- LET'S ACCEPT QUALITY COSTS
I read the interview with Elizabeth Gardiner with interest andfrustration (20 August-2 September). Even thinking of asking nurseriesto provide overnight care and then wondering 'how do you avoid passingthe cost on to parents?' shows the problems that nurseries are upagainst.
The short answer is that you don't avoid passing on the costs toparents. If parents want, or need, to work then they must expect to payfor the care their children receive. Good quality childcare costs moneyand it isn't Government's job to pay for it; it should be part of thecalculation parents do when deciding whether to go back to work.
The going rate for cleaners and babysitters is between 7 and10 an hour but there is an expectation that childcare should beunder 5 an hour. If a setting is paying an EYP, has all staff atLevel 3 and above and is serious about updating training, then wagesmust reflect that. If you are also conscientious about servinggood-quality food, then costs are high, and that is without the addedutilities bills. Professional childcare does not come cheap and isdevalued if it does.
Lesley Baker, co-owner, Heirs and Graces, Tring
Our star letter wins 30 worth of books
- CHILDREN NEED RECEPTION YEAR
Having recently read the Star Letter 'Parents have right to decide' (23July-5 August), I wish to comment that, while not all children are readyto enter a Reception class at just four years old, keeping a child backfor the whole year may also not benefit them as the child may, due totheir age, then be put into Y1 the following September.
As parents know their child best of all, delaying school entry is anoption they may wish to consider but, to my knowledge, if a child isfive years old rather than four, they will probably be put into Y1 thefollowing September rather than Reception. As the writer (Lynne Burt) isfrom Dumfermline, Scotland, the education authority may have differententry criteria there.
In the past, as a manager of a pre-school, I was asked by a parent if Icould keep her son at pre-school rather than have him start school. ThisI accepted and her son returned to pre-school for the autumn termleaving at Christmas to start school in Reception in January. This wasbecause his mother had found out from the school that, if he waited anentire year, he would in fact go into Y1, which she felt would have beentoo great a transition.
Anne Ferries, Gloucestershire
- NO TIME TO GET INVOLVED
I haven't had time to read all of the childcare commission information,or respond. I've just got back from a two-week break and now I have afull house and am unable to properly get my head around it. It is suchan important issue and I am incredibly frustrated at my inability to getinvolved. It's taken me half an hour to write this as I've been stoppingto do general childcaring. So yes, it is badly timed. I intend to make aspecial effort this evening after work to read through the info, andmake my response. That is, if I can get my children settled in bedbefore getting overtired myself.
Beth Thomas, owner, Happy Days Childcare, Brighton
- GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
The childcare commission consultation questions don't really fill mewith any encouragement that the Government wants to do anything anydifferently. We have been here so many times before, have had numerousreports and volumes of evidence that confirm what we already know -things need to change but quality, affordability and sustainability arekey.
On the question of timing - my view is that as people don't feel thatresponding to the consultation will lead anywhere, the timing issomewhat irrelevant.
Denise Burke, director of United for All Ages and the Good CareGuide
Send your letters to ... The Editor, Nursery World, 174 HammersmithRoad, London W6 7JP, letter.nw@haymarket.com, 020 8267 8401
