[Radical_childcare] minutes from meeting Monday 1 June

[Emily James]

Hi all,

re climate camp, the best thing would probably be for you to go to a london
meeting where you can ask questions and find out more.

I'm not a regular at the weekly meeting, but I could find out where and when
it is if you'd like.

E

2009/6/3 kelly <kelly at riseup.net>

> Hey all.
>
> Looks like it was a brilliant meeting - really productive!  Sorry i
> couldn't be there - i had an emergency thing with a woman i'm working with
> who was fleeing to a refuge.
>
> I completely agree with what people were saying about climate camp. I can
> find out details on location etc for next meeting if someone else doesn't
> manage to.
>
> Finally, I'm up for arranging child care for the next meeting.
>
> See you all soon x
>
>
> > Hi all,
> > attached and below are the minutes of Mondays meeting.
> > The next meeting is June 22nd at 7 in the playground at London Fields. We
> > thought that we should change the time of this meeting just to facilitate
> > the attendance of people who may work or be busy during the day. It is
> not
> > intended to be a permanent change of time.
> > una
> >
> > Notes from radical childcare meeting, Monday 1 June, 11:30 at London
> > Fields.
> >
> > It was a small meeting but productive meeting, with 4 adults and 2
> > children in attendance.
> >
> > Actions from previous meeting
> > Legal info – Jon found out lots about legalities of providing childcare.
> > Have pasted the documant he made below. But basically we could provide
> > childcare for up to 2 hours for children who’s parents are not on-site or
> > nearby, and for up to 4 hours if childs parent/gaurdian are on-site or
> > nearby.
> > Home Education Groups - Gemma fed back about home education groups in
> > Hackney, Harringey area. Could be worth linking up with them. Info is
> > pasted below.
> > Feminist Fightback – Anna had fed back details of our last meeting to
> > Feminist Fightback, they are keen on getting involved with the group.
> Also
> > keen on sorting toy box for meetings etc.
> >
> > Agenda Points
> > Safer Spaces
> > Toy / resource bank
> > CAIC conference 20th June
> > Climate Camp
> > Any other business
> >
> >
> > Safer Spaces Policy
> > We spoke about maybe drawing up a safer spaces policy for the group to
> > ensure that the group works in a safe and comfortable way.
> >
> > Toy / resource bank
> > We would like to be able to get together a box of toys, resources etc for
> > this group and other groups to use. A good location to store them would
> be
> > LARC. Lots of people meet there, and as far as we can tell there is
> > nothing available for children. There could be 2 boxes, 1 with general
> > toys, etc that could be taken out whenever children are there and another
> > for use with particular activities ie with paints, materials etc, which
> > could be used at LARC or taken to events. Basically build up resources
> for
> > people to use when putting on kid-friendly events, creches etc. Jon will
> > try to get to LARC meeting to propose this, or contact someone from LARC
> > collective to see if they would be up for this. London Anarchafeminist
> > Kolektiv have a box of toys, Una will see if they could be added to this
> > resource.
> >
> > CAIC Conference (Campaign Against Immigration Controls) , 20th June.
> > Jon will be running a creche/kidspace for this event. If anyone would
> like
> > to help out, please contact him off-list.
> > This led us to talk about catering for children of different ages. Older
> > children are not going to want to do the same sort of things as the under
> > fives. The conference is about immigration. It would be good to maybe do
> > activities around this topic. Perhaps having a child talking about their
> > experiences of being a migrant to this country would be good.
> >
> > Climate Camp
> > Emily sent an email to the list saying that no-one as yet has taken on
> > organising the kidspce for this years climate camp. We talked about this
> > at length and although we would be up for doing it, some of the concerns
> > raised were – Climate Camp this year is back in the City of London (we
> > think – Can someone please confirm this?). After what happened on April
> > 1sts camp in the city, we would be concerned about police violence,
> > childrens safety etc. We would not like to be responsible for organising
> a
> > creche at a city camp, but a kidspace with activities etc for children
> and
> > adults would be cool. But if climate camp will be somewhere else (like
> > Kingsnorth for example) then its a whole different ball-game, cooperative
> > childcare / creche etc would be possible and easily acheivable. We need
> to
> > check what the plans for climate camp are, where it will be etc, what
> > climate camp means by kidspace etc and then see how we feel about it –
> > Anna will check this, or can Emily clarify?
> >
> > Any other business
> >
> > We also spoke about some specific things that we might be interested in
> > organising around, such as the extreme genderisation of kids toys (pink
> > blue syndrome etc) and the Welfare Reform Bill. Will speak further at
> next
> > meeting about this.
> >
> > We also thought it might be a good idea to get a list of people together
> > who are willing to sometimes do childcare, and also a list of people,
> > organisations who would be willing to do workshops, crafts, kids
> politics,
> > etc.
> >
> > I think that was all. If I’ve missed anything out, please feel free to
> > correct, ammend etc.
> >
> > Next meeting will be Monday 22nd june at 7pm in the playground in London
> > Fields. We decided to change the time of the next meeting so that people
> > who work during the day can attend. Hope thats ok. It is not meant to be
> a
> > permanent change, but just an attempt to include different people. If
> this
> > time is problematic for people please let the list know and we can
> discuss
> > changing it.
> >
> > Jons Document on legalities of providing childcare
> >
> > Legal stuff on Childcare in the UK
> >
> >
> >
> > Normally if you are providing childcare to under 5s you must register as
> > an “early years childcare provider” which means you must be Ofsted
> > inspected and meet tons of legal obligations as set out in the “Early
> > Years Foundations Stage” material.  However, under certain circumstances
> > “mobile crèches” do not have to register and (shockingly) there are no
> > specific legal guidelines for this type of childcare!  Obviously other
> > laws still apply (such as health and safety regulations) but nothing that
> > is specific to providing childcare.  All the professionals I spoke to
> > (several at the Department for Children, Schools and Families and another
> > who works for Tower Hamlets council) strongly urged following best
> > practice as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage literature when
> > providing this type of childcare.  This includes lots of very sensible
> > things like adult to child ratios, health and safety, getting CRB checks
> > done and providing different types of play opportunities for children
> etc.
> > but it is not legally binding on “mobile crèches” when they qualify for
> an
> > exemption.
> >
> > The following is taken from the snappily titled Ofsted publication “Guide
> > to registration on the Early Years Register: childcare provider on
> > domestic or non-domestic premises”:
> >
> >
> > You are exempt from registration if you:
> > &#61550; care for individual children for two hours or less each day even
> > if your provision is open for longer than this period; an example is a
> > crèche attached to an adult learning centre where the crèche may be open
> > all day but parents leave children for less than two hours while they
> take
> > part in an adult learning session.
> > &#61550; intend to offer care for the early years age group on particular
> > premises for 14 days or less in any period of 12 months, but you must
> > notify us in writing at least 14 days before you start providing care on
> > those premises; examples include short-term crèches to support a
> > conference, or a holiday playscheme running for two weeks in school
> > holidays.
> > &#61550; care for individual children for four hours or less each day and
> > the care is for the convenience of parents who intend to remain on the
> > premises where the provision occurs or within its immediate locality. In
> > this type of provision there is no long-term commitment to provide care
> > for children. Examples include a shoppers’ crèche or a crèche attached to
> > a sports centre or an exhibition where children do not attend every day.
> > &#61550; provide an open access scheme for children; an open access
> scheme
> > allows children to leave the provision unaccompanied. Open access schemes
> > may not provide care for children in the early years age group.
> > &#61550; provide education under a home education arrangement for a child
> > who is of compulsory school age and the care you give is incidental to
> the
> > education you provide. A home education arrangement is where a child of
> > compulsory school age receives full-time education not in a school, and
> is
> > partly or wholly educated by someone who is not the
> > child’s parent.
> > &#61550; provide care for children in a hotel or guest house between 6pm
> > and 2am and you care for the children of no more than two clients at the
> > same time (baby sitting arrangements).
> > &#61550; provide care for children of two sets of parents wholly or
> mainly
> > in either or both of the sets of parents’ homes. Registration as a
> > childminder is required if you look after the children of three sets of
> > parents in any or all of the parents’ homes.
> > &#61550; provide no more than two types of activity from the following
> > list:
> > -     school study support or homework support
> > -     sport
> > -     performing arts
> > -     arts and crafts
> > -     religious, cultural or language study.
> > This exemption only applies if you care for children who are aged three
> > and over; and children aged under five do not attend for more than four
> > hours in any one day. Any care provided is incidental to the activity (it
> > is not the main focus of your provision).
> >
> >
> > (source:
> >
> http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Forms-and-guidance/Browse-all-by/Other/General/Guide-to-registration-on-the-Early-Years-Register-childcare-provider-on-domestic-or-non-domestic-premises
> )
> >
> >
> > The most important parts of this list are the first 3 which seem to say
> we
> > can run a crèche for up to 2 hours without parents on site, up to 4 hours
> > with them on site (or very close by) or for longer (but no more than 14
> > days a year) if we notify Ofsted first.  Under all these circumstances we
> > wouldn’t have to go through the laborious process of registering with
> > Ofsted and making sure we meet lots of legal criteria.
> >
> > The only other stipulation is that no one who is either on the Childcare
> > Disqualifications Register or who lives with someone on the register can
> > work with kids.  Looking at the legal mumbo-jumbo it seems like you’d
> know
> > about it if you were on the list as the offences are all to do with
> > seriously harming or having sexual relations with children.
> >
> > The Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2007 and The Childcare
> > (Disqualification) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 can be found at:
> > www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20070723_en_1 and
> > www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uksi_20081740_en_1
> >
> >
> > For more info:
> > Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) – website was crap.
> > Phone no. is 0870 000 2288 or 01928 794446   9am to 5pm.
> > Or speak direct to Patrick at the DCSF (who was actually helpful!) on
> > 02077838149
> > www.ofsted.gov.uk
> >
> > Gemmas email re Home Ed
> >
> > Hey,
> >
> > I have researched a little bit on Home Education groups in Hackney, as
> > this would be a useful resource/possibilities of linking up/mutual
> > interest etcetc.
> >
> > One main nationwide resource is www.education-otherwise.org which is a
> > charity to support home educators and has lots of legal info/helpline.
> >
> > Adventures With Education (AWE) is a voluntary association in Hackney:
> > www.awe.gn.apc.org (email: adventureswitheducation at gmail.com they meet
> > every tuesday during term time 11-3 in shoreditch adventure playground,
> > London Mintern Street, N1 (Old St/Liverpool St tubes). Their meeting
> place
> > (shoreditch adventure playground) sounds like it has great facilities,
> and
> > so might be a possibility for us to meet there also, obviously not on
> > tuesdays, but maybe every third monday as we are now etc).
> >
> > Haringey Home Educaiton Club (HHEC) www.hhec.org.uk (email:
> > contact at hhec.org.uk) they meet alternate wednesdays 12-4 but dont have a
> > set venue, just moves around week to week. website lists things of
> > interest in the area, eg. the Kids Collective Community Film Group which
> > meets 10.30am saturdays (i think this is what kelly was refering to in
> the
> > last meeting?)
> >
> > I havent' contacted them both yet, will put it to others on monday and
> can
> > contact them on monday after meeting if we want to.
> >
> > I have contacted Education Otherwise regarding us doing a childcare
> > collective in the area and if they know of any other local home
> ed/similar
> > groups. I have also asked them for more information/opinions on how the
> > governments push of the welfare reform bill will affect home educating
> > parents (especially single parents recieving benefits that want to home
> > educate), and other issues relating to our autonomy of our children's
> > education.
> >
> > This was E.O's reply to the latter:
> >
> > http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/welfarereform.htm
> >
> > I'm also lobbying the Social Security Advisory Committee, the Department
> > of Work and
> > Pensions and talking to MPs and sympathetic peer in House of Lords. Could
> > still be
> > bad outcome though.
> >
> > Fiona
> > Chair EO Government Policy Group
> > home educating lone parent on JSA with home educated 16 year old
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
>
> --
> 'every dawn has its appointment with a rebel'
> -ghassan kanafani
>
>
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