About Childcare 4 U

As a small family run company we agree that you should not have to compromise your child's need for an intimate, homely and safe environment.

I look after children ranging from 0-13 years. As well as local facilities such as shops I am also situated close to the local primary school and the local pre-school. I have extremely strong links with staff at both and I regularly help out when they get stuck.

The separate living room can be used for games, activities and can be a chill out area for the older children, which can benefit them so that they enjoy age appropriate activities without having to accommodate younger children all the time. However, the older children also have jobs such as setting the table for dinner, organising coats in the hallway and helping the smaller children to wash hands. This gives them a sense of responsibility, but does not put the onus on them to care for younger children.
Parental contribution
Successful communication between parents and myself is vitally important because it also has an effect on your child's development.
This is why I encourage a culture of cooperation and continuous communication exchange between childminder and parent through various means.
I communicate with parents in numerous ways, including diaries, learning journals, emails, texts, telephone calls and person to person chats. This means I can accommodate everyone, using whichever medium they prefer.
I am happy for parents to call me at home, but I do offer calls in the evenings if they have any pressing issues. The settling in process can mean there may be a few more phone calls, but this is normal and it passes once things settle down.
Email
I use email to make any changes clear. I ask parents to email any differences in their routines or any important dates to make sure I am flexible as I can rearrange my diary and get back to people quickly. I also use email to send monthly invoices.
Weekly Record
I also communicate in the form of weekly record sheets which include all the meals in a week and all activities we do with the children.
(This can only be accessed by the parents of children I care for, using a password, Via our Parent login page.)

Learning Journals
We create a folder for children aged 0 months - 5 years which follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) structure in the child's development. Along with the weekly record I have photos and samples of work the children produce. This forms the Learning Journals, which I send out to parents regularly. They can see consistent progression from our point of view and they can discuss what the children have done when they are at work, which reinforces all we do with them.

My Setting
I live in Trentham. I find it's a great resource and with plenty of outside space including a local shop, parks, and a grass valley within walking distance from my house. It is safe and quiet and I use all these aspects on a daily basis to make sure that the children are outside a lot exploring and getting lots of exercise. I visit the local park for at least an hour every afternoon. The children get to run off steam a bit and enjoy spending time with their friends.
I have a 4 bedroom detached house with large rooms and an open plan design downstairs including kitchen, diner, living room, downstairs toilet, hallway, conservatory and constant access to a secure large garden. The property has CCTV fitted covering the whole of the outside and has secured electric gates with an intercom system. No one can enter the premises unless they are let in.

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