TINEY IS REGISTERED AS A CHILDMINDING AGENCY WITH OFSTED. IN THE PAST, CHILDMINDER AGENCIES HAVEN’T REALLY TAKEN OFF – WHAT ARE YOU OFFERING THAT’S DIFFERENT?
It’s a tech-first approach – the whole point is to make everyone’s life easier and more connected. We’ve been able to rapidly adapt our training process in response to coronavirus, and can now train the most motivated candidates in under three months – for free.
Our philosophy is around guided play and the EYFS.
The word ‘childminder’ is a bit old-fashioned and a bit passive. We’re looking to create small nursery schools in our homes.
A lot of people don’t realise how professional childminders are – they are not babysitters! A lot of childminders have also said it can feel a bit lonely, so we give them lots of opportunities to feel part of a wider community.
Before the lockdown we were doing quarterly book clubs with the National Literacy Trust. We want to create Tiney neighbourhoods, so maybe six to ten childminders that meet up [locally], and we have a whole online community.
We deal with fees and payments, the 30 hours, the 15 hours, Tax-Free Childcare. We invoice parents and provide training, insurance and community activities.
We help people draw up a contract, which includes paid holiday and training days.
Everyone works for themselves and has a professional website with a link from our home page, and we provide marketing. We take 10 per cent.
HOW MANY CHILDMINDERS DO YOU HAVE ON YOUR BOOKS?
We started last October, and we have 60 childminders [58 women and two men] registered and around 70 that have started their training, who will be registered in a month or two.
We provide 50-plus hours of comprehensive online training at no cost to applicants. The successful Tiney home leaders are fully trained in the EYFS, paediatric first-aid and safeguarding, as well as undergoing enhanced DBS checks. Tiney provides one-to-one support throughout the process, along with business coaching, marketing materials and guidance to help secure customers as well as back-office support to manage all the paperwork, billing, contract and customer support through the Tiney app.
You shouldn’t have to do much paperwork.
The whole point is to make it as easy as possible. The app is also an EYFS tracker with activities – it’s a bit like a learning journal, everything is integrated.
The free training is via our app, it’s our own qualification, but we want our community to continue on with higher qualifications, professional development to Level 3 and beyond. We also work with other trainers, like Laura Henry. We want everyone who is a Tiney home leader to have a certain ‘feel’.
YOU’VE HAD 2,000 ENQUIRIES FROM PROSPECTIVE NEW CHILDMINDERS IN THE PAST SIX WEEKS. WHY DO YOU THINK THE NUMBER IS SO HIGH – IS IT RELATED TO THE LOCKDOWN?
What we think is that a lot of people have been at home with their kids and are thinking that they can make a career out of that – there will still be a demand for childcare. It’s a different time in a different economic environment and people are looking for what to do in a post-Covid world. On the parents’ side, there are a lot of advantages – it’s closer to home and more individualised care.
For childminders, it’s a small community, they are part of something, almost like a nursery group. We’re trying to combine the best [parts] of being a nursery and a childminder.
For the most part we’ve received applications from people new to childcare. We’ve had a few teachers, nursery workers, teaching assistants, as well as quite a few professionals wanting to be at home.
We’re also receiving a high quantity of applications from furloughed nursery staff, frustrated by their low pay and lack of autonomy, along with professionals from a variety of backgrounds who’ve found the time and headspace during lockdown to think about their career options. By only taking on the highest-quality candidates, we are going to limit our numbers to 1,000 new home nurseries in London this year and look to other cities in 2021.
YOU HAVE ATTRACTED A LOT OF INTEREST FROM WELL-PAID PROFESSIONALS WANTING TO CHANGE CAREERS, EVEN THOUGH CHILDCARE IS TRADITIONALLY A LOW-PAID SECTOR…
My Teach First experience tells me that childcare is a great job that is not always marketed or supported in the right way. People should be able to earn a good salary, it’s a compelling proposition. If you take three or four children a day, you should be able to earn £700-£800 a week. Our childminders are all charging £6.50 to £7 an hour. If you’re working 30 or 40 hours a week, it is reasonable, and if you have an assistant you can take on more children. You can earn a professional salary, similar to teachers.
We don’t want our community to be working if they’re not earning money.
WHAT ELSE ARE YOU OFFERING?
We have set up a Covid-19 launch fund for the first 50 people to join Tiney and open their own nurseries before September, who will each receive £500 to help buy resources and toys. Tiney will provide full training on operating a home nursery during the pandemic, including health and hygiene guidance and mental health support.
We’re confident that when restrictions are lifted, we’ll have an army of brilliant home educators ready and waiting to provide affordable, quality childcare to parents returning to work.
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