Introduction

"About the Creche"

Creches are designed to help - where possible - the problems of finding child care for parents who are in part-time work, full-time education, retraining or who simply need time to themselves if they are a lone parent and have no other source of child-care to fall back on.

Idea of Creches

The idea of Crèches is that a number of specially trained adults will look after a designated number of children in a conducive and child-friendly environment for a set number of hours per day. These hours are normally in the morning.

Creches are designed so that their group numbers are never about twenty-six and this is so the adult to child ratio is maintained at around six children to one adult.

The average age range for children attending a crèche is between one and eight years of age and the adults responsible for the care of the children in their charge must be fully checked and accredited by the Criminal Records Bureau who will issue a disclosure.

This in itself is nothing to worry about if you wish to work in a creche; the DBS disclosure is something that all employees are now asked for and is merely another form of checking suitability for both employer and employee.

Qualification Needed

A recognized childcare qualification is also an advantage.One of the following would be preferred if you wish to work in a creche:

• B Tech Diploma in Childcare
• NVQ Childcare Level 2 or 3
• First Aid Certification
• Basic Food Hygiene Certificate
• Child Protection Certification

Job Involves

If you are successful in finding a job in a crèche you may wonder what your duties may entail.

For the most part, your duties will be to supervise and oversee the well being and physical safety of those children under your care. You will be asked to provide them with fun and interesting tasks to perform and games to play which may include painting, drawing, reading, singing songs, making things and a whole range of other activities designed to stir up the creativity and imagination of a young child.

A distinct advantage is an understanding of children and their psychology. A child left on his or her own with strangers can be a child prone to distress and temper tantrums and it is up to you as a member of the crèche team to be as patient and comforting with that child as is possible - almost assuming the role of a mother figure for the time that their mother is not around.

Many companies now offer on-site creche facilities in order to reduce the number of time employees have to take off as a result of problems with childcare.

A lot of companies who have their origins abroad find that having crèche facilities in their factories and offices here in the United Kingdom actually increase productivity and reduce absenteeism as well as cementing the bonds between parent and child if they can spend more time together than would normally be the case.

Many companies offer this service free of charge but some - albeit a small number - ask their employees for a small dividend from their monthly salary to go towards the upkeep of the creche and also the salaries of those staff who must be specially trained in order to run the creche.

As an individual, you may wish to start up your own crèche, which you are perfectly entitled to do. But in order to do this, you must possess the aforementioned childcare qualifications and have a base of operations, which is conducive to the looking after of children over lengthy periods of time.

If you feel you wish to enrol your child in a crèche or indeed might like to start up your own you can consult your local council or Local Education Authority (LEA) who will be able to provide you with information on the list of Creches in and around your area as well as the list of regulations and checklists that must be met in order to set up one's own crèche.