Growing from a childminders to a nursery

INTRO

You can earn more money and have more freedom running a nursery than a childminder.

This probably comes as no surprise.

Childminders are often overlooked and undervalued by both parents and also by the government when taken into consideration of funding and ratios.

Despite doing pretty much the same job and role as nurseries. Following the same Early Learning Goals and similar Safeguarding requirements.

Because of this you’ve probably thought about Growing you’re childminder setting from a childminder to a nursery.

Well in this video we will go over whether you should do this and how you can do this.

But first, welcome to the channel.

Intro Video

Welcome to the channel open a nursery with myself Curtly Ani, where I teach you to open, run and grow your own childcare business.

In this video we are discussing growing from a childminder to a nursery.

Do you currently run a childminder setting in your home?  Are you currently looking to expand or have thought about expanding and are thinking about the potential of opening a nursery either in your home or in its own dedicated building.

Well, there are a number of things you will need to consider.  And this is what we will be going over, over the course of this video.

Firstly, what are the differences between a nursery and childminder?

There are several different types of childcare available to families in the UK, with nurseries and childminders being some of the most popular.

Both nurseries and childminders must be registered in order to care for children in England.  This registration is usually done with Ofsted.  With this being mandatory for nurseries. Though, childminders have the option of choosing to register with Ofsted or registering through a childminding agency, who are themselves registered with Ofsted.

Childminders look after and care for children in their own homes. They’re self-employed and run their own small, independent childcare businesses, providing high-quality education and care to children of all ages, from birth to 16 years.

Childminders are allowed to look after up to six children aged up to eight years, including their own youngsters. If they employ – or work in partnership with – other registered childminders or childminding assistants, they can care for more.

Whereas, nurseries can be home-based or within its own dedicated building and generally care for up to 8 years old, usually up to 4 before they start school.  The ratios differ  They are run by community groups or commercial businesses.  Or by private individuals like yourself.

They both follow the EYFS and both receive regular inspections to judge their quality.

With these slight differences, there are some benefits to running a nursery over a childminders, which has led to a lot of registered childminders switching to opening a nursery.

There’s no other way of putting it running a childminders setting is hard.

You often spent long hours during the day working with the children, and then even spend evenings catching up on paperwork like learning journeys or invoicing payments.

It’s a lot.

And often, parents don’t give you the same respect as they might do a nursery.  Choosing to opt for nurseries when their child becomes eligible for funding, despite often offering more like school drop-offs and pick-ups, being more flexible and following the same curriculum.

Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to change every parents’ views on this.  Though, some childminders are changing to nurseries in order to take advantage of these benefits.

With some even remaining in their own home and simply changing their registration to an in-home nursery.

Childminders are doing this to take advantage of the following benefits of running a nursery which you don’t necessarily get with running your own childminders.

One of the biggest benefits is greater freedom.  When you run a nursery your not required to be there all the time.  You have staff who primarily care for the children and it is your choice whether you do the same.  When I first started out I was there day to day with the children, but since then I grew and only went in to oversee.  This means you get more time with your own children, more time with your family and more time to yourself. 

This is the biggest benefit.  Freedom is everything.  And running a childminder setting doesn’t always offer you this.

The second biggest benefit is the ability to earn more.

With a childminder setting you are often limited.  Limited by the number of children you can care for, limited by ratios, and in some cases limited by how much you can charge.

Firstly, nurseries can generally charge more due to the perception from parents.  But they can also earn more as they can generally look after more children due to the staff to children ratios.  Each member of staff can look after eight 3 year olds in a nursery, 3 under twos or 5 two year olds. Which as you are aware is a lot more than what childminders can. 

So, for example if you and a nursery were charging £5.00 per hour per child.  Looking after 3 year olds.  You could earn £15.00 p/h as you can care for three three-year-olds.  Whereas, if you were operating as a nursery still within your home, everything else exactly the same except the registration.  You could earn £40.00 per hour as you can look after 8 children.

That’s £25.00 more per hour, doing pretty much the same role.

It’s crazy.

But, that is why many childminders are coming to me to learn how to open a nursery.  Because, it offers you an opportunity to earn more money and gives you greater flexibility.

There are other benefits too, as opening a nursery means you can look after more children, as you are not limited by number of children, but just by the space you have.

So, if your childminder setting is growing and you are getting more enquiries than you can actually look after, opening a nursery would be the next natural step.

So, how do you do it.

This is where I come in.

I support childminders like yourself to grow their business and open their own nursery whether that be remaining in their own home or in their own dedicated building.

If you just want to grow your current setting, giving you more time away from your setting and enabling you to look after more children whilst remaining in your home.  Then the open a nursery in your home course would be perfect for you.  This will show you how to start a nursery in your home, following the ratio requirements of a nursery, registering with Ofsted, setting up your business and marketing your nursery.

If you want to put in a bit more work free up your family home and start on the journey of starting your own business potentially owning multiple nurseries then check out the course open a nursery in just 6 months without a massive budget.

Both these courses go over the steps involved with opening a nursery and the best thing is you get lifetime access, so you can work on the steps and tasks at your leisure.  Whether that be 15 to 30 minutes a day when the children you are caring for are sleeping or in the evenings or at the weekends.

It is the best guide and course available showing you how to do so.  In the course you also get access to up 50+ documents helping you to open a nursery.

Plus, get support from others going through the same journey.  As well access to support from myself.

You will learn either how to research your area and find a building or how to prepare your home including potentially getting planning permission. 

Preparing your finances which includes writing your business plan, preparing your business and applying for any loans if needed.

Registering with Ofsted for England, the care inspectorate for Scotland, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate in Wales and the Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.  and then how to find staff and how to market your nursery and get lots of children.

It really is a complete course taking you from where you are now to the freedoms involved with owning your nursery.

So, what are you waiting for.

Click the link on the screen now and find out more about the open a nursery in just 6 months course. Or if you want to open a nursery in your home click the link in the description or comments.

I wish you all the best and I look forward to supporting you.  God Bless.