Rainham Junior School

Inspection report for early years provision

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126918 Unique Reference Number 11 December 2007 Inspection date Jane Wakelen Inspector

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Integrated Type of inspection Childminding Type of care

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This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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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 good. 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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The childminder was registered in 1986. She lives with one adult son. They live in a house in Dartford. The whole ground floor of the childminder's house is used for childminding and one first floor room is used as a computer room. There is a fully enclosed garden available for outside play.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The childminder is registered to care for a maximum of six children at any one time and is currently minding nine children throughout the week, six children before and after school and three children during the day. The childminder walks to local schools to take and collect children. The family have a pet hamster.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 The childminder supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. She is a member of an approved childminding network and will receive funding for early education for three and four year olds in January, 2008.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children learn about personal care routines, such as washing hands after using the toilet and playing in the garden. They have individual paper towels to dry their hands to protect them from cross infection. The childminder has good hygiene routines in place apart from nappy changing, where the childminder does not use a changing mat. This does not promote children's health and well being. The childminder holds a current first aid certificate and is due to renew this in the new year, thus maintaining children's safety in the event of an accident.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are able to make healthy choices from the variety of meals they are given and are encouraged to eat a healthy meal before they have any snacks. Children are offered fresh fruit and yoghurts after meals and have access to a choice of drink from water, milk and squash. Meal times are social occasions where children sit together and enjoy chatting to each other supporting good relationships.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have daily opportunities to benefit from fresh air on the walk to school and when visiting the park. Children have access to the large apparatus in the park and the outdoor toys in the garden such as tricycles, balls, hoops and balancing toys. The childminder understands the importance of developing children's large physical skills to promote their health and well-being.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Children play in a safe, warm environment where they have easy access to different activities and resources the childminder has made accessible. Children are able to request alternatives or make choices from pictures in the photo album which the childminder has implemented due to the restrictions on storage space indoors. The childminder rotates the toys each day to ensure children are engaged in activities that interest them and due to the lack of storage space indoors, uses a shed outside for additional storage. Children make choices from an excellent range of good quality toys and extend their skills in all areas.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The childminder has carried out an informal risk assessment of her premises and ensures she constantly reviews this to promote children's safety. Younger children tend to play in one area to ensure they have access to equipment and resources suitable for their needs and are age appropriate. The older children are able to move around the premises freely, accessing the front room for quiet play and the office upstairs if they wish to do their homework. The dolls house on the landing is accessible to the older children enabling them to play without interruption, and with resources that are not suitable for the younger children. Fire prevention measures are

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 in place, such as the smoke alarms and fire blankets and the childminder ensures that all children are aware of how to vacate the home in the event of an emergency.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are fully protected within the childminder's home as she has attended child protection training. She has an excellent awareness how to protect children and ensures all records are kept confidentially. All the relevant contact details and information is available if the childminder has any concerns and understands the importance of her role in safeguarding children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are confident, happy and settled at the childminder's house. They form good relationships with each other and the childminder, approaching her to meet their needs such as asking for a cuddle or a drink. Children are encouraged to be independent making choices about what resources they would like to play with and are encouraged to tidy up one activity before starting another. Children enjoy familiar toys that they know well such as 'Bob the Builder' and enjoy trying out new skills such as the magnetic construction toys. The childminder has a good understanding of the Birth to three matters framework and uses the four aspects to make plans to meet the children's needs. Each child has a planned activity which is linked to the Birth to three framework and evaluated. However, the evaluation does not always link to the observations and assessment record to provide the child's next steps.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. The childminder has a good knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum and plans an activity for each child, for every session they attend. The activity is linked to the areas of learning, but does not highlight the individual stepping stone which impacts on the assessment record. However, the childminder has a good understanding about each child's ability and ensures the activities planned are fun and will fully engage the child's interest. She is confident to be flexible in her approach and change the activity if the child wants to do an alternative activity. All children have their own files with their assessment records, observations and examples of work they have completed.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are given a good range of activities to choose from to meet all areas in their learning. They enjoy going on outings to places of interest, local farms and indoor play centres. They learn about living things, caring for the pet hamster and enjoy using different materials and construction toys to join, construct and build. They use a good variety of small world toys, such as the farm and dolls house and the train track, acting out different scenarios. Children enjoy acting out familiar roles from home, using the kitchen equipment, dolls and the dressing up clothes. They sing songs from memory and enjoy using different mediums and materials for collage, sticking and promoting their senses.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy sharing books with the childminder, pointing out familiar pictures or sitting engrossed in the story. Children have opportunities to make marks using different resources and the childminder supports children's learning in linking sounds and letters using the phonics. They enjoy naming colours of pictures or spotting items which are the same or explaining why things are different. Children are encouraged to count in their play and to gain an understanding

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 of number. The childminder encourages children to make patterns with the construction toys and count how many pieces they have used. She shows children how to compare the length of two objects and introduces mathematical language in their play such as small and large.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have many opportunities to develop their fine motor skills, using scissors, pencils and pens and completing jigsaws. Children use good hand/eye co-ordination when building with small bricks and using the small world characters and when building the train track. They enjoy using different tools to manipulate the play dough, to shape, mould and cut.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children are welcomed into the childminder's home and valued as individuals. Children's welfare is promoted because the childminder obtains full information about each child, including their family background. This helps support their care and helps children gain a sense of familiarity and belonging. Children have opportunities to learn about different cultures and religions and to help them learn similarities and differences to their own culture. The childminder has an excellent knowledge of caring for children with learning difficulties and/or learning disabilities and works closely with the parents to ensure their individual needs can be met. The childminder has attended training regarding the Code of Practice which helps her fully implement a programme of activities to meet the child's needs. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children behave well at the childminder's home. The positive strategies, such as praise and distraction helps to support children's understanding of right and wrong and for children to take ownership of their behaviour. Children are encouraged to work together and share the toys and have opportunities to socialize with groups of children when visiting places of interest or the local park.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is good. Parents are kept well informed about their child's development through daily communication and access to their child's development and assessment records. Parents are shown all the documentation when their children start with the childminder including a full range of policies. They give permission for aspects of care, such as outings and photographs, to fully support children's well being. Parents have access to the complaints policy, but the information to contact Ofsted has not been updated, thus parents do not have the correct address and telephone number.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children play in a well organised environment where they receive good adult support to make them feel secure and confident. Children are confident individuals and move freely around the available play space accessing various toys and resources. Children benefit from the commitment, experience and qualifications the childminder holds and from the many training courses she attends to support her skills and knowledge. She is a member of an accredited network, which enables good practice to be shared with other childminder's and helps maintain a good standard

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Organisation

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 of care and education. The childminder works as a 'support' childminder to provide guidance and offer support to newly qualified childminder's to improve and extend their practice.

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Organisation

All the required paperwork is in place and the majority well maintained. However, the daily attendance register is not always completed on a daily basis and therefore there is not an accurate record of what children are present. Written policies and procedures are in place for the parents, although the complaints information is out of date regarding contact details for Ofsted. Good daily communication between parents and the childminder ensures that children experience continuity of care and their welfare fully promoted. The childminder meets the needs of the range of children for whom she provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

There was one recommendation from the previous inspection to review parental permissions and consents to include the seeking of emergency medical advice or treatment. Permission has now been obtained from parents to seek emergency medical treatment or advice to support children's well being.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider of Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.

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Complaints since the last inspection

The provider is required to keep a record of complaints 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 good. 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 good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • improve hygiene procedures for nappy changing to prevent cross infection • ensure the complaints policy is updated to reflect the correct contact details for Ofsted

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The quality and standards of the care

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • further develop the planning and assessment records to clarify what the child is to learn from the activity and identify where they are in their development within the Foundation Stage Curriculum

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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

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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