Childminder in West Northamptonshire

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12/03/2014 21/02/2013

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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

 The childminder has failed to fully act upon recent notices to improve in relation to risk assessments and keeping children safe on outings. As a result, she is still not ensuring children's safety and well-being. This is a breach of legal requirements.  The childminder does not promote children's health and well-being. She is not meeting a number of requirements, including maintaining a daily record of the hours of attendance for children, obtaining parental permission for children to participate in outings and managing behaviour in a positive way to promote children's safety, including the behaviour of older children.  The childminder was unable to produce all regulatory documentation at inspection to support the efficient management of the setting. Monitoring procedures are ineffective in identifying weaknesses and the childminder does not effectively review or evaluate her provision.  The childminder does not use observations and assessments effectively or plan

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This provision is inadequate

supportive experiences to challenge or motivate children through a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. She does not plan challenging activities to help children make progress in their learning, particularly in their communication and language, physical, and personal, social and emotional development.

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It has the following strengths

 Children attend community groups and participate in a range of experiences outside the setting that provide some value to their learning.

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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 playrooms available and observed areas in the home used for childcare.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the childminder and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.  The inspector looked at the selection of paperwork available.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the levels of interaction between the childminder, the minded children and her own child.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2012. She lives with her partner and child in Didcot, Oxfordshire. The childminder's home is within travelling distance of the town centre and other amenities. The ground floor of the home is used for childminding and an upstairs bedroom for daytime rest if required. The enclosed back garden is available for outdoor play. The childminder has a pet rabbit. There are currently eight children on roll; of these, four are in the early years age range. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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enforcement action:

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to: assess the risks and hazards which may arise for children on outings and identify the steps to be taken to remove, minimise and manage those risks and hazards

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enforcement action:

ensure children are kept safe while on outings and obtain written parental permission for all children to take part in outings.

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must:

 ensure the care provided for older children does not adversely affect the care of children receiving early years provision

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must:

 improve knowledge and understanding of appropriate behaviour management strategies in order to effectively manage incidents of children's inappropriate behaviour

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must:

 ensure all records are easily accessible and available for inspection

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must:

 ensure the daily record of the children being cared for on the premises includes their hours of attendance

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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 activities

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must:

 improve knowledge of the learning and development requirements to ensure that each area of learning and development is implemented effectively, particularly the educational programmes for children's communication and language, physical, and personal, social and emotional development

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must:

 improve self-evaluation processes and use these to drive future improvements by identifying the setting's strengths and weaknesses accurately and taking appropriate action to address these.

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who attend

Children's learning and development are not sufficiently supported. Despite the childminder having an understanding of the learning and development requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage, she does not fully implement this knowledge within her daily practice to aid, support and promote the children's development in line with the seven areas of learning. Too much of children's play is self-directed so valuable opportunities to build on and extend children's prior learning are being missed because of the poor levels of adult interaction. In addition, the childminder does not actively engage with children during their play sufficiently because she is too engaged in managing behaviour incidents. As a result, this limits the children's ability to develop and progress in their learning, especially in their communication and language. This lack of focused teaching fails to enhance children's learning and the childminder's methods of behaviour

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who attend

management fall short in supporting the children in their understanding of what is acceptable behaviour. This results in children appearing disengaged and they are not sufficiently challenged through the toys on offer.

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who attend

Children appear comfortable in the childminder's home so they explore the range of resources and activities available to them. They like to play with the toy vehicles and explore the construction sets available, independently. The majority of the time the childminder watches the children at play. However, she lacks the skills and knowledge to manage children's behaviour skilfully, which results in children continually having disputes over the toys available. This has a direct impact on their personal, social and emotional development because younger children find it hard to share resources and struggle to develop positive relationships. In addition, recent situations demonstrate further the childminder's inexperience of managing children's behaviour. The childminder has admitted to raising her voice in an attempt to control children's behaviour. She becomes agitated when older children jump on sofas and act unsuitably in front of younger

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who attend

children, but does little to address this. This means the behaviour of the older children has an adverse affect on the care, learning and development of the younger children. This in turn does not help children to learn the skills and attitudes necessary to prepare them for their next stage in learning and school.

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who attend

The childminder does not observe children's play or plan for their learning. She is unable to demonstrate or explain how children are progressing. She is unable to demonstrate how she assesses progress and promotes the children's overall learning and development. As a result, she does not plan for children's next steps in learning in order to take learning forward. This has a negative impact on how she supports children who may need help in their learning as she does not have a secure enough understanding of what is required. The childminder has discussions with parents about their child's care and backs this up with daily dairies. The childminder is aware of the requirement to complete the progress checks for two-year-old children to assess their progress in the most important areas of learning and has documentation readily available when these checks are required.

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

The childminder does not meet the basic needs of the children overall. Children appear generally happy and at times received adequate support, for example when playing with the train track. Children move around the childminder's home freely accessing available resources. However, the level of individual support provided to the children is poor because the childminder's attention is too often centred on her own child to the exclusion of minded children. As a result, these children are merely occupied. They are not learning actively and are not given suitable challenges because the childminder does not use her resources adequately.

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

Overall the childminder does not manage children's behaviour well, which affects children's emotional security. Children of all ages frequently argue over toys because the childminder does not manage disagreements suitably. She does not teach children about taking turns or the feelings of others. When she does intervene, the strategies used are ineffective and do not support children sufficiently in their social development, so incidents of poor behaviour continue.

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

The childminder takes children on outings and they play outside. However, children's physical play experiences outdoors are sometimes spoilt. This is because of the childminder's lack of effective behaviour management. This weakness has resulted in a child running away from the childminder's group of children while on an outing, which compromised all the children's safety. This incident demonstrates the childminder's methods for managing, supporting and maintaining children's behaviour are inadequate.

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

The childminder has a current first aid certificate and a first aid box with appropriate contents. This means that the childminder knows how to act in the best interest of the children in the event of a minor incident. The childminder provides a range of balanced snacks and meals, and drinks are freely available. Children sit in child-sized furniture to eat and drink and have suitable areas to rest during the day. For example, children rest on cosy sofas, which allow them to move comfortably in their sleep. The childminder uses suitable hygiene procedures to promote and support children's health.

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provision

This inspection took place as a result of a concern raised to Ofsted. This related to the childminder's understanding and implementation of behaviour strategies, children's well- being and their overall safety, as a result of an incident that occurred while on an outing. Following a visit, Ofsted issued notices to improve relating to these concerns.

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provision

At this inspection it was found that the childminder had taken some action to promote the children's safety and welfare since the incident; however, she had failed to fully address the actions set in the notices to improve. The inspection looked into the concern to see whether the childminder was meeting the requirements for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. In particular, the requirements relating to the safeguarding policy and practice, suitable people, child supervision, ratios, managing behaviour, risk assessment and general information and record matters, such as parental consents.

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provision

Overall, the childminder has a basic understanding of the possible signs and symptoms that would cause her concern about a child's welfare in relation to child protection. She has a suitable policy and procedure to help her safeguard children. Generally she has a suitable understanding of how to maintain children's safety and has taken steps to identify and limit potential hazards in her home. However, the childminder's assessment of potential risks and hazards to children on outings is not robust enough to safeguard children adequately or to demonstrate how she will maintain the required ratios. These weaknesses have a damaging impact on the children's safety and well-being.

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provision

Although the childminder has a variety of documentation to hand at inspection, she does not ensure that she maintains some of the required documentation, for example, written parental permission for outings for each of the children. The childminder stated these consents are all in place for the children; however, there is no evidence she has obtained parent's written permission, as required. As a result of these failures, the previous notices to improve that have not been adequately addressed, have been escalated to welfare requirement notices, which means the childminder must take action in order to improve.

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provision

In addition there are further breaches of legal requirements. Documentation to safeguard children's welfare is not always adequately maintained. For example the attendance register is not always up to date and does not show the hours of attendance fully for all children. This is also a breach of requirements. In addition, the childminder does not meet the associated requirements of the Childcare Register.

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provision

The childminder forms suitable partnerships with parents. Together they fill out appropriate registration forms, which provide the childminder with necessary personal information regarding the children, such as contact numbers for families. The childminder demonstrates an awareness of the importance of partnership working to promote continuity of care for children.

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provision

The childminder has no methods in place to evaluate her practice currently. This means she is unable to identify all weakness within her practice. Requirements from the last visit have not all been met, which shows that the childminder is not fully committed to improving her provision. The childminder is currently undertaking a relevant qualification; however, as yet this training has not resulted in the childminder providing adequate provision for the children. This means the educational programmes are not sufficiently challenging and children are not making adequate progress in their learning.

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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 Not Met

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

 keep a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises which include their hours of attendance (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  keep a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises which include their hours of attendance (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 EY450387 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 957047 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 6

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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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