This assignment is about working with children within the voluntary, statutory and private sectors.

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Tara Trninic

Unit 1- An Introduction to working with children.

This assignment is about working with children within the voluntary, statutory and private sectors.

A voluntary sector is non-profit making, funded through grants and contributions an example of a setting within the voluntary sector would be a preschool. A preschool is for children under 5 and is described as an educational institution for those who are too young for school. The focus for preschool is more on preparing children for education. Preschools are usually run by trained professionals within the local communities for the benefit of local children and families. Often ran in church, village halls, community centres or similar venues. Children are able to choose a wide range of varieties of activities which will all enable them to develop holistically. Parents are encouraged to support their own children’s learning and get involved in the life and running of the play group. Preschools also support parents. This can enable them to consider their own child’s development with the support. They may also be asked to be involved with parenting classes or other child related learning.  Preschools aims to support parents and children because the parent has somewhere they can take their child for the day and it gives them a break, or go to work and they don’t have to worry if their child is safe or not. It gives their child an opportunity to learn in a different way and have fun whilst doing it. They also may get to play with toys that their parents may not be able to afford.  Preschools also aim to support with funding. Financial support may come from fundraising and donations, from the child voucher system from the government, contributions from parents, community groups.  They try to keep the costs down as they are ‘not for profit’ organisations and hold a charity status.

The statutory sector is provided by either local authorities or central government departments. It is funded by the government by tax they collect money through local and national taxation and national insurance. Statutory sectors are staffed by people who are trained and paid for their work.  Examples of this would be the NHS, social services, education services and the police. They are free at point of entry, and anyone can have access to this service whether you are rich or poor. They are nationwide, and are the only sector that is nationwide. There are many examples of these services such as, independent nurseries, nursery schools and nurseries attached to schools. Independent nurseries could include day nurseries, as funding is available from 3-5 years. But this is only available for 15 hours a week. From this year there is additional funding for 2 and a half year olds, but only if there is a specific reason for the child to be in the nursery. These issues could range from a variety of different things, minor or major. Even though the child gets everything funded for them, this doesn’t include lunches or extra activities such as school trips. There’s only two nursery schools in the whole of Cornwall. A nursery school has a head teacher, qualified teachers and staff. Within the school they will have outside agencies coming in such as the health service. Schools may offer outreach activities which is where they take their toys and set up in a closer area such as church and village halls where parents may find it easier to take their child if there’s a reason why they can’t travel.  The curriculum that is followed is the EYFS and the individual profiles are written for each child with clear targets to enable them to meet their needs and prepare them for school. An example of provision within the statutory sector is a state primary school; this provides free education for children aged 4-11 years.  Local education establishments give a large amount of their education funds directly to schools. The head teacher and other higher members of the school then decide what to do with this money to improve the school.  The system that is responsible for the financial and overall management of the school is called LMS (local management of schools). All state schools are asked by the law to follow something called a National Curriculum. This is to make sure that all children follow a mixed and balanced curriculum. Qualified teachers teach a range of core subjects such as English, Maths, Science, Physical Education and Religious Education. This is to ensure that children are getting the best out of their education and preparing them for further education.  Schools will offer extra activities outside of school to encourage children to take on other interests and hobbies. They are all free. There are breakfast clubs and after school clubs but these must be paid for if their child wishes to attend. There are some new changes this year as education is compulsory until 19 years of age, lots of this will be work-based training. This rule has been enrolled to make sure children aren’t just wasting their time and they get the best possible education that they can. Because its compulsory, parents have to make sure their child attends or they could end up in prison. State schools offers support to parents as they get in contact with the parents to let them know how their child is coping and what their strengths and weaknesses are. State schools must have good communication with the parents as they need to be in control of their own child. Extra curricular activities offer a good range of options for children as they can chose many things that they are interested to take on. State schools also offer extra help and one-to-one meetings with children if they are mentally disadvantaged which could also offer a lot of support to the parent as well, as the parents knows that their child is being helped and they wouldn’t have to worry whether their child is struggling or not being able to get the best possible outcomes.

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The private sector is run just for profit. They are usually run by individuals or groups of people to provide a service and make a financial profit. The private sector needs to be ‘financially viable’ which means not run at a loss. Examples of services within this sector are childminders, nannies, day care nurseries, private schools, after school clubs, health care, counselling services and housing and leisure services.  These services are financed by private investment or by people who want to make a return on their savings and from the fees that they charge for their use.  Sometimes the state ...

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