Childminder in Barnet

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/07/2014 27/03/2014

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 4 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 strong relationships with parents to ensure she provides children with consistency in their care and is able to meet their needs.  The childminder promotes children's communication and language skills very well. She effectively engages their interest and supports their individual needs.  The childminder plans good opportunities for children to join in a variety of physical activities, which helps to support their understanding of healthy living.  The childminder provides children with nutritious meals and snacks to encourage them to develop healthy eating practices.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The childminder does not ensure that there are creative resources freely available in children's daily play so that children can experiment with colour, design and texture.  There is opportunity for the childminder to increase the variety of resources available to younger babies to increase their enjoyment of books and reading.

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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 the childminder, her co-childminder and children playing in all rooms.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation for planning, assessment, policies and procedures.  The inspector held discussions with the childminder and the co-childminder.  The inspector observed the outdoor garden.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2007. She lives with her partner, who is also a registered childminder in a semi-detached house, in the Whetstone area of the London Borough of Barnet. The whole of the ground floor of the house is used for childminding and there is a fully enclosed garden available for outside play. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 12 children in the early years age range on roll. The childminder supports children who are learning English as an additional language. The childminder walks and/or drives to local schools to take and collect children.

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

 increase the range of opportunities and resources for children to be creative and experiment with colour, texture and design

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

 review the range of resources available to further support young babies enjoyment of books and reading.

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who attend

Children play happily in a welcoming and caring environment. The childminder is enthusiastic and demonstrates a good knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements. She uses initial observations and information gathered from parents, to identify children's starting points. This helps her to effectively support children's individual learning and development. The childminder works with a co- childminder. They both have key children that they observe. The childminder provides detailed parental feedback in the form of photo diaries and a monthly disc of photographs of their children to show parents exactly what strides their child have made during new activities and in their development. These series of photographs are used to develop children's next steps in learning, and these inform the future planning and assessment processes. The childminder often uses these photographs in conjunction with the monthly

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who attend

discussion she has with parents. This helps to provide parents with a more formal and detailed response to their specific queries about either their child's progress or any aspect of the service she provides. This ensures parents are fully involved in their children's learning. Daily discussions with her co-childminder ensure they provide play opportunities and activities that are relevant to children's abilities and match their interests. Therefore, they follow a cohesive approach to promoting children's learning. This results in children making good overall progress in their learning and development from their starting points.

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who attend

The childminder uses good teaching techniques to support and challenge children's growing communication skills. She interacts well with them during their play asking them relevant questions to make them think. Children's vocabulary is wide and the childminder supports this further as she introduces new words throughout their play. For example, children cuddle up to the childminder as they share books and attentively listen to stories she reads to them. The childminder extends their learning further as she points out a few letters in the alphabet and sounds them out. The childminder encourages children to recall their favourite stories and retelling these stories helps them to use their imaginations. However, she has not fully considered how she can further extend younger babies enjoyment of books and their early reading and communication skills. For example, by creating family memory books for younger babies to review the pictures and further

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who attend

increase their enjoyment of books, develop their communication and increase their early literacy skills.

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who attend

The childminder encourages children to count everyday objects, such as cups, pieces of fruit and plates at lunch time. She uses good mathematical language to extend their learning as they play with building blocks, small world trucks and transport. For example, the childminder encourages children to compare sizes and count items that fit into the dumper truck. These positive learning experiences support children well in preparing to start school. In addition, younger babies and children benefit from using interactive toys to explore how things work and play educational games. These activities teach children to recognise letters, colours, numbers and learn basic words, as well as, matching and comparing different objects.

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who attend

Children have fun as they explore musical toys and enjoy role play activities in the childminder's home. They bang and strum different wooden musical instruments that help them learn about rhythm and rhyme. The childminder uses musical instruments to extend learning as they talk about where each instrument comes from and what type of sound it makes. For example, the childminder talks about how the 'deep low' sound of an instrument sounds like a didgeridoo from Australia. The childminder plans regular adult-led creative activities where children can makes things and develop their creativity. However, there is not always a wide range of creative materials freely available to children during the day to enable them to express their thoughts and ideas .

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who attend

The childminder regularly takes cchildren out to local parks, shops and the library to learn about the community they live in. Here, they learn to interact with other adults and children, and they learn valuable social skills. The childminder recently planned for children to investigate the life of a caterpillar. For example, they watched a caterpillar turn into a cocoon and ultimately into a butterfly. Therefore, cchildren are gaining a good knowledge and understanding of the world. The childminder plans outdoor play in the garden where they can investigate the natural world, such as, planting vegetables and flowers. The childminder ensures that children are physically active in all weathers. This helps children to enjoy the fresh air and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle.

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

Children settle quickly and enjoy a nurturing relationship with the childminder and her co- childminder. Children benefit from a regular routine and demonstrate confidently that they can make their needs known. For example, during play children make suggestions and share activities together. The childminder has a good understanding of the children's needs. She liaises with parents on a daily basis, which promotes consistency in children's care and learning.

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

The childminder uses clear and consistent methods to manage children's behaviour. She acts as a good role model and offers lots of positive praise to acknowledge children's efforts. This good practice enables children to have a sense of pride and achievement. Consequently, children are well behaved and the provision has a calm atmosphere in which children learn to be caring towards one another.

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

Children play and explore in a safe and secure learning environment, closely supervised during the childminder and co-childminder. She plans evacuation drills so that children become familiar with the procedures to follow in an emergency. Consequently, children learn to leave the premises quickly and in a safe manner.

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

The childminder helps children to learn the importance of good hygiene practices well. She ensures that they develop independence in daily tasks, including managing their personal care needs. She holds meaningful discussions with the children during their mealtimes and during hand washing. This helps children learn to wash their hands at appropriate times and promotes their awareness of good health.

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

Children benefit from a variety of healthy home-cooked meals and snacks, that meets their nutritional needs. The childminder is aware of children's allergies and cultural dietary needs, and shares her menus with the parents. Children use a fork and spoon confidently and they serve themselves at snack, and lunch times. The childminder effectively helps children prepare for their next stage of learning or their move on to school.

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provision

The childminder effectively promotes children's welfare and well-being. She is knowledgeable about the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and has met all the actions set at her last inspection. She has a good understanding of safeguarding issues and knows what to do should she have a child protection concern about a child. The childminder is vigilant in her supervision of children and conducts risk assessments to help her identify potential hazards. She effectively implements a number of policies and procedures, which guide her practice, and which she shares with parents.

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provision

She works with a co-childminder, her husband. The childminder demonstrates a secure understanding of the learning and development requirements. She undertakes the required progress check for two-year-old children and shares this with parents. This ensures that she is able to swiftly target any areas of development needed to help children make better progress and close any identified gaps in learning. The childminder is enthusiastic and motivated to make improvements to her service. She works in close partnership with her co-childminder, and they complete regular self-evaluations to reflect on their practice, and to highlight areas for improvement.

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provision

The childminder is keen to improve her professional knowledge and regularly seeks training and support. She has completed a National Vocational Qualification to level 3 in childcare and is constantly booking new courses to improve her knowledge and increase her professional development. She also ensures her co-childminder attends the same training so consistency of practice can be maintained.

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provision

The childminder has good relationships with parents, resulting in effective communication and information sharing. For example, she informs parents of their children's care and routines each day and has discs of photographs that are designed to document their children's monthly progress. She takes into account the views of the parents and children. She gains this information from questionnaire feedback, discussion and parent forms, these methods all help provide parents with an opportunity to share comments on what they would like to discuss with the childminder before the next meeting. Therefore, there are effective partnerships with parents and this ensures a cohesive approach to children's learning and development.

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provision

The childminder works effectively with other early years settings children attend. This provides continuity in children's learning and development. She has forged strong links with the nursery and schools children attend, to continue their learning in her home to extend their understanding. She is aware of the need to work in partnership with other agencies or specialist providers if the need arises to support the individual needs of the children she care for.

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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 EY349150 Local authority Barnet Inspection number 977757 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 12

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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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