Lamble, Theresa Jane

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY338771 Inspection date 02/03/2010 Inspector Tracy Bartholomew

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Type of setting Childminder to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It rates council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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Royal Exchange Buildings St Ann's Square Manchester M2 7LA

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.

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Introduction

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the childminding

The childminder registered in 2007. She lives with her husband and two children aged two and eight years in Didcot in Oxfordshire. The ground floor of the childminder's house is used for childminding and an upstairs bedroom is used for sleeping. There is a fully enclosed garden for outdoor play. The house is accessible and there is a downstairs cloakroom.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register and works with her husband, who is also a registered childminder. The childminder may care for five children under eight of these no more than two may be within the early years age range, although when working with her husband they may care for no more than eight children under eight years; of these not more than five may be in the early years age group at any one time. They currently care for five children in the early years age group whom attend a variety of sessions. They are registered to mind one child under eight overnight, however they are currently not caring for any. The childminder and her co-childminder take children to and collect from local schools and pre-schools. The family has a cat, two hens and a rabbit.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

The childminder works extremely closely with her co-minder and together they have a clear dream for excelling their childminding service. As a result, the children thrive in this safe, welcoming and stimulating environment. Her practice supports the uniqueness of all children and she is very aware of their differing needs and how she can support these. Outstanding partnership with parents is a particular strength of this childminder, which is well utilised to enable children to benefit from close trusting relationships. Good reflection is used to identify the childminder's next steps to enhance the provision for the children.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 consider how links are made from children’s progress to their developmental stage and use this to help plan children's next steps of learning and development  further develop documentation to show clarity of minding practices to support the key worker system This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

The childminder has a secure understanding about child protection procedures and how to safeguard children. Safeguarding and children's wellbeing is given high priority within all policies and procedures and detailed records of risk assessments are in place for the home and outings, this ensures that possible hazards are identified and minimised. The childminder shares all her policies and procedures with parents and all required documentation is in place to support children's health and wellbeing. Although as the childminder works so closely with her co-minder, it is difficult to ascertain through documentation how the key worker system is used in daily practices, as clarity is required to pin point each child to an allotted minder. Regardless of this, the childminder maintains continuity and coherence by sharing relevant information with staff at the other settings that the children attend. This good practice enables the childminder to extend children's learning whist working

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the early years provision

in partnership and allows her to develop consistent planning to meet children's overall individual needs.

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the early years provision

The childminder has a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which has a positive impact on children. Her current drive towards gaining further recognised qualifications enables her to ensure that the children have a varied experience of the curriculum, which supports their learning in all areas well, for example when playing catch inside the childminder not only is developing the child’s physical and fine motor skills, but also uses this game to enhance the child’s knowledge of numbers and colours. Development records are undertaken on all children, these have a clear link to the six areas of learning, however achieved milestones are not consistently demonstrating how children’s are achieving these, which makes it difficult to see how children are to progress. Regardless of this, the childminder clearly knows her children remarkably well and is consistently reviewing her practices to improve outcomes for children.

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the early years provision

The childminder has exceptionally good relationships with all parents; she is pro- active and works to an outstanding level to ensure she is meeting the needs of the whole family she minds for. Parents are ecstatic that they are fully engaged and involved in the education of their children; they bring in food and visual items from their own family cultures to share with all children. This is then effectively used to develop children's understanding of peers and meet the individual needs of the child attending and also used to extend the learning of culture and diversity to all children, which is then firmly linked to additional topics and interests. The childminder actively encourages parents to provide continued feedback about the setting, they respond enthusiastically to this by writing comments such as, the childminder and co-minder are ‘very helpful and professional’ ‘I am very happy, as a parent’ and ‘end of day information is excellent’. This coupled with regular daily

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the early years provision

communication, letters, routine daily diary and meetings, ensures that parents are very well informed about all aspects of their own child's achievements.

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the early years provision

The childminder has undertaken detailed self-evaluation and uses this to highlight areas for future development. This has enabled her to reflect and further extend her knowledge and qualifications in childcare through relevant courses. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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and outcomes for children

Children of all ages enjoy their learning and become absorbed in activities consistently available throughout the day. The children have formed close relationship with the childminder and her co-minder which as a result, gives them confidence to try new things and go off and explore, such as investigating the books and access further resources and play materials from the low level storage boxes. The childminder is skilful at communicating and engaging with the children, she has developed her skills in foreign and sign language to enable her to communicate to all children, including those with English as an additional language and babies. The childminder introduces and further promotes children’s development from simple to more complex learning through everyday play and creative work. Resources are plentiful both in and outside, these have been carefully chosen to ensure children are provided with high levels of challenge,

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and outcomes for children

which are universal and tailored to all ages.

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and outcomes for children

Children enjoy looking at books, listening to stories and actively undertaking signing time. This enables the childminder to develop and extend the children’s vocabulary, as well as develop aspects of communication, language and literacy. The childminder plans her day to ensure children have a balance of activities both within the home and out, she ensures routines are varied and makes effective use of outdoors to further support learning, for example the care of animals. Children enjoy attending toddler groups, going for walks, trips to the parks and day trips. This develops good opportunity for the children to interact with other children and develop first-hand experiences in a varied environment. The childminder ensures planned activities give the children good opportunities to explore all the areas of learning. Due to this all children are making sound progress in their learning and development.

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and outcomes for children

Children are very well safeguarded from the spread of infection as the childminder maintains a clean home and promotes children’s understanding of maintaining their own health by washing their hands after visiting the toilet and sneezing. Children are exceptionally well supported, guided and taught to eat a nutritious and balanced diet. The childminder ensures positive messages are given to the children to promote their health and offers nutritious snacks and meals to support this. Learning is outstandingly well promoted in this area as children are hugely involved in themed work such as planning, nurturing and growing fruits and vegetables, these are then used throughout the year by the children to produce healthy, fresh and nutritious meals such as vegetable soup. These exceptional secure activities is just one of the ways that the childminder develops the children’s understanding to choose healthy foods and look after themselves

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and outcomes for children

nutritionally. The childminder’s commitment to healthy eating further encourages parents to supply nutritious lunches if required and drinks which children enjoy according to their individual routines. Children have regular opportunities to develop their understanding of safety, such as learning when it is safe to cross a road and the importance of keeping their straps on when they are in pushchairs. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Children's behaviour is managed in a sensitive way and the childminder makes good use of discussion to encourage the children to think through the consequences of their actions. As a result, children understand the boundaries and behaviour is good overall. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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and managed?

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources 2 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 2 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 1 The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 2 The extent to which children feel safe 2 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 2 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 2

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Stage

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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