Childminder in Bolton

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/02/2013 26/02/2008

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Children are well supported by the caring childminder. As a result, they have developed secure relationships, are confident in expressing their needs and their emotional well- being is positively promoted.  The childminder promotes children's communication and language skills as she constantly talks with them, asks questions and makes good use of books.  The childminder makes good use of playgroups in the local community to help children to mix and learn with others and to develop positive relationships. This means that she supports children's personal, social and emotional development well.

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It is not yet good because

 Assessments of children's learning and development are not yet precise enough to effectively support planning. As a result, activities are not consistently matched to children's learning needs, in order to promote their continual progress.  The childminder does not rigorously monitor the educational programmes to ensure an even balance of learning experiences are provided across all areas of learning. Consequently, the programme for developing children's understanding of the world is limited.  The childminder does not yet independently evaluate what she does, or use the views of parents and children effectively, to help identify all areas for improvement that will raise the overall quality of her 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 observed activities in the lounge and viewed the equipment and resources available for the children to support the activities provided.

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Inspection activities

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at the children's learning journey records, planning documentation, discussed her self-evaluation and viewed a selection of policies, procedures and children's records.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 1989 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her adult daughter in the Kearsley area of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The whole of the ground floor, which includes the lounge and kitchen/diner, is used for childminding purposes. Children have access to the first floor bathroom and there is a rear garden for outside play. The family has a pet cat.

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Information about the setting

The childminder attends toddler and childminding groups with the children. She takes and collects children from local schools. There are currently two children on roll, one of whom is in the early years age group. The childminder operates each weekday, all year round, except for Bank holidays and family holidays. She is registered to work with an assistant.

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must:

 develop the educational programme for understanding the world by; making better use of outdoor areas and resources, such as magnifiers, to support children in exploring, investigating and closely observing the natural world and; extending opportunities for children to use mechanical and programmable toys to support their understanding of how things work.

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

 develop the precision of assessments of each child's progress and make better use of the information gained from them to plan for and shape future learning experiences for each individual child

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

 increase the rigour of monitoring and evaluation and use the views of parents and children effectively to target areas for change that will improve the overall quality of the setting and enhance the drive for continual improvement.

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who attend

The childminder has an appropriate understanding of the learning and development requirements to enable her to meet children's overall needs. She provides a reasonably varied range of activities. These help children make steady progress, based on their basic starting points, which she establishes with parents using a pre-admission questionnaire. The childminder completes observations and assesses children's development; recording these in a 'learning journey', to chart children's achievements. This is then shared with parents, who also occasionally use this to record what children are interested in and what they know about their child's learning. This helps both the childminder and parents work sufficiently well together to guide children's future learning. The childminder tracks children's progress using development guidance materials. These demonstrate that children are achieving typically what is expected for their individual

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who attend

ages. However, the information that the childminder obtains from her spontaneous observations is not always sufficiently detailed to enable her to securely identify and plan for what individual children need to learn next. As a result, children make better progress in some areas than others. The childminder plans activities to promote monthly themes of learning. This helps her focus some learning across all seven areas and broadens children's experiences. However, activities are not always matched to individual children's abilities and this means that they are not always as challenging as they could be in order to promote continuous progression.

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who attend

Sufficient resources are available in the childminder's lounge to enable children to make choices and respond to their own interests. As a result, children enjoy their play and are occupied and stimulated. The childminder works closely with children and constantly supports their communication and language skills. For example, she engages children in conversation and asks questions which make them think. She comments on what she is doing, models language and emphasises key words which children repeat. Children freely access books from open shelving and they sit closely with the childminder when they look at them together. Children listen, comment on the illustrations and demonstrate their expanding vocabulary when they use words correctly to describe what they see. Children spontaneously count the 'ants' pictured on the page demonstrating their confidence in using numbers for counting. The childminder skilfully knows when to sit back and allow

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who attend

children time to think before intervening to extend the counting further. Children make connections and follow through their thinking when they remember the book with the 'spiders', along with other favourite books, and they know where to find them. This effective organisation of resources helps children become active learners and develop some of the skills and attributes they need for their future learning.

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who attend

The childminder suitably extends toys and activities to support current themes of learning. For example, to support the 'all about me' theme, she provides some new construction toys, which promote the design of characters using facial features and body parts. However, the childminder does not carefully monitor her provision to ensure that all areas of learning are consistently promoted. As a result, children have fewer opportunities to use toys and equipment which promote their understanding of technology. Additionally, the childminder does not make as much use of her garden as she could to extend children's understanding of the world and to respond to children's interest in insects, nature and living things.

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

Children new to the childminder's home settle well due to an effective settling-in process. Time is taken to establish relationships and to obtain useful information from parents about children's general care needs, home practices and routines. Children form secure emotional attachments to the childminder and she is responsive to their needs. They are confident to explore and investigate the familiar surroundings, but also enjoy returning to the childminder to play together, read books or have a cuddle with their comforter. Young children's personal, social and emotional development is well promoted and maintained throughout activities. Behaviour is managed in a calm, consistent manner, with the childminder adopting consistent routines so that children understand what is expected of them. As a result, they use good manners without prompting from an early stage.

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

The childminder meets children's individual care needs effectively and they learn about healthy lifestyles. She provides suitable meals and children request fruit for their snack. Drinking water is freely accessible to children so that they can make decisions for themselves about their needs. She is in the process of seeking out food hygiene training to secure healthy food provision. The childminder walks with children to the local library and takes them to the local park to use the large apparatus. Consequently, children take part in physical exercise and gain plenty of fresh air and sunlight vital for their good health on most days. Children's safety is protected and they are developing an understanding of how to keep themselves safe, for example, they practise emergency exit drills and they explore books and activities about 'stranger danger'.

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

Children enjoy the company of others. Through attendance at childminding groups and community play sessions, children learn to join in group activities and make special friends. As a result, they learn to follow group routines, take turns, share and cooperate with other children. This prepares them well for their transition to the next stage of their learning.

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provision

The childminder has a sufficient understanding of her role and responsibilities with regard to the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage to ensure that these are met. Since the last inspection and following previous concerns received, she has gained support from her local childcare advisors, and addressed all actions required of her. She has improved her documentation and the way she organises her provision as a result. This means that all required records are now in place and are adequately maintained. Improved policies and procedures mean that arrangements for safeguarding children, managing behaviour and promoting equality of opportunity are clear. The childminder has ensured all necessary checks have been completed on adults connected with the setting and she has addressed and minimised any identified hazards on the premises. As a result, children are safe. She has also improved her resources and

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provision

how she organises children's care and play and this means children's needs and their well- being are now suitably promoted. She has attended an appropriate first aid course, obtained a first aid kit and addressed hygiene issues, which promotes children's good health.

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provision

The childminder has worked closely with her local early years advisors to identify areas for improvement and set action plans for completion, the majority of which have been sufficiently addressed. This means that the childminder is now confident that legal requirements are met. Some additional training, for example, short sessions through the local authority, in addition to working towards completion of an early years qualification to level 3, has helped the childminder improve her provision. She knows that her knowledge and skills are still developing in some areas, but shows a clear commitment to making improvements. However, monitoring and evaluation have mainly been carried out with the help of the local authority and there is a need for the childminder to improve how she assesses the quality of her provision for herself by, for example, using the views of parents and children more effectively to help her focus on the things that will have the

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provision

biggest impact on children's care and learning. Therefore, precise targets for improvement are not yet developed.

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provision

The childminder provides daily information for parents during daily discussions and through mobile phone texts. This makes a strong contribution to meeting children's needs and promoting their welfare. The childminder has yet to implement the progress check at age two. However, she is fully aware of the requirements and, by using her development tracking records and learning journal, she is already in a position to identify and report to parents what the children are achieving in relation to the prime areas of learning, when individual child reaches the appropriate age. Partnerships are used effectively to provide children with varied experiences. The childminder understands and shows commitment to working with other professionals to share information when she needs to do so. This means that when children also attend other settings, she ensures some consistency in their care and learning.

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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 315605 Local authority Bolton Inspection number 850292 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 2

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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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