Children's centres
Registered
childminders are ideally placed to work closely with
children's centres. They can benefit from the centre's
facilities and staff support, and the centre will reach even more
children and families.
When childminding is integrated into children’s centres, local
families can benefit from both home and centre-based childcare,
depending on the needs of their children.
NCMA can help you integrate the work of childminders with your
children’s centre.
Centres across England and Wales already offer local
childminders a range of services and childminders can both
benefit from and support any or all of the following:
- a toy library service
- a vacancy-matching service, which will also support parents
visiting your centre and give them increased range and choice of
childcare
- the use of centre facilities, such as a rooms for a childminder
drop-in session or photocopying facilities for a childminding
newsletter
- training, especially if it is tailored to the needs of
childminders, but also offering childminders places at
training on offer through your centre
- a childminder representative at centre staff meetings and
management meetings. The more local childminders know about your
centre, the more they can promote its services to parents
- opportunity to work as "bank staff", offering cover in the
children's centre when not childminding.
Find out why
childminders are the ideal childcare choice for parents with NCMA's
short film, Home from Home.
So, if childminders aren't yet an integral part of your centre,
now's the time to start involvement. NCMA has put together a range
of resources to help you. Find out more about the ways NCMA can
support your children's centre over the next few pages.
Nursery World magazine's feature on childminders working with
children's centres illustrates the benefits of such
partnerships.