OFSTED Priorites - Child Care Or Sticky Notes?

Karen Combe of www.pamperpartiesoxfordshire.co.uk & blogger extraordinaire on www.bizzymumsblog.com has kindly written this guest blog for us! So, a huge thank you Karen :)

 

I always refer to myself as an accidental business woman. It wasn’t an especially thought through process and I didn’t produce an amazing business plan before beginning because, if the truth be known, I didn’t realize I’d end up running a business at all. What started as a low-key venture to bring in a little extra money has turned out to be a thriving business.

I used to be a teacher. I say used to be as in I used to be on contract. I still keep my hand in with the odd bit of supply teaching, but contract work was just not going to suit my growing family. After I had my third baby the realization of the cost of childcare for 3 children dawned on me. We only had one childminder in the village and she was full to capacity. Nursery care was my only plausible option for my new addition and the cost outweighed the benefits of me working. It also meant my older two, who were at school, would be going somewhere separate to their sister. After much consideration, I decided to hand in my notice.

Giving up my contract was a very difficult decision. I needed to do something, but didn’t know what.  When I left the school I was given a voucher for a beauty treatment. It was whilst enjoying a pedicure that I had a light-bulb moment. I am a trained beautician and it dawned on me that it would be ideal to set up a little beauty business from home, offering treatments in the evenings. I suggested it to my husband who was very supportive and within a couple of months I was up and running.

One day a friend asked if I could provide a Pamper Party for her daughter. I loved the idea so set to work on a structure. After carrying out my first party I realized I’d found my ideal job, combining both my skills as a teacher and beautician. I worked on new party concepts and within a few months I was getting bookings for up to four parties a weekend. Although this was ideal in terms of my husband being able to look after the children whilst I was out at parties, the admin became very demanding on my time. I was fortunate that the local childminder was incredibly flexible and would happily take my little one for a few hours here and there. The parties then started coming in for after school when I couldn’t fit them in at weekends. No problem, they just picked up with my little one after school.

A few months ago the childminder had a visit from OFSTED, and after twenty years of caring for children, she decided to give up. In her words, child ‘care’ had somehow got lost in the priorities along the way and paperwork, post-it notes and policies had become the key factor in a successful OFSTED. Believe me, she was fantastic with the children. I would sometimes go along and be welcomed with a cake and flour covered toddler. They had spent time together, interacted with each other and enjoyed just being together. But seemingly that was not enough for OFSTED. I have written a letter to David Cameron asking him whether he could intervene before we lose more great childcarers. I’ve asked him to consider, as a Father, what he would prefer; a file full of sticky notes telling him what his child can do, or someone actually getting down and spending time, interacting with his children.

I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be paperwork and standards. Safeguarding and First Aid for example are vital, but let’s get the focus back to what really counts- quality childcare with the emphasis on ‘Child’ and ‘Care’.

Ofsted – Hero or Villain?

I got sent this link to a Telegraph article “Ofsted: concerns raised over childcare safety standards” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9131481/Ofsted-concerns-raised-over-childcare-safety-standards.html and felt compelled to read it. I have had numerous dealings with Ofsted whilst I was childminding and I only ever found them to be really helpful and not in the least intimidating. However, I know that is not the case for everyone & I have heard many horror stories!

The report highlights the numbers of child care settings that received an inadequate or satisfactory grading at their inspection, but what does that mean?

When Ofsted visit a childcare setting they review the following areas (following information taken directly from Ofsted website):

• the quality of the provision for children and how this helps them to develop well
• how well the provider is led and managed
• what improvements have been made since the last inspection
• what still needs to be done to improve the quality of the provision

and the grades that the inspector give at the end of the inspection are:

• grade 1 (outstanding)
• grade 2 (good)
• grade 3 (satisfactory)
• grade 4 (inadequate).

There are two categories for grade 4 (inadequate):

• Category 1
  The provision is weak. In this case, we send the provider a letter with actions that must be taken, and by what date, to deal with the most significant weaknesses. We call this letter a notice to improve.
• Category 2
  The provision is poor and needs urgent attention. In this case we may take enforcement action. That could mean we give the provider a welfare requirements notice explaining which requirements are not being met, including what must be done to improve and by when. In some rare cases where we believe children are at risk, we may suspend or cancel the provider’s registration with immediate effect; if we take this step then the provider must not provide childcare that requires registration.

The figures in the report are actually quite shocking and it certainly got me thinking! I myself have taken my eldest out of one nursery because after a takeover I could tell the standards were slipping and I had concerns over his wellbeing. The nursery had been reported to Ofsted numerous times and where ‘well known’ to them but nothing ever actually seemed to get done. That is not to say that things were not happening ‘behind the scenes’ but as a parent I was worried, and nothing was done to put me at ease.

I think having a body like Ofsted is fantastic; parents need to have a base point to look at when choosing childcare and schools for their children. My concern is that with all the government cut backs that we are all well aware of, like Social workers Ofsted inspectors are going to become over worked and under more & more pressure to hit targets and things may get missed, meaning children are at risk. 

Any parent will tell you that looking for the right childcare is one of the hardest things that they have to do. With rising childcare costs and the inflexibility of some childcare settings parents are struggling more and more and with reports like this, it is not making it any easier! Some parents though have to take whatever they can, as they have to have childcare in order to work & knowing they are not sending their child to the ‘best’ - that is not right!

All childcare settings should be at least ‘good’ in my opinion – our children deserve the best start in life and childcare can have so many benefits for children for their socialisation and development. Again though, I think this all links back to our first blog about childcare in general & that the provision just needs to be better.

Ofsted, like a lot of government agencies are just trying to do their job and protect our children but are continuously firefighting rather than being proactive due to ever tightening budget constraints.

So, in answer to my original question – I think Ofsted are a hero, just sadly they don’t have any super hero powers to fix the problems in childcare, as it seems the government do not place our children high enough in their priorities!

Sisterhood in the workplace – fact or fiction?

Whilst looking through the various links to articles I see on Twitter & Facebook I stumbled across this article in the Huffington Post http://huff.to/wroIRg 'Female Bosses, reluctant to hire women with children' & as soon as I saw the title I knew I had to read it!

Once I had finished it, I had to pick my jaw off the ground from reading the shocking statistic that ¼ of all female bosses would reluctantly employ a woman who has children or is of child bearing age! Not exactly fighting the sisterhood corner is it? Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes are probably turning in their graves!

But why is this, why are we not working to help each other?

Ok, we know that the work place as much as we hate to say it, is still a very much male dominated environment and women have to work twice as hard if not harder to get to the top, that in itself is a whole other topic! But, if women bosses are not going to support other women to get the top then what hope do we have?

This isn’t about a choice of family over career but working together to enable women to be able to be both. I am business woman and a mum, both very different ‘hats’ but I have the support of a great husband and family to enable me to do it, but I know that is not the case for everyone.

I suppose it goes back to our previous blog post about Childcare, if we had a much more flexible approach and a better maternity & paternity system, maybe this wouldn’t be happening? I know many mums that have successfully gone back to their jobs after having their children but I know many that have struggled to get the right work and or childcare solutions and therefore their careers have taken a back seat – is that fair? Intelligent, resourceful & articulate women that could offer so much to so many businesses are having to either not work or take jobs that they are way over qualified or experienced for.

This is not also, the 'cake & eat it' scenario – yes, women can work & be a mum at the same time; they just need the right support. And, no, I am not bashing stay at home mums either, I think that whatever a women chooses to do, is right for them and their family and we should all support each other without peering down our noses at what others choose.

I know it is not an easy job market out there at the moment and the employers have their pick of candidates, but surely if we want to show the young business women of the future that you can get to the top, we have to show some united ‘sisterhood’ solidarity?! We have some great role models of women at the top like Karen Brady, Michelle Mone, Jacqueline & Vanessa Gold & many more are now reaching the boardroom, so come on girls let’s show the men how it is really done ;o)