Childminder in Hampshire

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/03/2014 27/09/2010

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early years provision

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

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This provision is inadequate

 Children's learning is not monitored, assessed or evaluated. Partnerships with parents and others are not focused on providing continuity of care or learning.  Teaching is variable but overall does not sufficiently focus on supporting children to make good progress in their learning because it is not specific enough.  The childminder's understanding of the procedure to follow if she has a concern about a child is poor and she does not implement a mobile phone or camera policy.  The childminder does not adequately evaluate her service. She does not keep a complete record of attendance, practise evacuation procedures, keep regulatory documentation accessible or maintain her record of accidents.

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It has the following strengths

 There is a suitable range of resources indoors that enables children to make choices in their play. Children have positive relationships with the childminder.

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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 children playing and looked at areas of the premises used for childminding purposes.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed children's progress and the childminder's planning. Safeguarding policies and procedures were also discussed and small sample of policies and some records relating to the children were viewed.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the childminder at appropriate times throughout the inspection and spoke to the children present.  The inspector took into account documents provided for parents.  The visit was unannounced.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2006. She lives in Church Crookham, Fleet, Hampshire with her husband and school age children. She is registered on the Early Years Register and the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. There are five children in the early years age range on roll. The children mainly have access to the ground floor for play. Toilet facilities are on the first floor. There is a garden for outdoor play.

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must:

 keep a written record of accidents or injuries and first aid treatment

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must:

 take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of children and others on the premises in the case of fire or any other emergency

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must:

 implement a policy, and procedures, to safeguard children which includes an up- to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues, with particular regard to the relevant Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures and the procedure to follow if there are concerns about children's safety or welfare

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must:

 implement a mobile phone and camera policy

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must:

 ensure a daily record is kept of the full names and hours of attendance of all the children being cared for

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must:

 make sure all required records are easily accessible and available to view

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must:

 obtain and share information regularly with professionals, parents and carers and other early years providers to allow an effective two-way flow of information that informs planning and supports effective teaching

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must:

 update knowledge of the learning and development requirements in order to consider the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child, and use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all of the areas of learning and development

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must:

 observe children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles and provide an appropriate range of resources, in order to shape learning experiences for each child, reflecting those observations through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity

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must:

 improve self-evaluation systems and use this to drive future improvements by identifying the settings strengths and weaknesses accurately and taking appropriate action to address these.

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who attend

The childminder has a limited understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. She has failed to gather any information about children's starting points in their learning on entry, or make ongoing observations of the children in their play. The childminder is also unable to confidently discuss next steps in children's learning, or suitably identify what they should be, from her basic knowledge of each child's learning needs. This means that the childminder does not know how to help children move forward within their learning to help them make good progress overall. She states she is aware of the need to support children's learning and has some ideas on how she plans to implement this; but as yet very little has been put in place to support children's progress and as such the provision for learning and development is inadequate. The childminder shows some understanding

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who attend

of completing the progress check for two-year-old children although a recent completed check was not accessible on the day of the inspection.

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who attend

Children appear to enjoy coming to play at the childminder's home and receive suitable levels of support from the childminder. Interactions between the childminder and the children are on the whole friendly and she is generally on hand while they play. For example, during an outdoor play activity, she helps the children dig in the flower beds and supports this activity by counting how many spades full of soil they have scooped. When they play a ball game, she builds on children's understanding of size as she helps them kick the 'big' ball into the goal or find the 'smaller' ball to throw. Indoors children play with play dough and they experiment with shape and size as the childminder encourages them to make cakes and fit them into cake cases.

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who attend

The childminder takes interest in what children say and responds promptly to their questions to promote their communication skills. For example, she responds in both English and Spanish to two children present who are bi-lingual. This encourages development of their early language and understanding and positively acknowledges their home languages. She reads daily with the children and suitably extends their understanding through questioning which is adequately aimed at helping some children to learn about nature. Children enjoy singing and sometimes count during every day routines. However, because the childminder does not closely track children's progress, she is not able to sufficiently tailor her support. This means that she is unable to make activities purposeful enough to build on what children already know in order to challenge them further and help them to succeed. As a result, some activities or experiences are not

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who attend

suitable for the age and stages of the children taking part or only occupy them for short periods, due to the lack of clear, planned learning intentions. This hinders the progress children are making in relation to their starting points on entry, which is currently poor and means that they do not make sufficient progress in their learning. Overall, the educational programmes do not cover the different areas of learning or offer children appropriate challenge.

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who attend

The childminder has a sound partnership with the parents and shares information pertaining to their care daily with them. Verbal discussions also take place but during these parents have few opportunities to purposefully discuss children's learning or progress. They have the opportunity to read briefly about the activities undertaken but no information is shared with them in terms of how well their child is doing or next steps in children's learning. This means that they do not have the opportunity to work in full partnership with the childminder in order to work towards meeting the children's learning needs together.

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

The children's behaviour is generally good and the childminder deals with minor conflicts in a positive and supportive manner. For example, she reminds the children to share and take turns as she uses distraction well with younger children to manage minor disagreements over toys. She manages older children's behaviour in line with her behaviour policy and ensures that they their behaviour does not compromise the safety of younger children in her care. However children's overall safety cannot be assured as the childminder does not take all reasonable steps to ensure their safety in an emergency. She does not practise evacuation procedures with them, which means that in the event of a fire or other emergency the childminder has not sufficiently thought through how she would evacuate the premises. This does not support children's safety, especially as some of the rooms in the home have exits obscured by packing boxes, which does not allow for

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

The children appear happy and settled during their time at the setting. They have formed positive relationships with the childminder and the other children. The childminder organises her daily routines to incorporate the children's individual care routines, ensuring they have opportunities to rest or be active according to their needs. Children have access to a range of resources and materials stored at low level so they are within children's reach, which helps develop children's independence and decision making skills. Young children explore the resources during their play, for example they sit down at the low table and help themselves to crayons to colour in pictures or select books to read with the childminder. The childminder has yet to extend children's learning fully in the garden area, which is mainly used to support children's physical development only.

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

The childminder offers a range of meal options which suitably teach children the benefits of a healthy diet. The majority of children bring their own cooked lunches with them which are re-heated by the childminder. She provides an adequate range of lunch options for those children who do not bring cooked meals, which include sausages, pasta and fruit. Children generally enjoy these options although the quality of some of the food products are over processed and the range offered is limited. The childminder has moved premises and has yet to register as a food business to ensure that she meets the Food Standards agency requirements. She holds a current first aid qualification and states that she keeps a record of all accidents and medication given, although this was not accessible on the day of the inspection.

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provision

The inspection took place as a result of a notification received by Ofsted. This notification indicated that a serious accident had occurred in the childminder's home. The notification also related to how the childminder manages risk, particularly in the garden area and how she supervises and manages children's behaviour. This inspection found that an accident had occurred in the childminder's garden that required the childminder to seek assistance from emergency services and a child was admitted to hospital for a short time. However, the childminder had not kept a record of this accident or kept any further details of the incident. This was due in part to the child being cared for by another registered provider at the time, although it is still a requirement to maintain documentation as the accident occurred in her home. This is a breach of the safeguarding and welfare requirements for the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and does not meet the

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provision

requirements of the Childcare Register. In addition when reporting procedures were discussed, the childminder was unaware of her responsibility to notify Ofsted of this accident. Ofsted do not intend to take further action for the lack of the notification, as the childminder has since provided Ofsted with details. She has also met her responsibility to notify the Health and Safety Executive. The childminder was able to discuss her risk assessments for the garden and it was observed at the inspection that children were suitably supervised and that behaviour was managed in an appropriate way.

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provision

The childminder does not have robust policies or procedures that safeguard children. In particular, she only has a very basic awareness of child protection and what she would do if she was worried about a child in her care. When asked about her procedures, she is unable to discuss these although she has recently attended safeguarding training. In addition, some written policy documents to support child protection are out of date. Furthermore she was unable to discuss how she would implement a mobile phone and camera policy in order to safeguard children further. This does not support children's well- being and is a breach of welfare requirements. Risk assessment procedures are adequate and the childminder supervises the children appropriately in the areas of the home for childminding purposes. Areas of the home such as the dining area and lounge area are currently cluttered and unsafe for children to use, although the childminder states that

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provision

these areas are not used for childminding as a result. She discusses how visual risk assessments and checks are used to identify aspects of the environment that need to be checked on a regular basis. For example, a safe barrier prevents children from having unsupervised access to the stairs, and the premises are secure. However, the childminder is not ensuring children's safety overall in relation to teaching them about keeping themselves safe. She has not practised the evacuation procedures with the children in her care or since her move to this property. As a result, children are unaware of how to evacuate the property safely should an emergency occur. Documentation such as contact details of children in her care are maintained for some children, while others were inaccessible on the day of the inspection, particularly for those children who attend on an ad hoc basis. The childminder was also unable to provide car insurance documents for the

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provision

car she is currently using, although this was being addressed on the day of the inspection. Further regulatory documentation, such as a record of children's attendance was available for inspection but this had not been consistently completed in order to reflect the times of children's attendance, with a number of entries missing. This is a breach of requirements. A further limited selection of documentation is available, but some of this is out dated or does not support the childminder's current practice. When some policies were discussed in further detail with the childminder on the day of the inspection, she was unaware of the written content of these, which indicates that these are not specific enough to reflect her practice or checked routinely enough to ensure they meet requirements. This does not support efficient or safe practices.

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provision

Self-evaluation is weak. The childminder does not sufficiently monitor the impact of her practice on children's progress. She is unable to discuss whether children are developing in line with expectations and as a result, she is unable to provide an informed assessment of children's learning to parents. Her lack of understanding of the areas of learning means that teaching and the educational programme are not always accurately matched to children's changing learning needs. Poorly organised documentation and a general lack of her statutory responsibilities also affect children's well-being and opportunities for future learning.

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provision

There are adequate relationships in place with the parents. The childminder speaks to the parents when they collect their child to keep them informed of the child's day. Some policy documents are shared with them. Partnerships with other early years providers, such as local nurseries and pre-schools, have not been established to support the learning needs of the children she cares for. Little information is shared with other providers who also care for the children. This limits the success of activities the childminder offers as she is currently unaware of any additional initiatives that have been put in place to support children at their other settings, so she is unable to plan for these in her home. As a result, the childminding provision does not currently meet the needs of the children attending.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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

 keep and implement a written statement of procedures to be followed for the protection of children, intended to safeguard the children being cared for from abuse or neglect (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  keep records of the following and retain them for a period of two years; a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises and their hours of attendance and a record of accidents which occur on the premises where childcare is provided (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  keep and implement a written statement of procedures to be followed for the protection of children, intended to safeguard the children being cared for from abuse or neglect (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  keep records of the following and retain them for a period of two years; a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises and their hours of attendance and a record of accidents which occur on the premises where childcare

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

is provided (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 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 EY334847 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 956845 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 5 Number of children on roll 5

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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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