We are looking for childminders to encourage parents of school-aged children to take part in developing and shaping the new School Age Childcare Policy for Scotland.
The Scottish Government is looking to establish a School Age Childcare Public Panel, consisting of parents and carers, who would be willing to collaborate and work with the Scottish Government to support the development of their School Age Childcare policy.
Childminders are being encouraged to nominate parents, who you work with, who would like to be involved, keen to share their views and would be interested in shaping the future of school age childcare in Scotland.
The School Age Childcare Team at the Scottish Government would also like to hear from a wide and varied mix of parents, to help reflect different communities across the country, including different age groups, backgrounds, rural and urban areas, and small and large settings.
Background
The Scottish Government published its School Age Childcare Progress Report in March 2021. The report contained a number of commitments, and amongst those was to establish a Public Panel. Since its publication, they plan to build a system of ‘wraparound’ school age childcare, providing care before and after school, all year round.
As part of this commitment, the Scottish Government is planning to engage and recruit parents and carers from as diverse a range of groups as possible, to form one group of their Public Panel, to ensure they are developing a school age childcare policy that meets the needs of parents, carers, children and young people alike.
What happens next…
Phase 1 of engagement with the Public Panel will take place between September 2021 and December 2021, and it is anticipated that this will involve meeting approximately three times (likely to be virtual due to COVID-19), and Phase 2 will run between January 2022 and April 2022.
If you know a parent or carer who would like to take part in the Public Panel to share their views on shaping school age childcare, please email
information@childminding.org and include their name and contact details
by 12 noon on Wednesday 4 August.
We appreciate that this deadline for responses is very tight and not ideal, especially at this time of year; however, this is out with our control. The Scottish Government is very keen to engage with as many parents and carers as possible.
We hope that many parents who support and use a childminding service will be keen to get involved and help us to highlight the value of childminding within school age childcare.