Childminder in Knowsley

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/08/2014 16/12/2008

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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 regularly minds more young children than she is registered for. She does not always record children's date of birth or home address, or consider any potential risks on outings. As a result, children's safety and well-being cannot be assured.  The childminder does not always build on opportunities for babies to form deeper attachments through close contact, particularly during routines, such as bottle feeding.  Young children are not sufficiently challenged in their learning because the childminder focuses on the interests of older children, merely supervising younger children as they play independently. Children do not have daily access to the outdoors to promote their good health.  The childminder does not balance the provision of adult-led activities with children's free play. Therefore, children are not making sufficient progress as the childminder does not precisely plan for the next steps in their learning.

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It has the following strengths

 Children behave well and play cooperatively because the childminder encourages sharing and praises children's efforts to help with simple tasks.  The childminder involves parents in their child's learning by gathering starting points from them, providing occasional learning summaries and giving daily verbal feedback.

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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 spoke to the childminder as appropriate during observations and checked organisational documents, such as training certificates, risk assessments and the safeguarding policy.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked areas of the home used for childminding, evidence of the childminder's suitability and her self-evaluation and improvement plan.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the childminder and children during indoor play and at lunch and snack time.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed the progress children have made with the childminder to assess her knowledge of their learning and development.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined children's enrolment records and learning files and checked documents, such as registers and accident forms.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 1993 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She lives with her adult child in Prescot, Merseyside. The whole ground floor of the house and the rear garden are used for childminding. The family has a pet dog. The childminder attends a toddler group and activities at the local children's centre. She visits the shops and park on a regular basis and collects children from the local schools and pre-schools. There are currently 11 children on roll, six of whom are in the early years age group and attend for a variety of sessions. The childminder operates all year round from 6.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, except Bank Holidays and family holidays. She holds an appropriate early years qualification at level 3.

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must:

 ensure that the adult-to-child ratio requirements are met at all times

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must:

 promote children's safety on outings by ensuring that all possible risks are identified and assessed, including the steps taken to remove, minimise or manage those risk and hazards

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must:

 record and retain information for each child cared for that includes their full name, date of birth and home address

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must:

 ensure that the presence of older children does not detract from offering appropriate care or challenging learning experiences which meet the individual needs, interests and stage of development of younger children present

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must:

 provide a balance of adult-led planned activities to complement children's spontaneous play, in order to guide their learning in all seven areas of the curriculum, addressing any gaps identified when tracking their progress

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must:

 ensure that children are provided with access to the outdoor play area on a daily basis

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must:

 attend to babies' care needs personally, developing close and caring relationships to promote their emotional security.

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who attend

The childminder collects sound developmental information from parents when children enrol, enabling her to establish their starting points. She provides parents with a summary of their progress at the end of each child's settling-in period. Regular observations enable the childminder to identify children's interests and these are soundly supported by a range of available resources. However, the childminder's focus is on supervising children, rather than engaging in activities to extend their learning. As a result, her conversations with children are most often in response to their personal needs or safety, and opportunities to teach children as they play independently are missed. In addition, the childminder does not strike an effective balance between planned adult-led activities and general free play. Planning is theme based, for example, the current theme is animals as a result of a recent trip to the zoo. However, she does not plan precisely enough to promote specific aspects

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who attend

of children's learning where gaps have been identified through tracking. Consequently, children make only make satisfactory progress in their learning.

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who attend

Children's play and learning is captured through photographs, from which the childminder identifies some of the next steps in their learning. However, these do not consistently link to all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. As a result, children's next steps in learning are not always precisely identified and fully supported across all seven areas of the curriculum, in order for them to make good progress in their learning. The childminder has a suitable knowledge of child development to enable her to identify a child not achieving expected levels of achievement. Partnerships with parents are sound. The childminder involves parents in their children's learning through verbal feedback and occasional progress summary sheets.

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who attend

The childminder helps children gain some understanding of the wider world during outings into the local community. They have access to books and dolls reflecting diversity and take part in some festivals, such as Chinese New Year. As a result, they gain some appreciation of the differences and similarities between themselves and others. When older children begin to spontaneously sing songs, the childminder joins in using hand puppets. She counts out the number of monkeys bouncing on the bed using her fingers. Toddlers correctly identify there are two monkeys when asked by the childminder how many are left. Consequently, she is helping children gain an awareness of numbers. Younger children regularly attend a childminder network play session, hosted by the local school. This helps children to become familiar with the school environment and they meet school staff. This helps them to prepare the move to school when the time comes.

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

Children's safety and well-being are not assured by the childminder. She does not consider the potential risks and hazards to children when preparing for trips and outings. She frequently looks after more young children then she is registered for. This is breach of requirements and has an impact on children's safety and well-being. The childminder is unable to demonstrate to Ofsted that the individual needs of all the children are met in order to exceed the ratios when caring for sibling babies. While ratios were met during the inspection, the childminder struggles to balance the needs of the younger children with those of the older children present. For example, she asks an older minded child to assist with a bottle feed for a baby, although she stays in close proximity. Consequently, babies do not have the opportunity to deepen their attachment to the childminder by enjoying a close cuddle with her while they are feeding. However, she has friendly relationships with

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

children, who enjoy her company and are generally settled because most of their needs are met. Parents share details about their children's care routines verbally at enrolment, and settling-in sessions help the childminder to get to know children and begin to form attachments.

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

The environment the childminder provides is homely and attractive. Inside, most of the resources are stored in containers that are accessible to children. Consequently, they choose toys themselves and so are beginning to assert their independence. Older children enjoy adding animal photographs to a colourful wall display, showcasing their recent day out at the zoo. While children do go on outings to local parks and places of interest, they are not encouraged to play outdoors in the fresh air on a daily basis. Consequently, their good health is not effectively promoted are they are unable to regularly engage in messy play with the resources the childminder provides outdoors, such as paint, sand and water.

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

Children behave well. They play together cooperatively and older children are kind and playful with younger children. For example, toddlers laugh as they catch the toy animals an older child drops down a cardboard tube. The childminder gives clear instructions and praises children's efforts to help tidy up before lunch. She encourages turn taking when older children play a board game with a toddler. The childminder gently reminds children not to climb on the pram or walk around holding scissors, and so they are beginning to learn how to play safely. The childminder takes children to local toddler groups and this helps them develop appropriate social skills as they learn to share and negotiate with children of different ages. This helps them to adapt to larger groups of children and so become emotionally ready to move on to busier settings, such as school.

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

Healthy meals are provided, such as home-made shepherd's pie, which children enjoy. Children are encouraged to feed themselves at the table and to wash their hands before eating, so they are beginning to develop age-appropriate self-help skills. They begin to learn about healthy eating during planned play sessions at childminder network meetings at the local school. They taste a variety of foods and make pictures and collages of their favourite meals. Children have some opportunities to engage in physical activity as they walk to the park. Here, they can access challenging play equipment which offers appropriate risk taking and helps them to develop physical skills, such as climbing and balancing.

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provision

The childminder has failed to meet a number of legal requirements on the Early Years Register. She regularly minds more children than she is registered to care for at any one time. In addition, the childminder does not always ensure children are safe on outings, because she does not always consider any potential risks in advance. Consequently, children's well-being and safety cannot be assured. Record keeping is not sufficiently robust, as required information is not always recorded. For example, important details, such as the date of birth and home address of each child on roll, are not always noted. This is also a breach of the Childcare Register requirements.

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provision

The childminder has a sound understanding of child protection. She is able to identify possible signs of abuse or neglect and knows who to contact should she have concerns. She ensures children are supervised and visually checks the environment each day. Written risk assessments are updated annually to ensure all areas of the home environment are safe. In addition, accidents and the administration of any medication are appropriately recorded and the identity of visitors is suitably checked.

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provision

The childminder is aware of some of her areas for development. For example, she knows that she is not diligent in keeping records up to date and on regular occasions has minded more children than she should. She is currently waiting for a potential assistant's suitability to be checked. The childminder has accessed recent training in order to update her knowledge of assessing children's progress through tracking and planning appropriate learning activities. However, during the school holidays, when older children are present, she has allowed their interests to detract from providing effective teaching to younger children. As a result, younger children are not being supported to make the best possible progress in their learning.

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provision

The childminder keeps parents informed of what their child has done on a daily basis. She shares information with parents about her policies and procedures during settling-in visits and asks them to contribute their thoughts about her practice through annual questionnaires. The childminder understands that sharing information between settings when children attend more than one provision helps to provide a coordinated approach to their learning. She regularly attends toddler groups and is a member of a local network of childminders, who meet regularly at a local school. This gives her the opportunity to share ideas for good practice and build professional partnerships with school staff.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 keep records of the name, home address and date of birth of each child who is looked after on the premises (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  keep records of the name, home address and date of birth of each child who is looked after on the premises (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)

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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 313019 Local authority Knowsley Inspection number 876917 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 11

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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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