Childminder, Out-of school day care in Leicester

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/06/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

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

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This provision requires improvement

 Children's emotional security is addressed well. The relationship between the childminder and children is positive and children are settled and happy.  The childminder promotes children's speaking skills effectively. She asks them open- ended questions and gives them time to think before expecting them to respond.  The childminder successfully identifies and minimises risks in her home and she is aware of her responsibilities to continually supervise the children in her care.

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It is not yet good because

 A welfare requirement is not fully met because the childminder does not ensure that her safeguarding children policy is in line with the guidance and procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board.  The partnership with parents is not fully effective and a welfare requirement is not fully met because the childminder does not inform parents of the procedure she will follow in the event that they fail to collect their child at the appointed time.  Opportunities for children to be active learners are not maximised because there are limits to the choice of activities and resources that they are able to select for themselves. Opportunities for them to gain an awareness of their similarities and their differences are not maximised to extend their awareness of the wider world.

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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 as children played in ground floor playrooms.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of children's records, policies and procedures and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of the childminder's suitability, her assistant's suitability and training.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2012. She is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The childminder lives in Leicester with her husband and two children aged 27 months and 15 months. The family has a cat and dog. The ground floor of the childminder's house is used for childminding. There is an enclosed patio area for outdoor play. There are currently 10 children on roll and of these, two are in the early years age group and three are aged over eight years. The childminder cares for children all year round, Monday to Friday from 6am until 7.30pm. Her husband works with her as an assistant. She holds an early years qualification at level 3 and is a member of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

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must:

 ensure that the safeguarding children policy is in line with the guidance and procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board

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must:

 make sure that parents are informed of the procedure to be followed in the event that they fail to collect their child at the appointed time.

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

 improve opportunities for children to be active learners, for example, by ensuring that they are given a wider choice of toys and activities to choose and select for themselves

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

 extend practice for children to gain an awareness of their similarities and their differences, for example, by celebrating and valuing cultural and religious events and experiences.

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who attend

The childminder has a sound awareness of the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development requirements. She records some of her observations of children's achievements and uses guidance documents to assess and record their stage of development. The childminder plans sufficiently for the next steps in children's learning across the seven areas of learning. She obtains sufficient information linked to learning as well as care from parents during their child's induction, and information on achievements is shared regularly between parents and the childminder. She supports children sufficiently so that they develop skills in readiness for nursery class and school. The childminder is aware of the requirement to provide parents with a progress check for their child between the age of two and three years and she completes this where necessary.

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who attend

Children are settled and secure in the childminder's care. They speak clearly and confidently and the childminder supports their communication and language development well. She asks children open-ended questions and gives them time to think about what they want to say. Children use full sentences when they engage in conversation with the childminder and they are beginning to talk about past events and experiences. Children are able to recognise their own name in print and the childminder supports their literacy development by encouraging them to create their names using magnetic letters. Children explore and make marks with their fingers in a range of resources, such as, sand, paint, shaving foam, dough and clay. They paint with brushes and enjoy making marks with brushes and water outside on paving slabs. They make small marks with pens and pencils and say they are writing letters.

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who attend

Children's mathematical development is supported well by the childminder. They compare size and weight using balancing scales and the childminder encourages them to use language, such as bigger and smaller, heavy and light. Counting is continually encouraged. While using the scales the children fill small tubs and count how many of these are poured onto each side of the scales to make them balance. Young children learn to match shapes, gain an awareness of size and name colours while they play with shape sorters and stacking beakers. Children ask the childminder to be part of their role play. For example, they line up small chairs and pretend that they have made a train, and then they pretend to check tickets. Children enjoy dressing up and they set out home corner toys and food, and pretend they are having a picnic. Some role-play toys reflect diversity in a positive way, however, opportunities for children to learn about similarities and differences

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who attend

and gain an awareness of traditions and religious events are not maximised.

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

The relationship between the childminder and the children is positive and children are settled and emotionally secure. The childminder creates a welcoming environment for children and their parents and initially a settling-in period is agreed in accordance with children's different emotional needs. Children's independence is given some consideration by the childminder because they can choose and select some toys for themselves. Activities are organised in two playrooms and the childminder identifies that one is mainly for the school aged children and the other is for early years children. However, the toys accessible in the early years room are best suited to the younger children and the pre- school children access the other room only when invited to do so by the childminder. There are some resources in this room, such as construction toys, that are suitably challenging for three- and four-year-old children, but access to them is limited.

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

Information obtained from parents enables the childminder to address children's individual care needs satisfactorily. Information on the childminder's practice with regard to safety, illness and accidents is shared with parents, although insufficient steps have been taken to make sure parents know the procedure that will be followed if they fail to collect their children on time. In addition, while the childminder is able to demonstrate that she has thought through how she will deal with safeguarding issues, the policy in place is not fully effective because it does not follow the guidelines of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. This shows that, while children are generally kept safe from harm, the childminder has yet to place a strong enough focus on what needs to be done to fully protect the welfare and well-being of the children in her care. The childminder ensures that children are appropriately prepared for their transition into other early years settings and Reception

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

class in school. For example, they socialise with other adults and children at groups and while on outings. Strategies for managing children's behaviour include positive reinforcement, in order to address children's self-esteem.

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

Children's welfare is addressed satisfactorily because the childminder ensures that the environment is safe and secure. Children's good health is protected sufficiently because she encourages them to be physically active. They gain confidence and physical skills with use of challenging equipment at the park and at groups. Food provided by the childminder satisfactorily supports children's good health. Children are encouraged to manage their own self-care needs. They learn how to keep themselves safe, for example, they learn how to cross the road safely and they gain an awareness of stranger danger.

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provision

The childminder makes sure that her home is safe and secure. She is sufficiently aware of the signs of abuse and neglect and is aware of the Government's statutory guidance on child protection. The childminder provides a safeguarding policy for parents and is aware that child protection concerns must be referred to the appropriate agencies. Even though sufficient steps are taken to keep children protected, they are not safeguarded as well as they might be because the required policies and procedures vary in quality and so require improvement. The safeguarding policy is not in line with the guidance and procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. As a result, a legal requirement is not fully met. The childminder is aware of the procedure she must follow if a parent fails to collect their child at the agreed time. However, this procedure is not shared with parents and this is a breach of a legal requirement. Necessary checks for the childminder's family have been

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provision

completed and she ensures that children are never left unsupervised with a person who has not been vetted.

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provision

The childminder monitors the educational programmes satisfactorily to ensure that children make progress in their learning. She reviews her childminding provision sufficiently to ensure improvement. For example, the childminder welcomed advice and support from the representative of the local authority before recently resuming childminding after taking a long break. Her main priority is to make sure that she develops a fully effective way of keeping records on observation, assessment and planning. To this end she is beginning an online system and she will use her mobile telephone to record observations and continually share these with parents. In order to improve her skills and support children's learning, the childminder has booked training courses on observation and assessment and 'Making links with characteristics of effective learning'. Required records are kept up to date in order to support children's safety and welfare. Resources

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provision

are well maintained and meet children's needs satisfactorily.

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provision

The partnership with parents promotes children's care and learning needs appropriately. The childminder is aware of the importance of obtaining as much information as possible about each child's individual needs from parents and agreeing with them how they can work together to meet these needs. In discussion, she is aware that links with other early years providers are necessary in order to address continuity of care and learning for children. A range of written policies are provided for parents and most of these contain required information and appropriately reflect the childminder's practice.

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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 EY445540 Local authority Leicester City Inspection number 906814 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 12 Number of children on roll 10

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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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