Hart, Claire

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 151465 Inspection date 24/11/2011 Inspector Josephine Geoghegan

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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 2001 and lives with her two teenage children and her mother in the Eltham area of the London Borough of Greenwich. The whole of the ground floor of the home is used for childminding and there is an enclosed garden for outside play. The family has a pet cat. The childminder is on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She is registered to care for a maximum of five children under eight years; of these, not more than three may be in the early years age group. The childminder is currently caring for 11 children; of these, two are in the early years age group. Children attend from Monday to Friday for various days and times during school term time. They attend on an occasional basis during school holidays. The childminder supports children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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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

Highly effective systems are in place to meet the needs of all children. Children engage in purposeful, very well planned activities that, overall, promote all areas of their learning and development. The childminder is extremely successful in making assessments of children's progress. Her skilful interaction with children enables them to become fully engrossed in play; as a result, their learning is promoted extremely successfully. The childminder shows an excellent capacity to maintain continuous improvement. She demonstrates clear awareness of her strengths and significantly plans for future development, adopting an extremely professional approach to all aspects of her service.

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further?

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

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further?

 extending children's use of technology resources to support their learning.

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the early years provision

Highly robust systems are in place to help safeguard children and promote their welfare. The childminder is particularly able to take prompt action if she has any concerns. This is because all information and procedures are easily accessible, including clear track records relating to all children. Full regard is given to promoting children's safety. For example, the childminder completes comprehensive, risk assessments relating to the home and outings. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 The childminder develops highly effective partnerships with other educational settings that children attend, ensuring that information is fully shared between parents, school and the childminder. She attends educational workshops presented by the school to consistently support children's learning by providing activities that compliment school activities. Excellent systems are in place to support children's

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the early years provision

additional needs, as the childminder continuously works with parents to ensure children's individual needs are fully met. Engagement with parents is strong because the childminder makes every effort to share abundant information about children's days and progress. For example, she devised a 'daily activity and contact sheet' to record all details with photographs of children's activities and events. Children's progress files are frequently accessed by parents and their views in annual questionnaires are valued. Parents report that their children are very happy in the childminder's care and thoroughly enjoy the activities and outings. They are pleased that the children's diet has improved and appreciate the excellent communication fostered by the childminder.

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the early years provision

Promoting equality is embedded in the childminder's practice, as she plans an exceptional range of activities and outings. Children learn about all people in the community. They highly develop their sense of identity as they add pictures to the world map to show their links with other countries; they create table mats with their photos, to enrich their sense of belonging. Excellent systems ensure that children's individual needs are known and respected. The childminder works very closely with parents so that children's ongoing additional needs are met. She extensively implements a broad range of policies and procedures aimed at promoting all aspects of children's welfare. She offers expert guidance and support to parents in a resource pack that she devised to contain a broad range of childcare information.

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the early years provision

The childminder shows exemplary commitment to driving improvement. She fully meets all recommendations raised at the last inspection and has developed in- depth methods of evaluation that accurately reflect the high quality of her service. She rigorously monitors her strengths and areas that she plans to improve, including her professional learning needs. Her deployment of resources is excellent. This is due to the childminders outstanding organisational skills. She makes excellent use of the time that children attend and presents activities at all the different levels of the children so all fully participate. As a result, children have outstanding opportunities to make progress in all areas of their learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children benefit from the extremely well organised, learning environment that promotes their active learning skills. For example, they confidently follow their own interests to freely select resources and work independently. Samples of children's creative work and a great variety of information are displayed for parents. These in turn, very effectively enhance the learning environment. Children use an excellent, rich and varied range of high quality resources that, overall, promotes all areas of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 learning. The childminder shows a very high regard to extending children's learning interests; for example, she has obtained more torches so that all children can explore the garden in the dark.

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and outcomes for children

Children adopt extremely healthy lifestyles, as they make many choices at snack and meal times. They thoroughly enjoy participating in cooking activities and learning about foods that are good for them. They also have excellent opportunities to enjoy exercise and fresh air and are fully independent in choosing whether they play in or out of doors. The childminder shows an exceptionally high regard to meeting children's individual, dietary needs. Children develop superior, social skills as they all sit around the table and eat together. They also develop exceptional self-care skills and very good hygiene habits with excellent support from the childminder. Children feel entirely safe and regularly practise evacuation drills so they know what to do in an emergency. They practise the road safety that they learn about and know why they wear high visibility jackets on outings.

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and outcomes for children

Excellent systems are in place to track children's progress. Photographs and samples of children's work support the childminder in making detailed assessments. She then effectively links her assessments to the Early Learning Goals and completes individual activity plans for all children. The childminder successfully differentiates the planning to meet the various ages and abilities of children attending. This cycle of observation, assessment and planning ensures that children's individual needs are fully catered for and demonstrates the high quality practice implemented by the childminder. She is extremely effective in supporting children's learning through play. For example, she asks many questions that make them think. She is also exceptionally effective in obtaining information from other settings that children attend and then providing activities that fully extend and consolidate children's learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children thoroughly enjoy the activities and have excellent opportunities to achieve and develop their skills for the future. They freely and confidently engage in conversations and fully enjoy looking at books with the childminder. They show an extremely keen interest in letters and numbers and demonstrate very good control as they make attempts at writing. They have excellent opportunities to learn about nature, as they grow vegetables. They enthusiastically learn about the wider community through planned outings and by participating in celebrations for a wide variety of festivals. Although they use some operational toys, opportunities to engage in activities that promote their awareness of uses of technology are less frequent. Children use a wide range of resources that develop their physical control, such as giant, board games. This also enables them to develop their problem solving and numeracy skills. Children completely enjoy being creative and

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and outcomes for children

develop exceptional free, creative expression while using paint, collage and malleable materials. Children benefit from excellent support from the childminder, who sets extremely clear boundaries regarding the expectations of their behaviour. As a result, they learn very good codes of conduct and play extremely harmoniously together. 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 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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