Childminder in Essex

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/01/2014 28/06/2012

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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

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This provision requires improvement

 The childminder gets involved in the children's play and is skilled in supporting their communication and language as she engages them in meaningful conversations.  The childminder is extremely welcoming and accommodating. She builds close, trusting attachments with all the children and their families. As a result, children are confident and happy and it is obvious that they are very fond of each other.  The childminder furthers her professional development by accessing a range of courses and qualifications which benefit the children as she uses the ideas learnt to improve her provision.

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It is not yet good because

 The childminder does not obtain written consents for leaving children in the sole care of an assistant for short periods of time. Therefore, children's care is not always in-line with parents' wishes.  Parents have limited opportunities to contribute towards children's initial assessments, or to play an active role in their ongoing learning and development in the setting.  Self-evaluation does not take into account the views of parents or children, or focus enough on teaching and learning.  Arrangements for sharing information with other settings that the children attend are not fully effective to provide children with a consistent approach to support them to make good progress.

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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 childminder's home.  The inspector made a tour of the premises, including the outdoor area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of the childminder and her assistants, her self-evaluation and improvement plan.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2010 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her husband in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. All areas of the property, apart from the two rooms at the front of the property, are used for childminding. There is an enclosed garden for outdoor play. The family do not have any pets but keep chickens in the garden.

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Information about the setting

The childminder attends local childminder and toddler groups and activities at the children's centre. She visits the shops, the beach, play centres and parks on a regular basis. She takes and collects children from the local schools and pre-schools.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 19 children on roll, seven of whom are in the early years age group and attend for a variety of sessions. The remaining children attend before and after school and during school holidays. She is open all year round and works variable hours from 6am to 9pm, Monday to Friday, except for family holidays. She also works every other weekend. She is a member of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

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must:

 obtain written parental permission to leave children with an assistant for short periods of time.

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

 improve opportunities for parents to contribute towards children's initial assessment and to play an active role in their child's ongoing learning and development within the setting

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

 improve the sharing of information about children's development with other settings that they attend, to provide a consistent approach that will support each child to make good progress

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

 review monitoring and self-evaluation to ensure that it takes into account the views of parents and children and focusses on all aspects of the provision, including teaching and learning.

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who attend

The children enjoy their time with the childminder. They freely access a range of resources and activities which are presented in low-level storage units. They play with the trains on the wooden track and help themselves to the box of cars and the road mat. The quality of teaching is sound and the childminder quickly gets involved in the play. They happily scoot the cars back and forth to each other and learn how to make them move. The childminder is particularly skilled in supporting children's communication and language skills. For example, she engages them in meaningful conversations and asks open-ended questions to encourage them to think for themselves. Children are gaining a love of books and select them independently to look at alone or to share with friends. They happily point out the pictures and make connections as they point to the picture of a clock in the book and then to the clock on the wall.

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who attend

Children enjoy taking part in a range of activities and go for regular outings to places of interest, such as the park, the beach and indoor play areas. The childminder prepares the children appropriately as they develop a sound range of skills needed to support their eventual move into school. They have many opportunities to socialise with other children of a similar age at the local groups and activities at the children's centre. They enjoy the outdoors and are in the process of developing a mud kitchen in the garden using a puddle, sticks and a bucket as a cooking pot. They enjoy singing songs with the childminder and join in with the actions.

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who attend

The childminder knows the children and plans appropriate resources and activities for their age and stage of development. For example, she observes them at play and uses these observations to identify the next steps in their learning to enable her to plan. She provides parents with information about their child's day. However, parents are not fully encouraged to provide the childminder with clear information about their child's interests and learning at home to contribute towards their child's initial assessment. Information about children's learning and development is not always available to share with parents to provide opportunities for them to support their ongoing learning and development.

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

Children are happy, confident and settle well with the childminder. She is welcoming and affectionate and strong, close bonds are built with the children and their families. She works closely with the parents to ensure that their care needs are met and their emotional well-being is fostered appropriately. For example, home routines are respected and followed and children sleep when they need to in places that they feel most comfortable. She also supports the parents by providing flexible working hours to cater for parents' different work patterns. The childminder has a positive attitude towards diversity and uses books and discussions to introduce the children to different cultures and to support them to respect and accept others. Children are encouraged to be independent as they help to prepare their meals, getting pans from the cupboard and breaking spaghetti to fit into the pan. They are supported to

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

manage toileting themselves and hand washing is encouraged as they sing a song to remind them of the reasons for good hygiene. Additional support and advice on toilet training is welcomed by parents. Children enjoy a healthy, balanced diet, where sugary and fatty items are limited and fresh fruit and vegetables are provided. Parents comment that their children eat a wider range of foods since attending. Children have regular opportunities for exercise both indoors and out and enjoy the large apparatus in the park as well as climbing and balancing in an indoor play centre. The garden provides additional opportunities for physical play as they use a range of ride-on toys and swing on the tyre swing.

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

Children are appropriately prepared for their transitions into school. They look at books about going to school, visit the schools when picking up older children and dress the toy clown in school uniform. They learn how to share the toys and to take turns and the childminder uses age-appropriate explanations to help them to manage their own behaviour. She encourages the children through positive reinforcement and treats them with kindness and respect, providing a good role model for them to follow.

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provision

The childminder has a clear understanding of her roles and responsibilities in protecting children from abuse and neglect and is confident to follow appropriate procedures when necessary. She has attended training in safeguarding children and updated her policies to inform her practice. She ensures that her assistants understand and follow the policies and procedures and appropriate checks have been carried out to ensure they are suitable to work with children. Following an incident whereby a child managed to leave the garden area unsupervised, Ofsted visited the childminder. As a result of this visit, two actions were raised in relation to the safety of the garden and risk assessment. Since the incident, the childminder had also taken action to address the security of the garden gate by locking it and placing a bolt at the top. There is now a safety surface under the tyre swing and brambles, and other potential hazards have been removed. Risk assessments are

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provision

carried out on all areas of the premises and potential hazards are identified and made safe. The premises are secure to prevent children leaving unsupervised and unauthorised persons gaining access. Required documentation, such as, registers and children's details are in place. However, the childminder does not obtain all the required written consent agreements and this means that children's care is not always in-line with parents' wishes. This particularly refers to the written permission for leaving children in the sole care of an assistant, for short periods of time.

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provision

The childminder provides a caring and child friendly environment where children learn through play. She satisfactorily understands her responsibilities in meeting the learning and development requirements and uses guidance to support her. She is keen to develop her skills through courses and further qualifications and uses ideas she gets from training to improve her practice. For example, she has learnt some additional strategies to support children to talk about how they feel and to understand the effect their behaviour may have on others. She has addressed the actions from her previous report and the majority of the recommendations and is still working on some aspects. She has begun to evaluate her setting and has identified some targets for further improvement. However, parents and children are not involved in the self-evaluation process and she does not monitor all areas of her provision fully, for example, the use of observation, assessment and planning.

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provision

As a result, children make satisfactory, rather than good, progress.

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provision

The childminder works closely with the local authority and shares good practice ideas with other childminders at the groups they attend. Parents are very happy with the care and education their children receive and value the support they get form the childminder. Some have noticed improvements in their child's communication and language skills. They state that their children can now sing some simple rhymes and join in with the actions. Some links are in place with the local schools and pre-schools enabling partnerships to develop between them and the childminder. However, these do not effectively enable the childminder to consistently share information about children's learning and development to provides a consistent approach.

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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 EY417102 Local authority Essex Inspection number 945418 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 19

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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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