Childminder in South Tyneside

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12/11/2012 20/10/2011

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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 is calm and caring and has built up strong relationships with children; therefore they feel safe and secure and approach her easily.  The childminder is pro-active and keen to develop her knowledge and understanding further by attending a relevant course, which leads to an appropriate childcare qualification.  Children's literacy and mathematical skills are good as they are given stimulating opportunities to listen to stories and plenty of support to recognise numbers and to count during their games.  Children's behaviour is very good. They are aware of their responsibilities and know the routines as they care for the toys and environment. They also play cooperatively as they learn to take turns and respect one another.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children have fewer opportunities to access creative materials freely.  Relationships and exchange of information with other early years settings that children attend is not yet fully embedded in practice.

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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 held discussions with the childminder throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to children and observed play and learning activities inside the home.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector viewed a sample of documentation, including children's learning journeys, and questionnaires from parents.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in November 2010. She is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her husband and children aged 17 and six years in a house in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear. She uses the whole of the ground floor and the rear garden for childminding.

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Information about the setting

The childminder attends regular groups, and the park on a regular basis. She collects children from the local school and nursery. There are currently seven children on roll, of whom, three are in the early years age group. All children attend on set days on a part- time basis or before and after school. There is a pet rabbit on the premises.

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

 develop the provision within the home for children to express their ideas through media and materials by providing more freely accessible collage, art, craft and paint activities so that children have spontaneous opportunities to be creative

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

 develop relationships further with nursery and school staff to ensure that sufficient information is exchanged to ensure that consistency and continuity is in place to support children's progress.

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who attend

The children are very well supported in their play and learning. They play happily with their cars and small world figures during self-chosen activities and they ask the childminder questions about how things work, as she joins in with their play. The childminder knows that children are interested in numbers and are very good at number recognition, so she has bought a number chart to display on the wall at their level. Pre- school children spontaneously look at this and point out and name numbers they recognise using mathematical language very well; for example, they state, '100 is a big number and 1 is a small number'.

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who attend

By taking part in planned games, the childminder knows that children's personal, social and mathematical development is enhanced well. She supports them to take turns and consolidate more mathematical concepts; for example, they count out the correct number of 'burger' counters and match the colours. The childminder makes children think as she deliberately picks up wrong colours, so that the children quickly correct her. She helps them calculate as she notes that there are five counters and they only need four each, therefore they learn that by taking one away they have the correct number. They also recognise numbers, colours and patterns on dice and match these successfully in their game. They press the head on the 'pig' to correspond with the numbers of burgers they feed him; for example, if they get four on the dice, they feed him four burgers and press his head four times.

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who attend

Children clearly enjoy story time. They select books for the childminder to read that they have previously chosen from the library. She asks children where she should sit on the settee as they both squash up together to make room for her and eagerly tell her where to sit. They look at books happily with her and listen intently as she reads a story about recycling. Children point out letters that they also recognise in their name and she asks them questions and makes statements about the story to build on their interests; for example, she relates this to real life experiences as she talks to them about how they recycle, which colour bin they use, what happens to recyclable materials and what they can be made into. When children point out things and ask questions such as, 'What is that?' She tells them it is an 'ant' and builds on their curiosity by talking about ants and they count its feet and legs. This extends children's language, literacy and mathematical

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who attend

skills very well as they are engrossed and concentrate well on the stories.

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who attend

Toys are all easily accessible housed in units and in well-labelled boxes with pictures and words and children make independent choices regarding what they want to do. However, there are no free art and craft materials or dressing up items readily available or put out for the children. This means they do not have sufficient spontaneous opportunities to be creative. The childminder indicates that children take part in planned craft activities such as, making Halloween bags and masks and there is a labelled box of creative materials, which contains pens, pencils, paper, glue and paint. Children also take part in planned activity days, when she gets together with other childminders and their children and they dress up for events, such as a pirate day. This promotes children's creative development appropriately in a planned way.

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who attend

Children follow a good routine. The childminder visits different groups with them every morning. She documents the places they go and how the children benefit and what they gain from it in their learning journey. For example, every planned group and outing is linked to the seven areas of learning using spider diagrams. This shows that groups are not just part of the childminder's social routine, but benefit the children's learning and development well. The childminder is also well aware of the differences in the activities that the groups offer and makes sure that these meet the children's individual needs. For example, she knows that boys grow and develop and require more space for physical play. Now they are old enough to make decisions, if they do not want to go to the groups, they choose other alternatives, such as visits to the beach, library or park. The childminder keeps lovely learning journals on the early years children with nice captions and

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who attend

photographs of what they do and plans for their next steps. 'All about me' information provides her with a good baseline assessment on the children from when they start. Parents know that these are available for them to view at any time.

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who attend

The childminder respects each child and family background and learns simple words when children are learning both their home language and English. She recognises the differences in boys and girls play, which helps her to build on their interests and identify any gaps in their learning or in equipment that they may not be using. She ensures that children have choices. For example, she asks them what they would like to play with and what they would like for snack and lunch, which helps them to become good decision makers and feel fully involved in the life of the setting.

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

Children play in a child-friendly, safe environment with clean, age appropriate and well- maintained toys and equipment that effectively supports their overall well-being and care. The childminder promotes children's good health and self-care through routines and regular fresh air and exercise. For example, they attend a soft play centre every week. She provides healthy snacks and gives children choices from a range of fresh fruit. She talks to children about why they need to wipe their hands before eating and why this is important. Children then talk about germs and what would happen if germs get into their tummy. The childminder sits with the children to chat over snack time. She talks to them about what they are doing and where they have been, which provides a good social occasion as they chat enthusiastically. The childminder wipes children's noses when needed and also encourages them to find clean tissues for themselves, as these are easily

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

accessible to them. This helps them to develop responsibility for their own self-care needs.

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

The childminder teaches children about safety and they know to tidy up their toys before getting others out to minimise clutter and to ensure that no one trips over them. She reminds them why they should not swing on their chair and encourages them to think about and understand the consequences to help them learn about safety. She helps children to settle in by offering short visits and goes over important issues with parents such as, their routines and personal care needs, which demonstrates that she does think about and is made aware of children's individual needs and personalities.

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

The childminder has lovely relationships with the children. She is calm and caring, so that they relate very well to her. For example, if they become upset they seek her out and she gives them lots of reassurance and cuddles as they put their arms out to her. Showing, children are very settled. Children's behaviour is very good as they are fully engaged and engrossed in their activities. They learn to take turns when they play co-operative games, which teaches them to learn about their own and others feelings. These skills prepare children well for the next stage in their learning.

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provision

The childminder has a good understanding of her responsibilities in meeting the welfare and learning and development requirements of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage framework. She has addressed the action and recommendations from the last inspection. For example, she has revised her observations and tracking of children's development to show how they make progress. She has made a good attempt at self-evaluation, identifying what she does and how she helps children learn. Her main aim is to ensure that children want to come and enjoy their time while they are with her by providing a quality service where the children are happy. She has some action plans in place, such as to develop her garden area and she uses parental feedback from her questionnaires to help her make changes in line with their wishes. She is also developing her knowledge and skills and is committed to her role as she has embarked on a level 3 qualification in

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provision

childcare and attends other training when she can. This shows that she has a good capacity to improve her service further. The childminder has a good understanding of safeguarding children. She has clear child protection procedures and a list of contact numbers in her file should she need to seek advice, or make a referral, if she has concerns over a child's welfare. Children are further protected by a secure environment and robust safety practices within the home. Her documentation is all very well organised and easily accessible and underpins her practice well. She is aware of her responsibilities when administering medication and treating minor accidents and she holds a valid first aid certificate.

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provision

Some of the early years children attend part-time nursery and reception class. The childminder is beginning to develop her relationships with nursery staff to exchange relevant information on children's needs, although she has not yet developed effective systems for working with schools. Therefore she does not yet work in partnership with them to help her identify children's learning needs, to ensure that they make progress and that continuity and consistency is fully in place for each child. The childminder completes 'All about me' information for children with their parents, which gives her a good starting point on which to base their care and education within her provision. She finds out their routines, what they can do and what they enjoy. Parents' questionnaires are very positive as they are happy with the service and the communication between themselves and the childminder. Comments include 'I hope you are part of my child's life for a very long time.'

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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 EY416965 Local authority South Tyneside Inspection number 888623 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 5 Number of children on roll 7

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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:

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Type of provision

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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