All About Me

My name is Lucy and i have been a professional child minder since January 2014 gaining various qualifications and have 4 members of staff.

Home and Family

I have two sons Jacob and Jack, and a daughter Katie and also have a foster child Joshua who joined our family in 2021. I have lived in Stroud since I was a young child and know the area very well. I love where I stay and feel lucky to be able to bring up my own children in such a lovely area of Kings Stanley. Jacob has now finished school and in full time employment and Jack & Katie are in Maiden Hill Secondary school.

Career History

Since leaving school I have done mainly elderly care work, and have worked at 2 of the main care homes in Stroud, I have also completed a level 2 course in hair and beauty and have been a full time mum to my 3 amazing children and foster child, I decided to enter into the world of child-minding as I love children. I have been childminding now since 2014 and have absolutely loved every minute of it with multiple courses completed every year to continue my development and knowledge in early years

Experience and Skills for Child-minding

As a busy mother of four, I am well aware of the demands and responsibilities involved in caring for children. I have no doubt that the experiences that I have had already with bringing up my own children help me in my role as a child-minder. There is quite a big age difference between my eldest and youngest children so i understand how challenging it can be to care for children with varying abilities, needs and interests.

As part of my pre-registration training I successfully completed a twelve week induction course in child-minding ran by the local Early Years Team and approved by Ofsted. The course covered a wide range of subjects including child protection, health and safety, child development and behaviour management.

I have gained various certificates and qualifications including a pass at cache level 3 understanding how to set up a home based childcare service, first aid for child carers, top tips for talking key principles session, safeguarding/child protection, safeguarding adults at risk, fire awareness and fire extinguisher course, food hygiene, moving and handling, health and safety. I will also be making full use of the training workshops provided by the Early Years Team and by the local college as they become available covering a variety of areas from child development and special needs to play experiences and nutrition and hygiene in the near future. I believe it is vitally important to continue to further my training and refresh my skills in order for me to provide a good quality childcare service.

In addition to the above I believe that the following experience & skills will also assist me in providing a successful child-minding service:

·    I have the experience of being a mother of 4 children who have been cared for by a child-minder, nursery and after school care. I am therefore able to identify areas where that particular service has been successful and try to do the same, as well as learn from areas where I feel improvements could have been made.

·    I have a very creative background. I will utilise my artistic talents and ideas when doing art and craftwork with children.

·    I am a fit and active individual with plenty of energy to provide children with a stimulating environment with a wide variety of fun and educational activities.

·    I regularly attend playgroups where I have the opportunity to speak with other child-minders and listen to their experiences and advice.