How Tapestry supports Naomi Sullivan with her childminding business
Naomi Sullivan has been a childminder for 5 years. She runs ‘Naomi’s Childminding’ from her home in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Alongside her assistant, together they currently work with 8 children. Connection and relationships with community and family is at the heart of Naomi’s approach. Naomi uses Tapestry to support her childminding business and her early years practice.
Everyday care – naps, nappies and food
Throughout the day, Naomi is looking after the important basic needs of the children in her care. Nap time, nappy changes, and having lunch or snacks are key moments of connection with each child. These are also routines and information that Naomi shares with families, using Tapestry’s Care Diary.
"The Care Diary is beyond worth its weight in gold. I use it to record all the everyday care information parents want to know, and add little notes like ‘they loved the sandwich filling today’. It’s all that kind of stuff that can sometimes bog down handovers at the end of the day, and then you might end up forgetting something you really wanted to say! With Tapestry’s Care Diary, all the information is in one place with no paperwork, so I can spend more time with the children. And the parents love it."
Childminding admin – reducing paperwork
Running a childminding business can mean lots of paperwork. Naomi looks for ways to reduce this. She says “I do all my registration on Tapestry”. She uses the app on her phone to quickly tap children in as they arrive at her home, and out again as they leave with their parent at the end of a busy day. Naomi also adds all her policies and procedures to Tapestry Documents, which parents can access.
"Rather than having all that paperwork in a file, I share my documents with parents via Tapestry. That way they only have to sign once, saying they have read all my policies and procedures. It also means they’re easy for everyone to access whenever they need to. I upload a half-termly newsletter for parents onto Tapestry as well."
Spending quality time with the children is key to Naomi’s childminding practice. She doesn’t want anything to distract her from that.
"Being engaged with the children is the most important thing. With Tapestry, I don’t need to have lots of books to stick or write things in, I have everything I need right there on my phone or tablet ready for me to add things. It’s really easy to use."
Partnership with parents – more than a childminding business
Naomi considers her childminding children as an extension of her own family. She says I know all my parents, I know the children, their likes and dislikes, what they’ve been doing at home. I love having that real connection with the children and families.
She shares children’s experiences with their parents by adding photos or video observations to their individual Tapestry learning journals.
"The joy of working with little ones is that nothing quite goes to plan! I love sharing that with the parents in their child’s online journal, showing them activities we’ve done and where we’ve been. Parents can comment on photos and videos, and they can talk about them with their child. Using Tapestry keeps them in touch with what their child’s doing and that makes a really good working relationship between me and the families."
