Childminder in Birmingham

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/08/2014 23/08/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 3 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 breached a legal requirement by exceeding the numbers of children she may care for at any one time, compromising their overall safety and welfare.  Parents are not provided with enough ideas and suggestions about how they can extend and build on their children's learning at home.  There is scope to develop the garden to help extend children's learning, particularly with regard to investigation and exploration.  Self-evaluation is not robust enough to effectively review and monitor practice, target areas for improvement and ensure all legal requirements are met.

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It has the following strengths

 The childminder is caring and provides a welcoming environment in which to care for children. This gives children a sense of belonging and supports their emotional well- being.

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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 had a tour of the premises, the garden and observed children playing.  The inspector held a joint observation of a planned activity with the childminder.  The inspector held conversations with the childminder and children.  The inspector looked at a selection of policies, procedures and children's records.  The inspector checked evidence of the childminder's suitability.  The inspector asked the childminder about her self-evaluation methods.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2011 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her 11-year-old son in the Bartley Green area of Birmingham. The whole of the ground floor and the bathroom on the first floor are used for childminding. There is an enclosed rear garden for outdoor play. The childminder takes and collects children from the local school and also attends toddler groups. The family have a pet dog. There are currently five children on roll, four of whom are within the early years age group. The childminder operates from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, except for family holidays. The childminder is a member of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

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must:

 ensure the number of children cared for does not exceed the required ratios as defined in the Early Years Foundation Stage

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must:

 ensure parents and/or carers can access more information on children's activities and experiences in order to extend and build on their children's learning at home.

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

 enrich the learning experiences for children in the garden, particularly with regard to investigation, exploration and growing, in order to better support planned outdoor activities

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

 build on self-evaluation and ensure the views of parents and children are included to clarify and identify strengths and areas for improvement, in order to fully enhance the provision for children's learning and development.

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who attend

Despite a breach of the safeguarding and welfare requirements, the childminder has a reasonable knowledge of how children learn and progress. Teaching is sound overall, with some good aspects. As a result, children are making steady progress in relation to their starting points. The childminder finds out from parents information about children's particular interests, stage of development and specific needs at the beginning of the placement. This helps the childminder to assess children's progress. The childminder completes the progress check for children aged between two and three years and shares this information with parents. She also keeps a copy of this check on children's files, to help support her planning and assessment. This ensures she can monitor children's individual progress and early intervention can be sought if required. The childminder's planning and observation systems are detailed as she regularly takes photographs of

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who attend

children undertaking various activities and collates these photographs in an individual folder for each child. She identifies the areas of learning and development captured in each photograph and includes ideas of how best to support and extend children's next stage of learning. The childminder uses daily diaries and discussions to help keep parents informed. However, overall strategies to share the information in children's folders and promote further learning at home are not sufficiently robust to fully involve parents in their child's learning. This means opportunities are not maximised to provide information and advice to parents to help them support and extend their child's learning further at home.

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who attend

The childminder mostly plans a broad range of activities and experiences that cover the seven areas of learning. This helps to engage all children and support them in becoming enthusiastic, motivated learners. For example, the childminder sits on the floor with the children, at their level, as they play a counting game which involves pressing a button and taking turns. This helps to support children's understanding of numbers and behave appropriately with their peers when playing games. The childminder encourages children to count, think about colours and take part in activities, such as lacing cards. This helps to support children's mathematical and small muscle skills. Children's communication and language skills are evident as both younger and older children talk confidently, encouraged by the childminder. For example, the childminder listens to children as they talk about going on holiday to Wales, asking questions about where they will be staying.

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who attend

This helps to encourage children to think and vocalise their ideas.

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who attend

The childminder supports children in learning about differences within society through informal discussions as children play. For example, the childminder talks about the different types of clothes people wear, including saris and that some people need to use wheelchairs. Additionally, children recall tasting food at Chinese New Year as they play with role-play equipment, including rice bowls. These discussions are supported by resources, including models, puppets, puzzles and books. This help to develop children's appreciation and acceptance of differences. Overall, children are acquiring the basic skills they need to support their future learning at school.

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who attend

The childminder fully utilises facilities within the local community and outdoors by visiting parks, playgroups and physical adventure centres to ensure children can participate in a wide range of experiences and meet other children. This helps to ensure children have plenty of fresh air and exercise. It also supports their physical development by experiencing enjoyable learning opportunities, both indoors and outside. However, the childminder's planning of activities in her garden area lacks breadth, detail and anticipation. For example, the joint observation of the bug hunt revealed that children had some opportunities to look for insects. However, a lack of foliage and natural resources within the garden area meant that children found very few insects, and so limited the learning experiences for children during this activity. Despite this, the childminder did follow up the activity with an opportunity for children to draw the worm they had found

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who attend

and encouraged children to look through the magnifying glass in the bug jar in order to see the details of the worm. This helped to support children's understanding of the world by encouraging them to observe the features of living things and represent their ideas.

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

The childminder is patient, caring and kind. Consequently, children are happy, settled and relate very well to her, demonstrating secure attachments. Children show a sense of belonging, as they approach the childminder with ease, seeking comfort, reassurance and praise. This helps to support children's emotional needs and illustrates children feel safe because of the trusting relationships children have with the childminder. However, at times, the childminder has exceeded the numbers of children she is registered to care for at any one time. This compromises children's overall safety and well-being. Nonetheless, the childminder clearly knows each child well, enjoys their company and individual personalities. The childminder has clear policies and procedures on how to support children with specific learning needs, and is sensitive in supporting new children to settle- in by offering a flexible service to families. The childminder asks children's parents about

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

routines at home and finds about any illnesses, allergies or dietary requirements. This helps to ensure children can make the transition from home to the childminder's care in their own time and at their own pace.

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

Children behave well. Young children display good manners, saying 'please' and 'thank you' spontaneously. The childminder promptly praises children for positive behaviour, sharing and taking turns. This helps to reinforce children's cooperation and enhance their self-esteem and social skills. Older children role model positive behaviour as they show patience and tolerance during group activities. For example, while looking for bugs in the garden, they help younger children to search for insects by suggesting places to look. This illustrates that children are encouraged to develop sensitive, caring relationships with each other. The childminder has made her home welcoming to all children. For example, children's work is displayed within the lounge. Play areas used by children are clean and safe. All children can make choices and direct their own play because a wide selection of toys and resources are stored in clearly labelled drawers and toy boxes. This shows that

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

the childminder has considered how to support children in becoming independent learners. The childminder encourages children to help tidy up when they have finished playing, and even the youngest children do so with competence. This shows children are developing a sense of responsibility and personal safety in helping to keep the play areas clear of potential trip hazards posed by toys on the floor. The childminder encourages children to be as independent as possible to help them acquire the skills to be ready for school.

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

The childminder has established an effective hygiene routine and children know they need to wash their hands before meals and snacks. This shows that children are taking responsibility for their self-care. Appropriate nappy changing routines for younger children ensure their comfort is maintained throughout the day. The childminder is a qualified first aider. She keeps detailed records of any accidents, injuries and medication, ensuring parents are informed. This ensures children's health needs are met. The childminder provides healthy and nutritious meals and snacks, such as spaghetti bolognese and various fruits and berries. Water is readily available to make sure children can have a drink whenever they are thirsty. Children are encouraged to try different foods and the childminder uses meal and snack times as an ideal opportunity to talk about healthy eating. The childminder plans opportunities for children to be outdoors daily. This helps

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

children to understand about the importance of healthy living and ensures children benefit from fresh air and regular exercise.

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provision

The childminder's understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements is not sufficiently robust to fully support children's welfare and safety. On occasions, the childminder fails to meet legally required adult-to-child ratios because she is responsible for four children in the early years age range. While this arrangement is well-intentioned, in order to support a family in taking a child to school in the afternoon for collection by a relative, it illustrates the childminder's lack of understanding of her conditions of registration. The childminder thinks an overlap of times between handing children over to parents and/or carers is acceptable. Therefore, the childminder is in breach of a legal requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The childminder has a clear understanding of child protection issues, having attended training to ensure she can recognise the signs of abuse and neglect and escalate concerns. Her documentation is

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provision

well-organised and includes all relevant policies, procedures and relevant telephone contact numbers to support her practice. The childminder is safety conscious and she identifies and minimises hazards to children by undertaking risk assessments of her home, garden and outings. The premises are secure and visitors are required to sign-in. These systems, coupled with the childminder being first-aid trained and appropriately vetted, helps to ensure children are kept safe.

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provision

The childminder understands the need to liaise with other providers, such as teachers in school, in order to aid continuity of care for all children. Testimonials from parents outline they are very satisfied with the service provided. Comments include that the childminder provides a welcoming, caring environment where their children are making progress, are safe and very happy. Although one comment outlines that a parent was unaware the childminder had a learning journal folder for each child. This highlights an omission in the childminder's procedures for involving parents in children's learning.

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provision

The childminder's evaluation procedures are informal and do not support her in monitoring the educational programme or analysing how well she is meeting the safeguarding and learning and development requirements. The childminder recognises some strengths in her practice and identifies her training needs, but admits to finding the evaluation process and paperwork side of her business challenging. Nonetheless, since her last inspection the childminder has addressed the issues raised in order to improve. Risk assessments are now undertaken and detailed, and additional resources, activities and discussions help to support children's understanding of diversity. Consequently, children's safety and learning about differences within society are now more effectively considered.

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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 EY421450 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 870929 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 5

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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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