful resources shared at the bottom of the guidance.
The key points for childminders to note are:
- New guidance on what sort of cups to give children to drink from. You should:
- Give children from age 6 months cup with no lids that they can practice sipping out of.
- From 12 months old onwards, you should encourage children to have all drinks in open-top cups.
- ‘You can decide how you promote oral health based on what works best in your setting. Ideally, you should link oral health to other key topics, like self-care, healthy eating, and physical development.’
- There are a number of ways you can help parents and carers promote good oral health at home. However, you should not offer individual or specific advice. Parents and carers must speak to healthcare professionals, like a dentist or member of the dental team, for medical advice.
To read the full guidance use this link:
Childminding Best Practice Idea: How about introducing a baby toothbrush in your treasure baskets? Make sure that you have a new toothbrush for each child. Children can then use these as a resource in your setting or take them home to practise using there.
Child Safety Week:
It was also Child Safety Week last week. Don’t worry if you didn’t do anything as there are still lots of free resources about things like burns and button batteries on the Child Accident Prevention Trust website which you can access here.
Sun Safety:
It has been very hot and sunny lately so sun safety has been even more important than normal. Here in my setting I have made the conscious decision to make getting ready for the sun an activity in it’s own right, rather than just something we have to do before we get to play. This way the children are encouraged to be as independent as possible and learn things like:
How to put on a sun hat and why it is important when it is hot. (To keep up healthy/to keep our head from getting sore and sunburned.)
How to help put on sun cream and the names of the body parts they are rubbing the cream on. (A bit of fine motor control is sometimes needed here!)
That it is important to drink plenty of water when it is hot.
I am working towards the children being able to get all the necessary equipment (hat, sun-cream, water bottle,) by themselves and, with a little help, get ready for the sun by themselves.
The parents are also on board and have been practising all of these skills at home and anyone who happens to be about when we are getting ready has to get ready too. My husband looked very funny wearing one of the spare sunhats when he was off work one sunny Friday!
There is a cute Sun Safety video for children from CBeebies along with some sun safety tips here.
Did you know that it is National Smile Month?
Did you know that it is National Smile Month? I didn’t which is why I am late telling you! It takes place between the 15th May and the 15th of June 2023 so there is still just time to join in. To find out more visit the dental health website here.
You may also like:
As a childminder you have a choice about what activities you do with the children you look after so why not do some topics that could really make a difference to their lives? Taking the time to explore topics like healthy eating, making friends, sun safety, oral health, fire and road safety will not only really help the children, but it will make you feel that you are doing something truly valuable with the time you are spending with them.
This pack is a collection of 14 mini printable packs with resources to help childminders to teach 14 health and safety topics to 2-5 year old children.
EYFS Reforms Consultation – Have your Say!
The Department of Education is proposing to makes changes to the EYFS to:
- offer providers more flexibility
- reduce known burdens
- enable practitioners to provide high-quality early education
- make it easier for practitioners to join the workforce and progress their careers
This is part of the Government preparations to provide the ‘free*’ places they promised in the Spring budget and is ‘particularly focused on helping them to address the challenges they are facing recruiting and retaining skilled and qualified staff.’ (‘Free’ deliberately in quotation marks as we all know they are not really!)
‘This consultation identifies opportunities for changes to regulation that align with the reality of operating early years provision whilst maintaining standards and safety for children.’
Claire Coutinho MP – Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing
The Department of Education also proposes to create a streamlined childminder specific version of framework. (More on this below.)
Proposals include:
Removing the requirement for level 3 practitioners to hold a level 2 (GCSE or equivalent) maths qualification.
Changing the requirement around how providers support children with English as an Additional Language to develop their home language from “must” to “should” or “may” in both versions of the EYFS.
Changes aimed specifically at childminders:
- Reviewing the requirement for childminders to undertake pre-registration training in the EYFS, letting individuals decide how best to achieve the level of knowledge and understanding required to register with Ofsted or a childminder agency. Understanding of the EYFS will continue to be assessed to the same level by Ofsted or a CMA prior to registration.
- Allowing childminder’s assistant(s) to act as the key person to alleviate workload for childminders by giving their assistants greater opportunity for responsibility.
- Removing the requirement to have Paediatric First Aid Certificates on display and instead make them available on request.
- Removing the requirement to physically display your registration certificate, instead allowing childminders to display it digitally or upon request.
- Allow childminders to include parts of their kitchen which are safely usable in their space requirements.
Changes to some of the language used to make the EYFS more accessible and easier to understand.
Changes aimed at school providers.
While not affecting childminders directly it is useful to know the basics of what is happening in this area as many childminders find themselves in competition with before and after school providers:
- The proposals include clarifying some of the wording in the EYFS; making it easier for people to be included in ratios by introducing ‘experience based approved status’ for practitioners rather than requiring them to complete a Level 3 qualification and changing the requirements of some of the ratios.
You have until 11.45 pm the 26th of July to complete the on-line survey and share your thoughts. Complete the survey by following the link below:
Proposed Childminder Specific EYFS
In brief:
The Childminders EYFS, (as I am calling it for the purposes of this update,) is still based on the same overarching principles with all other Early Years Providers: Unique child, positive relationships, enabling environments and learning and development.
The draft Childminders EYFS is split into three main sections.
Section 1: The Learning and Development Requirements:
With the seven areas of learning and development with emphasis on the three prime areas and including the descriptions of each area of learning upon which childminders should base their individual curriculums.
There is still a strong focus on developing language and extending vocabulary.
The Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning are still featured.
Section Two: Assessment
Still no requirement to keep written records unless you want to. This is reemphasised with changed wording.
The Progress Check at Age 2 will still be a requirement.
Section 3- The Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements,
This still has all the relevant information that is familiar from the current EYFS and including:
- Information that safeguarding policies must still be in line with the guidance and procedures of your local Safeguarding Board.
- Requirements of child protection courses that childminders must attend.
- The training and supervision of skills requirements for childminders who have assistants.
- NEW: Assistants can now be the key person where appropriate.
- Clarification that whilst eating, children must be within sight and hearing of a member of staff
The new document also has two appendices. Annex A lists the requirements that must be fulfilled by any Paediatric First Aid Training and Annex B has information about the Early Learning Goals, including clarification that most childminders will not have to use the Early Learning Goals.
If you would like to have a look at the draft Childminders EYFS yourself you can do so here.
If all of this feels overwhelming please do not worry. As and when changes happen the Ultimate Childminding Checklist will be fully updated making it easy for you to keep on top of things. If you have already bought a copy of the checklist and are on the Childminding Best Practice weekly newsletter mailing list you will be entitled to a free updated copy.
If you have not yet got a copy of the Ultimate Childminding Checklist you can order on here:
KIDS TO GO PRODUCT UPDATES
I have made some small but important changes to the Contracts, Policies and Forms pack. If you have purchased this product in the past and are in the Childminding Best Practice Club weekly newsletter list you may request your free updated copy by emailing me at jennifer@kidstogo.co.uk
If you do not have a Contracts, Policies and Forms pack but would like one there is more information below:
Contracts, Policies and Forms Pack
Having a clear and robust contract and policies is vital to the smooth running of any childminding business and can help prevent unwanted situations and misunderstandings between parent(s)/guardian(s) and childminders.
This pack contains a fully updated contract, complemented and reinforced by specially written policies. Also included are lots of useful forms for you to use in your business as well as information about the sort of paperwork you will need.
There is no need to buy repeated contracts. You can print the contracts in this pack as many times as you need.
NEW Bundle Deal
For those of you who may have missed the announcement last week I have launched a new Special Bundle Deal to help you prepare for your inspection and hopefully relieve the stress.
NEW! The Ultimate Childminding Inspection Preparation Pack 2023
Is your Ofsted Inspection imminent? Do not panic. this bundle will help you prepare AND will save you £10 off the price of buying these resources separately.*
Knowing that your Ofsted Inspection is due can feel stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Being prepared and knowing that you have everything in place can help massively reduce any stress or worry about your inspection.
This new bundle pack of useful resources has been put together to help you:
- Check that you have everything in place with the Ultimate Childminding Checklist and the Safeguarding Audit list.
- Update and/ or check your Safeguarding Policy so that everything is in place using the Editable Safeguarding Policy.
- Revise your safeguarding knowledge so that you feel prepared for questions on the day with multiple choice safeguarding questions.
- Quickly and easily evaluate your own provision and think about how far you have come using Focus Point Questions from the Guided Self-Evaluation Pack.
- Relax with the puzzles and mindfulness colouring sheets that are also included in your pack, knowing that you have done everything to put things in place for a successful childminding inspection.
And finally!
For anyone who has come to this information directly via the website and not the weekly newsletter you may have missed the fact that I have updated the free Counting Caterpillar activity (including free downloadable PDF.) To get your free activity use the link below:
I told you there was far too much to include in an email! Please forgive any typos or spelling mistakes. (You can still tell me about broken links though.) I am writing this on a VERY hot afternoon and I think my brain may have melted slightly, lol!
I hope you find all of this useful.
Best Wishes
Jennifer x
