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I entirely agree with Sarah. I'm a registered childminder, too, and I am sick and tired of this patronising attitude of "poor childminders who are going to be so overwhelmed by paperwork" from those opposed to the EYFS.

The EYFS is being brought in for ALL early years practitioners. Why single out childminders? I am comfortable with the EYFS: I already do planning, observations and records, as do many of us, and it's not hard. My parents are very happy with what I do.

From what you say you are obviously NOT a childminder as you would know that the rules and regulations regarding childminding are covered by the Children Act and it is this is the basis of countless other rules and regulations which childminders also have to abide by!!

When you say

"It was sad to hear such negativity about the EYFS which is aimed at supporting all early years providers to offer children rich and enjoyable learning experiences - playing and finding about the world. It offers childminding the chance to raise its status to the same level as other forms of provision, shaking off its Cinderella image."

You can't seem to grasp that many many many childminders already offer and provide children rich and enjoyable learning experiences and they do it through play without writing it all down. Just because it is deemed by some to be useful to jot things down doesn't make that something upon which to base a totalitarian draconian law and inflict it upon everyone without the slightest regard for their specific competences. I take issue with the "Cinderella" image - thats just spin to brainwash the gullable! As I have said before anyone who wants EYFS can have it if they wish I have no problem with that. I simply wish to choose to opt out as I don't need it - and I know I speak for many others from all walks of life (7000 or therebaouts who have signed the petitionagainst EYFS for instance!). Whatever happened to freedom of choice? This Government and its accolites appear to have forgotten what that is!!

The OpenEYE group, which is a group of concerned academics (including Penelope Leach PhD, the president of the NCMA) who are concerned about the statutory and overly prescriptive nature of the EYFS have a petition on the No 10 web site. They are also concerned about some of the goals in the learning and development section of the EYFS.

Please note, they are not asking for the EYFS to be scrapped. Instead, they are asking for it to be downgraded from statutory to professional guidelines.

You can find the petition at

petitions.pm.gov.uk/...

and read more about the OpenEYE group at

openeyecampaign.word...

sarahdoublet Sorry Im not twisting anything of the kind if you don't explain yourself properly but if you could see my lips move you would see me say EYFS should be for them that want it - you obviously do - but I don't!

Let's not forget that this whole programme was about THE DRASTIC DECLINE IN THE NUMBER OF CHILDMINDERS and the effect the imposition of EYFS is having on their numbers. Liz Bayram (CEO of NCMA)was totally out of order saying that childinding numbers "ebb and flow" when Ofsted themselves produced figures recently for the last 5 quarters showing a continuous and drastic decline in numbers - this fall is directly related to the inception and build up to the EYFS. Similarly if you take it back even further to 1995 when there were 107,000 registered childminders - now there are just over 64,000 - thats over 40% down most if not all has been due to the ever increasing pressures put upon childminders by a Government hell bent on controlling every aspect of childcare good or bad. (Sorry Liz Bayram but you seem to be the only person who has not noticed that the tide has gone out and will not be coming back!)

So what on earth IS this Government doing when on one hand it promises to help mothers get back to work by providing more childcare places for them and on the other hand it is hell bent on driving the very people whom it wants to recruit away!!

Someone either wants to rid the childcare sector of childminders completely or has a very warped sense of directiom when implimenting Government policies.

My advice would be to have a moritorium on EYFS, stand back and have a real look at what it is actually doing to childminding as a whole.
I can honestly say that unless something is done to stop all these very able and committed childminders like Pam from leaving in their droves then by 2015 when everyone is ALSO expected to have an NVQ3 in childcare (without taking the slightest noticed of everyones years of experience in childminding) - then there won't be many childminders left to care about!!

This Government has been accused of creating a NANNY STATE well it certainly will have to be just that as there won't be a childminder in sight!

Yay Celyn ! Thank you x

After reading through all of the responses on this thread (and also the Parents Anticipation thread) it would appear that parents don't want EYFS, most childminders don't want EYFS and only the politicians and a few childminders are really in favour of it. Unfortunately, at the moment, it's coming in whether we like it or not. Although parents will just have to like it or lump it, childminders who don't want it can only respond by leaving and that is exactly what appears to be happening. And it's not just the odd few either.

Since the EYFS was announced, we have lost nearly 7,000 childminders. That's nearly 10% of the childminders who were registered in December 2006. There are 2 more quarters' figures to be announced before the EYFS becomes law so I would expect to see that figure continue to drop as childminders attend the EYFS courses being provided by their local authority and find out just how much extra work they will be expected to do.

A fully employed childminder can expect to work singlehandely for 50+ hours a week without any real breaks or lunch hour. Once they start the planning, observing, recording and assessing required by the EYFS they can then probably add at least an hour a day. Couple that with the time they already spend keeping their accounts up to date, doing their tax returns, writing and then keeping their policies up to date (as required by Ofsted), attending courses (which will become compulsory once the EYFS is in place) and childminding suddenly becomes less and less attractive as a job. For a job where you are supposed to be your own boss or, at the very most, employed by the parents, who are childminders really working for?

I am a childminder who, like the childminder in the programme, will also probably be giving up at the end of August purely due to the introduction of the EYFS.

I have read though the literature and attended the EYFS workshops and the more I find out, the less I like it. I already do a lot of what will be required of me, but I don't do any forward planning and I don't record my observations or do any assessments of the children. I am also very angry about the statutory nature of the EYFS and think that the goals expect too much of the children before they start school.

Of the 11 people who attended the workshop with me, only 2 were entirely happy, while 1 was for EYFS, but unhappy about the additional work. The remainder of us were very unhappy, but, except for me, were reluctantly going to go along with it. This is not to say that we were bad childminders, because most of us had been doing the job for a good number of years with good reports from Ofsted.

I have shown the EYFS literature to the parents I mind for, 3 of whom are teachers and 1 is a careers officer, and they all think it is far too much and can't see the need for a childminder to record anything about their children.

Luckily, my parents are all prepared to apply for exemption for their children while they are in my care so I may still be able to continue looking after those children. That is, as long as the Secretary of State grants them exemption. If exemption doesn't happen then that will be 4 families and 6 children that will need to look for alternative arrangements come September.