Childminder in Stockport

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29/04/2013 08/12/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 2 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

 The childminder provides a relaxed, friendly and welcoming environment where children feel secure and develop confidence. This means their emotional well-being is appropriately fostered.  Children independently access some interesting activities, toys and equipment. As a result, they are happily engaged and can explore and follow through their own ideas. This helps them develop some of the skills they need for their future learning.  The childminder makes good use of play groups and regularly takes children on outings in the local community. This extends children's experiences, enables children to learn from each other and helps them develop social confidence.

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It is not yet good because

 The childminder does not consistently extend children's communication and language. Consequently, they do not receive as many challenging opportunities to progress as well in this area as they do in others.  The childminder does not precisely assess what children can do and use information from parents at the start and ongoing, in order to sharply focus the planning of activities to maximise the potential of the learning opportunities for individual children.  The childminder does not independently evaluate the quality of her provision or fully make the most use of opportunities for professional development to help to identify areas for improvement in order to continually drive the setting forward.

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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

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged 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 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  scheduled 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 compulsory part 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 children's care and their play in the lounge, and viewed other parts of the premises used by children.

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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 a selection of documents including local authority visit reports, feedback from parents, activity planning, children's records and operational records.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2011 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. She lives in a house in Stretford, Manchester. The whole of the ground floor and the first floor bathroom is used for childminding. There is an enclosed area for outside play. The childminder has three cats as pets.

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Information about the setting

The childminder attends a toddler group and visits the park with children on a regular basis. There are currently two children in the early years age range on roll. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The childminder also cares for children aged over five years. She collects children from the local schools and pre-schools. At times, the childminder works with her mother as an assistant.

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Information about the setting

The childminder operates all year round, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays and personal holidays. She holds an early years qualification at level 3 and is accredited to provide early education for three- and four-year-old children. She is a member of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

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must:

 improve partnership working with parents to enhance children's learning by: including them in the initial assessments of children's starting points on entry to the setting and finding effective ways for them to share information about their child's learning and development at home in order to more precisely plan for children's individual progress.

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

 extend children's language development further by: deciding on the key vocabulary linked to activities and modelling its use; helping children to talk about and plan how they will carry out an activity; introducing and reinforcing the use of more complex sentences; using a lot of statements alongside children in play, and also by using open-ended questions with many possible answers

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

 improve self-evaluation and performance management by establishing a programme of professional development that will enhance knowledge and skills relating to best practice in order to identify targets and develop a drive towards continual improvement

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

 monitor children's progress more rigorously to ensure that the educational programme and individual support planned is more precisely targeted to promote particular aspects of children's learning to help them make best progress across all areas.

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who attend

The childminder has a sufficient understanding of the learning and development requirements to enable her to meet children's overall needs. She provides a reasonably varied range of activities in response to the children's interests and stages of development. As a result, children are appropriately stimulated and make suitable progress in her care. She knows this because she uses the first few weeks of their attendance to observe children and extend her knowledge of their abilities. This means she has sufficient information to establish basic starting points for each child. However, parents do not have many opportunities to share information about their child's learning at home or be involved in their child's learning. This means the childminder does not have sufficient information to precisely plan to fully support children's progress. The childminder instinctively observes children and uses what she knows to generally

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who attend

assess their development, referring to relevant guidance materials to help her evaluate children's levels of attainment. This means she can be sufficiently confident that children are progressing in line with generally expected stages of development and are achieving typically what is expected for their individual ages. However, the information that the childminder obtains through her spontaneous observations sometimes lacks detail and is not regularly monitored to ensure all areas of learning are considered in a balanced way. This hinders her ability to precisely assess children's achievements in order to plan specific learning priorities for each child's learning. As a result, activities are not always as challenging as they could be in order to promote best possible progress. For example, the childminder promotes counting beyond ten appropriately when counting towers of blocks because this aspect of children's achievement in mathematics is observed routinely.

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who attend

However, because she does not assess all areas precisely, she does not have clear objectives to help her extend other aspects of mathematics.

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who attend

The childminder uses her previous childcare experience to provide an interesting and accessible learning environment, which stimulates children and helps them become independent learners. She uses her knowledge of how to support children's learning through play well. For example, she uses children's interest in transport toys to extend their play experiences and thus the possibilities for learning. By using small cars, she introduces construction and design into their play. Children engage well because the childminder plays alongside them. She follows children's lead and she models ideas to develop sustained shared thinking. This extends the possibilities for children's design ideas when they build a garage for their cars. She instinctively weaves in opportunities for counting the bricks they are building with, and for finding letter sounds that are imprinted on the bricks. However, the childminder is less secure in her understanding of how to

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who attend

extend children's communication and language in play. She does not yet consistently make the most of opportunities to extend their sentences, introduce new vocabulary or extend their language through thinking. As a result, children's conversations and interactions with the childminder are not challenging them to make best progress in this area. The generally well-planned environment supports children to develop some of the skills they need to become independent learners who are suitably prepared for school. For example, children store their belongings in their own accessible drawer and can find their own coat and put it on with support when it is time to go to out. They can find items they want to play with because toys are stored accessibly. This means they can follow through their own ideas and extend their own play further. For example, after building a garage for cars, children find more to drive around the road on the car mat. Some outside play

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who attend

equipment extends the possibilities for learning in different ways. For example, children use small tools and equipment digging in the sand, they explore melting ice cubes in the play kitchen and they drive wheeled toys, learning how to manoeuvre safely within the small space.

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who attend

The childminder takes children for walks into the community each day and they receive some opportunities for physical challenge using local play parks. Children gain awareness of their local area and attend activity groups which help them develop relationships with other children and adults, and thus some social confidence. They learn about the wider world because the childminder provides them with a range of different experiences. For example, children feed the ducks on the pond, visit local petting farms and celebrate different cultural festivals with associated craft activities in the setting. Children lacking in confidence benefit from the range of new experiences they are provided with.

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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 who is responsive to their individual needs. For example, she notices babies' signs of tiredness and rocks them gently to sleep. Children are relaxed and enjoy playing by themselves, lounging on a small sofa or lying on the car- mat to spread out their play. They enjoy returning to the childminder to play together and they seek her engagement by offering her toys to join in with. They also develop close relationships with the childminder's parents; her mother works as her assistant in the setting and they sometimes visit her for short periods at home. The childminder's own home is welcoming to children. She has transformed her lounge to become an inviting

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

play space that children are confident to explore and investigate. They develop a clear sense of belonging as they are provided with individual drawers in which to store their belongings in addition to individual flannels and towels for their own personal use. Consequently, children develop a sense of self and their confidence is successfully promoted.

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

Behaviour is managed consistently; the childminder adopts secure routines and so, children understand what is expected of them. Some of these routines also help children learn about how to stay safe. For example, they use appropriate safety equipment in the car and regularly take part in emergency evacuation drills. The childminder meets children's individual care needs effectively and they learn about healthy lifestyles. She walks with children to collect others from the local school and she takes them together to the local park to use the large equipment. This means children routinely take part in physical exercise and gain plenty of fresh air and sunlight vital for their good health. Secure hygiene routines mean that children know how to self-care. They eat sociably at the table using well-developed skills to eat, using a fork and spoon, and they drink from cups without lids. The childminder effectively uses the skills of her assistant to prepare

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

and provide suitable meals and children enjoy fruit for their snack. Children enjoy the company of others. Through attendance at regular toddler play sessions, children join in group activities and they learn to follow group routines, take turns, share and cooperate with other children. This extends their personal and social skills and prepares them well for the 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 they are met. This means her provision is safely organised and children are protected. All required records, policies and procedures are implemented and to underpin her understanding and share information with parents many are documented. The childminder is fully aware of her responsibility to protect children and of potential indicators of abuse or neglect. She has attended safeguarding training, she is clear about the local procedures and has all contact details should she have any concerns regarding a child in her care. Her home is sufficiently well maintained, safe and secure. Risk assessment procedures are sufficient in managing children's safety both on the premises and on outings. For example, daily checklists of the premises demonstrate suitable

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provision

monitoring of potential hazards within the home and the childminder obtains written consent from parents to use the car and to take children out. She has current public liability insurance and the car is insured for business use. Both she and her assistant hold current paediatric first aid certificates.

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provision

Since the last inspection the childminder has moved house. She has adequately used the guidance of her Local Authority advisor to make necessary adaptations to make the new property safe for children. The move has increased the play space available to children and has enabled the childminder to improve the learning environment for them. She has also used the guidance of the local advisor to help her review activity planning procedures. Since her last inspection, the childminder has also achieved accreditation to provide funded early education and she has continually improved her range of toys and equipment in response to children's needs. The provision of accessible storage for children has also helped children become more independent learners. In making these improvements, she has ensured that children's learning is suitably promoted. However, as yet, the childminder has not begun to monitor or evaluate the quality of her provision by herself, in order to

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provision

identify specific areas that can be developed further. As a result, while she recognises some areas in which her practice needs to be more secure, she has not identified where her provision for children's learning lacks precision or where children's communication and language is not fully promoted. Her ability to do this is hindered by not fully implementing tools, such as those provided by her advisor, to monitor individual children's progress and also by not accessing a continuing programme of professional development to keep her fully abreast of good teaching and learning provision.

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provision

The childminder provides daily information for parents during verbal exchanges, in texts and by using a daily diary for the very youngest children. This makes a strong contribution promoting their welfare. Parents views are occasionally sought using questionnaires. These demonstrate that they are generally satisfied with the childminding service they receive. Their constructive ideas for further improvements are acted upon, and this responsive approach improves the provision for children. Parents are provided with some general information about children's learning and progression. Although the childminder is still to find a successful way of involving parents more in sharing information about children's achievements to better inform assessment and to be fully involved in children's learning. This was a recommendation raised at her last inspection. The childminder has yet to implement the progress check at age two. However, she is fully aware of the

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provision

requirements and is already in a position report to parents what the children are achieving in relation to the prime areas of learning using a relevant summary report. Partnerships are used effectively to monitor children's progress. The childminder understands and shows commitment to working with other professionals to share information when she needs to do so and to continue children's learning. For example, she practices children's school reading books with them after tea each day. This means that when children also attend other settings, she ensures some consistency in their learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 action. 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 EY431213 Local authority Trafford Inspection number 916717 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 5

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Telephone number

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: 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, which are usually the childminder’s 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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