Childminder in Leeds

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY331213 Inspection date 03/02/2010 Inspector Liz Whitehead

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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 2006. She lives with her husband and two children aged 11 and six years, in Bramley, a suburb of Leeds. The ground floor and first floor bathroom of the property are used for childminding purposes and there is an enclosed garden for outdoor play. The family has a rabbit.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She is able to care for a maximum of five children at any one time. There are seven children on roll; six of whom are in the early years age group. They are taken to and collected from school and access local groups. The childminder is a member of the National Childminding Association and helps to run a carer and toddler group. She holds a Cache level 3 in Home- based Childcare and a National Vocational Qualification level 3 in Children's Care, Learning and Development.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

The childminder is highly dedicated to her role and provides an excellent provision which is exemplary in most areas. She is extremely successful in meeting the needs of all children through recognising their uniqueness, consistently promoting fully inclusive practice and ensuring that the outcomes for children are outstanding. The childminder's excellent management and leadership skills effectively support her commitment and ability to sustain continuous improvement. Children make excellent progress in all areas due to the highly effective planning and monitoring of their achievements and effective partnerships with parents and other providers.

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider:

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further?

 improving the system of recording details of visitors to the premises.

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the early years provision

The childminder promotes an exceptional standard of health and hygiene and is highly committed to safeguarding the children in her care. She is fully aware of the procedure to record and report any concerns in line with the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures and systems are in place to record existing injuries. The safeguarding policy is discussed at the initial visit with parents, who all receive their own copy. This ensures that they are fully aware of the childminder's responsibility to take all necessary steps to protect the children in her care. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Additionally, all relevant household members have undergone the required background and suitability checks.

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the early years provision

All the required documentation, and policies and procedures, plus many additional records are rigorously implemented to enable children to thrive in safe and secure surroundings. Well-documented risk assessments significantly contribute to this; including highlighting the many benefits of children wearing high-visibility vests and wrist bands, which contain the childminder's details, when on outings. This is being further enhanced through involving children and asking them to indicate potential hazards. The childminder thoroughly checks visitors' identification prior to them entering the home. Systems, which are still being developed, are in place to record visitors details and will further enhance children's safety at all times. The childminder is extremely enthusiastic and strongly motivated to continually develop and increase her knowledge and skills through accessing many courses. These include, disability and equality training. The childminder is highly efficient in

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the early years provision

implementing her new found awareness into her daily practice. This benefits all the children, through the provision of a high quality, inclusive service. Therefore, children behave well, develop effective social skills and form strong relationships and friendships.

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the early years provision

The childminder has a thorough understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and is extremely successful in promoting the outcomes for children. Consequently they make outstanding progress in their learning and development. The childminder has extremely high expectations and aspires to maintain continuous improvement. She is extremely successful in this through actively seeking the opinions and views of children, their families and other professionals. She has introduced a wide range of natural materials into her resources and has found this highly effective in promoting many areas of learning, including knowledge and understanding of the world and physical development. The childminder has excellent systems in place to ensure a consistent, two-way flow of information with parents. This is successfully achieved through daily discussions, written information, text messages, e-mails and displayed information. The

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the early years provision

childminder fully acknowledges the value of effectively utilising local resources and they regularly visit the park, farm, library, museums, and work closely with the children's centre and local childminders.

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and outcomes for children

Children are becoming very skilful at adopting healthy lifestyles through the childminder's sensitive guidance and support. They are fully involved in growing, preparing and cooking their own fruit and vegetables. When these are not available, the childminder takes full advantage of local farm shops where the children select their own produce. They learn extremely useful skills for the future and how to use tools safely as they independently and confidently use sharp knives and a hand blender to make vegetable soup for their lunch. The childminder consciously encourages children to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day through fun and innovative activities. Children thoroughly enjoy 'Fruity Friday' where they try new varieties, for example, pineapple and mango. The This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 childminder successfully uses this experience to promote children's awareness of

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and outcomes for children

their senses and all the areas of learning. Children practise their writing and creative skills as they complete questionnaires which encourages them to think about how the fruit feels, tastes and smells. They discuss how the fruits grow and where they come from. This activity also enhances children's personal and social development as they all work together counting the pieces and working out how many they need to ensure that all the children receive some.

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and outcomes for children

The childminder is highly effective at planning and evaluating activities to ensure that all children reach their full learning potential. She quickly identified that any children who did not attend on a Friday missed out on the wonderful opportunity to participate in 'Fruity Friday'. As a result she now varies the day that this takes place. The childminder fully appreciates that when children are involved in craft and creative activities that it is the process rather than the finished product that is essential to their development. She ensures sufficient time and resources are available and skilfully knows when to interact and extend children's thinking and learning and when to allow them time to complete the activity without adult support. Children proudly display their own pictures and art work which positively develops their self-esteem. The childminder has successfully created an exciting and stimulating play room where toys and resources are efficiently organised to

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and outcomes for children

enable children to effectively contribute to their own learning as they independently select what they wish to play with. This ensures that children's learning and development naturally follows their individual interests and allows them to learn at their own pace and in their own unique way. Many activities develop children's awareness of how to keep themselves safe as they learn about road safety and stranger danger from visiting police officers. Regular evacuations from the home and reading stories, such as 'Frances the Firefly' highlights, to children, the consequences of playing with matches. Additionally, the childminder strongly encourages children not to keep secrets and they regularly discuss the important messages in the 'Keepsafe Code'.

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and outcomes for children

The childminder consistently receives full information when beginning to care for children to ensure that she has an excellent awareness of their needs. Highly effective systems are rigorously implemented to ensure that the childminder sensitively observes and assesses the children and continually tracks their progress towards the early learning goals. Very professional profiles are readily available for parents to view, discuss and contribute to. Additionally, these are regularly shared with other settings that children attend which strongly enhances children's learning. The childminder has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of how children learn and develop and naturally uses this to plan the next stages in each child's development whilst skilfully adapting activities to each child's abilities. Children have excellent opportunities to see and use numbers as they are an integral part of the childminder's setting. She fully appreciates the outdoors as a

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and outcomes for children

valuable learning opportunity and has numbers displayed prominently on the garden fence, in addition to those in the home. 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 1 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 1 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 1

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Stage

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

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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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