The future for London’s childcare industry?

[FSFRebecca]

This was an interesting article in The Guardian - does anyone have any experience of this?

Is this Hackney nursery the future for London’s childcare industry?

[thumperrabbit]

Part of it sounds like how our traditional playgroup used to be 15+years ago - it was lovely

but then came longer opening hours, funding, more parents going back to work etc etc etc

[Rea]

Very like we used to be too. More parents have work commitments now though, but I remember the days when every session would have 1-2 parents helping, playing, getting involved. We always felt it was important that the children saw their parent as more than just mom or dad. They were someone who were respected by other adults, plus the children got to share their parent and the parent saw exactly what we did and learnt why. it was how most of us became staff. :1b

 

Still occasional parent helper thankfully, but I miss those days :1b

[GFCCCC]

I've just had a look on their website and all is not as it seems. Their starting fees are very much higher than many nurseries (almost twice what they are at ours) and the published fees are based on parents helping out every week and attending a meeting every month; if they aren't able to do so, the fees are higher. Also - parents have to pay for the six weeks a year that the nursery is closed.

[LKeyteach]

I saw this article today! and did it make me chuckle!! This is how I got into Early Years as a parent helper at my children's local playgroup. I was a single parent with no income and so I went in one or two sessions a week as a helper so that my children could get a good start.

So yes the chuckle was "so what's new about this?"

I have to ask though if you are a working parent (most of us are) would you really give up a precious day off when you could be house cleaning, shopping, or even taking child to park?

 

I don't know! I wish the best of luck to the Hackney Nursery and I hope it works for you. I will be willing it with all my might.

[Inge]

i am sure many of us started out that way , and then things changed to make it harder ..

 

Over time we were told to give an incentive, ie reduced fees or free sessions counted as taxable income for the person / parent and should be declared.

Then came the need for police checks, which became crbs and dbs.. informed regular helpers had to have this done..with varied discussions on what was a regular helper, no one agreeing, but at one point even once a month was deemed frequent..

Along with it not saving any money as they could not be counted in ratio..while extra hands were useful we had to ensure they were supervised and never alone with children.

 

It becme a mountain to climb getting them interested as the time we had the children is very useful to most parents not just because they have to go to work..

Good luck if they can get it working, but it really is nothing new.