Your Childminding Portfolio & Policies

A childminding portfolio is a collection of documents that support your work as a childminder. They set out in writing how you run your business and what parents can expect from you. Your portfolio is also an opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism and experience: to show what makes you a good choice for parents looking for childcare.

Having an organised collection of information about your services is useful for several reasons. It is helpful when prospective customers are visiting, as it provides all the information they are likely to need in one place guiding you through the information you need to give them. It can give a professional image to the services you are going to provide and reassure parents you are committed to the welfare of their children. When you have an inspection it will help to demonstrate the ways in which you comply with National Standards so you can achieve a higher inspection grade. It will also be helpful when you complete course work or if you want to join a childminding network and become accredited to provide early years education.

Documents

Your portfolio is a good place to keep documents relating to your business such as the following:

Safety Certificates

• Fire Safety (not compulsory)
• Car MOT
• Car Seat Safety (not compulsory)
• Equipment Maintenance Records
• Gas and Electrical Safety Checks
• Environmental Health Reports (if available)

Insurance Documents

• Public Liability Insurance
• Car Insurance
• Legal Insurance (not compulsory)

Example Forms

• Contract
• Parent Permission Forms
• Children’s Record of Information

Other Documents

• Useful addresses and telephone contacts
• Local area Child Protection Procedures
• References and thank you letters
• Training/qualification certificates
• Planning permission (if applicable)
• Registration Certificate

Note: For confidentially reasons, your portfolio should not contain any documents with confidential information, such as the contracts or payment records of individual customers.

Policies & Procedures

Your portfolio should include copies of your policies. These explain the rules, guidelines and plans for how you run your childcare service and how you would deal with specific situations that you might encounter. Some policies may also include procedures; these explain what steps you take to achieve the goals set out in your policy.

Some policies you may include are:

• Meals and Nutrition Policy
• Behaviour Management Policy
• Safe Guarding Children / Child Protection Policy
• Anti Bullying Policy
• Complaints Procedure
• Exclusion and Sick Children Policy
• Administration of Medicines Policy
• Equal Opportunities Policy
• Special Needs Policy
• Payment & Fees
• Collection of Children
• Accident and Emergency Policy
• Health, Hygiene and Safety
• Fire Safety Policy
• Daily Routines
• Settling Children In
• Provision of Basic Play and other Activities
• Missing Child Procedure
• Working in Partnership with Parents
• Business Practice and Confidentiality

Presentation

Your portfolio should reflect your services positively so take some time on it and make it as neat and professional as possible. Buy a folder for putting the information in and consider plastic wallets as these keep pages neat and any spills will wipe off. If possible, type up your policies using a computer, this will help make them look professional. Take time over any hand written sections to make sure your writing is neat and easy to read. Including a contents page at the start will make the information included easier to locate and quickly highlight the contents to assessors that may not have time to read the whole portfolio.