My name is June Cargill, I have been registered for nearly 30 years and I am a proud strategic partner to The Liverpool City Region and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub where I hope I can share my skills, knowledge and experience with the EYSPH to support Childminders.
Having been registered for many years, I have experienced countless changes in the sector from the introduction of Ofsted from Social Services, worked with many new initiatives and seen new and updated publications and guidance come and go. I worked as a Childminder Network Coordinator within Sure Start and stayed open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
I have also just completed the Early Years Personal Development Programme (EYPDP) which, as one example allowed me to enhance my resources for Early Mathematics. Also available is the Early Years Childhood Development Training if you are newly registered or a level 2 and a fully funded L3 SENDCO qualification. Newly updated is the EEF Early Years Evidence Store that shows evidence based examples on how to improve areas which has affected children’s development during the pandemic for example Communication and Language. The Evidence Store is free to access and comes with good practice videos.
I would like to share with you how I keep myself updated with government and best practice guidance.
I know first-hand that Childminders are unique in the way we work… self-employed but regulated and this can be an isolating career. Having
no one to ask advice or ask a question on our practice or to sustain our childcare business can be stressful and can impact our well-being and motivation. I have a small WhatsApp group from colleagues I have met from the EYPDP and it's become a daily routine to “check in” and ask others' opinions.
Those of us who remember when Childminder Networks funding was cut, which had a huge impact on how we networked. Recently again with the lockdowns, contacts were lost, colleagues retired from the sector and play groups reduced. From being told we are a critical workforce to keep our country running during the pandemic to struggling having our sector seen as a recognised early years professional, the role is an emotional rollercoaster!
I would like to share one of the main ways I keep up to date…. email alerts from various organisations like Ofsted.
By signing up to be notified when there has been updates to essential information for example the revised EYFS draft publication due for implementation Jan 2024, The Statutory framework for the early years or the Development Matters but also for publications for Safeguarding, The Prevent Duty, Extreme Weather along with the wider information from the Department of Education.
No better example of how alerts helped me was when the Government announced the first COVID-19 lock down. To say the sector was in shock would be an understatement but when information was released, this came by way of an email alert. This was challenging as what was correct at 0800 in the morning was then updated by 1600 in the afternoon but I was confident that at least the information I had and also shared with those colleagues who got in touch with me for advice was accurate without bias or influence.
Over the last 3 years especially I have been able to use these updates to ensure my paperwork is up to date and relevant, also have an idea what was to come, for example more recently the introduction of additional resources and updates on The Prevent Duty and the September 2023 updates for the Statutory Framework. This way its free! You may already receive some, but not all updates are from memberships but this way you can save or print off yourself.
With the support of the Early Years Stronger Practice Hub (EYSPH) we again can start networking, meet up, share best practices and support each other in our business. WhatsApp groups are part of our daily work with families, which we could develop one of our own to network. No question is a wrong question. We all have the experience to offer advice and best practice. We can recommend each other to parents looking for childcare if we have no availability, go on days out, share activity ideas or to just to know you are not the only person having a challenging day….. the list of positives is endless.
By signing up to email alerts or following organisations on social media you will be kept up to date. Ofsted tweets regularly and often shares links for their own short, informative webinars covering all areas from best practise, curriculums, and Ofsted inspections.
These new webinars prompted me to review my own curriculum to ensure the curriculum is still effective.
I have listed a few organisations in the external resources section below that you may be interested in if you haven’t already signed up to or follow on social media.
Thank you for your time to read this and I hope you have found something that has been useful to you.
