Choosing the right childcare

If you choose to use childcare, the care you choose is a completely personal choice based factors that are different for everyone. This page tells you a bit more about the different options that are available.

Each setting is different and some will feel like a good fit for your family, whereas other won’t suit. This is completely normal.

The first step in choosing the right care is to be clear of what you need. Some things to think about are:

• The times that you need care?

• Does your child like a big group, or would a smaller setting be better for them?

• How much can you afford to pay?

• Where do you need the care to be based?

• Do you have any special requirements?

Once you have a clear idea of what you need, please download our Childcare Choices leaflet (PDF 625KB) for a brief overview of each type of care. This should help you decide the type of care that may work for you.

Our factsheets give more indepth information about each type of setting. Please feel free to print them off if you want to.

You might find the video below that was produced by our colleagues in Lancashire FIS useful when deciding on childcare.

Our Home from Home film tells you more about using a childminder.

For more information please Ofsted information for parents and carers using childcare services 

Hopefully you should now have a clear idea of what you are looking for. To find childcare please visit our Search for childcare page. If you still need a bit more guidance, please give us a call on 01922 653383 to discuss it further.

If your search does not bring up any results, then it may mean that there aren’t any settings that exactly match your criteria. If this is the case you can try again, slightly changing your criteria, or contact Walsall FIS  as we may be able to help further as not all settings have their details promoted online.

If you cannot find the care that you need, then please visit the Survery Monkey website to complete our survey. This will help us plan for the future.

If you want to contact us, please visit our Contact Us page.

Once you have selected the setting that you think is right for your family, you may find our Settling your child in factsheet useful. It gives you lot of tips and hints about how to make the process as easy and possible. Please download our Settling your child in factsheet (PDF 79.9KB).