About Connecting the Dots: driving change in the childcare sector
Welcome to Connecting the Dots, a podcast by Flexible Childcare Services Scotland. This series will raise awareness of the challenges in current childcare models in the UK and highlight solutions that will support parents and providers alike.
We will highlight issues including: sustainability, funding rates, workforce capacity, the barriers experienced by parents, the need for whole family support and the growing requirement for increased support for families whose children have additional support needs.
Connecting the Dots: specialist services that support children and young people with Additional Support Needs (ASN)
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare speaks to ASN Coordinator Kayleigh Still and ASN Service Manager Jasmin Fraser to understand how our specialist services have been designed to support children and young people with additional support needs.
This podcast will look at the differences between Flexible Childcare's early learning and childcare offering and their specialist ASN Groups and Clubs.
Find out how our team ensure that everyone's care needs are catered for and the training required to support individuals with complex needs.
Discover why families need these services and the benefit that they provide.
3 Sept 2026
Connecting the Dots: child safety through paediatric first aid training with Robyn Duffy Director at First Stop Safety Training
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Robyn Duffy Co-Founder and Director at First Stop Safety Training to find out what more can be done to ensure children's safety in childcare settings and at home.
Discover the UK's biggest choking hazard and the importance safety training for children and parents.
20 Aug 2026
Connecting the Dots: delivering whole family support with Judith Turbyne, CEO at Children in Scotland
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Judith Turbyne, CEO at Children in Scotland to understand the main issues facing children and families in Scotland and what we can do as a sector to support them.
Discover how childcare can help parents reach their full potential and how childcare settings provide a trusted space for whole family support.
6 Aug 2026
Connecting the Dots: how to tackle child poverty in Scotland with Jack Evans, Senior Policy Advisor at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 1 in 4 children in Scotland are living in poverty and their modelling shows that 50,000 parents need to move into work, and 20,000 more need additional hours, to bring the child poverty rate down to 14% by 2030.
Can flexible childcare help?
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Jack Evans, Senior Policy Advisor at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to get a better understanding of why so many children in Scotland are in poverty and what more can be done to lift them out of it.
16 Jul 2026
Connecting the Dots: understanding the motherhood penalty with Carole Erskine Policy & Campaign Lead at Pregnant then Screwed
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland chats to Carole Erskine Policy & Campaign Lead at Pregnant then Screwed to understand the 'motherhood penalty' and what more needs to be done to support parents, particularly women, who face a range of structural barriers after they have children.
Pregnant Then Screwed protects, supports and promotes the rights of mothers who suffer the effects of systemic, cultural, and institutional discrimination through our various schemes and activities. They believe that childcare should be affordable, high‑quality and accessible to all. They are campaigning for change how work is designed so that mothers and primary carers aren’t pushed out of jobs, opportunities or financial security.
2 Jul 2026
Connecting the Dots: childcare's not just a family issue with Satwat Rehman CEO at One Parent Families Scotland
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Satwat Rehman, Chief Executive at One Parent Families Scotland to understand the challenges that single parents, and all parents, face when they don't have access to flexible childcare.
Find out why childcare has become a societal issue and not one thats faced solely by families.
Discover why there needs to be a system change in Scotland and how FCSS was created to be that change on the back of a flexible childcare pilot project in Dundee which was initially delivered by One Parent Families Scotland.
18 Jun 2026
Connecting the Dots: understanding flexible childcare with Lesley Tait Head of Quality and Compliance at FCSS.
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Lesley Tait, Head of Quality and Compliance to understand what we mean by flexible childcare, how it works and how it helps.
Find out how book by the hour childcare supports parents back into education or employment, discover how flexible childcare delivers quality and why some Local Authorities are allowing parents to use their funded hours flexibly.
28 May 2026
Connecting the Dots: finding and managing childcare services with childcare management software with Alison Findlater, Software Development Manager at Caerus.
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Alison Findlater, Software Development Manager at Caerus to understand how childcare management software helps to connect parents to childcare providers.
Find out how providers can advertise their services, take bookings and enquiries, manage their service users and always make sure that they have enough team members to support the successful delivery of their services.
Discover how the software will support parents to find the early learning and school age childcare, and children’s clubs and activities that they need to support them back to the workplace.
And most importantly, find out how Caerus has been designed to support providers to deliver flexible childcare options.
14 May 2026
Connecting the Dots: Flexible funding for charities and social enterprises with Tracy Thomson, Loans Officer at NatWest Social & Community Capital
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Tracy Thomson, Loans Officer at NatWest Social & Community Capital to understand how charities and social enterprises can find alternative funding when main stream banks wont help.
29 Apr 2026
Connecting the Dots: Diving into school age childcare with Audrey Anderson, CEO of SOSCN
Susan McGhee, Chief Executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland meets Audrey Anderson Chief Executive at Scottish Out of School Club Network (SOSCN) to understand the challenges and opportunities facing the school age childcare sector and how SOSCN supports it's members.
This is the first FCSS Podcast in a series that aims to raise awareness of the challenges in current childcare models in the UK and highlight solutions that will support parents and providers alike.
We will highlight issues including: sustainability, funding rates, workforce capacity, the barriers experienced by parents, the need for whole family support and the growing requirement for increased support for families whose children have additional support needs.
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