Christine Greaves
Leading the way
Christine Greaves, from Herne Bay in Kent, has been childminding
for 22 years. in 2007 she was invited to join the Leading Early
Years Team – a new initiative set-up in Kent to enable early years
practitioners to share good practice.
I started childminding after my youngest daughter was born. I
used to help out at her playgroup, and decided to take a
qualification to enable me to run my own playgroup. Parents would
quite often ask me keep their children at playgroup if they were
running late from work, so I decided that the demand was there for
me to become a registered childminder. That was 22 years ago, and
in that time I have minded 198 children.
Partner as partner
My husband, David, has been working alongside me as a registered
childminder for the last seven years, and we have both achieved our
NVQ level 3. Before David became a childminder, quite a few of the
parents kept asking him “Why don’t you become a registered
childminder, too?” and we both thought it was a good idea. A few of
the children we mind are from single parent families, so he can
provide a really positive male role model. There are lots of other
benefits from working together – it gives you two pairs of hands if
the children want to do different activities, or one of us can fill
in observation sheets while the other one is involved in play.
I was surprised, but pleased, when Kent County Council asked me
if I would like to be part of the Leading Early Years Team. Being
part of the team means that I meet up with, and train with, other
early years practitioners in the area, including nursery workers,
teachers and Sure Start children’s centre leaders. They, and any
other local childminders, are able to visit my setting to see how I
work, and get ideas that they can take back to their own
setting.
As part of the Leading Early Years Team, every time another
early years worker visits me they fill in a feedback form. The form
includes the reason for their visit, their experience of my
setting, and if the visit was useful. For example, a Special
Educational Needs Coordinator came to observe me using story sacks.
I have lots of experience of using story sacks, so she was able to
observe me and the children in action. I return the forms to the
Kent County Council Early Years Team so they can assess if the
project is working, but I also keep copies for my own file. It’s
nice to be able to read all the positive feedback on the forms, and
it makes me feel more confident about what I do.
Fun with phonics
I am also learning a lot from being on the team, and I have been
able to benefit from extra training courses, such as phonics, ICT
and maths. It has given me inspiration to do some things in a
different way, especially because I have been able to see the way
that teachers work. For example, since completing the phonics
training, I have been pinning up words from the same phonics groups
around the house, so that the children can see them together. Being
on the team has also made me feel that childminders are a valued
part of the early years work force, and I am proud that we are
being appreciated more. I know that some childminders are worried
about the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage, because
all the paperwork looks quite daunting, but I’m sure that most of
them already do all that is required. We are childminders and we
can cope with anything.
It is an exciting time for childminding, and more people are
coming into the profession as a career – not just for when their
children are small. Childminders are getting a higher profile than
ever before, and we should all congratulate ourselves.