Clegg, Kim Barbara

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 01/08/2013 27/01/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The childminder has failed to ensure that any persons who are working on the childminder's premises have undergone the appropriate suitability checks required by Ofsted. This compromises children's safety.  Children do not make sufficient progress in their learning. This is because the childminder has insufficient knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements, in order to extend children's play through planned, purposeful and challenging experiences for each child.  The childminder does not fully understand how to assess children by gathering initial starting points, measuring ongoing progress and the requirement for carrying out the 'progress check at age two'.  The childminder does not monitor her practice effectively and is, therefore, unaware of the significance in working fully in partnership with parents and other early years providers, to ensure continuity of care and learning is supported at both home and

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It has the following strengths

 Children appear happy and settled because the childminder provides a caring, responsive approach to them.  Children have opportunities to play with a good range of resources to stimulate their interest and curiosity and they enjoy using their physical skills in the outdoor area.

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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 held discussions with the childminder at appropriate times and observed her interactions with the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at the children's files and a selection of policies and a range of supporting documentation, including the safeguarding procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector listened to children and looked at evidence that showed some partnership working with parents.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 1997 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her adult son in a house in Bebington, an area of Wirral. The whole of the ground floor, including the conservatory and the large garden at the rear of the house, are used for childminding. The family has two cats and a dog as family pets. She collects children from local pre- schools and schools and carries out visits to the local park and areas of interest. The childminder works with an assistant.

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Information about the setting

There are currently seven children on roll, six of whom are in the early years age group and they attend for a variety of sessions. She operates all year round from 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays and family holidays. She is a member of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

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must:

 ensure the requirements set by Ofsted, in relation to the suitability of persons working on a childminder's premises, are met, including obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check for relevant persons to ensure children's safety

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must:

 develop systems for observation and assessment, to initially gain an understanding of children's levels of development when they start at the provision and then to assess their ongoing progress, including the completion of the 'progress check at age of two'

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must:

 use the information gained from observations and assessments to ensure a balance of adult-led and child-initiated play experiences covers all areas of learning, leading to appropriately targeted and challenging activities for all children

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must:

 enhance partnership with parents, and create a two-way flow of communication with other early years providers, to fully involve them in children's learning and development, enabling them to fully support and share children's learning at home and with other providers

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must:

 implement rigorous and effective systems for self-evaluation to inform priorities and set appropriate targets for improvement, including raising awareness of the Statutory framework of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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who attend

The childminder is not fully aware of the learning and developments requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. She has an adequate understanding of the children's stages of development and, therefore, informally plans some activities based on her knowledge of individual children. The childminder does not gather sufficient information from parents about what their child can already do when they first start at the provision. Therefore, she is unaware of initial starting points and cannot build upon this information and so support children's learning effectively. Although development files are in place for some children, they lack sufficient information to reflect children's individual abilities and the development of skills over time. Therefore, she cannot effectively use this information to assess children's progress or to make an informed judgement in assessing whether a child is showing typical development for their

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who attend

age. Consequently, she cannot effectively identify areas in which to challenge and extend children's learning and development. As a result, activities provided are too often child- initiated and do not always sufficiently challenge children to build on their existing skills and abilities.

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who attend

While the childminder is not yet effectively planning activities to ensure children are sufficiently challenged, they do enjoy a range of experiences and enjoy learning through their play. Children are developing an understanding in experimenting with sounds and actions as they perform a music show, using the good range of musical instruments available. Older children are confident and they are developing their self-esteem as the childminder praises their contributions and responds to their requests for additional resources when initiating their own play experiences. Children's literacy skills are developing because the childminder promotes language development through positive interaction and children enjoy sharing favourite stories together with her support. Older children are learning to take turns as they interact together, with support to negotiate, provided by the childminder, when carrying out an adult-led activity of decorating biscuits.

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who attend

They are developing an awareness of early mathematics as they count out the resources and talk about mixing colours to create different colours.

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who attend

The childminder has formed positive relationships with parents and verbally discusses the children's experiences with them on a daily basis. Daily diary sheets are used to record the care routines for the youngest children. However, the lack of effective observations and assessments means that parents are not fully informed about their children's achievements and progress. The childminder's lack of knowledge of the learning and development requirements means that she is unaware of the requirement to complete the 'progress check at age two'. Also, she has not yet considered how to guide parents in supporting their children's learning at home to ensure they make good progress.

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

Children respond to the friendly and responsive approach that the childminder provides. They appear settled and secure and relate well to the childminder and each other. They are well behaved and the childminder promotes positive attitudes through praise and responsive interactions. She promotes independence as she allows the older children to use the toilet on their own. They are developing social skills as they politely ask permission to use the toilet or ask for additional resources. Children learn about being safe as the childminder talks to them about this and put sun cream on them so they are protected when outdoors.

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

Children are developing an awareness of their local community. This is because the childminder regularly collects children from local schools and pre-schools and they also participate in regular outings to the local parks and the local library. Children have access to a large outdoor play space, where they develop a range of physical skills as they play with the resources provided or access from the house. For example, younger children enjoy playing with the tunnel, changing its position in how they use it, while older children manipulate large interlocking shapes, creating a 'four legged dinosaur'. Children are starting to consider how things work because the childminder provides support through discussion and assistance. Meals and snacks are suitably healthy and children are offered a range of different food throughout the week. Children are given a choice in their selection of food throughout the day and water is provided in individual containers,

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

selected by the children. The childminder has attended food handling training to support healthy practice.

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

The childminder provides flexible settling-in arrangements to ensure children's care routines are supported. She gathers information about their individual care routines through discussion with parents and then uses this information to support their individual needs. Although partnerships with parents are positive, they are not kept fully informed about their children's learning. In addition, there are no links made with other early years providers where children attend, to ensure consistency of learning and development and to support transition.

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provision

Leadership and management are inadequate. The childminder has failed to ensure she is meeting all the requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. There is a breach to the safeguarding and welfare requirements as she has failed to ensure the suitability of an additional person who helps care for and is in contact with children in the childminder's provision. The childminder has an appropriate safeguarding policy in place to show what she would do if concerns arose. She has an adequate understanding of the procedures to follow, if concerns about the welfare of children arise. All appropriate documents are in place and relevant information is obtained from parents. Her home has been suitably risk assessed because she carries out regular risk assessments on everything that a child may come into contact with, including reference to potential hazards with family pets and whilst on outings.

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provision

The childminder does not have adequate knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Consequently, she does not have sufficient ability to implement the framework and to support children in making effective progress across all the areas of learning and development. Although the childminder knows and responds to individual children, assessment is not effective in gaining an accurate understanding of their starting points and their ongoing assessment of progress. Therefore, educational programmes are not adequately implemented to support individual children in making good progress in all areas of learning and development. The childminder has regular discussions with parents and she uses information about their individual care routines to support them in her care. However, there are no links made with others when children attend a number of other

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provision

Methods for reflecting and evaluating the childminder's practice are limited. She has identified some areas of development which link to adapting the resources available to support individual children, and she has she has completed the necessary steps to address the actions and recommendations made at the last inspection. However, her lack of understanding and knowledge of the learning and development requirements, along with weaknesses in self-evaluation, has resulted in the childminder failing to identify how to help children make as much progress as they can and ensuring that children are supported in their learning at home.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that any person having unsupervised contact with children is suitable to be in regular contact with children and a Disclosure and Barring Service check has been obtained through Ofsted in respect of that person (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that any person having unsupervised contact with children is suitable to be in regular contact with children and a Disclosure and Barring Service check has been obtained through Ofsted in respect of that person (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 306059 Local authority Wirral Inspection number 818762 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 7

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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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