Childminder in Norfolk

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/07/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The childminder has high expectations for children and an excellent awareness of how they learn and develop. As a result, she plans exceptionally well to support children to make rapid progress in relation to their starting points.  Children delight in playing in the childminder's garden. This vibrant and stimulating outdoor space offers them an abundance of opportunities to explore the natural world and refine their physical skills.  Children benefit from superb continuity in their learning because the childminder creates an array of opportunities for parents to share in their achievements and to enhance their learning at home.  The childminder is exceptionally skilled and sensitive in supporting children to form strong emotional attachments. This provides younger children with a very secure foundation to enable them to settle easily and develop their independence.  The childminder strives to build upon her existing experience by embracing

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This provision is outstanding

opportunities to complete further training and share good practice with others. She works in cohesive partnership with her assistants to thoroughly self-evaluate and set ambitious plans to enhance the current high quality provision for children.

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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 observed children's activities in the playroom and garden.

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Inspection activities

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the feedback from a parent spoken to during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at the children's assessment records, planning documentation, the childminder's self-evaluation form and some written policy documents.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2013. She is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The childminder lives with her husband and two children aged six and nine years in a house in Sturmer, near to Haverhill in Essex. The ground floor and one bedroom on the first floor of the property is used for childminding. Children also have access to the childminder's garden and farm land for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The childminder attends activities at a children's centre and visits the park on a regular basis. She collects children from the local schools and pre-schools. The childminder works with four assistants. There are currently 25 children on roll, seven of whom are in the early years age group. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The childminder provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. She operates all year round from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays and family holidays. The childminder holds a relevant early years qualification at level 3 and is currently working towards Early Years Professional Status.

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

 enrich the already excellent provision for children to learn outdoors by creating a comfortable and inviting space in the garden where children can share books and stories together.

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who attend

Children thrive and make excellent progress in their learning and development. This is because the childminder takes time to plan and provide an array of experiences that inspire their curiosity and motivate their thinking. Children enjoy making choices in their play and are given every opportunity to move freely between the inside and outdoor environments. As a result, they confidently initiate their own play and maintain full engagement in activities throughout the day. For example, children's imaginative thinking is fully embraced as they help themselves to a wide range of high quality dressing-up clothes from the low storage rail. The childminder skilfully builds upon this by providing large fabric sheets for children to use for different purposes in their role-play situations. The childminder's interactions and teaching techniques, and those of her assistants, are exemplary. They place exceptional emphasis on promoting children's excellent language

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who attend

and communication skills. For example, children, including the youngest in the group, relish the opportunity to join together to sing a song about the days of the week. Older children delight in adding a label featuring the relevant day of the week to a display on the wall. This daily activity promotes their literacy skills extremely well in preparation for school, as they rapidly learn to recognise letters in print and to read key words. During snack time, the childminder makes the most of opportunities to inspire children's counting skills. They confidently count the pieces of fruit in the bowl and make superb attempts to calculate how many pieces they need for everyone sitting at the table. The childminder's expert use of sign language supports the youngest children in the group to communicate their wishes more clearly. For example, they confidently use signs to request more fruit.

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who attend

Observations and assessment are used exceptionally well to guide the childminder's planning. Any gaps in a child's development are skilfully identified and additional support is quickly arranged to ensure they continue to move forward in their learning. The childminder demonstrates excellent knowledge of how each child prefers to learn and gives full regard to their individual learning priorities and interests in her planning. This means that activities are highly meaningful to each child and continue to arouse their curiosity and eagerness to learn. For example, the childminder's garden is put to excellent use when children demonstrate a preference for learning outdoors. Here, children demonstrate exceptional physical skills which are promoted by a fantastic array of outdoor toys and equipment. For example, younger children make rapid gains in their physical control as they balance very carefully on the challenging pedal toy, rotating their feet

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who attend

skilfully to move themselves forward. The positive addition of low-level seating and tables in the garden enables children to bring many more toys and resources outside. This includes excellent opportunities for younger children to make marks in trays of gloop and for older children to practise their scissor skills. Children delight in exploring the natural world around them. They discover the linseed crop in the childminder's field, exploring the blue flowers and harvesting the seeds. The childminder fully embraces the children's interest in this by planning meaningful opportunities for them to use the linseeds when baking bread. The children's great enjoyment of books is celebrated exceptionally well. For example, they listen very carefully to a story about a stickman, before eagerly heading outside on an adventure to find sticks themselves. They explain with great enthusiasm that they have found a stickman 'like the one in the book', and set about planning how

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who attend

they will add eyes and a nose to bring their stick to life. This shows that children have an excellent understanding of the stories they hear.

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who attend

The partnership working with parents is a major strength. Many parents keenly take up the opportunity to sit and observe their child's play alongside the childminder. This ensures they can witness their children's excellent progress first-hand, and have rich opportunities to discuss this with the childminder. The childminder's enthusiasm rubs off on the parents, as they eagerly get involved in contributing new resources to enrich their child's learning. For example, a parent willingly supports children's sensory experiences by providing a selection of interesting bottles filled with seeds, tinted water and plastic sea creatures. An informative newsletter goes further to keep parents fully up-to-date with forthcoming events and learning themes. All of these initiatives are highly effective in helping parents to understand how they can enhance their child's learning at home. In turn, this means that children experience superb continuity in their learning and

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

Children's well-being and safety is at the forefront of the childminder's practice. From a young age, they develop highly secure emotional attachments with their preferred key person, who has a comprehensive understanding of their individual backgrounds, needs and learning styles. The childminder is extremely attentive to the needs of children and parents who are attending for the first time. She dedicates time to visiting each child in their own home, providing valuable opportunities for them to get to know her in familiar surroundings. This puts both children and their parents at ease, and fosters highly successful partnership working with parents to meet children's needs from the very beginning. Consequently, children settle extremely well including those who are less confident initially. Thoughtful consideration is given to nurturing children's self-esteem and strong sense of belonging. For example, a meaningful display of photographs of the

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

children's activities celebrates their achievements and the things they say extremely well.

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

Children exude confidence and their behaviour is exemplary. This is because the childminder and her assistants are highly consistent in offering them praise for their efforts. They actively encourage children to manage tasks independently for themselves. For example, they present excellent opportunities for them to cut up soft fruits for snack and to learn to pour drinks from jugs with very little need for support. Children's personal, social and emotional development is enhanced further as the childminder accompanies them on regular trips to social groups at the children's centre. This is highly successful in promoting children's confidence in larger groups and provides excellent opportunities for them to practise their skills in sharing and turn taking. Over time, this helps children to approach their future transition into other early years settings and school with great resilience.

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

Rich outdoor play experiences make up a majority of the daily routine. As a result, children are exposed to plenty of fresh air and opportunities to exercise. This contributes extremely positively to their health. The childminder supplies a highly nutritious diet which takes full account of food allergies and preferences. This ensures that children are always very well nourished and hydrated. Children show a strong inclination for eating fresh and healthy foods, including those that are totally new to them. For example, younger children eagerly taste pear for the first time because an assistant tells them that it is good for them. Children also have rich opportunities to eat the lettuces, pumpkins and tomatoes they grow in the childminder's garden, taking some of their crops home to enrich their diets even further. During play and routines the childminder captures opportunities to teach children how to manage risks for themselves. For example, she fosters children's

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

eagerness to carry a chair to the table, while providing clear instructions to ensure they transport it in the safest manner. In addition, the childminder is highly proactive in linking up with the local fire service and police. This creates highly inspirational opportunities for children to hear invaluable messages about staying safe around people they do not know and how to deal with a fire situation.

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provision

Together with her assistants, the childminder gives unquestionable priority to promoting children's welfare. Rigorous daily checks and in-depth risk assessments make sure that the childminder's home, garden and any outings are as safe as possible for children. The childminder is highly experienced in safeguarding children. She has developed a detailed safeguarding children policy, which is shared readily with parents and her assistants. This ensures that everyone involved in the care of the children has an excellent understanding of their role in protecting them from harm. The childminder reviews her procedures extremely well, introducing new initiatives to enhance children's safety even further. For example, all assistants and visitors are required to hand in their mobile phones and to disable any cameras. This ensures that any potential risk to children is completely minimised. The childminder and her assistant work in complete unison. The childminder

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provision

draws on her past experience of managing a nursery when employing new assistants. She carries out stringent checks to ensure their suitability and makes sure they complete a detailed induction. As a result, they are consistent in implementing the childminder's policies and procedures, and have the knowledge they need to meet children's individual needs with great success. Documentation for the safe and efficient management of the setting is meticulously organised and fully underpins the outstanding practice.

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provision

The childminder has been quick to emulate the outstanding practice she achieved under her previous registrations with Ofsted. Her commitment to providing the best outcomes for children is demonstrated through a strong drive to attend ongoing training. For example, she continues to work hard to enable her to achieve Early Years Professional Status, and also inspires one of her assistants to undertake further qualifications. The childminder is an active member of a local childminding group and regularly networks with other childminders, sharing ideas and inspiring good practice. Excellent systems are in place to monitor and evaluate the provision. For example, children are encouraged to take photographs of the activities they enjoy the most and effective changes are made to improve those that they are less interested in. As a result, children continue to experience rich and varied educational programmes based precisely on their individual needs. All

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provision

assistants and parents are actively encouraged to contribute to the self-evaluation in order to gain a wide range of suggestions for further development. For example, there are exciting plans to enrich the children's love of the outdoors by creating a new cosy area for sharing books and stories.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are exceptionally strong and the childminder does all she can to foster a shared approach to children's learning. In discussion, parents indicate that they are extremely happy with the quality of the care their children receive and are very impressed by the progress they make. They delight in reading their child's beautifully presented assessment records, which are monitored closely by the childminder to ensure children's progress continues to be tracked exceptionally well. The childminder fully understands the benefits of fostering positive partnership working with outside agencies and other early years providers who share in the care of the children. She is highly proactive in initiating the sharing of information, including the regular exchange of information in a book which is passed to another childminder.

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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 EY458521 Local authority Essex Inspection number 905751 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 16 Number of children on roll 25

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Name of provider

Date of previous inspection not applicable

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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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