Childminder in Derby

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 05/07/2013 11/05/2009

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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

 Children are well cared for in a nurturing and supportive environment. They are happy and form secure bonds with the childminder which effectively supports their emotional development.  The childminder is aware of each child's stage of development and challenges them effectively so that they can reach the next steps in their learning.  Children's learning and development is effectively supported through play and meaningful first-hand experiences.  Effective partnerships with parents and other early years settings that children attend ensure a consistent approach and enhances children's progress.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Some toys and equipment require renewing and there is scope to reorganise the environment to further improve young children's accessibility and free choice.

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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 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 conducted a tour of the premises during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's activities and routines in the indoor and outdoor areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to the childminder and children at appropriate times throughout the observations.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's records, written feedback from parents, the childminder's self-evaluation form and a selection of policies and procedures.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2000 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her four children aged five, six, 15 and 17-years-old in a house in Derby. The ground floor; rear bedroom and bathroom on the floor and rear garden are used for childminding. The family has four cats, a dog, two budgies, a rabbit and eight guinea pigs and tropical fish.

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Information about the setting

The childminder hold a recognised early years qualification and updates her knowledge through specific courses such as first aid. She visits the parks and amenities on a regular basis. She collects children from the local schools and nursery.

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Information about the setting

The childminder employs, and regularly works with, an assistant. There are currently 19 children on roll, seven are in the early years age group who attend for a variety of sessions and 12 are school-age children who attend before and after school. She is open all year round from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays and family holidays. She is member of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

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

 review the suitability and organisation of resources to enhance accessibility and opportunities for children to make further choices in their play and learning.

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who attend

The childminder has a secure knowledge and understanding of how children learn and provides a broad range of resources and play opportunities that promote their development across all areas of learning. She has a good understanding about children's individual needs. Through ongoing observation and her knowledge of child development she accurately assesses their progress and knows where they need further help. Using this information the childminder provides fun and suitably challenging activities to support their development. As a result, children make good progress and are developing the skills and dispositions they need to be ready for the next stage in their learning. Children's learning journals are recorded and used to track children's progress and achievements. The journals are made available to parents and are supported with regular verbal communications about their child's day and progress. Parents share information with the

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who attend

childminder on entry to the setting and also on an ongoing basis which supports continuity of care. Through discussion, the childminder shares useful information with parents about how they can support their child's learning within the home, such as modelling the correct use of language to support the communication skills of younger children. The childminder understands the requirement to complete the Early Years Foundation Stage 'progress check at age two' and children make good progress in learning helping them to be ready for starting school.

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who attend

The childminder actively supports children's play and enthuses them by modelling play activities, for example, when playing with bubbles in the water tray she announces 'I'm going to wash the bike', before taking her sponge over to wipe it down. The children promptly follow her lead and help wash the outdoor toys. During this activity the childminder skilfully draws children's attention to the splash patterns that the sponges are making when carried between the tray and toys and an older child stops to further experiment with the pattern. Children's physical and social skills are well promoted as they use the large play equipment in the garden. The childminder sensitively reminds children of safety rules and provides further equipment to support sharing and minimise potential conflicts. Young children delight in being pushed 'higher and higher' on the swings but are reminded to hold on tight and are closely supervised by adults as they are gently pushed

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who attend

to and fro. The childminder lowers the swings seat and demonstrates how to mount it safely; she talks through the motion of swinging legs back and forth to gain momentum and praises children's attempts. Regular outings are planned, such as, trips to the zoo, farm and soft play adventure centre. Children also benefit from weekly swimming sessions at the local leisure centre. They begin to understand the needs and feelings of others as they help feed the family pets and are consistently reminded how to gently handle the animals and not to chase them or disturb them when sleeping. They learn about the world around them as they plant winter pansy's and take part in the 'Big Butterfly Count' a national conservation event.

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who attend

Language and communication skills are effectively developed as the childminder holds meaningful conversations with children and uses an ongoing narrative during play. For example, new vocabulary is introduced when playing with the Happy Land figurines as the childminder talks about the 'Polar Bear' and 'Llama'. This leads onto conversations about how Polar Bears have white fur because they live in a snowy place and about what foods they might eat. There is a range of books although these are not well presented or organised to enable younger children to make choices and extend their interest in stories and books. Early literacy skills are also well supported as children choose to complete colouring sheets using a range of felt tip pens for those more able and chunky crayons for younger children. A child self-labels her picture making clear attempts to write her name. She proudly shows her completed piece of art to the childminder who readily praises her

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who attend

work and in particular her 'lovely writing'. Soon after, the child brought a second picture to share with the childminder who skilfully modelled writing, with the child's consent, as she placed the picture at the child's level and clearly wrote the child's name providing a commentary about formation of the letters. The child was delighted with this and eagerly wanted to copy her name using the childminder's pen.

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

Children are happy and settled in the childminder's home and confidently engage in the range of activities provided. They have formed warm and positive relationships with the childminder, her assistant and each other. Children settle well because the childminder takes time to find out about the children's requirements, preferences and routines and settling-in sessions are offered. This helps to ensure continuous and consistent care for the children and effectively aids transitions from the children's home into the childminder's care. Children behave well and play cooperatively because of consistent boundaries, good adult role models and the provision of stimulating and suitably challenging play opportunities.

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

The home is cluttered but areas used by children are safe and secure. The childminder rotates toys and play activities in line with children's individual needs and interests. Although there is an suitable range of resources, there are some toys which are quite worn and require replacing in order for them to be attractive for children to play with. Adults are effectively deployed to enable children freely choose from the range of play opportunities available both indoors and outdoors. Older children independently access further resources as they wish and adults promptly respond to requests for other activities from younger children. For example, a child requested colouring in sheets because they did not get time to access the art and craft area during their morning at nursery. As a result, a colouring activity was provided immediately after lunch. Spontaneous activities have emerged after children brought in items of interest to the setting. For example, an

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

older child brought in a shred snake skin which the whole group enjoyed exploring. This extended to activities and discussions about the habitats of snakes and younger children painted and displayed snake pictures. From a young age children are encouraged to complete self-care tasks for themselves. For example, children are encouraged to try and put on their own shoes when changing for swimming. Requests are made to parents to provide easy fastening shoes successfully supporting children's developing independence. Children's confidence and self-esteem is raised because they receive praise and recognition for their achievements.

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

Children have regular access to the outdoors for fresh air and exercise and are able to relax and rest according to their needs. This effectively contributes towards their continuing good health and well-being. Children's individual dietary needs are acknowledged and met because the childminder is fully aware of any known allergies and preferences, and she takes account of the wishes of parents. Daily routines help children learn about the importance of maintaining effective personal hygiene because the childminder reminds them to wash their hands before they eat and after using the toilet or handling pets. This helps to minimise any opportunities for cross-infection.

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provision

The childminder provides a good range of experiences which reflect the needs, aptitudes and interests of the children. She successfully monitors the educational programmes and the experiences provided to help children make progress towards the early learning goals. The childminder has attended training on the revised Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and understands her responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements in order to create an environment that is welcoming and safe. She has developed a comprehensive range of written policies and procedures covering different aspects of her care, such as a behaviour management and a complaints procedure. Each policy supports the effective management of the provision and is shared with parents, which ensures they are suitably informed about how the service operates.

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provision

The childminder develops positive relationships with parents in order to support their children's continuing care and learning. Comments received from parents are positive and highly complementary regarding the care and learning provided. The childminder understands the importance of developing relationships with other providers, schools and professionals in order to continue to meet their needs and help them make progress. She has successfully supported children's individual needs following discussions with teachers. For example, to support literacy skills she implemented a home-made matching game using characters of the reading scheme used at the local school and, in another instance, planned group games to help promote turn taking and develop concentration skills.

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provision

The childminder demonstrates a secure knowledge and understanding of the procedures required to protect children from all forms of abuse and neglect. She is conversant with the procedures to follow to report concerns and a written policy and all applicable guidance documents are in place to uphold her practice. The childminder demonstrates a clear commitment to improving her practice through ongoing self-evaluation which is effective in identifying areas for improvement and making targeted plans to address these. The childminder welcomes advice from the local authority development advisor in order to continue to improve her practice. Both the childminder and the assistant have a current paediatric first-aid certificate, so they can deal effectively with minor injuries and the childminder ensures that those working with children are suitable and practice is monitored. Suitable procedures are in place to ensure that children play in a safe and

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provision

secure environment, and include thorough risk assessments of the premises and outings.

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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 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 205878 Local authority Derby, City of Inspection number 818030 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 8 Number of children on roll 19

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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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