Being a childminder in Islington

There is lots on offer for childminders in Islington. You can meet up with childminder colleagues at groups, visit parks and libraries and benefit from ongoing advice, support, and training from knowledgeable professionals.

Islington childminders provide good quality childcare and invaluable services for local families and most are listed on the Islington directory.

Childminders run their own business and in Islington we offer you support right from the start. Our pathway to registration includes information, training and advice supporting you to become registered with Ofsted. Your childminding coordinator can help in the early days of your childminding career to make sure you have the right support to develop your practice, link up with other childminders and services.

We are a small team with a lot of experience working with Islington childminders and warmly encourage you to work in partnership together with us.

Working in partnership with us

Partnership working between Islington childminders and the local authority supports high-quality practice and provision in a home setting as part of Bright Start Islington for parents and children. Childminders that work in partnership with the local authority find it helpful as a way to share skills, knowledge, ideas and good practice with a diverse range of colleagues. Professionals from a range of services attend the childminder forums and, in this way, you receive regular opportunities to gain expert advice as well as a network of professional contacts to draw upon.

Childminders that take part in partnership working will:

• have the opportunity to work with our most vulnerable children from the Priority Early Learning (PEL) panel that support families in need
• provide emergency childcare.

Benefits of partnership working 

• It supports the offer of high-quality practice and provision in a home setting 
• It can form part of your marketing strategy acting as an attractive selling point for parents who can be reassured that you are making best use of the support on offer from the local authority
• It provides opportunities to share skills, knowledge and good practice and discuss ideas with a diverse range of colleagues
• Through forums you can gain expert advice from professionals across a wide range of services as well as a network of professional contacts to draw upon.
• You can participate in programmes such as Healthy Early Years London
• You can use the Register of Good Practice to share aspects of good practice between each other

We offer:

• access to expert support and advice from childminder coordinators
• an annual home monitoring visit to discuss and monitor statutory requirements and the quality of practice and provision, considering strengths and identifying any areas for improvement. This includes how you support children’s learning and development
• telephone and email advice from childminding coordinators
• access to childminder groups in children’s centres led by a senior early childhood practitioner. These are held in a play-based environment and workshops are held over the year on a variety of subjects for CMs to take away ideas and information
• a termly childminder forum to receive important updates and information
• access to bespoke termly safeguarding training workshops
• the opportunity for you to offer to parents, free entitlement places for 3 and 4 yr. olds and places for children allocated through the Priority Early Learning Panel.

Participation in partnership working involves:

• an annual home monitoring visit from a childminder coordinator with follow up of any identified actions for improvement
• your attendance at least two childminding forums a year to keep up to date with relevant information. These are either held in the evenings or on a Saturday for approximately 2 hours and include local and national updates, safeguarding information, speakers from wider services and opportunities for discussion.
• regular attendance at Bright Start childminder groups 

Annual home monitoring visit

This is arranged in advance and lasts about 90 minutes. A monitoring form is sent out ahead of the appointment, some of which can be filled in before the visit. During the visit the form will be completed and an assessment of the quality of practice will be made in discussion with the CM coordinator and the childminder. 

At this time, a rating of red, amber or green (RAG) will be given to support with identifying strengths and areas for development. A copy of the final report with relevant actions will be emailed to childminders.