This year, Childminding Week will take place from 10 to 16 May 2025.

The theme for 2025 is ‘Unsung Childcare Heroes’

Building on the success of last year’s childminding week, we want to use #ChildmindingWeek25 to raise awareness of childminders, celebrate the incredible work they do, build a sense of community and involve more sector stakeholders.

Unsung Childcare Heroes

We’re using the theme #UnsungChildcareHeroes to highlight that childminders are not always acknowledged for their pivotal role in the childcare and early years sector.

Childminders provide good quality childcare and education to ALL

Yet, they are not given the respect, praise or recognition they deserve.  

PACEY is on a mission to change all that and Childminding Week is just the start!

What do we have planned?

We’ll publish more details in the lead up to the week, for now, here’s a sneak peek…!

Get ready and help spread the word

Please help us spread the word before, during and after Childminding Week to help spread the word!

Download our social images to share on social media using hashtags:

#ChildmindingWeek25

#UnsungChildcareHeroes

ORGANISATIONS

Regional Childminder Awards 2025

We want to recognise and celebrate the very best childminders. Those who make a difference to the lives of the children they care for, who set the bar high and are an inspiration to all in the profession.  

We had some fantastic entries last year, some truly incredible childminders who go above and beyond to support children and their families. Each regional winner was automatically entered into our Childminder of the Year award at our annual conference.  We are pleased to say that Amanda Calloway was the recipient of the Childminder of the Years award 2024.

Pictured: Alison Burt- Ryan, Winner of Longevity Award 2024. Claire Protheroe, Head of Contracts and Projects PACEY. Amanda Calloway, Winner of Childminder of the Year Award 2024.

Who will be our regional winners this year?

The winners from each region will be chosen by our panel of judges w/c 28 April and the winners will then be announced during Childminding Week (10- 16 May). Regional Childminder Award winners will be entered into our Childminder of the Year award at the PACEY conference in the Autumn.  

Events

More events taking place during Childminding Week will be published below in due course.

Tuesday 13 May, 11am: Local Authority Forum (England)

Hosted by PACEY Chief Exec, Helen Donohoe, we’ll be sitting down with local authority representatives from across the country to speak about the work they do to recruit, retain and stabilise the number of childminders in their area. Find out more.

Tuesday 13th May, 3pm: Local Authority Forum (Wales)

PACEY Cymru are hosting a virtual local authority forum from 3pm-4.30pm on Tuesday 13 May. This is an opportunity for staff from local authority teams to join us to hear about and discuss state of the childminding sector in Wales, key challenges and opportunities, sharing positive practice and celebrating together and focus going forward for 2025. Find out more.

Thursday 15 May, 7pm: PACEY Live webinar- From forging an influential career to igniting a superpower

Help us celebrate childminding week by joining us on Thursday 15 May for an evening of treasured conversation and inspirational stories.  

We will hear from Laura Henry-Allain, Lucy Lewin and Cheryl Warren about how their childhoods inspired lifelong careers in the early years and paved the way for them to discover different specialisms.  Find out more.

Further resources to support the childminding community