Childminder in Cheshire East

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 31/10/2012 18/12/2008

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 3 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The childminder understands children and how they develop. She develops caring, supportive relationships with children of all ages which means children are happy, confident, and enthusiastic and make good progress.  The secure, child-orientated learning environment ensures children enjoy playing and make good progress in all areas of learning.  The childminder has high expectations of children's development and is committed to ongoing improvement of her provision. She regularly reviews her practice and keeps up-to-date with changes in requirements and guidance.  The childminder keeps parents informed about their children's progress and is able to advise them about children's expected levels of development at a given age.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is not yet a highly stimulating environment to promote learning, both indoors and outside, and some experiences are not freely available which may limit children's choice.  Children's progress is not monitored in detail over time, for each area of learning, which limits the childminder's ability to sharply focus and target interventions.  Parents are not actively encouraged to contribute to children's developmental records by providing information about their learning and development at home.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are scheduled:  at least once in every inspection cycle. The current cycle ends on 31 July 2016  more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged as inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage; or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised for inspection where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the childminder playing with and caring for the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the childminder at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's learning journeys, assessments and other documents including a selection of certificates, policies, risk assessments and completed questionnaires from parents.

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Information about the setting

The childminder has been registered since 1998. She lives in Bramley, Leeds, with her husband who is registered as an assistant and their daughter aged 15 years. The whole of the ground floor of the childminder's home is registered for childminding as is the first floor bathroom, although most care is provided in a purpose built playroom which includes a toilet and direct access to an enclosed garden for outside play. The family have two cats and a rabbit. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She currently cares for six children between two and five years of age, of whom six are in the early years age range and one of whom attends before and after school and during the holidays. The childminder takes children to and from school and is a member of the National Childminding Association.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 review and improve the availability of resources both indoors and outdoors to enable children to choose from a greater range of equipment, and to return to activities that they find interesting

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 monitor children's progress in detail over time, for each area of learning, to enable interventions to promote development to be sharply focused

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 actively encourage parents to contribute to their children's developmental records by providing information about their learning and development at home.

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who attend

The childminder has a clear understanding of how children learn and develop through play. She uses this, together with a good working knowledge of the Statutory Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage to plan and provide a welcoming, child-orientated environment and a successful range of activities and experiences for children. The childminder has high expectations for the children who achieve well and are often above expectations for their age. The childminder is perceptive and understands the children's interests and approaches to learning. She uses discussion effectively and picks up on children's ideas. Children are supported well and are making good progress in all areas of learning and development. For example, a child spends an extended period of time looking through children's profiles and discussing and recalling with the childminder activities that they had done together, friends who had gone on to school, and things their sister had

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who attend

done when she was very little. In this way children develop good communication skills. They also gain a sense of belonging and well-being and an understanding of family, others, and past and present events.

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who attend

The childminder knows how to encourage children to investigate, experiment and find out things for themselves. Children have opportunities to choose activities, and the childminder provides activities that she knows will encourage children to develop specific areas of learning. Children are encouraged to experiment by the exciting opportunities provided. For example, a tray of dry sand and a tray of water is fascinating and encourages even reluctant children to explore and experiment.

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who attend

Children enjoy dressing up and role play. They love to play 'mummies'. A child puts a bib onto a doll, takes off its clothes and pats its back saying 'shush'. The childminder takes advantage of this interest and supports the child in the more difficult task of redressing the doll. Children are very happy and talk to themselves and the childminder as they play. They sometimes sing to themselves. The childminder knows how to take advantage of children's ideas and enthusiasm to develop their learning. For example a child sings parts of 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star' and 'Incy Wincy Spider' as she chalks on the blackboard. After a little while the childminder extends this activity by saying 'Shall we draw a spider'? They both spend several minutes drawing and talking about drawing spiders. The child follows the childminder's example, talking through her drawing saying, 'Draw a circle and a big spider (a bigger circle) and a face.' The childminder then asks 'Do you want some

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who attend

pens to do a spider?' The child decides to draw around the childminder's hand.

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who attend

The childminder gathers information from parents about their children's individual routines, interests and personalities. She uses this knowledge well when planning the daily routine and organising activities. She also keeps a learning journey for each child. This includes pictures and dated notes about their achievements and how these relate to different areas of learning. These journals help the childminder keep parents informed about their child's progress. However, parents are not yet contributing notes to these journals about what children do at home.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The childminder provides a friendly, supportive environment where children's needs are well met. Children demonstrate they feel very safe and secure and have developed firm attachments to the adults who care for them. They are happy, confident and outgoing and respond well to the stimulating environment. The childminder provides a good role model and supports children's independence and well-being celebrating children's achievements and encouraging them to interact well with adults and with other children. In this environment children develop a sense of pride in their achievements and express delight as they succeed in challenging activities.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children enjoy the use of a purpose-built playroom with plenty of storage for a wide variety of toys, games and resources. There are labelled boxes containing lots of different resources, such as train tracks and dressing up clothes. Accessible shelves contain puzzles and interactive toys. There is a set of drawers containing scissors, glue, paper, card, glitter, collage materials, tracing paper and other craft resources. The wall-mounted black- board enables children to draw and mark-make freely, however, some resources are not always freely available to children. On some occasions this limits children's choice and hinders their ability to experiment and revisit activities that interest them. There is direct access from the playroom into a safe outside area which is well used in summer, providing children opportunities to dig in the garden, experiment with sand and water and have opportunities for physical exercise. However, this area is less well used during the winter

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children learn about their own health and hygiene through daily routines. Children are encouraged to use the bathroom independently and are pleased when they manage to wash and dry their hands and dress themselves independently. Children enjoy healthy snacks and express their preferences with confidence. The childminder understands the importance of fresh air and regular exercise. They make a daily trip to school and nursery, often calling in at the park on the way past.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The childminder has close links with the local school. In the setting she follows up activities children take part in at school, for example, children went on a trip to a synagogue so she extended this learning by using books to find out more information, and provided different food for the children to try. Children become familiar with the school they will be moving on to as they deliver and collect the school age children. Parents are encouraged to share their children's profiles with the school which supports children's progress when they enter the reception class. Parents and children highly praise the childminder, for example, a boy sent a hand-made card to the 'best childminder in the world'.

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provision

The childminder is experienced and has a good understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She uses documents and the internet effectively to develop her provision and keep up-to-date with changes in requirement and practice. She reviews her practice based on this information and identifies areas for improvement. The childminder has an effective range of written risk assessments, policies, and other information that she provides for parents, which she reviews regularly and keeps up-to- date. This means children are well cared for, kept safe and parents are well informed about how she looks after children. She is aware of her responsibility in regard to safeguarding children and knowledgeable about the processes and requirements.

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provision

The childminder understands well how children learn and supports this by providing an effective range of resources which are generally accessible to children. She understands the importance of tailoring opportunities to the needs of individual children. She allows children to explore their ideas but sensitively extends these by playing alongside the children when she identifies that she can extend their learning. However, there are times when resources are restricted and children do not always have the opportunity to freely return to activities that have interested them. In particular the garden area is not well used in the winter months.

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provision

The childminder assesses and monitors children's development through observations. She records achievements using notes and photographs in the children's profiles and also produces an assessment report for children aged two years that clearly states what children can do and the developmental age band that this corresponds to, for each area of learning. The report also identifies next steps to encourage further development in each area of learning. Although the information she provides to parents about their child's development is good she does not routinely encourage them to contribute to their children's profiles as part of the ongoing observation, assessment and planning cycle. The childminder knows her children well. She plans activities and experiences based on their interests and the publication 'Development Matters', which identifies children's development levels and suggest appropriate activities and experiences to help children

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provision

progress. However, her systems do not yet enable her to have a detailed understanding of children's rate of progress in each area of learning. The childminder has a written self- evaluation form and continually reviews her provision. She has addressed actions and recommendations raised at her last inspection. These methods ensure that the childminder continues to raise standards and improve outcomes for the children who attend her provision.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 320270 Local authority Leeds Inspection number 819145 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 6

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Telephone number

set out in the guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply: Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises that are usually their own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. 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,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, 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. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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