Hello everyone and welcome to this month's edition of your Childminder newsletter.
Firstly, let us begin by welcoming everyone who has joined recently, it is great to have you with us!
We hope this newsletter provides you with some useful information and that you find it interesting. If there is anything you feel we could add to the newsletter going forward, please do let us know.
For your information, we will be continuing to send you a newsletter for your parents, to introduce ourselves and provide important information. We will be telling them about Oral Health and its importance, as it is part of the EYFS framework. We will also be sharing some useful information regarding 2 Year Checks and the 'What to Expect When?' document. Now the new funding is beginning to come into effect we have added this to the newsletter to help direct your parents to the correct place to find out what they are entitled to and when.
Did you know that once you have achieved outstanding, you are not inspected again for another 3 years? Instead, you have a yearly consultation visit. However, should we attend a consultation visit to find the setting has dropped in quality, then the consultation visit will immediately be changed to an inspection.
For all general enquiries please email your Agency Manager, they are there to support you and emails are manned throughout the weekdays.
The Office Staff are available on the phones during the day for more urgent matters, if you need to make contact, please do so on 01728 746970.
All Safeguarding concerns should be reported immediately to your LA Safeguarding Team before informing SCA.
This is your business
Just a reminder that you are a small business owner, you are your own boss! We are here to help and support you, but ultimately it is up to you how you run your own business.
Having said that, when you sit under the SCA umbrella, there are some commitments we ask you must follow.
CPD - Continuous Professional Development
We ask that you complete 4 hours of practice support and 16 hours of CPD per year. We are putting on lots of support groups running throughout each month on various dates, these support groups are to benefit you and your business, please access them wherever possible!
Upcoming Support Groups
🔴'Pensions' with guest speaker Paresh from Attivo - Tuesday 9th July 2024
🔴'Accounts' with Stacey - Thursday 11th July 2024
🔴'How to navigate the SCA Portal' with SCA - Wednesday 17th July 2024
🔴 'How to implement your observations to track your children using Development Matters' - 2 Hour Workshop with SCA Tuesday 23rd July 2024
🔴 'Working with you Agency Manager' - SCA - Wednesday 7th August 2024
Final Support Group until September 2024
Upcoming Support Groups from September 2024..
🔴'Health Visitor' with guest speaker - TBC
🔴 Accountant Stacey will be holding a support group regarding account topics on a monthly basis- TBC
🔴'Working from Non-Domestic Premises 100%' with SCA - TBC
Safeguarding
This is a gentle nudge to see if you have completed your Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) training with your local authority. We recommend it, and also some Local Authorities require you do this training because, firstly it is good practice and also it is a much more in-depth training.
Insurance
Just a reminder that you must have the correct insurance in place to operate as a childminder. You should be aware that if you don’t follow the statutory framework, then you may be voiding your insurance. Operating over ratio is another reason to find yourself not covered by your insurance, so please do be mindful as to what your insurance covers.
Eligibility to work
When registering with SCA we check that you are eligible to work in the UK. If you have a time limit on the length you can work, it is your responsibility to ensure that you renew your paperwork accordingly. We will check in with you and if we find that you are no longer eligible to work, then we have no option but to suspend your registration with immediate effect.
For support or help with your childminding business, please contact your Agency Manager. And remember, there is no such thing as a silly question.
Please remember your Agency Manager is there to support you. Please keep in contact with them so that we can keep your file up to date!
You should be sending them your parent contact details and parent consent forms, which you must also update each time a new child starts or leaves.
- Trackers for each term I.e. Autumn, Spring and summer.
- Any training you are completing which contributes towards your 16 CPD hours and 4 practice hours
- Do you have children with special dietary or medical needs? Have you considered whether they need or may have a Health Care Plan? Have you risk-assessed this and contacted your insurer? (This is also information worth discussing with your support manager so we can support you!)
- Completed an SEF Form recently? Let's get this onto your file to show inspectors how you are working on your personal development for your business.
Touch base with your Agency Manager at least once a month, ask them questions and update them on changes. Seek support if you need it. They are there to help you.
Your Agency Manager can be contacted via your area email, for example, Suffolk@scachildcare.co.uk
For the third year in a row, we are attending the Expo 2025. It was fantastic to see some familiar faces during this year's expo and we spoke with many potential new childminders. During the 2 days, we networked with Ofsted, DfE and Morton Michel who celebrated turning 60!
We hope 2025 will continue to be another successful year for Childminders and SCA. You will find us on Stand E44 so pop the dates in your diary now!
Pavandeep Josan and Adam Tuckett from the DofE meeting with Claire Chapman during the Expo discussing many important topics within the Childcare sector during March 2024 expo.
A new website is now live which enables parents to see exactly what additional childcare support they will be entitled to over the coming months and years.
The updated eligibility checker on childcarechoices.gov.uk is live and allows parents to access personalised information on the support available to them, including which of the new childcare offers they will be eligible for, depending on the age of their child and earnings.
The website will also allow parents to sign up for regular updates letting them know when they should take action to make sure they are getting the support they are entitled to – including when the new 15 hours for two-year-olds becomes available for sign-ups, with the offer beginning in April 2024.
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Expanded Offer for children aged 9 months
A useful document to have, which some Local Authorities require on file is the 'Safety Food Better Business' which provides you with a documented food safety management system in an easy-to-follow, ready-made pack.
… because the Childminder start-up grants scheme is now open for applications.
For further information on the importance of Safer Sleep and Guidance for Parents please go to:
Did you know.... we offer Further Education courses that might be of interest to you? From apprenticeships to level 3 & 4 qualifications, as well as SEND. Perhaps there is something you are keen to learn? Get in touch with us using the email: training@scachildcare.co.uk and we will do what we can to help.
We hope you find this newsletter interesting and useful to you and your business.
