Childminder in Surrey

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/08/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

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

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This provision is good

 The childminder provides a warm and friendly learning environment, where she values children's ideas and continually strives to meet their needs.  The childminder makes effective use of her observations alongside the comprehensive information parents provide, to make accurate assessments of children's progress.  The childminder has a good understanding of how to support and develop children's learning, particularly with regards to promoting communication and language.  The childminder provides a strong educational programme for developing children's understanding of the world by offering first-hand experiences of nature through exploratory play.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There are fewer labels, signs and visual displays of letters, words and numbers in the learning environment to maximise children's learning in this area.  The childminder does not always remind older children to wash their hands independently before lunch.

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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 in the lounge and in the garden.  The inspector spoke to the childminder and children at appropriate times of the day.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the childminder carry out a planned activity with the children and discussed her evaluation of it.  The inspector sampled a range of regulatory documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked the evidence of qualifications and suitability for the childminder and household members aged over 16.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2014. She lives with her husband and pre-school daughter in a house in Farnham, Surrey. The home is within walking distance of local schools and shops. The childminder uses the downstairs of the property for childminding, including access to toilet facilities, and she provides sleeping facilities upstairs. There is an enclosed garden for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and on both the compulsory and the voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She operates from Monday to Thursday during 8am to 6pm, all year round except bank holidays and family holidays. She currently cares for four children on a part-time basis, all of whom are within the early years age range.

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Information about the setting

The childminder takes the children on daily outings; these include attending groups at the local children centre, trips to the library, a play gym, the park and having Forest school sessions in the local woods. The childminder is a member of a professional childminding support group.

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

 strengthen routines for hand washing to further promote children's independence.

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

 extend the use of visual displays of words, letters and numbers to encourage children's knowledge and understanding in this area.

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who attend

The childminder provides fun and interesting activities that promote all areas of learning and meet the needs of the children on a daily basis. She has a good understanding of how to support children's learning through play. For example, she recognises children's interest in throwing and makes sure there are plenty of opportunities for them to learn through their interest. In the garden, she provides a range of different sized balls for children to practise their skills. The childminder praises the children for their efforts as they try to throw a smaller ball at a larger ball. This boosts children's self-esteem, challenges their developing physical skills and motivates them to keep trying. The childminder introduces mathematical language as she talks about the 'big' and 'small' balls. Older children continue to develop mathematical skills as they use large stencils of different shapes and talk about the 'circles' and squares' as they draw. The childminder encourages children to

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who attend

count as they play; for example, counting the motion of swing when using the equipment in the park. The childminder is particularly skilled at promoting children's communication and language skills. She extends vocabulary for younger children, describing what they are doing and repeating their words to reinforce correct pronunciation. She encourages older children to develop their thinking skills, for example, by asking questions that have many possible answers. This practice prepares children for their future learning as it helps them to develop their own ideas, make links in their experiences and plan ways of doing things for themselves. The childminder provides a wide range of good quality books for children to choose from. They enjoy listening to stories and ask her to read a favourite book again several times. The childminder extends this interest by planning an activity linked to the story. The children decorate t-shirts using colourful crayons, to be like the

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who attend

character in the book. This gives the children a chance to revisit and remember parts of the story as they draw their pictures. Older children form recognisable letters from their names. These types of activities give children fun and positive experiences of early literacy, enabling them to develop the skills they will need in the future. Children see some visual displays of letters, for example, in the garden there is a large foam letter mat. Indoors some toys have letters or numbers on them. However, the childminder misses opportunities to increase the presence of signs, labels and displays of words and numbers to further develop children's knowledge and understanding in these areas.

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who attend

The childminder helps children develop a good understanding of the world they live in. For example, they learn about the natural world though their own first-hand experiences. They plant, grow and harvest a range of plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables. The smell of the mint fascinates the children and they touch and taste it to find out more about it. The childminder draws the children's attention to the pips in apples at snack time and they naturally make links to the apple tree in the garden. Consequently, children are beginning to understand how some foods grow. The childminder and children have made a season tree by collecting natural objects from the garden as the seasons change. This helps children to develop an understanding of changes over time. The childminder plans daily trips to further extend the children's understanding of their world. For example, she joins together with other childminders for weekly Forest school activities in the local woods.

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who attend

This provides opportunities for children to make new friends and develop their social skills, as well as explore the natural world on a larger scale. The childminder provides a rich range of multicultural books and toys. She has fun with the children, reading words in different languages, which provides children with positive experiences of learning about people from around the world.

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who attend

The childminder gathers comprehensive information about children's prior learning and development from parents. This, alongside her ongoing observations and parent contributions, enables her to accurately assess children's progress. The childminder has a system in place to carry out the required progress check for children aged two years. Consequently she effectively plans activities that are relevant to the children's interests and needs. She collects photographs, written observations, completes a log to monitor children's progress and completes daily diary sheets to share with parents. Parents have the opportunity to meet-up weekly at the local children centre where they stay and play with their children and the childminder. This effectively involves parents in their children's learning and promotes opportunities for sharing ideas for learning at home. As a result, all children are making good progress and are developing the skills they need for their future

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

The childminder has a kind and caring approach and provides a warm and friendly learning environment. She has built good relationships with the children and their parents. Consequently, children are relaxed and happy in her care and confident to play and explore. Children form good friendships with each other and generally play cooperatively together. The childminder intervenes sensitively when necessary, encouraging children to settle squabbles for themselves. She talks through situations, encouraging them to 'use your words' if they are not happy. She labels emotions for them, for example, 'I can see you are getting cross,' which helps children to recognise their own emotions and begin to be aware of the emotions of others. This helps to empower children and supports their emotional development and well-being extremely well.

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

The childminder uses everyday opportunities to teach children about safety issues. For example, she discusses road safety with them during their daily walks. The childminder reinforces similar messages using story books, which is particularly useful for helping younger children's understanding. She enables children to gain an awareness of risks by exploring their environment. This effectively helps children to learn how to keep themselves safe.

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

The childminder supports the children to develop a good attitude towards healthy living. For example, children freely choose to play outdoors and they participate in a wide range of physical activities during weekly outings, including trips to the park and a play gym. This promotes an active lifestyle and enjoyment from playing outdoors in the fresh air. Children make healthy choices at snack time, for example, of fruit and drinks of water. The parents bring in lunch boxes for their children. The childminder promotes healthy eating with parents by discussing and sharing ideas on healthy lunches with them. Children often attend to their personal needs independently, as appropriate to their age. For example, they remind their friends, 'don't forget to wash your hands' after they use the toilet. At lunch time, the childminder ensures children's hands are clean before eating as she wipes their hands for them with cleansing wipes. However, she did not encourage

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

older children to wash their own hands, to further support their developing independence.

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

The childminder provides a stimulating, welcoming and well-resourced environment for the children to play in both indoors and outdoors. She presents activities in interesting ways, for example, in the sand pit there are natural materials such as fir cones, pebbles and bark, which promotes children's imagination. The ample range of activities is stored at low-level for children to choose from independently. In addition, the childminder takes the children on daily outings, which enriches the children's experiences and effectively supports children's all-round development.

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

Overall, the childminder helps children to develop the skills they need in readiness for school. She helps them to feel self-assured about what their future holds through story books, role play and conversation about any visits they make to their schools.

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provision

The childminder has a secure understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She has good knowledge and understanding of her duty to keep children safe while in her care. For example, she is confident in the procedures to follow if she has a safeguarding concern about any of the children. All necessary suitability checks are completed for family members. There is a comprehensive risk assessment in place, which includes the steps taken to minimise risk when on trips and outings. The childminder reviews the risk assessment regularly and immediately if there are any changes to her home or equipment. For example, the end of the garden is undergoing refurbishment. She has completed a risk assessment and took the precautionary action to block the area off until it is safe to use. In addition, she completes daily checks before children enter her home. This helps to ensure children remain safe with the childminder

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provision

The childminder monitors the children's learning and development effectively by completing observations and tracking their progress. This helps her to organise and plan activities to meet the needs of the children and promote their all-round development. Her systems successfully support her to identify any gaps in children's learning. The childminder is confident in her role of linking with other professionals as necessary to ensure all children receive the support they need to reach their full potential.

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provision

The childminder is keen to develop her knowledge and understanding of child development and aims to complete further training. She updates the self-evaluation of her provision monthly and has already addressed areas for improvement. Longer term plans include developing an allotment to further enhance children's experiences of growing. She shares ideas with other childminders, which helps her identify areas for improvement. She discusses her monthly evaluations with parents and plans to gather their views more formally through a parent questionnaire. This will strengthen her self-evaluation system and enable her to more fully including the parents' views to continuously drive improvement.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are friendly and relaxed. The childminder provides useful information about her provision for parents, such as providing copies of written policies. This helps parents to understand how the childminder's provision operates. The childminder is making links with local schools and nurseries, which helps to develop consistency of care for all children.

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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. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 EY468755 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 950652 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 4

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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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