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Partnership working

Childminding Hub Partnership working

Partnership working between Islington childminders and the local authority supports high-quality practice and provision in a home setting as part of Islington's Bright Start services for parents and children. Childminders that work in partnership with the local authority find it helpful as a way to share skills, knowledge, ideas and good practice with a diverse range of colleagues. Professionals from a range of services attend the CM forums and in this way, you receive regular opportunities to gain expert advice as well as a network of professional contacts to draw upon.

Childminders that take part in partnership working will:

  • have the opportunity to work with our most vulnerable children from the Priority Early Learning (PEL) panel that support families in need.
  • Provide emergency childcare
  • Offer places for children in receipt of free early education entitlement

If you have not yet signed but would like to then please contact one of the childminding coordinators:

  • Sandra Nicholson
  • Jo Hunter

We warmly encourage Islington childminders to work in partnership together with us.

In Islington’s early years and childcare service there are two qualified early years childminding coordinators, Sandra Nicholson and Jo Hunter who work as part of a larger teaching and learning team. They monitor the quality of practice in home-based settings, deliver preand post-registrationtraining and are the first point of contact for advice and support for childminders in the borough. They work closely with Islington’s Family Information Service and Renate Laux, Childminding and Childcare Information Officer, to support families to find childcare and childminders to fill their vacancies.

Benefits of partnership working

It supports the offer of high quality practice and provision in a home setting as part of Islington’s Bright Start services for parents and children.

  • It can form part of your marketing strategy acting as an attractive selling point for parents who can be reassured that you are making best use of the support on offer from the local authority. Information for parents on the local authority Website Partnership working encourages them to speak to their childminder about partnership working.
  • It provides opportunities to share skills, knowledge and good practice and discuss ideas with a diverse range of colleagues.
  • Through forums you can gain expert advice from professionals across a wide range of services as well as a network of professional contacts to draw upon.
  • You can participate in programmes such as Healthy Early Years London
  • You can use the Register of good practice to share aspects of good practice between each other.

We offer:

  • Access to expert support and advice from childminder coordinators.
  • An annual home monitoring visit to discuss and monitor statutory requirements and the quality of practice and provision, considering strengths and identifying any areas for improvement. This includes how you support children’s learning and development.  
  • Telephone and email advice from childminding coordinators.
  • Access to childminder groups in children’s centres led by a senior early childhood practitioner. These are held in a play-based environment and workshops are held over the year on a variety of subjects for CMs to take away ideas and information.
  • A termly childminder forum to receive important updates and information.
  • Access to bespoke termly safeguarding training workshops.
  • The opportunity for you to offer to parents, free entitlement places for 3 and 4 yr. olds and places for children allocated through the Priority Early Learning Panel.
  • The opportunity to offer emergency childcare brokered through the Family Information Service.

Participation in partnership working involves:

  • An annual home monitoring visit from a childminder coordinator with follow up of any identified actions for improvement.
  • Your attendance at least two childminding forums a year to keep up to date with relevant information. These are either held in the evenings or on a Saturday for approximately 2 hours and include local and national updates, safeguarding information, speakers from wider services and opportunities for discussion.
  • Regular attendance at Bright Start childminder groups.

The annual home monitoring visit

This is arranged in advance and lasts about 90 minutes. A monitoring form (Appendix A) is sent out ahead of the appointment, some of which can be filled in before the visit. During the visit the form will be completed and an assessment of the quality of practice will be made in discussion with the CM coordinator and the childminder.

At this time, a rating of red, amber or green (RAG) will be given to support with identifying strengths and areas for development. A copy of the final report with relevant actions will be emailed to childminders. The criteria for the rating can be found in Appendix B.

Free early education funding

All childminders who receive funding from Islington to provide free early education entitlement (FEEE) places to 2, 3 or 4 yr. old children and those from the Priority Early Learning Panel must participate in partnership working (This does not apply to childminders registered with an agency). This includes the annual monitoring visit which is in line with DfE guidance (2018 A4.18 pp22-23) that sets out local authority requirements to ensure:

  • That the provider meets the needs of disabled children and children with special educational needs
  • Effective safeguarding and promotion of welfare of the children for whom the early education is provided
  • That providers actively promote fundamental British values and not promote as evidence based views or theories which are contrary to established scientific or historical evidence and explanations
  • That the early years provider takes any measures identified in a report from Ofsted to improve the overall effectiveness of the provision

Safeguarding and Inclusion

Islington Council has an overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people in their area. Childminders offering funded places will have the opportunity to complete their DBS with Islington local authority.

Islington partnership working supports the principle that equality of opportunity is fundamental when developing a high quality service to childminders, children and parents. It is essential to ensure that no one is disadvantaged on grounds of race, culture, language, disability, gender or class. Islington local authority is committed to building a fairer place to work and live and has established a Race Equality Network to tackle systemic racism Early years race equality audit

In turn, Islington partnership working is committed to monitoring childminders in a fair and open way.

Partnership working with childminders: RAG rating process (Appendix B)                                           

For childminders who participate in partnership working, a green rating signifies the following:

  • that the provider meets the needs of disabled children and children with special educational needs 
  • that effective safeguarding and promotion of welfare of the children for whom the early education is provided is in place
  • that providers actively promote fundamental British values and help to ensure children are safe from terrorist and extremist ideologies
  • that the early years provider takes any measures identified in a report from Ofsted to improve the overall effectiveness of the provision
  • an Ofsted outcome of good or outstanding
  • a DBS check in place for the childminder, assistants and family members via the update service, or within a 3-year window
  • an excellent capacity and ongoing commitment to improve by participating in partnership working, regularly liaising with other professionals and by attending training and Bright Start childminder groups to enhance skills and knowledge
  • strong leadership and management including planning and systems to ensure that every child receives an enjoyable and challenging learning and development experience, which is tailored to meet their individual needs. This includes regular self-evaluation to improve the quality of provision.
  • participation in continuous professional development including bespoke safeguarding training to advance childcare knowledge
  • provision for children to begin to know about their own and other people's cultures and differences, in order to understand and celebrate the diverse society in which they live.
  • an effective observation, assessment and planning cycle and the completion of assessment reports for individual children on a regular basis, including the 2-year old progress check.
  • a stimulating and interesting learning environment and a range of experiences to support the development of strong characteristics of learning as well as skills and knowledge across the 7 areas of learning and development.

An Amber rating signifies:

  • an Ofsted judgement of requires improvement, good or outstanding but with some welfare concerns e.g. minor safeguarding concerns, poor practice for children with SEND
  • a significant number of the requirements identified in the Green rating that are unmet

A Red rating signifies:

  • an Ofsted outcome of not met, inadequate, requires improvement, good or outstanding but with one or more breaches of the statutory EYFS requirements
  • statutory training is out of date for more than 6 months and the childminder has not taken responsibility for updating childcare knowledge
  • serious leadership/management concerns; limited knowledge of responsibilities with regards to children’s individual needs.
  • a significant number of aspects in the Green rating are unmet.

Islington Council

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© 2022 London Borough of Islington.
All rights reserved.

Terms and Conditions for London Borough of Islington Learning and Professional Development Events and Resources

IslingtonCS and the London Borough of Islington are committed to providing a high quality professional service and learning environment. Our aim is to provide a positive learning experience and you can expect:

  • Tutors / facilitators who have been selected for their expertise and experience.
  • Course objectives that are clearly stated and met through a variety of training activities to suit a range of learning styles.
  • Training and materials that are informed by research and best practice with reference to appropriate occupational or professional standards where applicable.
  • Mutual accountability during events between delegates, their managers, trainers and Islington Council.
  • Sensitivity to the experience and needs of all participants.
  • Opportunities to give feedback. As part of our commitment for continual evaluation and improvement we may from time to time, observe part/all of an event and will give feedback to the learning provider from any such observations.

Booking

Your applications: It is assumed that line managers have the authority to act on behalf of their employer in authorising applications (where applicable) and complying with these terms and conditions. Where authorisation is not required you must have had the relevant discussion and have obtained the authorisation of your manager and organisation before booking a course. After you have made an application the course organiser will provide you with relevant course information, primarily using IslingtonCS. The delegate and their line manager are both able to logon to IslingtonCS and see the progress of applications.

Fair usage: Where courses are offered on a first come first served basis, we ask that organisations do not bulk book places. We reserve the right to cancel any confirmed places in such circumstances.

Your personal details:

  • It is essential that users maintain their personal details and keep their profile up to date, for example, if you change your email address or employer. We cannot accept responsibility for information that is sent but fails to arrive. Line managers should also inform IslingtonCS when staff leave their organisation.
  • Hand-outs: Delegates are responsible for downloading any course materials and, if applicable, bringing them to the course.

Expectations & Behaviour

Ground rules will normally be established for all delegates at the start of events, including issues of confidentiality and whistleblowing. We are committed to challenging discrimination and negative stereotyping of minority groups. We expect all of our staff and trainers to meet this commitment and provide an inclusive and safe learning environment.

Therefore we will:

  • Challenge behaviour and language that is discriminatory;
  • Avoid discriminatory language and stereotyping. If this is used, it must be justifiable in terms of facilitating learning, and not gratuitous;
  • Promote positive images of traditionally excluded groups;
  • Be open to criticism and learn from this;
  • Make reasonable adjustments to meet special requirements;
  • Involve people who use services in development;
  • Include examples in learning interventions of good practice in supporting people from minority groups;
  • Use positive shortlisting for people who identify as having a disability.

Trainers may act on any issue/practice/situation/concern either about, or raised by, a delegate in a training context. Initially they will try and resolve this with the individual concerned. If this is not possible then the issue will be referred to the course organiser. Any such matters will be dealt with in a timely, factual way with the delegate being informed of the course of action to be taken.

We ask you to:

  • Notify us of any special requirements
  • Challenge behaviour or language that you feel is discriminatory
  • Ensure that all staff are given opportunities to access learning

If delegates have concerns about any issues they experience during the learning event they should discuss this with the trainer in the first instance. If this is not appropriate or unresolved then they should talk to their line manager who will contact the learning and development manager. We welcome feedback as part of monitoring the quality of our learning and development activities.

Attendance charges and payments

Charges: You will be informed of any charge that might apply either at the time of requesting a place via islingtonCS, or separately via email or telephone contact. Course charges may vary dependent on the course provider, the sector you work within or your employer. Any charges that apply will be confirmed to the applicant when the booking is made. Any charges will be issued against a team budget code for internal staff or where invoiced this will be to the organisation or invoice name and address entered on the personal profile.

Delegate cancellation, late arrival and substitution

Delegate cancellation: To avoid a late cancellation charge we ask for three working days' notice (i.e. Monday-Friday) for all cancellations; this gives us enough time to try and reallocate your place on the course.

Late arrival: In order that courses can start promptly, delegates are advised to arrive at least 15 minutes before the advertised course start time. It is at the trainer's discretion to accept late entry. Where late arrival results in delegates being turned away, the non-attendance fee will apply.

Multiple day events: It is essential that you attend all sessions of a course where it takes place over a number of days. Failure to attend the whole course will result in non-attendance charges being applied to each session missed and/or certificates not being issued.

Substitute delegate: In all circumstances, we are happy to try to accommodate an appropriate substitute from your service/organisation, please contact us prior to the event to organise this. We will except last minute substitutions on the day, please ensure the delegate makes the trainer aware on arrival and adds a note to the register indicating who they are replacing. Please bear in mind that the cancellation charges still apply should the substituted delegate fail to attend or arrive late.

Course cancellation

Course cancellation: It is our policy not to postpone or cancel unless:

  • a minimum number of bookings (usually 6) is not received within 5 working days of the start date (please note that this decision is at the discretion of the course organiser)
  • there are unavoidable circumstances, such as a sudden illness of the trainer or adverse weather conditions.

If a course has to be cancelled in either of these circumstances, all candidates will be contacted via email/telephone. It is therefore essential that colleagues registering for a programme of professional development provide relevant contact details.

Non attendance charges

Where training places are funded and attendance is offered free of charge:
Late cancellation or non attendance on the day will incur a standard fee, unless advertised differently, of £50 per session

For courses where attendance is chargeable:
Any non-attendance or late cancellation fees will be collected as above at £50 per session or for the course cost should it be greater. Where payment is required in advance via a debit or credit card, these payments are only refundable if the event is cancelled or not delivered.

Please note: Any applicable fees and charges that are invoiced to your employer will be governed by LBI's debt recovery process.

Course Pre-requisites

Where there is online learning or other preparation that must be completed before for the course: Failure to complete it within the required time may result in your course booking being cancelled and a non-attendance fee being charged.

Evaluation & certification

We ask you to complete an online post-course evaluation. In most circumstances, this will be sent and accessed via IslingtonCS. In order to ensure we provide a quality service we would ask participants to take the time to complete their feedback. In some circumstances we may withhold certificates until an evaluation request has been fully completed.

The trainer may ask you to identify how you are going to apply the learning at the event and some courses may have a more formal assessment .

We may also contact you or your manager to discuss what difference the training has made.

Certificates (excluding those issued by awarding bodies following a formal qualification) will be available online via IslingtonCS. In order to receive a certificate and not be subject to a non-attendance fee it is essential that all delegates complete the whole course and sign the attendance register available at the training event.

We continually review our services and welcome any suggestions for improvement.

Intellectual Rights/Copyright

Any hand-outs or materials provided via the IslingtonCS may be subject to intellectual rights/copyright. As such, materials are provided for personal use only. Should you wish to reproduce or reuse, please contact us to seek the relevant permissions