Childminder in Suffolk

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY346650 Inspection date 23/06/2010 Inspector Deirdra Keating

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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

Children only attend this setting before and/or after the school day and/or during the school holidays. The judgements in this report reflect the quality of early years provision offered to children during those periods.

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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 12 and nine years, in Framingham, Suffolk, close to shops, parks, schools and public transport links. The whole of the childminder’s home is used for childminding. A secure enclosed garden is used for outdoor play activities. The family have a dog.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder is registered to care for a maximum of six 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 three children in this age group. The childminder also offers care to children aged over five years to 11 years. This provision is registered by Ofsted on 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 several toddler groups regularly. She is a member of an approved childminding network and a local childminder group.

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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

Children thrive in the childminder's care and make excellent progress towards the early learning goals. They thoroughly enjoy their time at the childminder's house and parents are highly satisfied with the excellent standards of welfare, learning and development. The house, garden and local environment are used exceptionally well to provide a wealth of exciting activities whilst ensuring children's safety is paramount at all times. The childminder actively promotes an inclusive environment where children and their families are welcomed and children are highly valued as individuals. The childminder's dedicated commitment to her professional development and reflective self-evaluation builds on the outcomes for children with great success.

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further?

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

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further?

 opening up more opportunities to work in partnership with other providers delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage to ensure progression and continuity. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

Children are extremely well safeguarded and their welfare, care and safety promoted exceptionally well. The childminder is fully aware of her role and responsibilities in safeguarding children and has clear written procedures in the event of a concern about a child in her care, these are proactively shared with parents using notices in the home and written policies. Children's safety and well- being are prioritised well by the childminder, who has created a cosy and safe environment whilst providing a wide range of real experiences from which children can actively learn. Extremely good use of risk assessments and a strong emphasis on inclusion ensure that a safe, caring and respectful atmosphere is always provided where children are all treated as unique individuals.

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the early years provision

The childminder is well qualified and uses her past experience of working in a school very well to support and extend children's learning. Effective planning ensures that the childminder puts her skills and experience to good use and resources are arranged and deployed well to maximise space and ensure that all children can reach their potential. The garden and house are presented to look colourful and child-friendly with a selection of inviting and colourful equipment to facilitate children's learning and development. The day is organised exceptionally well to ensure activities and routines are responsive to children's abilities and interests and consequently children make excellent progress in all areas of learning.

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the early years provision

The childminder demonstrates a strong commitment to her ongoing professional development. She prioritises and values training opportunities and has an ambitious and clear vision for her practice and improving outcomes for children. The childminder has an excellent understanding of the need to reflect on her practice to ensure that any areas for development are identified and targets to improve are defined using the views of those who use her setting. The childminder has a highly positive relationship with parents and carers of the children that attend. These are tailored to each families preferred style of communication and include; electronic mail, text, telephone and daily verbal handovers. In addition the views of the parents have been sought to ensure that the systems of communication works effectively and parents know the intricate details of their child's day. Children's views are also sought and used to plan activities, for

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the early years provision

example, in the holidays children can put forward ideas about where to visit and the childminder endeavours to accommodate individual children's preferences. This helps children know their views are listened to and their ideas are valued by the childminder.

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the early years provision

The childminder has strong links with schools and nurseries in the local area and ensures that teaching methods blend well with the school curriculum. While some links with other provisions of the Early Years Foundation Stage are somewhat established there is room for improvement and the childminder would like to develop them further to ensure that children's learning is shared and supported across all the provisions that they attend. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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and outcomes for children

Children settle extremely well in the rich and stimulating play environment. The childminder shares a wide range of information before children start to enable her to gauge activities to children's capabilities and gain a good understanding of each child's home life. A colourful scrap book provides a meaningful portfolio of the children who attend and includes pictures and information about their family backgrounds including the childminder's family. This gives children a sense of belonging and shows their cultural differences helping children learn about cultural diversity and other parts of the world. In addition, it shows children their families are valued and consequently they talk easily about their home lives with the childminder.

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and outcomes for children

Children's learning and development are shared with parents through their 'learning journeys' and rich daily discussions. The records of learning made by the childminder are superb; they are beautifully presented, full of colourful photographs and concise informed observations linked to areas of learning and future learning outcomes. This individual overview makes children's progress easy to track and help children's parents understand their child's progression towards the early learning goals. Photographs and observations of children clearly show that they thoroughly enjoy their learning and flourish in the childminder's care.

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and outcomes for children

Children are confident and animated as they enjoy small group activities they treat one another with respect and show an excellent understanding of the rules as they wait their turn during a matching game. Children count in every day activities using colourful and child-friendly activities that the childminder has sourced, they match numbers to teddies, recognising that groups of objects and written numbers both represent amounts. Children also match colours to teddies talking about colour names, and practising their counting as they count reliably up to eight and beyond and developing skills for the future. Children participate with extremely high levels of involvement, because the childminder differentiates activities with skill and sensitivity providing challenge for older children and enabling younger children to thoroughly enjoy counting objects that they can touch and see. Children's language development is supported very well, some children are building solid bi-

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and outcomes for children

lingual foundations because the childminder displays the different languages that reflect the children who use the setting. Posters and text around the room are provided in different languages to ensure that all children can see and hear their home language in their play.

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and outcomes for children

Healthy lifestyles are promoted exceptionally well by the childminder who values the outdoor environment and ensures children can access all areas of learning outside in the fresh air. Food is interesting and innovative, children enjoy sandwiches, wraps and fruit for light lunch and home made main meals made from fresh ingredients accompanied by fresh vegetables. These are grown in an nearby garden and give children lots of opportunities to learn about healthy, fresh food as they plant, harvest and tend vegetables in readiness for cooking and eating.

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and outcomes for children

Children are encouraged to keep themselves safe and learn about personal safety This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 through a variety of fun and well-planned activities and everyday routines. They walk to school regularly through the small town where they practise road safety. Fire safety is practised and discussed using role play and props to help young children understand what to do in the event of a fire. Overall, children's welfare and safety are promoted to an outstanding standard through the clean hygienic and extremely well organised homely environment that the childminder strives to provide. 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 1 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 2 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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