In January 2022, with Covid-19 still a hot topic on the forums and groups, we were testing twice weekly and answering Govt surveys about the impact of Covid on our business and outcomes for children. How quickly things change ... a year later and there’s no more testing and I notice, when reading inspection reports, that there’s less of a focus on the impact of Covid-19 during childminder inspections.
Childcare.co.uk released the new childminder planning guidance for 2022 and the updated ‘Free Childminder Organiser’ was a very popular resource. Here we are a year later and the guidance has been updated again – https://www.childcare.co.uk/childminderorganiser.
Meanwhile, I was busy planning webinars for every term-time week of the year and sharing information about everything early years. I love writing and presenting the webinars for Childcare.co.uk and ensuring everyone has access to free CPD throughout the year – www.childcare.co.uk/webinars.
In February 2022, we heard on the news that Russia was invading Ukraine – nearly a year of war in that region has devastated the lives of millions and led to rising fuel prices which have added to the concerns many early years already felt about their future financial stability, as continued Govt underfunding for the ‘free’ funded hours continues.
Around this time, DfE announced that early years providers no longer need to notify Ofsted about Covid-19 cases and most Local Authorities cut back their reporting procedures as well. We were told by the Govt that we had to learn to live with Covid-19 as a respiratory illness. The Govt health protection guidance was subsequently updated to include Covid-19 alongside flu and other respiratory illnesses –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities/managing-specific-infectious-diseases-a-to-z#influenza
Meanwhile, the early years sector was lauded as ‘Essential but Undervalued’ in a report published by the Childcare During Covid group. It was nice to be recognised –
https://childcare-during-covid.org/webinar-essential-but-undervalued-early-years-care-and-education-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
In March 2022, Ofsted published a new page to inform early years providers about significant events they need to notify Ofsted about – it was very quickly removed due to the contentious nature of some of the notification suggestions and re-writes were then made to the guidance –
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childcare-significant-events-to-notify-ofsted-about.
Sadly – worryingly – the Ofsted providers report released in March 2022 noted that 4,000 childcare providers were lost last year. Childminder numbers have continued to fall and the total number of early years providers is not showing any sign of increasing –
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-march-2022/main-findings-childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-march-2022#fn:1
In April 2022, early years providers were getting on with things, managing their settings and asking questions about which car seat to buy, how to prepare for Ofsted inspection and how to manage late payments on the Independent Childminders Facebook group.
Childcare.co.uk were busy conducting a review of the ‘free childminder paperwork’ page and all documents were in the process of being updated and refreshed. The new layouts and documents have been welcomed by many members and the review will continue until all documentation has been updated –
https://www.childcare.co.uk/childminderpaperwork.
In May 2022, the DfE released some revised progress check at 2 guidance for early years providers. The focus was very much on the individual child and the document was welcomed as a useful resource by many, with the caveat that it does not include any targeted guidance on how to reflect the last few years in a global pandemic on outcomes for children in the progress checks –
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1076430/Progress_check_at_age_two_non-statutory_guidance_for_the_early_years_foundation_stage_.pdf.
The first Monkey Pox case was reported in London around this time and led to a flurry of posts on the Independent Childminders Facebook group about the risks of children and adults contracting the illness. The UK Health Security Agency released some guidance –
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/monkeypox-guidance.
Our little early years setting - 2 childminders who work together - was Ofsted inspected in May! We were delighted to retain our outstanding grades. You can see our website here if you are thinking about putting one together for yourself - https://www.knutsfordchildminding.co.uk/
In June 2022, as the Queen celebrated her Platinum Jubilee and we enjoyed higher than average temperatures, everything seemed quiet and settled in the world of early years. In our early years setting, I remember that we were busy with the children and planning activities to take us into the summer. I know as well that we spent some time focusing on our budgeting to ensure we would remain sustainable in the tricky months to come as news of an upcoming recession came at us from all sides in the press.
July 2022 saw the continuation of Ofsted inspections using the latest education inspection framework (EIF), which was updated to share Ofsted’s inspection guidance to be used from September and to include a new section for childminders. Ofsted were keen to reassure childminders that it wasn’t a change – just that they were putting all the relevant guidance for childminders together in one place. Childcare.co.uk were consulted on the changes and thought they looked helpful –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-inspection-handbook-eif/early-years-inspection-handbook-for-ofsted-registered-provision-for-september-2022#applying-the-eif-to-inspections-of-childminders.
July 2022 was hot, hot, hot in the UK - phew what a scorcher! – and there were extreme heat warnings for many areas of the country. Childminders discussed this on the Independent Childminders Facebook group, sharing suggestions for staying cool including lots of water play, making shady areas in the garden and staying in during the hottest parts of the day.
Ofsted published the latest of their education recovery research documents which told us that children were still struggling as a result of Covid-19. The reports also aimed to share good practice from a range of providers who were busy getting on with their jobs and supporting children through the after-effects of a pandemic where parents felt they were safer in the house (less socialisation) and were often doing an amazing job trying to juggle work with childcare –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-recovery-in-early-years-providers-summer-2022
August 2022 is usually a quieter month for early years providers as they and the families they work with take time off and go on holiday. We were hearing about dreadful delays at airports and ports and thankful that we’d made the decision to holiday in the UK this year. Some early years settings close down over the summer, while others work with different groups of children and plan fun outings into the local community now that school runs are not limiting the length of the day.
In September 2022, we heard with some trepidation that Liz Truss (formerly a car crash in education) was now Prime Minister. This led to her attempting to push through some of her worst policies from her time in education, including the policy to reduce adult-child ratios and another policy which suggested she might backtrack on her original promise of allowing us to choose and instead force childminder agencies on Ofsted registered childminders.
September also marked the death of Queen Elizabeth after 70 years on the throne and a lot of childminders helped their children to make condolence cards which they sent to the palace.
The ‘Keeping children safe in education’ safeguarding document was also updated in September to include some new bits and bobs which were useful for early years, including advice to ensure a review of new staff includes checking their online presence. This was considered to be a tricky subject for many and advice should be taken if you are unsure.
The Pregnant then Screwed campaign group started to gain traction around this time, campaigning for lower childcare prices in nurseries and were mentioned in a BBC report into the loss of nursery places – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62496728.
In October 2022, as the financial crisis continued to worsen, childminders shared their money-saving tips on the Independent Childminders group. Some of the popular suggestions included only heating rooms that are being used, going out in the morning to warm places, asking parents to supply warmer socks / slippers for the children to wear during the day and encouraging parents to dress their children in layers which can be removed and added as children play.
The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, released her ‘Vision for Childcare’ report which argued, among other things, that rising costs make private early years providers increasingly unsustainable. Some early years providers on Twitter commented that they felt this was yet another policy from the ‘random policy generator’ used by the Govt to mess up the early years sector –
https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/report/vision-for-childcare/
In November 2022, the Oliver Steeper Foundation closed a petition against the increase in early years ratios which was due to be consulted on by the Govt after reaching over 100,000 signatures, many of them parents who were worried about the proposed ratios changes. News reports in January 2023 tell us that the plans have been dropped by the now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
There was more bad news in November from Ofsted about reducing childminder numbers. Childcare.co.uk has asked members of the Independent Childminders Facebook group – what more can we do to support you? They say it’s not really about support – it’s about financial insecurity, overly-zealous Ofsted inspectors, inconsistent advice, the threat of Making Tax Digital (more to follow on that one) and unsustainable funding levels from Local Authorities.
Ofsted announced that they were going to start writing blogs and introduced a new series including one on how they inspect childminders –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guides-for-parents-how-early-years-settings-are-inspected/how-ofsted-inspects-childminders.
In December 2022, the Dept for Education announced free early years CPD in child development as part of an early years recovery package – Stronger Practice Hubs for childminders. DfE invited providers to apply as leaders and mentors – many excellent, well-respected childminders were sadly put off applying because of the training expectations, so we will have to see how that works in practice. Childminders were then asked to apply for support – I recall at the time that I put a post on the Independent Childminders group but there weren’t many replies, so I don’t know if this latest initiative to provide support for childminders in 2023 is going to be popular or not.
I made the difficult decision to stop writing my monthly newsletters in December. It’s been coming up on me for a while as I notice reader numbers have dropped significantly over this year – and it’s become much harder to advertise the newsletters on social media as posts seem to be hidden unless I pay for advertising them. Sometimes, for hours and hours of work, I was only getting a few dozen readers, so... Anyhow, I will look at other ways of information sharing in the future, including posting more ‘newsletter’ type information on Facebook groups and my Knutsford Childminding Facebook page –
https://www.facebook.com/KnutsfordChildminding.
As December 2022 turned into January 2023, we heard from HMRC that the ‘Making Tax Digital for Self-employed’ plans were being put back from 2024 to 2026 and also that they are raising the threshold so it will impact on fewer childminders. This is good news for the sector – many of whom were struggling to come to terms with the change. Childcare.co.uk has a free budgeting webinar due for release around March / April 2023 which will hopefully provide some guidance to tax and how to prepare for MTD when it is eventually thrust upon us – www.childcare.co.uk/webinars.
I hope you had a good 2022 – and I wish you all a very happy and peaceful 2023. Personally, I would like 2023 to come in quietly and leave without any fuss please, so I can focus on my family, wellbeing, early years provision and practice without fear of changes that will impact on my normally sunny, forward-thinking, positive disposition!
Chat soon, Sarah x
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Picture (c) Business Green on Google Images.