Childminder in Coventry

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/06/2014 19/01/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The childminder has established excellent partnerships with other providers. This means that children's learning is extended and supported very well.  Children are safe because the childminder completes thorough risk assessments. She maintains close supervision of children during their activities and she has a good understanding of how to manage any safeguarding issues that may arise.  Educational programmes have depth and breadth across the seven areas of learning. Children take part in a very wide range of interesting and stimulating activities, both indoors and out. This helps help them to make good progress in their learning.  The childminder has strong relationships with parents and forms secure emotional attachments with children because the settling-in process is robust. Home visits and trial sessions give children familiarity and security in the childminding setting. Consequently, children are settled and demonstrate positive attitudes to learning.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to further enhance children's learning by providing extended commentary during their play and through the use of open-ended questions.

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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 during activities indoors and outdoors.

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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 spoke with the childminder at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector read questionnaires and statements from parents to take their views into consideration.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of the childminder and household members.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 1998. She lives with her father and adult daughter, in a residential area on the eastern outskirts of Coventry. The whole of the ground floor is used for childminding. There is an enclosed garden used for outside play. The family has no pets. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She is currently minding nine children, five of whom are in the early years age group. The childminder is able to walk with children to and from local schools. She attends parent and toddler groups.

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

 increase opportunities for children to listen to commentary about what they are doing and to respond to open-ended questions in order to further enhance their communication and language skills.

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who attend

The childminder has a good understanding of how children learn and she uses this knowledge to facilitate stimulating activities for children in her care. She supports young children to explore and to be curious about their surroundings. For example, children thoroughly enjoy being outside in the very well-resourced and attractive garden. They move confidently and freely between their chosen activities. The childminder supports children to fill bottles with water from the hose pipe. The bottles have 'squirter' tops and children take great delight in using the bottles to make marks on walls and to water the flowers and vegetable they have planted. This provides vital opportunities for children to develop control and co-ordination in the use of their hands and arms. Consequently, this prepares children well in their readiness for school, as such activities support them to them to handle an increasingly wider range of tools, including pencils for writing

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who attend

effectively. The childminder uses children's interests and their love of outdoors to plan interesting learning activities indoors, for example, when out and about children spontaneously collect a range of leaves and vegetation. Back indoors, the childminder provides a rug made of artificial grass. They use the rug to make a jungle scene by adding their collection of leaves and small model animals. The childminder encourages children to look carefully at the leaves. She draws their attention to the fact that some have shrivelled up and smell of decay, while there is no change to others. This means that children are supported to make observations and begin to think about why some things occur and so develop an understanding of the world.

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who attend

Children being cared for are settled and emotionally secure and they communicate with the childminder confidently; younger children do this through facial expression, body language and the words that they are beginning to say. In order to encourage children to extend their vocabulary, make progress towards using sentences and communicate more articulately, the childminder repeats words back to them and sometimes adds another word. For example, children clamber onto an armchair and cuddle up with the childminder to share a book about a caterpillar. Children are very familiar with the book and point out pictures and join in with the words. The childminder asks questions about the colours of objects and talks about what she herself likes or dislikes. Children clearly enjoy listening to her talk and shout out answers excitedly to the simple questions she asks. However, there is scope to enhance and challenge children's learning further by providing more

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who attend

opportunities for them to hear longer, detailed commentary from the childminder when they are playing and exploring and also for them to have opportunities to answer open- ended questions.

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who attend

The childminder completes detailed and well-organised learning journey folders for each child. These contain information on entry from parents, monthly written observations, tracking of children's development, next steps for learning, children's creations and photographs as evidence of their learning. Parents have access to this information, which keeps them informed of their child's progress. In addition, the childminder completes daily diaries for each child informing parents of routine events such as sleep times and food their children have eaten. The childminder has a good understanding of the requirement to provide parents with a written summary for the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. She completes these in consultation with parents in order to provide them at a time that is most useful to them.

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

The childminder's induction and settling-in process is very good. Children due to attend receive home visits and settling-in sessions, which include opportunities for parents to stay and play. The childminder demonstrates commitment in her work and sensitivity to children's and parents' needs by offering, if required, late evening and weekend settling-in sessions in order to accommodate parents' work patterns. Consequently, children settle with confidence and are happy in the childminder's care. It also means that children form strong attachments to her, which in turn supports their emotional well-being extremely well.

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

The childminder has organised her home very well, providing a wide range of resources and activities that children can access on their own, promoting free choice and developing their independence. Furthermore, the childminder ensures that there is depth and breadth to the activities she provides. This means that children have very good opportunities to make links in their learning across areas of the Early Years Foundation stage curriculum. For example, children's self-help skills, physical development, their understanding of healthy eating, hygiene and safety are all promoted well when they prepare their own tasty, colourful and nutritious fruit kebabs at snack time. Children are first supported to wash their hands and their attention is drawn to the fact that they need to do this because they will be cooking. Children settle at the table and watch the childminder as she models how to make the kebab. They look and listen carefully when the she draws their attention

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

to the sharp end of the skewer and the need to take care. The children enjoy tasting the fruit first. Then they work with great concentration, care and success, pushing pieces of strawberry, pineapple, banana, orange and grapes onto wooden skewers. The childminder collects each child's fruit kebab, puts them on a plate and covers them with plastic film ready for them to eat later. She explains about good hygiene practice and says, 'we should cover these up because we don't want any flies to get on them.' Children listen and look carefully, then say, 'we don't want bees to go on them either.'

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

Children's good health is protected because the childminder encourages them to be physically active. The garden is equipped with a climbing frame, sit and ride toys and other resources that encourage physical activity. Furthermore, the childminder regularly visits the local park, where children have opportunities to understand risk taking, gain confidence and skills with the use of challenging, large, physical play equipment. Children's behaviour is very good because the childminder uses a consistent approach and gentle reminders of the expectations for behaviour as required. As a result, children play and behave well because they understand what behaviour is expected of them. The childminder offers positive praise and recognition for children's efforts and achievements, promoting their self-esteem.

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provision

The childminder demonstrates a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation. She has a clear understanding of her role in child protection and is well-versed in what to do should there be concerns about a child's welfare. Children's safety is maintained as all adults within the home have completed suitability checks to ensure they are safe to be in the proximity of children. Risk assessments are completed and these are reviewed regularly and emergency evacuation drills are carried out periodically. Children show an awareness of these drills by pointing to the evacuation procedure poster on the wall and saying 'we have to go to by the door to be safe'. Relevant records are kept and well-maintained, such as daily registers of attendance and accident and medication forms.

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provision

The childminder reflects well on her practice, using her ongoing training to continuously review her service and to identify improvements. She has good self-evaluation processes in place, which include questionnaires completed by parents. The childminder also takes children's views into consideration by observing them in their play and encouraging them to think about what they want to learn. The childminder is committed to continue to develop her understanding of how young children best learn and identifies her own professional development training. For example, she has secured a place on a forthcoming training event linked to the 'Every Child a Talker' government project, in order to further promote children's communication skills.

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provision

The childminder has developed excellent partnerships with other early years providers. This enables very good continuity with regards to learning and care. The childminder has established the use of 'Link Books' for each child. These books are used to facilitate a three-way dialogue between the childminder, other early years providers and parents. The childminder uses the information from weekly newsletters placed in the 'Link Books' from other providers to plan activities, which reinforces and complement children's prior learning. Partnership with parents is very good and they say, 'one of the best things is that the days are so varied and every day I get written feedback'. All feedback shows that parents are very happy with care their children get and that their children make progress under the childminder's care.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 223961 Local authority Coventry Inspection number 866121 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 9

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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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