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Personal Details
Hello, my name is Jo Stokes.
I am a trained primary school teacher who became a childminder
after the birth of my first child in 2003. I live with my husband,
6 year old daughter and 5 year old son in Honeysuckle Close
on the West side of Calne. We have 1 cat and 3
rabbits plus an indoor fish tank containing a wide range of
tropical fish.
I'm Ofsted-registered
with up-to-date
police checks as well as being a member of the NCMA (who provide
my public liability insurance cover) in addition to being an
NCMA Quality First childminder. Quality First is a way
of demonstrating that the service I provide has been
certified
as being of a high quality standard. Quality First childminders
are regularly assessed by the NCMA to ensure the quality of service
they offer to the children in their care and it is the only
National
quality assurance scheme designed specifically for childminders.
I am part of the Network of Childminders
in Wiltshire as well as being a GEM which means I offer a mentoring
service to those people in the area who are training to become childminders.
I am also an Accredited Childminder which means that I can accept
Government Nursery Vouchers as payment for the childcare of
3-5 year olds.
In
February 2010 I was awarded Early Years Professional Status
(EYPS) - developed by the Children’s Workforce Development
Council (CWDC) and part of the Government’s commitment to
the Every Child Matters Agenda. EYPS
is awarded to those Early Years Professionals (EYP's) who
can demonstrate that they meet a set of National
graduate-level standards (39 in total) associated with working with
children from birth to five years. The EYPS helps ensure that
the children in my care, and their families, benefit from
the best available care and support.
I work from my home with another
childminder, Amanda Garland-King, which enables us to provide a more
dedicated level of care for the children we look after as we
can split activities between age ranges and abilities.
From my experiences as a teacher
and a mother, I know that children needs lots to occupy them
and I have a very well equipped house with plenty of space for
children to play together or in small groups. There are
two playrooms in the house - one is set up as a role-play area,
the other is designed more for older children to play with items
such as Playmobil and Lego. We have a large conservatory
at the rear which is also set out as a playroom with soft-play,
multi-sensory and library areas as well as a play table.
There is a downstairs toilet
that can be used by all children along with designated rooms
for the children to sleep in. Lots of toys, games, books
and craftwork give the children a wide-range of stimulus and
entertainment whilst in our care and our garden is also equipped
with plenty of play equipment, bicycles and seating for children.
Part of the garage has been converted
into an outside playroom for the children with role play kitchen
and garage, and a playhouse.
Typical Activities
Throughout the week we attend
a variety of groups to help the children socialise and provide
them with a variety of interesting, fun and educational experiences
such as:
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Monday |
Visits to Bowood,
Farms, local parks or soft play |
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Tuesday |
Didgeridoos Music
Group, feeding the ducks and library visits |
Wednesdays and Thursday
(alternating weeks) |
Home activities including
indoor and outdoor play, craft, cooking, role play,
multi-sensory play etc.
or
trips to local Garden Centres, soft-play areas,
local community etc.
Once a month we go
to a group session run by the local Childminding
Network in Devizes
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Friday |
Little Acorns childminding
group session (am). This is a toddler group designed
for children to play, learn and socialise. |
We offer a variety of activities
for all of the children in our care, and draw on our experiences
and training to ensure the children have educational and fun
activities relevant to their age and needs. As an accredited
childminder we plan focused activities which follow the EYFS
guidelines set out by the Government.
Some examples of the activities
we do include cooking, gardening, sand and water play, painting,
mask making, junk modelling and sewing. We read to, and
hear children read and help them to complete homework.
We have music time with singing, dance and instruments.
The children are also allowed to self select activities such
as construction toys, role play, puzzles and writing table.
During school holidays we take
the children on day trips to places such as the STEAM museum,
Weston Super Mare beach, Roves Farm, Lydiard Park, soft play
centres such as KidzAbout and Coral Cove, Blooms and
Whitehall Garden Centre.
For children aged 0 - 5 we produce
an individual portfolio of the work they have done during their
time with us. This normally includes examples of work
they have produced during activities we have all taken part
in as well as photographs of them doing the activities, on trips
out and in general day-to-day life with us as well as WOW moments
and general observations about their progress. Older children
have a folder with their work in, that they are able to take
home.
A daily contact diary is kept
for all children under the age of three to provide parents with
information on what their child has done on a day-to-day basis.
This goes to and from home daily.
Training and Experience
I have always worked with children
and have a wide range of experience and training. As a
primary school teacher I taught children aged between 4 - 7
years, and have two children of my own. Through childminding
I have worked with older children between 7-11 year olds and
when I was teaching I used to run after school groups (Choir
practise and netball) with 7-11 year olds.
I am a childminding GEM
assisting newly-qualified childminders in the Wiltshire
area.
My formal qualifications
include:
● BA (Hons) in Primary Science
and Education with QTS
● Early Years Professional status (EYPS)
● EYFS Training
● ICP Training (CACHE Level 3 Certificate in Childminding
Practice)
● First Aid Certificate
● Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety
● Certificate in Healthy Eating
● Food Safety for Childcarers
● Birth to Three Trio Workshop
● Childhood Obesity and HENRY
● Full Child Protection Training (2009 Standards)
● NCMA Quality First
● Sign-along course (to teach children sign language)
● Moving and Handling in the Childcare Setting
● Positive Behaviour Management.
Amanda
has recently qualified as a childminder in her own right and
has also completed the following courses:
● Awareness of Child
Abuse and Neglect - Core V3
● Moving and Handling in
the Childcare Setting
● First Aid for
Childcarers.
Contractual Details
We charge £3.35 per hour per
child. We do not charge for school holidays if you do
not want this facility but do charge fees for other holiday
or sickness periods. Public and Bank Holidays are be
charged at the standard rates as if your child were with us.
As
there are two of us working within the same setting, we
split most of our holidays to provide continuity of care all
year round although there are still some occasions when the
setting will be closed completely.
As I am an Accredited Childminder,
we can accept a wide range of nursery vouchers as payment, or part
payment, for childcare. Please contact us for further
details of supported schemes.
Children who stay later than
4.30pm are provided with a cooked evening meal which is charged
at £1.50 per day unless requested otherwise.
Payment must be made by
the last working day of the month.
Vacancies
We have vacancies for school
drop-offs and after-school pickups from both Fynamore School and
St. Edmunds.
Please call us on the numbers at the top
of this page to discuss our current vacancies.
return to list of childminders
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Jo
Stokes
and Amanda Garland-King
(Sticky Fingers Childcare)