Childminder in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/09/2013 12/10/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 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 an excellent knowledge and thorough understanding of helping children to learn. She is skilful in her teaching and, as a result, children are extremely well supported to make rapid progress in their learning.  The childminder helps children to learn by expertly encouraging them to be actively involved. She encourages children to make their own choices and decisions. This helps them become confident and independent and raises their self-esteem.  The childminder works closely with parents. She talks to them about any concerns she might have about children's development. This means that any additional support can be promptly provided and parents and childminder can work effectively together to ensure children continue to thrive and reach their full potential.  The childminder's monitoring systems regarding children's learning, development and the progress they are making are robust. She is thorough, accurate and precise and the

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This provision is outstanding

information she gains is used superbly to guide and shape her planning so that each child's learning is highly personalised.

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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 looked at the areas used for childminding, indoors and outside.  The inspector spoke to the childminder and children during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed how the childminder interacted with all children of different ages and abilities during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a sample of records relating to children's development and progress, including photographs, examples of work, written accounts of their learning and the childminder's tracking documents.

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Inspection activities

 An observation of the childminder's practice during a planned painting activity and spontaneous story telling was completed by the inspector.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a range of documents, including records relating to the operation and management of the provision, written risk assessments, a sample of policies and procedures, and the childminder's self-evaluation of the service she provides.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2000. She is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare register. She lives with her husband and teenage child in Anlaby Common, close to Hull. All of the downstairs of the property is used for childminding purposes. There is an enclosed rear garden available for outside play. The home is close to local transport links. The family have a pet cat.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 10 children on roll, of whom, six are in the early years age range. Children attend for a variety of sessions on a part-time basis. The childminder is registered with the local authority to provide funded early education for two-, three- and four-year- old children. She operates her childminding service between Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5.30pm, except for bank holidays and family holidays.

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Information about the setting

The childminder takes and collects children to and from the local primary school and attends other activities in the community, including the children's centre. The childminder has a qualification at level 3. She is a member of the Professional Association for Children and Early Years and receives support from a local network of childminders and the local authority.

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

 strengthen how the youngest children learn to manage their own personal hygiene needs so that they can begin to understand about germs and how to reduce the risk of spreading infection.

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who attend

The childminder has an excellent knowledge and a thorough understanding of helping children to learn. She demonstrates this through her skilful, first-class practice and provision of a varied range of challenging and developmentally appropriate activities. As a result, children are extremely well supported to make rapid progress in their learning. The childminder builds caring, trusting relationships with children and she knows each one very well. In return, they respond warmly to her and approach her easily for a cuddle or to sit on her knee. Children play in harmony with each other and their behaviour is exemplary. This shows they feel safe, secure, settled and very contented because they benefit from the close attachments that they form with the childminder. The childminder finds out as much as she can from parents as new children are introduced into her setting. She completes 'All about me' records, which are regularly updated. This

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who attend

document provides a firm basis to start with to assess children's initial starting points and to use to regularly reflect about each one's ongoing care and learning needs. She provides each child with an individual book to store the wonderful photographs that she takes to share regularly with parents. These help to give a clear evaluation of the learning that is taking place and helps parents to understand about the Early Years Foundation Stage. It also provides ideas of how they can contribute towards their child's learning at home. The photographs, alongside written comments the childminder makes and examples of children's work, provide parents with a very clear, accurate and methodical account of their child's unique learning journey.

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who attend

The childminder confidently and expertly monitors and tracks children's progress. This helps her make accurate and precise assessments of each child's stage of learning and development. She regularly observes children to understand their interests and to find out the next steps to take to help them move forwards in their learning. The childminder encourages, and is very successful, in exchanging information with parents to help her meet children's learning needs. This means parents are involved and well equipped to continue to support their child with learning at home. A varied topic or theme of activities are planned and organised by the childminder. For example, on the day of the inspection the children took part in a variety of learning experiences as part of the seasonal, autumn theme. Children painted leaves using autumnal colours, including mixing their own. Children recalled previous conversations about autumn, remembering the significance of

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who attend

the leaves falling off the trees and how they change colour. The childminder helped children to make connections in their learning by reminding them of warmer clothing they were wearing and the difference of the seasons and weather conditions due to falling temperatures. The helps the childminder to assess children's prior learning and take advantage of current learning opportunities. She introduces themes skilfully enabling children's thinking to be 'joined up' and consolidated through helping them make excellent links in their learning.

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who attend

Children benefit by being provided with an interesting day. For example, they take part in a stimulating range of activities that take place indoors, in the garden, at the homes of other childminders with minded children, physical play activity centres and at local childminding groups and children centre. This helps children to learn from a broad, rich variety of very interesting, first-hand experiences. It also helps children to become extremely aware of the world in which they live and develops their confidence in meeting and socialising with others. Experiences to support the youngest children's progress, learning and development are focused very sharply on their personal, social, and emotional development, communication and language and physical development. These are the prime areas for learning and are vital towards building children's capacity for future learning and supporting how they form relationships. It helps them begin to

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who attend

develop very good levels of confidence and independence in readiness for school or other settings.

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who attend

The childminder teaches children by expertly encouraging them to be actively involved. For instance, she encourages them to make their own choices and decisions about what they would like to play with and gets them involved with tidying away. This helps to develop their independence and nurtures their self-reliance. The childminder is adept at making sure all children are included in the activities she provides, even the very youngest children. A painting activity is very well organised to ensure it runs smoothly and meets the needs of the children. They wear protective shirts to cover their clothing and sit at a child-sized table with matching chairs so that they are comfortable and can reach the resources easily. A variety of brushes, rollers and 'dabbers' are provided, which are suitable for small hands to hold and 'have a go'. If children show signs of losing concentration or express a desire to finish their picture off later in the day the childminder

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who attend

accepts this. This flexible approach shows that the childminder understands child development by not expecting children to complete something until they are ready or end each activity with a 'finished product'.

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who attend

The childminder interacts with children expertly, providing suggestions and offering ideas to extend learning. For instance, she introduces children to the idea of collecting conkers from the oak trees when they are next out on a walk and to listen for the 'rustle' of the fallen leaves. She asks children to revisit the autumn display on the table in the conservatory to look at the interesting picture of leaves to check if they have the right colours of paints to use to represent the sequence of the changes of the leaves; from green to brown, orange, yellow and red. When they realise that the orange colour is missing from the paints available, the childminder helps children to mix the colour so that they can investigate for themselves the process of colour mixing. This helps learning to be sustained and encourages children to think, solve problems and concentrate. Children join in activities enthusiastically and are eager to be involved. They are curious and inquisitive,

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who attend

including the youngest children. This shows children are adopting the very positive attitudes they need to be ready for school and their future learning.

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

Children are provided with a very clean, comfortable and welcoming setting. They use the childminders lounge which leads directly through to a bright, pleasant and well-organised conservatory which doubles up as a playroom. Children demonstrate they feel safe and secure by moving confidently and freely between the two areas. They have very good access to a varied range of high-quality resources that supports their learning exceedingly well. The variety of toys includes a large treasure basket which includes lots of interesting resources for children to handle, observe and investigate, many that the childminder has collected over the years. For example, there are items made from natural materials and those that are made from metal. Many are household resources so make a strong link with home life for some children. The youngest children enjoy exploring the rings around the stand of the egg cup or use a large metal spoon and small pan to bang together and

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

The well-kept garden is frequently used by the children to grow in their bespoke, wooden planter, a mixture of herbs, fruit and vegetables. The snacks and meals they enjoy are healthy and nutritious and the menu is shared well with parents to keep them informed and aware of what their children have eaten. Children have good access to the toilet and hand washing facilities and some carry out their personal routines independently. Following wiping children's noses, the childminder models good practice by cleaning her hands thoroughly. There is scope to develop this and involve the youngest children by cleaning their hands which will help them to learn about effective hygiene procedures from an early age.

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

Children go to and from the local school daily to take and collect older children. This helps to build their confidence in preparation for when they start other settings or school. In the playroom are pictures and books associated with other cultures and festivals that children celebrate throughout the year. This helps children understand about the wider society and respecting the beliefs of others. The childminder works closely with parents and is confident to talk to them about any concerns or worries she might have about children's development. This means that any additional support or close monitoring can be provided and parents and childminder can work effectively together to ensure children continue to thrive and reach their full potential.

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

The childminder involves children in practising the evacuation drill so they know what to do in an emergency. She talks to them sensitively about the danger of talking to strangers and about road safety, particularly when out on walks in the community. The childminder is very aware of allowing children to take safe risks, whilst being supervised, so they are able to learn how to take some responsibility for personal safety. For example, through using different types of equipment in the physical play activity centre, which challenges children to use their minds and bodies in different ways.

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provision

The childminder is very confident of the appropriate action to take to keep children safe. She knows exactly the appropriate action to take if she has any concerns about a child's welfare or well-being, including who to report any concerns to. She has a varied range of accurate record-keeping routines and clear, written policies and procedures established to support children's safety and the effective operation and management of her setting. These are shared very well with parents. Children are cared for in a safe and secure environment because detailed risk assessments are carried out and regularly reviewed to ensure they remain fully effective.

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provision

The childminder is very clear about the benefits of effective information-sharing between partners and other settings that children attend. This supports consistency and continuity of care and learning. She places high value on networking with her childminding colleagues to keep updated and be aware of current and effective professional working practise. The childminder's monitoring systems are robust. She carries out regular observations, assessment, detailed tracking and recording of children's progress and holds frequent conversations with parents. She is thorough, accurate and precise and the information she gains is used superbly to provide her with a very clear picture about each child. This guides and shapes her planning so that children's learning is highly personalised.

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provision

The childminder welcomes contributions from parents and children to help her improve and develop her setting. She provides parents with the opportunity to contribute their opinions by completing a questionnaire as part of the evaluation of the service she provides. Written comments provided at the time of the inspection from parents were observed to be very complimentary. They write that the childminder treats children as individuals, and that she provides a 'warm, calm and loving' environment. Since the last inspection, she has reviewed and improved how she includes parents and children in her evaluation procedures. She makes sure all her records and documents are easily accessible. As part of the inspection, the childminder's files were all observed to contain a wealth of information and be detailed, extremely well organised and provide a diverse collection of useful resources. This inspirational childminder talks passionately about how

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provision

she places children at the heart of everything she does. This is truly reflected in her exemplary practice which is worthy of dissemination to other providers.

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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 314460 Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire Inspection number 871957 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 10

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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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