Childminder in East Sussex

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/11/2013 14/05/2013

p.1

early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

p.1

This provision requires improvement

 The childminder uses appropriate strategies to enable children to develop a sound understanding of how to behave and play cooperatively with other children.  Children are developing communication and language skills well through the childminder's interaction and use of support strategies.  The childminder supports children well with their move to other settings, including school, which helps to support their emotional well-being during periods of change.  The childminder makes sure children are able to feel secure and gain confidence to move around and enjoy their play.

p.1

It is not yet good because

 The childminder does not make sure that all mandatory documentation is easily accessible and available for inspection, which is a breach of requirements.  The childminder does not organise resources effectively to enable young children to freely access them and make independent choices as they play.  The childminder does not consistently use the information she gains from assessment to monitor children's progress in all areas of learning.  The childminder does not use an effective system for self-evaluation to identify priorities for improvement in her practice to enhance the provision for children.

p.1

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

p.2

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector viewed all areas of the childminder's home used for childminding.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed and spoke to the childminder and her assistant as they interacted with the children.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including the childminder's register of attendance, child record forms and policies and procedures.

p.2

Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2003. She lives with her husband and adult children and works with an assistant. The family lives in St Leonards-on-Sea, in East Sussex close to shops, parks and transportation links. The children mainly use the playroom, with supervised access to the bathroom. They generally use an enclosed decked area in the garden for outdoor play. The family has a number of cats and dogs. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The childminder is currently caring for 12 children.

p.3

must:

 ensure all records are made easily accessible and available for inspection, with particular reference to the children's attendance records.

p.3

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

 organise the resources more effectively to improve opportunities for the younger children in particular, to develop their independence and decision making skills

p.3

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

 strengthen the assessment system to more effectively monitor children's progress in all areas of learning

p.3

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

 develop and implement effective systems to evaluate the provision and foster a culture of continuous improvement to improve outcomes for children

p.3

who attend

The childminder provides a suitable range of activities that capture children's interests and hold their attention as they learn through play. For example, children develop an appropriate understanding of the social and natural world around them through participating in trips to the beach and a local farm. Younger children show a real interest in exploring technology resources. They enjoy using a photocopier to take photographs of their hands, investigate laptops and dance to the music that is created as they press buttons on a laptop computer. This helps them to develop both their physical skills as well as their understanding of the world. Younger children are self-motivated in choosing some activities and they move around freely as they play. For example, they enjoy experimenting in making marks with crayons and creating pictures using the different resources available. This helps to develop their creative skills. They also enjoy placing cars

p.3

who attend

in a garage track so they run down the ramp. Here they learn about numbers and problem solving as the childminder counts the cars they use. She then encourages them to solve problems by making suggestions about removing the vehicles that block the route.

p.4

who attend

The childminder promotes aspects of children's learning well. She works down at the children's level, joining in with their play and taking some care to promote their independence. For example, she shows them how to hold their pencils and then gives them time to practise these skills themselves. As a result, children are motivated to try activities themselves and proudly show their off their achievements. The childminder encourages younger children to develop their communication skills. She consistently talks about what they are doing. This encourages them to associate actions with words. The childminder also introduces new words and repeats them. This extends the children's vocabulary and helps them to link words to their meaning. In addition to this, the childminder is beginning to encourage some children's communication skills by adding words to the single words they say. This encourages them to begin to form simple

p.4

who attend

sentences. Children's physical skills are developing appropriately through engaging in a variety of indoor and outside activities. They can access the garden on a daily basis and use different equipment, such as a slide and climbing apparatus, where they learn to move their bodies in different safe ways. They also enjoy visits to local parks and sports fields where they enjoy wide-open spaces and games of football. Such activities support children's physical skills such as running, climbing and developing coordination.

p.4

who attend

Through discussion and documentation, the childminder demonstrates she has a sound understanding of how to support children's learning and development. This helps children to acquire the skills and capacity to develop and be ready for their next stages in learning. The childminder has systems in place to identify children's starting points based on their ages and stages of development when they first attend the setting. She asks parents about their child's development and completes observations of the children during their initial visits. The childminder then continues to observe and monitor the children's achievements and identifies their next steps regularly. She then uses this information to inform her planning and provision of some activities. However, although the childminder is aware of some aspects of children's progress and achievements she does not have a clear system in place to monitor the children's progress fully across all the areas of learning.

p.4

who attend

This means that she does not always identify or address gaps in some areas of children's learning, which has an impact on their progress towards the early learning goals. The childminder demonstrates a secure understanding of the requirement to carry out progress check for two-year-olds and to share a summary of their progress with parents so they are aware of their children's early learning.

p.4

who attend

The childminder's systems to encourage parents to support and extend their children's learning at home are effective. For example, parents confirm that she makes suggestions about the resources and activities they could supply at home. They also comment, through discussion, how she regularly informs them about their children's activities using a daily communication book. The childminder appropriately encourages parents to share information about what their children are doing at home to help her plan children's next steps for learning based on their needs and current interests.

p.4

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

Young children demonstrate security, a sense of belonging and a positive relationship with childminder. They are generally content, settle quickly and display confidence and self- esteem. For example, they happily go to the childminder when parents hand them over and quickly start engaging with activities that are available. Young children are developing the characteristics of good learners as they receive lots of praise and encouragement from the childminder, who is a positive role model. The childminder has appropriate procedures in place to manage children's behaviour. For example, she consistently uses the distraction of similar toys to stop young children taking resources from others. In addition to this, children are encouraged to work together in tidying up their resources. This in turn promotes positive relationships and helps children learn about behaviour expectations in preparation for their eventual move to school.

p.5

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

The childminder promotes children's good health. She has suitable policies and procedures in place to underpin the care she offers and shares these with the parents. Children learn about keeping themselves safe appropriately. All children take part in occasional fire drills and older children in particular develop a secure understanding of 'stranger danger' through the use of an interactive display. The childminder also talks to children when they hear sirens, discussing what might have happened and how children could avoid dangers. The children learn about the importance of good personal hygiene practices through following everyday routines, such as washing their hands before meals and after touching the pet cat. The children are able to develop an understanding of the importance of being physically active. They enjoy gaining confidence and skills using the variety of resources, such as scooters in a specially created decked area within in the garden. They also enjoy

p.5

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

activities, such as running through leaves, while visiting the local woods.

p.5

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

The childminder works appropriately with parents to ensure children receive healthy and nutritious snacks and meals. Parents provide their children's meals and the childminder works with them to help ensure these are healthy and well balanced. For example, the childminder discusses with parents how she implements a 'no sweets or nuts' policy and asks them to comply, to protect all children's health and well-being. Children have appropriate opportunities to develop knowledge and understanding of healthy foods because the childminder encourages them to eat savoury food first and talks to them about certain foods, such as fruit being healthy.

p.5

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

The learning environment within the childminder's home reflects the wider world and is interesting for children to play in. For example, there are posters on display of nursery rhymes and insects, such as butterflies. This helps children to consolidate and extend their learning. The childminder has a wide selection of resources and equipment to meet the needs of all ages of children. However, she does not always effectively organise these, particularly for the younger children. For example, some toy boxes are stacked up on top of each other, and other resources, such as dolls and their clothing are placed high up so younger children cannot reach them. This limits the children's developing independence and decision-making skills.

p.5

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

The childminder demonstrates a sound understanding of how to support children in transitions to other settings, so they feel confident and positive about changes. For example, she visits the setting with them when possible and shares books about going to school. This helps to ease any of their fears and supports their well-being.

p.6

provision

The childminder has a satisfactory understanding of her responsibilities in meeting the learning and development requirements although there are minor weaknesses in monitoring children's progress and supporting younger children's independence effectively. The childminder provides children with a worthwhile range of experiences to support their interests and meet their needs.

p.6

provision

The inspection was brought forward as a result of concerns raised to Ofsted regarding the childminder's supervision and behaviour management of children when on outings, and regarding equal opportunities in the activities she provides. The inspection has found that the childminder appropriately safeguards children's welfare by keeping them within her sight and hearing at all times. She manages children's behaviour well and provides a wide range of activities suitable for children of all ages to meet their needs and support their learning and development. However, the inspection found that the childminder does not make sure that all the necessary documentation to support her practice is easily accessible and available for inspection. This particularly relates to the records of children's attendance. This is a breach of requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, although the impact on children's welfare. This means the

p.6

provision

childminder is unable to fully verify that she always meets required adult to child ratios to ensure the children's safety at all times.

p.6

provision

The childminder has a sound understanding of her responsibility to safeguard and promote children's welfare. She makes sure that any assistants working with her understand how to keep children safe and meet their needs, in line with the childminder's policies and procedures. The childminder is aware of the possible signs that may indicate concerns about a child's welfare and of the reporting procedures to follow to protect the children in her care. The childminder makes appropriate use of risk assessment to identify risks, and minimise hazards to children both within her home environment and on outings around the community so they stay safe. The childminder has a current paediatric first aid certificate which enables her to treat minor accidents appropriately.

p.6

provision

The childminder basically reviews her practice and informally seeks the views of parents to help her identify areas of strength and potential areas for improvement. As a result, this aspect of her leadership and management is not effective because the childminder does not implement a rigorous approach to evaluating her childminding to drive forward the quality of her provision and outcomes for children. Since the last inspection the childminder has improved her quality of teaching regarding children's opportunities to investigate the natural world. Children now benefit from opportunities to investigate different kinds of insects, such as snails. The childminder has also improved opportunities for children to learn about number as they play, for example by using CDs to introduce counting songs, which also enables children to dance and move around to the music as they sing.

p.6

provision

Parents comment positively about the care their children receive, particularly liking the progress their young children make with their communication and language skills. They receive information about the care their children receive each day through general feedback and notes recorded by the childminder in their communication book. Such practices promote positive partnership working which benefits the children's care and early education.

p.7

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

p.7

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 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. 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

p.8

Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. 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.

p.8

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.

p.9

Setting details

Unique reference number EY264264 Local authority East Sussex Inspection number 938890 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 12

p.9

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.

p.9

Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.9

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.

p.9

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.

p.9

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.

p.10

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,

p.10

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’.

p.11

Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.11