Children's Index

Health & Welfare

Quality childminding …. building confident children within a
family childcare experience.

Hi everyone and welcome to our latest newsletter. Hope you all enjoyed the summer holidays and managed to get a little bit
of sunshine. We went camping in York and had some lovely weather, with the occasional downpour between times. We didn’t float away in the tent though, as many predicted, and we’re back and looking forward to moving house.

My new address will be:
11 Fraser Drive
Wick
Caithness
KW1 4PJ

So if anyone has anything to send to me, please post it to my new address, as of 3rd August.

FIRST AID TRAINING
There are spaces available for childminders to attend Childlife First Aid
training on the following courses:

Community Lounge, Brora Community Centre
Tuesday 18th September
1.30pm – 4pm

North Highland College, Wick
Tuesday 23rd October
6pm – 9pm

North Highland College, Bettyhill/Farr Sutherland
Wednesday 21st November
1.30pm – 4pm

North Highland College, Thurso
Tuesday 4th December
9.30am – 4pm

If you would like to book any of these courses, please contact Ian Goode, Childcare and Family Resource Officer in Ross-shire, Tel: 01349 866252 or e-mail: [email protected]

Don’t worry if you can’t access the dates available, as first aid training is constantly being arranged and new dates will be available throughout the year.
Remember that you must keep your First Aid training up-todate though – it must be renewed every 3 years!

CHILDCARE AND FAMILY RESOURCE OFFICER
As some of you may already know, Lindsay Gunn, who was the Childcare and Family Resource Officer for Caithness and Sutherland with Highland Council, has moved job and no longer works in Caithness. She has taken up a new and exciting post as a Consultant with the Business Improvement Team and is now based in Inverness. Her post is being covered by the Childcare and Family Resource Officer for Ross-shire. His name is Ian Goode, and he can be contacted by telephone on 01349 866252, or by e-mail: [email protected] Ian will be the person to contact in relation to first aid training, start-up funding, food hygiene training etc. If you are in any doubt about who to contact, please give me a call and I will be happy to advise you.

CAN I HAVE YOUR E-MAIL?
Following my plea in the last newsletter, I would be very grateful if you would contact me to let me have a note of your e-mail address. I have received quite a few addresses from you all, but still have many to get. I will only use e-mail from time to time, if I am unable to get hold of you by phone, but find that it is much more convenient for me than telephone. Often I am only briefly in the office, and struggle to find time to keep phoning someone I can’t get hold of. So if you are computer literate, have an e-mail address, and check your email fairly regularly, please e-mail me on [email protected]  give me a phone, or pop along to your nearest group meeting and let me have a note of your e-mail address.

I promise not to send you junk e-mails!!!

FOR SALE
Unfortunately, there are no items for sale this month. Please get in touch if you have any second-hand equipment or resources
which might be of use to other childminders in the area. Please note, SCMA are not responsible for any equipment sold between third
parties.

INFECTION CONTROL
As you know, one of the focuses for this year’s Care Commission inspections is Infection Control. Infection Control includes areas such as pet safety and hygiene; nappy changing procedures; potty training procedures; food and kitchen hygiene; cleaning of toys and play equipment; hand hygiene etc.

To help you ensure that your infection control procedures and policies are of a high enough standard, I have some publications which will be of great assistance to you.

A Clean and Healthy Start to School
Looking After You and Your Baby
Keep It Clean and Healthy
If you would like one of these, either come along to one of our group meetings where I will have a stock for you to choose from, or phone or e-mail me and I will post one out to you. Another useful place for you to find information regarding Health and
Hygiene is at the following website: www.dettol.co.uk There is loads of interesting information regarding germs, allergies, first aid and lots more. There is also a fun interactive section for the kids to learn about the importance of hygiene, and there are some useful links to other agencies who can offer advice and pointers towards a safe, clean and healthy environment.

PRE-REGISTRATION TRAINING
The latest pre-registration training course, which took place in Wick during May and June has finished, and was very well attended. A few of the trainees are in the process of registering and I am looking forward to welcoming them to SCMA and registered childminding in the near future. If you know of anyone who is interested in becoming a registered childminder, please ask them to get in touch with me and I will provide them with the information they need.

CONFERENCE
It’s that time of year again when we start thinking about our Annual General Meeting and Conference. This years event takes place at The Business Learning and Conference Centre in Dunfermline from Friday 5th – Sunday 7th October. You are invited to come along and experience a variety of learning opportunities, keep abreast of current thinking and meet like-minded people committed to delivering a quality childminding service to Scotland’s children and families. There are many interesting workshops and seminars to choose from including active play, child and mind, protective behaviour, tiny talk, infection control, play it safe, the psychology of play and the developing child.
If this sounds like the sort of thing that you would enjoy, please give me a call and I will send you out a booking form with further information. I hope that we may be able to secure some sort of financial aid to assist with the cost of the conference, but I will let you know more about this once I have a list of people who would like to attend.

SCMA NEWWEBSITE LAUNCH AND BALLOON RELEASE
The normal monthly meeting of the Thurso Group has been cancelled for September, due to a Website Launch Event and Balloon Release. This will take place on Saturday morning, 8th September in Thurso, and further details will follow nearer the time. This event is a national event happening throughout Scotland, and the ‘activity morning’ planned in Thurso on this date is open to all childminders throughout Caithness and Sutherland. So please write the date down in your diary and keep an eye out for further details, which will be posted out to you all nearer the time.

LINKS LIBRARY
Below are some interesting websites available for your information. If
you have any other links I could add to these, please e-mail them to me.
www.info.autism.org.uk
www.autism-inscotland.org.uk
www.caterpillarmusic.com
www.gingerbread.org.uk
www.natll.org.uk
www.nct-online.org
www.fostercare-scotland.org.uk
www.playbus.org.uk
www.nursery-world.com
www.playscotland.org
www.spa.org.uk
www.theideabox.ocm
www.100topkidsites.com
www.brightminds.co.uk

USEFUL CONTACT NUMBERS
Ian Goode
Childcare and Family Resource Officer
Childcare and Early Education
Conon Family Resource Centre
Sellar Place
Conon Bridge
Ross-shire
IV7 8BU
Tel: 01349 866252
E-mail: [email protected]

Care Commission
First Floor
Castle House
Fairways Business Park
Inverness
IV2 6AA
01463 227630
E-mail: [email protected]

Caithness & Sutherland Enterprise
Tollemache House Station Road
High Street Golspie
Thurso 01408 633872
01847 896115

Highland Childcare Information Service
Old School
Clachnaharry
Inverness
IV3 8RB
Tel: 0845 601 1345