Becoming a Childminder

For an information pack on becoming a childminder, contact the Family Information Service.

The pack explains your first steps to becoming registered and who you contact for support throughout the process.

The Childcare Partnership offers free induction training for childminders, running throughout the year. The topics include:

• partnership with parents
• taking the professional approach
• promoting positive behaviour, and
• an introduction to child protection

For more information on this course, or to apply for a place, contact the Scottish Childminding Association Development Workers on 01651 873184 (South) or 01779 480415 (North).

Start up grants

New childminders can get a start up grant of up to £500. This can be used to contribute to the cost of purchasing equipment.

For further information and application forms contact the Childcare Partnership on 01467 628579.

To receive this funding childminders must:

• Work for approximately 48 weeks per year

• Offer a flexible service to meet the needs of working parents

• Promote social inclusion and actively encourage participation by children with special needs, or from lone parents low income or ethnic minority families

• Ideally, do the pre-registration training and take advantage of other training opportunities offered by the Childcare Partnership

• Be registered with the Care Commission under the regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001

• Make information about their services available to the Family Information Service

• Work in areas where there is an identified need

Free promotion and advertising

The Family Information Service can help childminders to promote their service by advertising vacancies on our database. The database is used by parents, carers and professionals across Aberdeenshire.

Childminders can find out details about other childcare provision in their area. This may be particularly helpful if a childminder is thinking of expanding their provision or making changes to their charges.

Publicity about the Family Information Service has been distributed to a wide range of establishments across Aberdeenshire, including health centres, schools, workplaces, libraries, and job centres.

Keeping up to date

We can keep you up to date via our quarterly newsletter. This lets you see what other childminders and groups have been up to and can perhaps give you some ideas for your own activities. And if you have any news, achievements or photos that you think other readers would be interested in, this can be put into our next issue.

The Family Information Service can also keep you informed of any new training courses or conferences being run through the Childcare Partnership.