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St Helens Borough Council is a local authority (LA) located just west of Manchester. Defying the downward trend in childminders numbers at national level, they have a growing number of childminders, and recently, the LA launched several communities of practice for childminders across the borough. In this blog post, we explore how these communities of practice enrich baby provision.

Starting up a community of a practice for childminders

Childminders tend to care for a small group of young children (three children under five, and one child under one) on domestic or non-domestic premises. While some may employ assistants, childminders often work on their own, and because of this, they can experience feelings of isolation. In St Helens, childminders shared that they wanted to address this by creating a space to network and bring the babies together across the borough. In response, the LA supported them to create a community of practice, which is a space where professionals can connect and develop their practice together.

They did this by securing a nursery room for the childminders to meet in at the family hub in the town centre. Gemma Oakes, Early Years Development Officer in St Helens Borough Council, also attended the first few meet ups to build confidence and capacity amongst the childminders. After the initial support setting up, two childminders took over running the group themselves. While the LA is still involved, popping in once a month to check in and find out if they need any support, the community of practice is entirely run by the childminders. The childminders complete risk assessments, take bookings, and guide the focus of the sessions, creating a sense of ownership within the group.

The childminders meet biweekly, and during each session, they bring along their children to play together whilst the childminders connect, sharing knowledge, celebrating wins, and working through challenges. While childminders bring along a mixed-age group of children to the community of practice, in the next section, we focus specifically on what these communities of practice offer to babies.

All about babies

Professional dialogues underpin high-quality provision, offering opportunities to dive deep into what good practice looks and feels like. For the community of practice in St Helens, the childminders value the ability to reflect on sector-wide issues and changes together, ranging from Ofsted inspections to changes in funding. In a recent example, the childminders have been engaging in continuous reflection about the changes to sleep guidance coming in September and what it means for the babies in their care. They have been thinking about how to balance families’ preferred ways of sleeping with the new guidance whilst ensuring safety.

The childminders also support each other with the challenges they experience in their individual settings. This can be really beneficial for new childminders as it provides a space to draw on support from the LA EY team as well as more experienced childminders. For example, one childminder was struggling with settling in a new baby and brought this challenge to the group for advice. The experienced group of childminders was able to offer new suggestions, and because they meet biweekly, they could check in and reflect on the next steps she could take on a regular basis. Coming together on a regular basis creates an ongoing, reflective space for professional conversations to grow and for childminders to develop in their practice with babies.

The community of practice has also been a rich environment for sustained multiprofessional dialogues. St Helens Wellbeing service have joined the group to share information on oral health; the local library has come along to read stories with the babies; and the Liverpool City Region and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub donated books, puppets, and musical instruments to create a lending library of resources. Childminders are also encouraged to borrow the WellComm assessment and the Big Book of Ideas to support babies with their early speech and language development. 

Moreover, because the community of practice is located in the family hub, childminders gather information on available support for families while they are there, including play groups, perinatal mental health resources, and more. Health, familial support, and education are fundamentally intertwined, especially for the youngest learners, so the community of practice is a special space to connect these areas for babies and families.

Looking to the future

St Helens has now secured a venue outside of the city centre with another family hub to launch a second community of practice, and they plan to open several more across the borough. This will facilitate access for childminders who may find it particularly hard to travel with several children or who have difficult transport links, ensuring equitable access to the close-knit groups. The communities of practice in St Helens are in high demand because it belongs to the childminders: they wanted a networking space to be together, share good practice, and for the babies to connect with each other, and they brought that vision to life with support from the LA.

Do you have a community of practice for childminders in your area? How does this support your baby provision? Share your experiences in the comments below!