Nicola Hughes: Little Elephants Childminding
About Nicola
Qualified teaching assistant
Emphasis on promoting emotional and mental health
SEND friendly educator
About me
Hi parents and carers. I’m a mum of 4 which is my greatest achievement and blessing. Although I’m a qualified teaching assistant I’ve realised that setting up a home-based childcare setting is a better fit for me. I believe this type of care and education is more personal and more focused on each individual child.
I love how children learn and express themselves in their own ways and their silly, curious natures. I’m incredibly loving, caring and patient and will fill your childs life with lots of love, fun and care.
Mine and my childrens motto is ‘messy hands mean fun hands’ so expect lots of indoor and outdoor play, learning and adventure.
I decided to name my business ‘Little Elephants Childminding’because (along with elephants being adorable), elephant herds support the mother with the upbringing of the child, teaching the child how to feed and guiding them. This is what I aim to do, support parents with the learning and guidance of their child whilst providing lots of love and care. I plan to have a little teddy elephant as the mascot of my setting.
Essential Information
Mon – Fri : 7am – 7pm
0 – 11 years
From £47.25 per day
SEND friendly setting
Location
Little Elephants Childminding is based in Kings Heath in Birmingham (B14 6DL). Features include:
- Walking distance to Colmore school
- Local park, library, soft play, children’s centres
- Next to good transport perfect for days out to woodlands, museums etc
Services Offered
- Full day
- Half day
- Before/after school
- Holiday care
Home cooked meals are provided for an extra £10 per day or £5 per half day and vegan/vegetarian diets catered for.
Activities
- Baking
- Tuff tray activities
- Children’s centre activities
- Crafts / messy play
- Outdoor fun
- Imaginative play
- Plenty of toys and books
Funded Childcare Places
Nicola offers funded places, including 30 hours, 15 hours, Universal Credit & Tax-Free Childcare. Please use the governments free Childcare Support Checker to see which funding you are eligible for.
Fees
Full day from £47.25
Half day from £28.75
Hourly from £5.75
Meals, Snacks & Other Consumables
Full day - £10
Half day - £5
Enrolment admin fee - £30
Further information on Consumables and Additional services and how they are applied can be found here
About my home setting
- We are a home first and foremost filled with love and laughter.
- Wide range of toys and play resources to encourage imaginative play and learning through play.
- Reading section with a wide range of books.
- A big garden for play, sports or nature exploring, planting seeds.
- Emotion face board to help children to learn about and to talk about their emotions.
A word from @Home Childcare
“Nicola has created a warm, welcoming play space for children of all ages. She has a large outdoor play space where children can explore, learning about the world around them. Nicola has high ambitions for the children attending her setting, placing a strong focus on widening children’s learning experiences.”
Nicola's inspection reports
Childminders take part in annual quality and safety visits to support and monitor the quality of childcare provided. Some of these visits are carried out as full inspections, which result in a quality grade.
Full inspections usually take place around 10 to 14 months after the anniversary of registration.
@Home Childcare’s Quality Pledge
Our registered educators provide the very best care and education to children because they are trained to the highest standards and regularly supported to ensure quality continually improves.
Our quality pledge is our quality guarantee to parents. You can be assured that all of our educators have the following:
- Registered childcare
- DBS checked
- Comprehensive suitability checks i.e. Ofsted & references
- Household members, if any, are fully vetted
- Health approved by a GP
- Fully insured
- Paediatric First Aid certified
- Safeguarding children certified
- Complies with the mandatory childcare standards
- Regular outdoor learning for children
- Safe & clean house regularly risk assessed
- Appropriate and safe toys/equipment
- Sufficient space for numbers of children allowed
- Inspected every year to check quality
- Regular monitored and supported by specialist inspectors
- Regularly updates specialist knowledge & skills with on-going training
- Accepts childcare vouchers, tax-free childcare, student finance etc
- Transparent invoicing & easy payment methods
