Cherine

About Me

Welcome to Little Bookworms Childcare, My name is Cherine and I am an employed registered childminder (graded as Outstanding) based in Aspley, Nottingham.
I have all relevant qualifications in;
paediatric first aid,
food hygiene,
safeguarding,
registration childminding training,
Level 3 Childcare qualification.
I have various certificates in CPD training relating to the development and well-being of children and will continue to attend training courses to ensure that my qualifications and knowledge are up to date in order to better understand and help children to learn and grow. I have experience in a professional setting, have gained many years’ experience with my own two wonderful children aged 10 and 14, and I have been working as a childminder for 5 wonderful years – achieving an Outstanding grade within my first year and further maintaining this grade.

I hold all the traits a professional caring childcare professional should hold – patience, kindness, fairness – but more than this I am truly passionate about helping children to learn and grow in a positive, welcoming and diverse setting. I strongly believe that all children should be treated equally, having access to the same opportunities and standards of care whilst being assessed individually to ensure to meet personal individual needs. Throughout the setting children are introduced to diversity, being taught that everyone regardless of social class, race, religion, family dynamic, gender or ability etc should be treated with respect and kindness, by introducing children to a wide range of books, diverse toys, materials, foods, displays and conversations children themselves become more diverse because it is ‘normal’ to them this can further help to eliminate prejudices, open up curiosity to talk and question and ultimately develop understanding that it is more than ok to be different it is actually rather wonderful (because if everyone were the same it would be a rather boring world) – which leads to self-confidence, self-awareness, self-acceptance and positive self-worth.

I am used to following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to promote children’s development, whilst getting to know each child’s individual likes/dislikes, tailoring activities to suit their needs and encourage them to develop further in all areas of learning. I have invested in toys and other resources that reflects the diverse society we live in. It is important to me that children learn to celebrate our differences and similarities.

I offer a warm, safe, loving and diverse home from home environment for your little ones to learn and grow. All children are welcomed with open arms, treated equally and fairly, receiving the same care, love and opportunities whilst being assessed individually to meet each child’s individual needs. I am passionate about the growth and development of children promoting children to learn through new experiences, planned activities and self-initiated play.My homely childcare setting includes a cosy reading corner, a large selection of toys and games for children of all ages and a generous sized garden with a purpose-built mud-kitchen, trampoline and playhouse. It is the kind of setting that children don’t want to leave at the end of the day because they are having so much fun!
Children love to explore indoors and outdoor activities in safe comfort. Organised storage of toys and books ensures children can easily reach whatever sparks their interest, whilst being appropriate for their age and development.

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-Covid-19-
At Little Bookworms Childcare, your child’s health and physical and emotional well-being is of the utmost importance, during the current pandemic to ensure every child’s safety hygiene practices will continue to take place with extra vigilance. Resources have been temporarily reduced and will be rotated so that children still have access to a wide range of resources whilst extra cleaning of areas and resources throughout the day can help to minimise risks. Children will continue to wash hands at regular intervals, especially before meals and after outdoor play and plenty of outdoor play ensures that children have amble space to move around freely. Whilst every effort and possible precautions will be made to minimise risk, hugs will not be withheld from upset children, it can be detrimental to a child’s emotional well-being to be denied comfort when they need it most. Children will still be receiving access to outdoor routines, although parks have been off limits wildlife spaces, woodlands and fields have not we will therefore be continuing to upkeep routines by taking advantage of these wide-open spaces for exercise, fun, exploring and learning.
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I am very enthusiastic about reading and passionate about sharing this joy with children, encouraging children to play and learn through reading/stories by encouraging them to become involved in what they are reading through a range of book led activities and games. Using stories in this way can a fun way for children to explore and learn, using our imaginations / role play to continue the story onto outdoor adventures and indoor fun too! This can help children to become very absorbed into what they are doing, what the story is about and opens all kinds of learning opportunities in an exciting way! As children learn best when they are engaged and having fun this creates fabulous opportunities to encourage children to want to read becoming a prime time to promote phonics and help them build those essential reading skills! By extending stories into further indoor and outdoor activities I am encouraging children to develop many other areas of development, some of these include;
• Role play
• Reading and writing
• Understanding the world
• Physical development – going outdoors for story related adventures e.g. bear hunts
• Maths – counting things we see, number sequences of story plots, number hunting etc
• Recognition – using objects / characters that can also be found within the story.
• Self-awareness – how a story makes us feel, what the characters felt like etc.
For these reasons’ children are introduced to regular new books and activities as well as a constant access to a wide range of books in the cosy book corner.

I offer a wide range of snacks and meals throughout the day and am able to accommodate children with food allergies and other dietary needs. As my son has a milk protein allergy and I have cared for children with a variety of allergies, I have plenty experience with cross contamination and am very mindful of the types of foods containing different allergens, because of this I cook meals fresh and from scratch so I am always aware of exactly what children are eating.



Why am I an employed childminder?
I am a registered childminder. I am employed by a company called an Ofsted registered professional childcare network with 18 years’ experience of providing high quality home-based care and education throughout Nottinghamshire.
Being employed by a quality assured Ofsted network means I receive regular visits and annual inspections to assess the quality of my childcare service. My inspections are annually, far more regular than other Ofsted’s registered childminders who have an inspection cycle of 3 – 6 years. I am supported to provide a safe, nurturing childcare service where children can learn, play and develop.
As an employed childminder, I benefit from the following:
• My childcare setting is regularly checked to ensure I am promoting good health and safety for children’s well-being
• I have annual quality assured inspections where I am rated the usual Ofsted’s quality judgements of: Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate
• On-going training to help me fulfil my professional potential and improve outcomes for children ?
• Funding for a nationally recognised Early Years 3 (or 2) qualification
• Regular visits from Early Years inspectors and teachers who provide guidance and support to help me improve my practice
• Back-office admin support from my network which means I can spend more time caring for your children because I am not over-burdened by paperwork
• Offer government funded childcare which makes my childcare affordable e.g. 30 hours, tax credits and childcare vouchers
• Protection from a reputable company who keeps me updated with legislation, policies and procedures

Above all, being employed means you can rest assure that I am supported to provide a safe, nurturing environment where your child can be happy and flourish

Kind Regards
Cherine xx