Non-starter

Well I didn't get the proposal; so onwards and upwards I'm ready to roll on a new nursery I just need a property

Anyone got a spare property in Norfolk going cheap?

Baby lambs and British Weather - humbug!

We were to be visited by a baby lamb today (7 weeks old), for bottle feeding.  The children were so excited!

And then it started raining and although the children are allowed out in the rain the lamb isn't - which is sad.

So once again the British weather triumphs over having fun

One of the nicest things about childminding...

...is the way the older children look after and help the younger ones and the younger ones learn from and respect the older ones

It's a vertical tutor group in high school, or a 'family' with different ages siblings but in childminding it's lovely

Now it's waiting.......& waiting

The proposal went in yesterday & now we wait

I guess I'm as bad as a 2 year old for waiting, I need to work on my 'waiting skills' but to be frank if I can't wait how can they?

Will I finish in time?

Final run down to getting a proposal in, running out of time to get things finished and a baby needs a cuddle - so typing with one hand, being 'slime'd and talking to another child about 'Thomas'; life doesn't get better than this!

Biggest problem in childcare today?

Well here it's effective shade.......it is scorching; and creating shade effectively is tricky.  Well tricky or expensive!

What do people want?

Today I'm finishing off a proposal for childcare.  Currently they are running 9-3 term-time, which I can't make economically viable so I'm offering 8-6 50 weeks of the year.  Who knows if the proposal will be accepted there are lots of issues.

The Government is looking for propositions like mine; but even those hours don't help shift workers or people with unusual childcare needs.

How can you make childcare financially viable and capable of meeting the needs of parents; I think the business model needs rethinking

How do I start?

I have worked in childcare for many years (well only 9) and I have ideas which I think would change the way childcare is done in the UK.  In my efforts to run childcare for the whole of East Anglia I have tried to?

• Set up in a school (they didn't want anything 'that' big)
• Covert a barn (not enough money)
• Buy a chapel (not enough outside space)
• Rent a chapel (the board decided to sell it)
• Set up in a council house on an estate needing childcare (the council laughed)
• Set up in a school again (actually they didn't want me) 

So when the council advertised a 'tender' to open a preschool I jumped at the chance.

But where do I start?  I have been writing business plans and cashflow forecasts for days; I know what I think I want but is it what other parents want?

The things that are important to me are:

• Open spaces & outdoor play
• Low employee turnover and a team with a mix of mature and younger
• Learning though play with individual planning, safe risk taking and little or no forward planning.