EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage is causing much panic and uncertainty amongst child carers in the UK.... including, yes, you guessed it, childminders!!!

A childminder looks after a child in the home environment, feeds the kiddies nutritious meals, changes nappies, toilet trains, does risk assessment, gives medication as and when needed, takes the kiddies on outings, does activities and a daily diary for the parents etc. she/he does not do formal planning/assessments/observations (with corresponding notes and photos of each child each day) etc. as teachers do at school. But now we have to :(

And... if you haven't implemented this by September 2008 you can be prosecuted!

Wha'???

I am due my Ofsted inspection any day now (eek!) it is way overdue... they have a backlog apparently.

So I have been frantically trying to implement this new programme into my daily routine, which, lets face it... cannot get any busier between 7am and 7pm, so I have to do this after hours :( I do not know if I am leaving our crucial stuff, or if I am overdoing it n some areas.

I have been up til 2:30am many mornings these last few weeks, trying to do as much admin as possible for EYFS, for the inspector. I just hope it is worth it. Because I do not have a grading yet and hope the inspector likes my service very much!!! BUT... it appears they are more keen on your admin and that you have dotted all your 'i's' and crossed your 't's' than the quality time you have with each individual child.

I will write how it pans out... cross your fingers!