Childminder in Oldham

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 301326 Inspection date 21/03/2011 Inspector Barbara Wearing

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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 assesses 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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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 has been registered since 1998. She lives with her husband, adult daughter and 13 year daughter in the Failsworth area of Oldham. The whole of the ground floor of the property and the first floor bathroom are used for childminding. There is a fully enclosed garden available for outside play. The family has a pet cat.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder is registered to care for a maximum of six children at any one time and currently there are ten children on roll, attending on various days and hours. Six children are on the Early Years Register. Care to children aged over five years to 11 years is registered by Ofsted on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The childminder has a childcare qualification to Level 3. She walks to local schools to take and collect children and attends the local childminder groups.

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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 offers children rich and varied experiences that meet their needs and stimulate their interests. She is caring and gentle and has an expert knowledge and understanding of child development and the Early Years Foundation Stage. She ensures that every opportunity is taken to promote children's learning and development, enabling all children to make excellent progress towards the early learning goals. During her years of childminding she has worked extremely hard to continually improve her provision, resulting in the very high quality service offered to children.

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further?

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

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further?

 extend opportunities for parents to share information regarding children's skills and abilities as they settle to establish starting points from which to monitor children's progress.

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the early years provision

Rigorous measures are in place to ensure children's safety and well-being. The childminder has a thorough understanding of safeguarding policies and attends regular training to update her knowledge of current procedures. She builds secure and trusting relationships with children and encourages them to have an understanding of their own and others' rights. Therefore, she is confident that This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 children would share worries with her and that she would quickly become aware of any signs or symptoms of abuse. Comprehensive policies and procedures, which are made user friendly with the use of photographs, are regularly updated and robustly implemented. These are shared with parents, enabling them to have a good understanding of the provision offered to their children. Detailed risk assessments are carried out regularly for all areas of the home, garden and trips

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the early years provision

out. They demonstrate that necessary action is taken to limit hazards to children, whilst ensuring they have opportunities to explore and develop skills.

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the early years provision

The childminder has a wealth of knowledge and experience in early years and is committed to the continual development of her high quality childminding provision. She has positively embraced developments in early years and implemented all the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She attends various training, discusses childcare practices with fellow childminders and seeks feedback from parents. Her ongoing 'to do' book shows how she constantly reflects on how she can develop her childminding. Her thorough self-evaluation accurately reflects her strengths, the improvements she has implemented since her last inspection and her aims for the future.

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the early years provision

Children benefit greatly from the excellent range of experiences offered to them by the childminder. Her home is welcoming, bright and stimulating. She works hard to organise her home and make a wide range of resources freely accessible to children that cover all areas of learning. Older children have begun to make a toy catalogue to enable younger children to choose from the extensive range that the childminder has stored elsewhere. Plans and photographs show the excellent range of activities that the childminder offers to children, that promote their learning in all areas of development, outdoors and indoors, within the home and on trips out.

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the early years provision

Children are highly valued by the childminder who treats them as unique individuals, showing them utmost care and respect. She has worked with other professionals and early years settings that children attend to ensure all children are given appropriate support to enable them to develop to their full potential, including children with special educational needs. She obtains information regarding topics being covered at other early years settings through discussion with staff, newsletters and talking to the children. This enables her to offer resources and plan activities to enhance their learning. For example, when studying birds at school the childminder provided opportunities for children to make binoculars, a bird feeder and access relevant information of the internet.

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the early years provision

Various effective systems are in place for the two-way sharing of information with parents. This maintains consistency for children, enables parents to make informed choices about the care of their children and have an insight into how their child has spent their day. The youngest children have a daily diary to share information and all parents are regularly invited to look at their children's development files. She talks to parents and records information regarding children's needs and routines to ease the settling-in process. Children's development records show a summary of how well children have settled. However, they do not include information obtained from parents regarding their children's skills and abilities when they are admitted, to establish starting points from which to track their future development. When children are settled parents share information verbally This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

regarding children's achievements and experiences at home and the childminder plans activities to support this. The childminder seeks feedback from parents using questionnaires. These demonstrate how much they value the childminder's high standards of care and education. They particularly appreciate that she is reliable, flexible, extremely knowledgeable about child development and state that their children are 'very happy and look forward to coming'.

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and outcomes for children

Excellent, well established systems are in place for observation, assessment and planning. The childminder records regular, meaningful observations as children achieve skills and demonstrate current interests and likes. These are used to devise next steps in their learning that clearly link into weekly plans. Children's progress towards these next steps and the early learning goals is clearly tracked.

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and outcomes for children

The childminder is highly skilled at taking every opportunity to extend children's learning through thoughtfully planned adult-led and child-initiated activities. Children greatly enjoy engaging in imaginative play, using small world and role play resources. For example, they pretend play people have got muddy. The childminder asks if children would like to clean them and brings them a bowl of water, cloth and 'bubbles'. The childminder seizes opportunities to develop their skills in problem solving, reasoning and numeracy. She asks them how many toy horses they have, describes objects by size and asks 'how many we have got now?' as children find more crumpets in the play kitchen. Children play with a shape sorter. They are able to find shapes, such as a circle and square and the childminder correctly names more complex shapes such as pentagon and hexagon.

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and outcomes for children

Photographs show a height chart children have made as part of a topic on growing, during which the childminder encouraged them to look at how different they all are. Their understanding of similarities and differences of people and lifestyles is further promoted as they learn about different festivals and countries in fun and interesting ways and access the good range of materials that reflect diversity. Children become involved in many community projects, such as the local allotments, litter picking and recycling days. This allows them to socialise with different people, develop healthy lifestyles and an understanding of the natural environment and sustainability. They have also been involved in a successful petition to keep the fencing around the local play park. This has taught the children that they have a voice and can make a positive contribution to society.

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and outcomes for children

Children develop a very strong sense of belonging within the childminder's home. They are involved in daily routines and developing policies, such as house rules. They build very close relationships with each other and the childminder. Young children talk affectionately about other minded children, recalling how the school age children help them with their gloves and shoes when getting ready to take them to school. They show concern for children younger than themselves when they are feeling poorly and the childminder recognises and praises this. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Children are confident communicators. They chat amongst themselves, describing their play and to the childminder to ask and answer questions and make their needs and preferences known. The childminder enters into conversations with children to extend their language and thinking. She names objects and asks

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and outcomes for children

children open-ended questions as they play. When children build with wooden blocks they hand them to the childminder who sounds out the letters and states the numerals on each blocks. Children have access to various mark making tools, including a range natural materials and every day objects for making prints in the play dough.

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and outcomes for children

A high priority is given to developing children's physical skills and healthy lifestyles. The policy manual clearly informs parents that children will be given water to drink throughout the day. Children are involved in food preparation, grating their own cheese and choosing their toppings for their pizza. Children plant, grow and eat fruit and vegetables. They go outdoors to play on a daily basis where all areas of learning are promoted, including large muscle skills and coordination. Children learn skills to keep themselves safe, such as road safety, stranger danger and internet safety. 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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Early Years Foundation Stage

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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