Over a cup of coffee in the FSF HQ kitchen ... So Tim, how did someone with an IT background find their way into a full time early years career? It was my wife's fault! She began childminding as a way to stay at home when our daughter was born. Parenthood came very naturally to me, so after being made redundant from an IT role, I joined my wife and we spent the next few years as co-childminders. I felt very privileged to be able to look after other people's children and it was a joy to be able to look after my own! Childminding is difficult isn't it? Using your own home as a base for your work poses particular challenges! Definitely. Although we weren't to start with, we are now large for a childminder which takes up even more room in my home! Luckily I love what I do. When we started it was just me and my wife and it was a much smaller operation. Now, we have gone to quite a grand scale! To accommodate this I had to make a rather large alteration to our home - I created a dedicated space for play from what was the double garage. Other rooms in our home are still recognisable as 'family' rooms though - the garage on the other hand, not so much!! How did your own children react to having others in their home, presumably using toys that they considered to be 'theirs'? There are pros and cons for my own children. When they were younger, it was like having friends round to play every day, and I was around to take and collect them from school allowing me to play a more active role in their childhood. As they have grown and now attend senior school, they never walk into an empty house and enjoy having people around. On the other hand, their bedrooms have cots in them and when they come in and need to relax, there is a lot going on. But they have grown up with this being the norm and are very accustomed to it. How does it work having more than one childminder working in the same space? Doesn't that make you 'childcare on domestic premises'? Can you clarify the difference for me? The EYFS allows for up to three childminders to work together, before being classified as Childcare on Domestic Premises. As a childminder, the ratios and some of the rules are different from Childcare on Domestic Premises, which is far more similar to being a nursery or preschool. Our small team consists of three registered childminders and two assistants. We have a maximum of three people working at any one time, looking after up to 9 early years children. We care for children from birth to school age and provide some wrap-around and school holiday care. So we know a little bit about your provision now but it must have been somewhat different when you were starting out? Indeed! Initially, as a husband and wife team, I found myself taking care of the business – policies, procedures, invoicing, bookkeeping and accounts, etc. This gradually changed as I became more and more involved with the children and found a passion for observing and extending their play and watching their development. So to start with I wasn't much about the 'care and education' I was keeping the business going. It was pretty challenging at first! In order for both of us to be there, we needed to grow quickly to ensure that we were financially viable. Then there was the issue of making sure we were conforming with requirements of registration and EYFS. There are a lot of policies and paperwork required that you may not expect with a small, home-based business - it certainly kept me on my toes! So what happened next? Over time, we needed to evolve and expand to meet the demands of parents locally. This meant that we were evolving from a small childminder into a fully-fledged early years setting. This happened quite naturally and growth was based on demand. It did mean though that I needed to look again at how we were using our family home for both business and personal circumstances. Creating dedicated facilities within the home environment was driven by the desire to give children the best possible experience, and not in an environment that is packed away at the end of each day. Then, my wife decided that early years was no longer for her and wanted to step away from the business ... it was at that point that I really found the passion for what I do. This was a pivotal moment. I needed to make an important decision - do we both do something new, or do I continue on my own? I did not want to abandon all that I had accomplished or the relationships that I had made with the children and their families. So, decision made, from this point on I recruited skilled, experienced people to work with me and I returned to university, qualifying as an Early Years Teacher. You've had a lot of experience as a childminder, what have been your highest 'highs' and your lowest 'lows'? I know that in early years we can become overwhelmed by circumstances that seem to conspire against us - and then suddenly something amazing or funny happens ... The highs happen each and every day. It’s the small things: a child who thinks they can’t, realising they can. An overjoyed parent seeing what their child is achieving. Seeing children grow and develop, often from very small babies right up to leaving for school. It is a hugely rewarding career and I am hugely privileged to share the children’s achievements with them. The lows? Dealing with safeguarding issues, parents who don’t engage, inspections that don’t go as well as you hope. These things can be heart breaking and demoralising but can always be turned into positives, helping to evaluate yourself and make a difference in children’s lives. So now that you are established, what are your main challenges? Working as a man in a female dominated profession has presented its challenges. It is rare that I have found myself disadvantaged in this respect, but it is difficult attending courses, etc. and mixing when you are the only man in the room. Sometimes you are practically ignored, sometimes you are a novelty. Some parents actively seek out a male role model for their children, whereas some prefer their child's key person to be female. But without exception, the children have no concept of gender stereotypes. Obviously for my setting, financial sustainability is a constant challenge. The amount that parents pay for childcare is a huge hit from the salary of an average working parent. But the cost of providing the care is not insubstantial. I have welcomed the government’s commitment to funding early years education, although in its current form it does not cover the costs of providing the high-quality childcare that I strive to offer. That's all pretty hard to take I know, so what keeps you going? The children. Watching children develop, grow and achieve. Helping to extend their learning and sharing their successes. Watching a child’s face light up as understanding dawns or when you see a child achieve something they thought unachievable. So what does a 'typical' day look like for you? 6:30am setting up for the day. Open the door at 7am. Breakfast and a chilled start to the day for the children arriving early. By 9am, indoor and outdoor child led play. Sorry to interrupt you! What's the best 'adult led' activity you have done this week? Why did you plan it? This week we have thought about Remembrance Sunday. We have made poppies out of our handprints and made them into a wreath. On Friday, we took the children to the local memorial and laid the wreath. We asked parents and grandparents to talk to their children about family and those no longer with us, and share this with us for us to talk about. We have also started to think about Christmas! Yesterday, the children made a Christmas cake, measuring out ingredients, pouring, mixing, stirring and seeing their efforts bear fruit. We create pictorial ingredients and recipes so the children can follow the steps themselves. And in terms of child led? What are your mindees particularly 'into' at the moment? One of the children came in this week having watched “The Good Dinosaur” at home. She immediately found a tub full of dinosaurs on arrival and started playing with them. We took the opportunity to go out into the garden and find leaves, grass and sticks, so we could create a dinosaur world in a tough tray. Watching the other children choosing to engage in this and the ideas evolving is a joy to behold. We ended up with caves for the dinosaurs to live in and a pond for drinking and baths. Snacks throughout the day. Lunch at 12pm, dinner at 4.30pm. Children will be encouraged to participate in specific adult initiated play as and when this is seen as useful to extending children’s learning or to observe specific areas of development. 6pm – collapse in a heap. We know you really well and we know how fulfilling you find your work and how keen you are to do your absolute best for the children in your care - but how do you keep this level of enthusiasm up? Who inspires you? Obviously the children are the biggest inspiration, having come to this later in my career I can honestly say that it’s the most rewarding job ever! When I did my EYT qualification I learnt to watch and listen to other experienced early years professionals. So, I would say educators, especially those at the University of Brighton, have had a big influence on me and keep me motivated and excited about what I do. I'm always impressed at how much they know and how this helps us understand how children develop and consequently how we can support them to achieve their potential. Similarly, I'm so grateful for the way in which the team at Brighton turned proficient child carer (me) into a truly skilled early years educator who can have a real impact on the outcomes for children. I'm also inspired by the team at FSF HQ, their individual knowledge and skills are impressive and when we all work together to make the FSF and Tapestry better we are really quite something! It's exciting to be part of that! Ha! Thanks Tim, we like working with you too! So looking to the future, what are your hopes and aspiration both for your setting and for the early years agenda as a whole? Well, in the first instance, I wish that early years education was given the same status as the rest of the education system, we do rather seem to be an 'afterthought' yet all the research shows that investment and quality in early years sows the seeds of success for future generations. I wish there was enough money to do all the things we need to do - rather than just scraping by. This would mean enough money to pay staff a decent wage and to fund ongoing CPD. I'd like there to be enough money to provide inspiring resources and environments for children to thrive in. And then obviously, enough money to be able to pay for these things without putting prices up for parents. I wish that there was more support available to settings from local authority and government regulators, with funding so scarce 'support' seems to be when something has gone wrong, not when something needs celebrating and disseminating to other settings. I also would like to see more onus put on educating our early years workforce, qualifying them to use their professional judgement, rather than relying on statements and predetermined behaviours to measure children’s development. Thanks Tim, it's been interesting hearing about your life away from us here at FSF... now that you've finished chatting, could you possible get on with fixing Sue's computer?! [Tim rushes off, waving]
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