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Hello from me to everyone reading this article.

I know some of you will know me either from my 30+ year career as a registered childminder, or from the blogs and articles I wrote during my 2nd registration with Ofsted from 2010 – 2016. However some of you will have no idea who I am, or why I have become the most recent trustee for Childminding UK.

So to start, a brief overview of who I am and why I am passionate about early years, and in particular Registered Childminding.

My name is Penny Webb, mother to 4 daughters, granny to 12 grandchildren -6 boys and 6 girls, and now great granny to 1 great grand daughter. So my personal experience of children stretches from 1978 to now - which is 48 years of continually being in awe and wonder at each child’s individuality both those in my own family and those that I have childminded.

I have always been passionate about childminding and the huge benefits a home based setting provides in nurturing through individual care, mixed aged groups, low child to adult ratio’s and being part of the community.

Right from the start I worked in partnership with social services (and later Ofsted, and LA early years teams) and have advocated for children, families and childminders. This included tutoring on pre registration courses, being part of early years organisations to ensure the voice of childminders was heard, especially in the early days of my career when childminders were not included within the general early years meetings and training, and were seen as less professional.

I think those views are still held by some, and that childminders are often disadvantaged by government ‘rules’, timing of training and meetings, and recently by the requirement to have SEND children on role at time of inspection to gain the top grade rather than inspectors looking at the progress made by all children, and in my opinion lack of consideration of the difference and benefits to the children in attending a home based setting.

I have also worked for Worcestershire Early Years, as an NVQ tutor and assessor, as a quality assurance assessor, and chaired various early years committees, (including childminding ones) at local, county and national level.

Oh and Liz Trust so rattled my cage with her ‘More Great Childcare’ and plans to increase ratio’s that I started a petition and campaigned against her ideas for Childminding agencies, which in my opinion did not give childminders the recognition of running their own businesses and being responsible for everything – and doing so professionally and successfully. Thankfully childminders still have the choice to be an agency childminder or a individually Ofsted registered one, which respects the view, as in all things, that one size does not fit all.

I could say a lot more, but I am supposed to be keeping this article brief, so will leave my considerable personal thoughts and ramblings for when opportunity arises to contribute further to the newsletter or at in person events.

Which reminds me, I had already booked a place at the conference in October before I became a trustee, and hope to meet as many of you as possible there. As someone who has attended Childminding UK conferences and events in the past, I can vouch for the quality of the content, the excellent value of money, the purchasing opportunities from the trade stands, and the networking opportunities – oh and if staying overnight due to distance travelling, the social side outside conference hours.

As is usual for me, I have wandered off topic! So back to what I should be writing about.

I retired from Childminding in 2016, so you may be wondering why it has taken me so long to apply to become a Trustee - and you are right, it is a long time. The short answer is various health issues – the long answer can wait for another day.

In the 10 years since retirement I have tried very hard to find a hobby or interest that I felt passionate about and that I was confident would make a difference to children, families and early years in general. I really wanted to find a way to continue my work in this field, especially considering the fact I had been honoured with a British Empire Medal in 2016 for my contribution to early years.

However, despite crafting for children’s and cancer charities either as direct gifts or to raise funds, this was not my passion and I really missed working in partnership with others within early years, and standing on my soap box when the need arose to professionally get across my views (I didn’t always achieve my aims, but I felt better for trying).

And so roll forward to 2026, and I think it fair to say I was frustrated and desperate to do something within Early Years that would make a difference.

Due to the amputation of my lower left leg, and DVLA’s reluctance to give me my driving licence back (still trying to convince them and just sent in another load of forms and medical evidence as none of my doctors can see any reason why I can’t drive), it means getting to meetings or events is difficult as best and impossible at worse.

Imagine my delight when I discovered that Childminding UK were looking for more trustee’s AND most importantly that trustee meetings were held via zoom – perfect for me.

So I asked a few questions, read a few documents, and decided it was worth trying.

Of course despite the fact that I am known to some staff and trustee’s through my previous partnership with them, everything had to be done properly following legal requirements, the constitution and so forth.

Two members agreed to nominate me, and 2 of my friends who have also worked professionally with me and known me for years, provided refences. And finally my application had to be discussed at a trustee’s meeting, and voted on.

I was a tad nervous, as I really wanted this opportunity to resume my early years work in campaigning and advocating, and knew that Childminding UK mirrored my values and passion for registered childminding. Therefore I was over the moon when I received an email to say my application had been successful, and I was now a trustee for Childminding UK.

I know I need to update my knowledge, even though I have kept abreast of ‘early years things’, and that I have a lot to learn about my new position, but I am confident I will make a difference in my role as a trustee to Childminding UK, to you their members, to the families and children using your childminding services – and to my sense of wellbeing and purpose.