Bluecoat Beechdale Academy

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 140369 Inspection date 14/06/2010 Inspector Carolyn Mary Hasler

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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 was registered in 1999. She lives with her husband, adult children and child aged 15 years in Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey, close to shops, parks, schools and public transport links. The childminder’s home is on the first floor of a block of flats. Access to the provision is via a lift or stairs. The whole of the childminder’s home is used for childminding, except the bedrooms.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder is registered to care for a maximum of three children under eight years at any one time, no more than three of which may be in the early years age range. She is currently minding one child in this age group. She also offers care to children aged over five years to 11 years. The childminder is registered by Ofsted on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder collects children from the local school and goes to the local Children's Centre regularly.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is inadequate.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

The childminder lacks understanding of the welfare and learning and development requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage, resulting in a number of requirements not currently being met. This means that she is not fully implementing the Early Years Foundation Stage as required to support of the welfare, learning and development of individual children. Little action has been taken to secure improvement since the last inspection. The childminder lacks understanding of how to improve her practice in order to support the welfare and development of children in her care.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall, the early years provision requires significant improvement. The registered person is given a Notice to Improve that sets out actions to be carried out.

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further?

To comply with the requirements of the EYFS the registered person must take the following action by the specified date:

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further?

 take necessary steps to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (general welfare requirement) by ensuring welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are known and met so that children are healthy, safe and secure and have their individual needs met (Safeguarding and welfare) 01/08/2010

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further?

 improve knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage in order to provide children 01/08/2010 This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 with an educational programme that will enable them to make progress towards the early learning goals in the areas of learning (Educational programmes)  conduct a risk assessment and review it regularly – at least once a year or more frequently where the need arises, identify aspects of the environment that need to be checked, maintain a record of these particular aspects and when and by whom they have been checked ( Suitable premises, environment and equipment) (also applies to the Childcare Register) 01/08/2010

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further?

 ensure a full risk assessment is carried out for each type of outing (Safeguarding and promoting children's welfare) 01/08/2010

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further?

 take all reasonable steps to ensure that hazards to children – both indoors and outdoors – are kept to a minimum (Suitable premises, environment and equipment) 01/08/2010

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further?

 obtain prior written permission for each and every medicine from parents before any medication is given and keep written records of all medicines administered to children, and inform parents (Promoting good health) (also applies to the Childcare Register) 01/08/2010

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further?

To improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 plan and organise systems to ensure that children receive an enjoyable and challenging learning and development experience that is tailored to meet individual needs by monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the service

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the early years provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children are inadequate. Regulations and duties are not met. The childminder is insecure in her knowledge of signs and symptoms of child abuse; this means that the childminder is not protecting children consistently. Systems to report her concerns are not sufficiently robust as the childminder lacks knowledge in recording and reporting allegations. Although, all members of the household over the age of 16 years have been appropriately checked or are in the process of being checked by the Criminal Records Bureau, the childminder is insecure about her duties to protect children from un-vetted persons.

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the early years provision

The childminder has maintained her first aid training, but has attended minimal training to enhance her knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage or improve practice. She is not sufficiently familiar with the Early Years Foundation Stage and its curriculum to support the learning and development needs of individual children or meet welfare requirements. The childminder is not sufficiently ambitious about improving outcomes and lacks relevant information to help her to bring about improvements to her childcare practice. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 The availability of resources is poor and the quality is variable. For example, children can not gain easy access to resources in order to make independent choices within their play. They have few opportunities to explore natural resources such as sand, water, wood, pine cones, feathers, conkers and shells as their

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the early years provision

opportunities to play outside are limited and these resources are not available within the childminder's home. Planning and use of available resources are undeveloped resulting in children's achievements in their learning and development not being supported consistently. Safety and the care of the accommodation and environment are not adequate. The childminder is unable to identify hazards or potential areas of risk, and risk assessments for both the premises and outings are not in place. For example, first aid kits and essential emergency information are not taken on outings and there is no fire evacuation procedure in place for the premises. Documentation is poorly maintained. Records for the administration of medication and prior written consent for administration of medication are not used. These are all breaches in the welfare requirements.

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the early years provision

The childminder shares a common first language with children and promotes this within the setting in equal measures with learning English. However, she is ineffective in identifying and addressing the individual needs of children. Little thought is given to planning activities to support learning and development for individual children's needs. The provider is not adequately promoting equality and diversity. Toys and play materials do not reflect the needs of children cared for and do not encourage an understanding of how other people live.

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the early years provision

The childminder's self evaluation is superficial and does not recognise the strengths or areas to improve within her practice. She is insecure in her knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and therefore is unable to prioritise actions which need to be taken in order to improve the outcomes for the children.

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the early years provision

The childminder explains that she has not yet had the opportunity to work in partnership with other early years providers. However, she understands that by working in partnership with others children's development is promoted and parents are kept fully informed because the childminder provides a link between early years partners and home.

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the early years provision

Parents receive verbal information about the service including information about policies and procedures. The childminder talks to parents each day to keep them informed about what children have been doing. However, they are not sufficiently involved in supporting and making decisions about their children's well-being. For example, they lack information about how their children are making progress towards the early learning goals nor are they encouraged to take an active role in supporting learning.

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and outcomes for children

The childminder is unclear about how to promote the learning and development requirements. For example, there is little understanding of the different areas of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 learning, educational programmes are weak and there is little knowledge of how to plan, assess and monitor learning. Inadequate information is collected on the children's abilities, which means the childminder does not have a clear picture of what children can do at the start of the care agreement in order to plan for and monitor development. There are no clear expectations made with regard to individual children's learning targets. This means that although children appear to be enjoying themselves at the setting, they are unable to make significant gains across the areas of learning, and their achievements towards the early learning goals are limited.

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and outcomes for children

Whilst children are generally happy and feel safe, they have little understanding and awareness of safety issues because the childminder does not take appropriate action to make their learning environment safe. For example, babies and very young children are exposed to loose and trailing wires, and have unsupervised access to the stairs. In addition the childminder's lack of understanding for safeguarding issues compromises children's safety.

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and outcomes for children

The childminder works in partnership with parents to support and encourage babies and young children to try new foods and textures and develop healthy eating habits. Children are encouraged to develop healthy lifestyles through hand washing as part of their daily routines. Fully effective cleaning routines ensure that children have a clean environment to play in. Children enjoy push and ride toys and like to roll and throw balls, they are building gross motor skills appropriate to their age and abilities. Although the childminder has systems in place to record administration of medication, these are not being effectively used. This compromises children's health and the impact is reflected in the children being kept healthy.

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and outcomes for children

Children are happy and settled at the setting. They are dependent on the childminder to choose toys and play materials for them. Their independence is not greatly encouraged around feeding or holding drinking cups and bottles for themselves. Children have good relationships with the childminder who shows care and concern and provides for their needs. They are learning about how to get along with other children from visits to the local Children's Centre. Overall behaviour is satisfactory.

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and outcomes for children

Children are making insignificant progress in communicating, literacy, numeracy and skills relating to information and communication technology. There are low expectations of children who are seen as too small to learn new skills. The childminder has limited understanding of how to support language development through listening to young children, responding to their unspoken communications and using words to support a growing vocabulary. She is unclear about how she can use every day and planned activities to support language and communication skills, for example, through singing, music and rhyming, story telling and familiarity with books, letters, signs and symbols. The childminder is unclear how to support their problem solving, reasoning and numeracy skills. For example, she lacks the understanding that this can be promoted through seeking patterns, working out how materials connect to each other, working with numbers and counting, shapes

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and outcomes for children

and colours or mathematical concepts such as large and small. There are a small number of interactive toys which children can access to explore communication for This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 technology. However, learning opportunities across the areas of learning do not go far enough to allow children to become confident in the use of practical applications of their knowledge and skills which promote their self esteem. 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 4 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 4 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 3 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 4

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 4 The extent to which children feel safe 4 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 4 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 3 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 4

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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: Not Met (with actions)

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Not Met (with actions)

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The registered provider does not meet the requirements of the compulsory and or voluntary part/s of the Childcare Register.

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

To comply with the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register, the registered person must take the following action/s by the specified date:

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 keep and implement a written statement of procedures to be followed for the protection of children, intended to safeguard the children being cared for from abuse or neglect ( Arrangements for safeguarding the children being cared for) (Also relates to the voluntary part of the Childcare Register) 01/08/2010

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 have a written statement of procedures to be followed in relation to complaints which relate to the requirements of the Childcare Register and which a parent makes in writing or by e-mail (Arrangements for dealing with complaints) (Also relates to the voluntary part of the Childcare Register) 01/08/2010

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 take action as specified in the Early Years Register (Records to be kept, Suitability of premises and equipment) 01/08/2010

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

To comply with the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, the registered person must take the following action/s by the specified date:

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 take action as specified in the compulsory section of the report (Arrangements for safeguarding the children being cared for, Procedures for dealing with complaints) 01/08/2010

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 take action as specified in the Early Years Register (Records to be kept, Suitability of premises and equipment) 01/08/2010

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