From childminder to running a nursery

[Muna]

Hi

Is there anyone that used to be a childminder and went on to open a nursery or start up one as a pack away nursery in hall/centre?? Did you find it easy to change over and how easy was delegation of duties?? If you are a pack-away nursery, what resources would you recommend

[HoneyPancakes]

Well, it seems not, however I'm watching this space.

[mundia]

We have had quite a few childminders that have done this. Where they sometimes find it hard is where there are differences in requirements because they are used to being on their own. Plus of course the whole management responsibility, managing, recruiting, supervisions, CPD, rotas, pay, policies,etc etc can be quite a bit to get your head around if you've never done it.

The vast majority do find their way through securing a good outcome at their first inspection but nearly all comment that they didn't realise how different it would be, and find the first year a real learning curve.

I'm sure we must have members with first hand experience who can share their experiences.

[ladybirds1991]

Hi

 

I am a registered childminder but I also am a manager of a pre-school, hence why I only tend to do afterschool childminding now lol. We are also a pack away setting but thankfully only have to pack away twice a week which is hard enough. You need to make sure any equipment you have has either wheels on it or can have wheels fitted because after a while having to lift equipment tends to be a real pain in the back side! You will find, as we have done, that stuff will get damaged after a while from being lifted in and out of a cupboard and having other stuff stored on and around it so you need to be prepared for that and ensure that you have a robust daily checklist in place to ensure all equipment is checked for damage which may possibly cause injury to a child or just render that piece of equipment unusable.