St Oswald's CofE Primary School

Inspection report for early years provision

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112796 Unique Reference Number 28 November 2006 Inspection date Clare Moore Inspector

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Integrated Type of inspection Childminding Type of care

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The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are outstanding. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are outstanding.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The childminder was registered in 2000. She lives with her husband and 4 children, 3 of whom are of school age and 1 is under 5 years of age. They live in a bungalow in Hythe within walking distance of shops, a park and schools. The main areas used for childminding are the playroom and the enclosed garden. The bathroom and the kitchen are adjacent.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The childminder is registered to care for a maximum of 5 children at any one time. She is currently looking after 9 children between 9 months and 8 years of age on a sessional basis. Of these 2 children receive funding for early education.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The family keep a small number of pets. The childminder is a member of the National Childminding Association and is also a member of an approved childminding network. She holds the Certificate in Childminding Practice and an NVQ level 3 in Child Care and Education.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is outstanding. Children are cared for in a home with a high standard of comfort and cleanliness. They learn the importance of washing their hands because the childminder reminds them at meal times and after using the toilet. She supports them very well at their level and they each use their own personal towel. There is a step for children who are not yet tall enough to reach the hand wash basin. The childminder's exceptional policies and procedures regarding hygiene and sickness, for example not allowing a child who may be infectious to have contact with other children helps to prevent the spread of infections.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are encouraged to understand the importance of healthy eating through innovative topics and discussion. They are well nourished as the childminder provides healthy food for the after school snack and frequent drinks. Parents provide a packed lunch and fruit and perishables are stored in the fridge which is monitored to ensure it does not rise above the correct temperature. Frequent drinks are freely available to quench thirst.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have regular and exciting opportunities to refine and develop their physical skills. They regularly play outdoors on tricycles and wheeled toys and visit the park where they run, climb on scramble nets and balance on wobble boards. They also enjoy parachute games and action rhymes. This helps them to keep fit and active.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Children spend their time in a very welcoming and secure environment. Children are safe because the childminder is extremely careful with supervision, checking babies who have sleeps and ensuring children are safely secure, for example in buggies and when travelling in the car. Children are always within site or hearing. Cleaning materials and medicines are stored safely out of reach. Risk assessments are carried out meticulously and the fire safety and evacuation procedures are extremely thorough.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children take increasing responsibility for their own safety through clear support and encouragement from the childminder. On outings they look and listen for traffic and operate the pelican crossing before they cross the road together. At home they handle tools such as scissors with care and only use them when they are sitting at the table. They find out about stranger danger because the childminder skilfully weaves it into topics so that they know what to do if they are lost or need help. They also develop confidence about how to say no if they are feeling worried or uncomfortable in a situation.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The childminder carries emergency contact details for herself and the children and a mobile phone and a first aid kit at all times. This together with permissions to administer emergency medical advice or treatment from parents ensures children can be assisted whenever necessary.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. The childminder has an extensive knowledge of Child Protection Procedures from training she has attended and a clear policy which helps to ensure that children's needs are met.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. Children thoroughly enjoy attending and selecting their own freely chosen activities. They show they are highly confident by making choices about what they want to do, for example a child totally engrossed in the play house is asked if she would like a story, which she declines, but later on she enthusiastically accepts. They enjoy games with cards, small worlds, sticking and gluing. Other exciting activities offered include an imaginative treasure basket for younger children with a copious variety of texture and colour, for example a loofah, shell, brush, natural sponge and mirror. They also enjoy cooking, looking for mini beasts outside in the garden , playing in the ball pool and exploring play doh, building using various construction kits and exploring the flow of rice. There is an exceptional range and variety of good quality toys and resources which are rotated so that there is always something fresh. Stories, songs, rhymes and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

games help children to develop number and language skills in an exciting and purposeful way.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are strongly motivated to explore and try new skills because the childminder encourages them in a lively way and rewards them with praise, for example when a child says she can’t put the clothes on the doll the childminder shows her how and praises her warmly when she succeeds. Younger children develop rapidly because the childminder is consistently checking progress against the 'Birth to three matters' framework and using imaginative ideas to help them to make progress. She keeps meticulous records including photographs and observations and liaises extremely well with parents to ensure children experience continuity in their activities and development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children progress very well though the stepping stones because the childminder has a thorough understanding of the Foundation Stage and of how children learn. Children develop their vocabulary through discussion and activities with each other and the childminder, for example finding out what a sphere is when exploring a ball shape and a bungalow when talking about different sorts of houses that we live in. Children are curious and show they want to know what things are and ask about an object in the castle to learn that it is a boulder. They practise emergent writing in role play when they set up a surgery and start to recognise letters when they select their name card at lunch time. They trace letters and write their names on their work when able . They enjoy conversations with the childminder, other children and also participate in rhymes, stories and singing.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children learn about numbers through innovative games that the childminder devises such as matching the number of peas on a card to the larger picture, and also rhymes and in practical activities when dressing the dolls. In a topic about ‘the three bears’ they compare sizes of plates and find out about small, middle sized and big. On outings they observe numbers and names on houses in the environment and explore shape when they consider the shape of the peas and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. the shape of the bricks that make up the house. They make links in their learning, for example in the topic of princesses they use a book and link it to small world imaginative play with castles and houses, then extend it to counting and puzzles. The childminder encourages children’s efforts with praise and support, for example when helping them to recognise their name and when playing a game of snap.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children explore and investigate with zest as they look in wonder at the rainbow colours the prism throws as it bends the light. They observe changes when they make jelly, porridge for ‘the three bears’, grow beans and consider the life cycle of butterflies. They become familiar with technology as they operate a computer, a printer and battery operated toys and explore the passage of time when they talk about the dinosaurs that lived in the past and activities they have enjoyed. They explore ice cubes and melting when they use them to build an igloo. They develop their finer physical skills through for example dressing dolls and doing up buttons on their clothing, doing puzzles , handling clothes pegs to hang out the dolls washing and using a hole punch. They also sow bean seeds and use a trowel to plant them out as they grow.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use their imagination and are animated when they play in the small world castle, with dolls, bedding and peas sometimes re-enacting the stories they enjoy. They dress up and express themselves to music, dancing with scarves, they play and listen to the piano and they also make music playing the various high quality percussion instruments. They develop a sense of community on local trips when they visit the farm and collect eggs, take a trip on the train to the ferry and visit the toy library. They make further links in their learning turning some cardboard boxes into a train.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Records, photographs and written observations clearly show achievements and impeccable notes show areas to be targeted for the next steps of learning. Children benefit and flourish because the childminder makes good use of her time to plan, encourage and support them and builds on what they are already interested in.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is outstanding. Children are settled and happy because the childminder discusses their individual needs in meticulous detail with parents and introduces them to the family and the other children so that she can settle them in carefully. Their behaviour is excellent. They develop the ‘standards’ with her which have a positive emphasis on taking turns, being kind to each other and keeping safe. The childminder helps them to understand and practise taking turns through games such as snap. They co-operate with the childminders standards by removing their shoes when they come in and helping to tidy away toys at the end of the day for which they are warmly praised. Children greet each other happily, play together and alongside each other very well, enjoy each other's company very much and are at ease with the Childminder.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children explore the rich diversity of the world around them because the childminder celebrates festivals with them for example Chinese New Year, Diwali and Halloween. She is exceptionally resourceful in devising activities that help children to understand what it might be like to have a disability and encourages boys and girls to take part in the full range of activities. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Children enjoy consistency of care and routines because there is an excellent and trusting partnership between the childminder and parents with a comprehensive flow of information both ways. Parent’s views are actively sought and acted upon. They are kept very well informed about all elements of the care their children receive and the progress they make. Parents are also clearly informed about how to make a complaint if the need arises.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents is outstanding. They are given information about the foundation stage of learning and the topics that the children are taking part in which helps them to be involved in their children's learning. There are frequent opportunities for parents to share what they know about their child and the written records are shared on a termly basis.

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Organisation

The organisation is outstanding. The childminder meets the needs of the range of children for whom she provides. She is extremely dedicated and enthusiastic. She organises her time very well spending much of it directly playing and working with the children. Records are accurate, very well ordered and consistently exceed the requirements. Confidentiality is highly respected and folders about children's development are shared with parents. The childminder is strongly motivated to develop her service. She has attained a high level of professional skills and knowledge through training and experience and she continues to develop this at every opportunity. This helps her to further support children's education and development.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the 1 April 2004 there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards. The provider is required to keep a complaints records made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are outstanding. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are outstanding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

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The quality and standards of the care

No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of care are outstanding.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

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