Childminder in West Northamptonshire

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29/01/2014 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

 Teaching is outstanding because the childminder knows each of the children in her care extremely well. She makes excellent use of accurate assessments of their progress to plan further activities that are pinpointed to their interests. This enables each child to achieve successfully in relation to their unique starting points and capabilities.  Children benefit greatly from the dedication the childminder gives to developing strong partnerships with their parents. Detailed information is shared on a daily basis through verbal, written and electronic feedback and this ensures that each child's needs are met very effectively.  Children are safe and secure in the childminder's home. She has completed further training in safeguarding and has provided training for the assistants who work with her. Ongoing risk assessments and close supervision during children's play actively promotes children's feelings of safety.

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This provision is outstanding

 The childminder works exceptionally well with her assistants. She has a very organised and dedicated approach to the care and learning for all the children and a strong emphasis on safeguarding and working closely with parents. Successful self-evaluation linked to the continued development contributes to the sustained high quality of her service.

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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 activities in the two play rooms, the kitchen and the log cabin.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the childminder and her assistant at appropriate times throughout the inspection.  The inspector spoke with the children at times during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, the planning documentation, the childminder's self-evaluation form and a range of other documents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of the suitability and qualification of the childminder, the assistants and members of the household.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2011 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her husband and two children aged 10 and four years in Moulton, near Northampton. The ground floor of the childminder's house, the log cabin and the rear garden are used for childminding. The family have two ferrets. The childminder works with two assistants.

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Information about the setting

The childminder attends a childminding group and activities at a children's centre. She visits the shops and park on a regular basis. She collects children from the local schools and pre-schools.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 12 children on roll, of whom seven are in the early years age group and attend for a variety of sessions. She operates all year round from 7am to 7pm, 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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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 extend even further the already excellent opportunities for children to learn about the potential risks involved in their play and how to keep themselves and others safe.

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who attend

This childminder has created a vibrant environment where children are provided with exceptionally well planned activities that cover the prime and specific areas of learning. She works very well with her assistant who provides able support with practical tasks as well as getting fully involved in play activities with the children. The childminder has a detailed knowledge of each child in her care. She assesses their progress and interests throughout their activities and responds to their individual needs by taking every opportunity to extend their learning. For example, she uses well placed questions when playing with the children, asking them to think about what might happen and giving them reassurance to try out their own ideas. Each child's progress is clearly evident from the observation records. The childminder precisely monitors how each child is learning and identifies entirely appropriate next steps and learning intentions. The childminder has

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who attend

developed highly successful strategies to work with parents. These include fully valuing the information they provide about their child at home when they start attending. Ongoing encouragement and persistence in seeking details from home about children's interests and achievements enables her to use these to inform her planning for future activities. The beautifully presented observation files are regularly shared with the children and their parents which gives them a sense of ownership of their progress. A particular strength is the dedication the childminder gives to making story boards for the children and their parents to look at together. These display photographs and quotes from the child during an activity or outing and are shared with parents before having their comments included. These pictorial records demonstrate how the children completely engage with their activities and prompts lively discussion and recall. Where appropriate the childminder

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who attend

completes the progress check at age two. She seeks contributions from parents, includes the voice of the child and details from any other professionals who are involved with them. This summary of their progress provides a detailed picture of the child's current progress and their next learning intentions. The childminder reports that this information has been shared with other agencies who are involved with the children and contributes to children receiving the correct support for their specific needs.

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who attend

The children thoroughly enjoy being with the childminder. During free play as a group they seek her out to join in, enthusiastically getting her involved in their game. For example, she asks a child who is playing with the play-kitchen if they could make her a cup of tea. The other children see this and this results in a lively discussion about the pretend food that they bring her. The childminder is very effective in providing high quality teaching. For example, she helps the children recall an outing the previous day when they had visited a country park. This outing was linked to a current range of activities around dinosaurs. She showed the children a familiar book about dinosaurs and the children eagerly talk about their adventures the previous day when they visited climbing equipment in the park that is in the shape of dinosaur bones and large eggs. They freely recall when they had to dig up their toy dinosaurs from the mud. They are keen to get involved in the

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who attend

next activity which involves painting their own paper-mache dinosaur eggs. The childminder's skills in linking activities together through real events, looking at books, discussions and art and craft activities promotes children's learning through this scaffolding and gentle building on their previous experiences. These activities encompass a number of the different areas of learning and so is successful in helping the children to learn.

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who attend

Children clearly demonstrate how finely tuned the childminder's planning of activities is for their individual learning. For example, they become completely immersed in the painting of their dinosaur eggs. The childminder encourages them all to choose the colour of paint they want. She enables the youngest child to make a choice by lining up the paints in front of the child and supporting them to indicate which one they want. Lively conversation ensues during the activity with the children recalling their outing. This activity extends for a period of time because the children are really enjoying their learning and the highly positive and genuine interaction from the childminder and her assistant. The childminder's careful planning and sharply focused assessments enables her to plan activities that will help prepare them for the eventual move on to school. She provides an excellent range of resources and activities that promote their communication and

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who attend

language skills, such as discussions, referring to displays of previous events, singing and rhymes. Children's personal social and emotional development is given high priority because the childminder provides an ongoing narrative as required about sharing and working together. Children are encouraged to be independent. They are consulted about what they want to do and are able to choose freely from the abundance of play materials, books and resources in the playrooms. They are supported to feed themselves at meal times and to manage themselves in the bathroom. The childminder has very close links with the local school and has worked with the head teacher to ensure children can have access to books in the same reading and phonics scheme they will use at school.

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

The childminder and her assistant provide a very warm and welcoming environment that is highly attractive to children. For example, the dedicated play rooms in the childminder's house and the log cabin in the garden are used to great effect to provide children with a wide range of exciting and stimulating activities. The beautifully maintained toys and resources are accessible to the children and their work is clearly valued because it is displayed on the walls. The children proudly point out their pictures on the displays. This, alongside the sensitive and highly positive interaction from the childminder enables children to form strong bonds, develop friendships and clearly demonstrate how they feel safe and secure. For example, they are confident to get involved with the activities because the childminder ensures they are all pitched correctly and can be adapted to enable everyone present to take part. They ask for items they want and initiate

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

conversations with the childminder and her assistant. The show familiarity with the daily routines, washing their hands before lunch and taking themselves to the bathroom as required. They show care and concern for their friends, checking they are okay and taking the hands of the younger children when it is time to wash before eating. They settle quickly to sleep after lunch, snuggling down on comfortable beds with their own bedding.

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

The childminder develops very close working relationships with each child's parents to ensure she has a clear understanding of their unique needs and how to meet them. She seeks detailed information from the outset and ongoing as required about children's needs to ensure they have a successful start to their attendance. She is confident to discuss any issues that arise with them and to share information from her observations to ensure she continues to respond to each child's needs or to enable parents to seek the support their child may need. Children are provided with a very good range of healthy meals and snacks. They enjoy sitting together during this social time. The childminder provides meals after thorough discussion with their parents about their dietary needs, including their stage of weaning where appropriate. Children are supported to be aware of the benefits of having a healthy lifestyle. For example, there are displays in the bathroom showing them

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

how to wash their hands and clean their teeth effectively and the childminder works closely with parents in regard to toilet training. Children thoroughly enjoy their daily opportunities to play outside. They go for walks around the local area and have regular planned outings to country parks. The childminder's garden is spacious and is well used to provide children with an excellent range of outside play in the fresh air.

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

Children behave extremely well in the childminder's home because they have access to an excellent range of activities and resources that they are interested in and this contributes to them demonstrating good behaviour. They understand the expectations for behaviour because the childminder talks to them gently, reminding them about certain behaviour and the impact it is having on others. The children are very responsive to the childminder and her assistant because they provide this consistent approach. The childminder is very skilled in promoting children's awareness of themselves and the impact on others of their actions. For example, lots of discussion takes place around sharing, working together and how to ensure everyone is safe. There is scope however, to further develop children's understanding of the possible risks involved in their play and to consider how to keep themselves and their friends safe through becoming involved in the risk assessments.

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provision

The childminder is committed to safeguarding the children in her care. She demonstrates a very clear understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and her responsibilities to follow the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures. These are reflected in her policy and she has completed further training in safeguarding. She has devised a training presentation that her assistants have completed which ensures they have a secure understanding of the procedures to follow in the event of any concerns. All adult members of the household and both assistants have the required clearances in place. The childminder's premises are secure, children are closely supervised during their activities and sleeping children are checked regularly. Detailed risk assessments are in place that cover all aspects of the childminder's home, the pets and outings the children are involved in. The childminder constantly reviews her

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provision

activity to ensure she continues to respond to the changing needs of the children.

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provision

The childminder has recently completed a level 3 qualification and reports that this has had a significant impact on her understanding of how each child in her care is learning and making progress. She demonstrates an excellent understanding of the learning and development requirements. Through her observation and assessment of each child's progress in the children's files and the summaries of their progress that she produces, is clearly successful in planning entirely appropriate activities that offer suitable challenge for each unique child. She continually monitors her activity and is keen to make changes to her planning and respond to the children at all times. She works very closely with her assistants, offering support and suggestions during their interactions with the children, to ensure that her high expectations for quality at all times is maintained. The childminder monitors the assistants quality of teaching through making regular observations of their

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provision

activity with the children and through providing feedback in order to support them in continuing to develop their practice.

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provision

The childminder has successfully implemented self-evaluation and reflective practice into her childminding business. She is very keen to continue to develop her service and is always reviewing her activity and makes changes where necessary to fine tune her work. She has identified a number of well-targeted plans for the ongoing development and the progress she has made since her registration is very clear from her action plans. She fully understands the benefits to children of working in close partnership with their parents and is successful in being persistent to gain information from home that she needs to complete her precise planning for each child. She has developed a partnership with the local school in order to support children when they are ready to move on. Children in this provision receive a very high quality experience where their individual interests, preferences and progress are taken into account. The childminder and her assistant work exceptionally well

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provision

together to provide an inspiring and very caring environment for all the children in their care.

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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 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

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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.

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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 EY439920 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 802389 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 12 Number of children on roll 12

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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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