Six children, one house, and the same person every single day.
A home-based programme in Smithville. That is the whole offer and it is a genuinely different thing from a centre, in ways worth being honest about before you choose.
A real rhythm, not a timetable
The day
Arrivals and breakfast
Come in, shoes off, sit down. Breakfast is until half past eight for whoever wants it.
Outside first
Weather almost regardless. The yard is fenced and the mornings are when they have the most in them.
Table time
Letters, counting, cutting, painting. Twenty minutes at a time, because that is honestly the limit.
Lunch and rest
Cooked here, eaten together at one table. Rest from one until half past two for those who still nap.
Free play and outside again
Until collection. Nothing scheduled, and that is deliberate.
Last collection
Later by arrangement, but tell me in the morning rather than at five.
Honest differences from a centre
What happens if you are ill?
I close. That is the real trade-off of a one-carer setting and you should plan for two or three days a year.
Is there less structure?
Less timetable, not less learning. Six children means the day bends around them in a way twenty cannot.
Do you take holidays?
Two weeks a year, dates given in January, and those weeks are not charged.
Can I drop in?
Yes, any time, no notice. If a setting is not happy with that, ask why.