Childminder in West Sussex

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 08/10/2014 23/04/2014

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 The childminder is kind, caring and friendly. This helps new children settle easily and feel at home.  The childminder provides healthy meals and snacks and this contributes to children's continuing good health.  The childminder actively promotes children's language and mathematical skills as they play so they make sound progress in these areas.

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It is not yet good because

 The childminder does not always provide sufficient space and easily accessible resources for children to initiate their own play and engage in a variety of learning experiences.  The childminder does not always ensure that the planned activities challenge children appropriately to enable them to make further progress.  The childminder forms positive links with parents but has not fully developed ways in which they can share in the learning process.  The childminder has started to evaluate her practice but has not developed rigorous and consistent ways in which she can continuously monitor and improve the provision for children.

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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 activities indoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled children's learning records and other relevant documentation.  The inspector discussed childcare practices with the childminder.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents from letters seen at the inspection.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2005. She regularly works with her husband who is her assistant. They live with their two children in a house in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex near to schools, parks and shops. The whole of the property is used for childminding. Part of an enclosed garden is available for outside play. The childminder has dogs, cats and rabbits.

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Information about the setting

The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She is currently minding nine children in the early years age range. She also offers care to children aged up to 11 years.

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must:

 organise the environment and resources to enable children to play and explore freely and independently

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must:

 plan more suitably challenging activities that are tailored to meet the needs of individual children.

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

 develop partnerships with parents by involving them more in the learning and assessment process so they can contribute to their child's learning

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

 develop further the evaluation systems in order to help identify and address areas for development that help improve outcomes for children.

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who attend

The childminder has appropriate systems for helping children settle in. She finds out from new parents about their child's interests and abilities. This enables her to provide toys that children like so that they are engaged and have fun. The childminder has suitable systems for observing all children and assessing their progress. She records children's progress and regularly shares the information with parents so they know how well their children are achieving. However, the childminder does not consistently seek the parents' views about what their child can do at home and encourage them to further support learning at home. This hinders children's opportunities to make good progress.

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who attend

The childminder makes sound use of the assessment records to identify learning priorities for each child. However, she is not always fully confident in her knowledge of how to plan and provide more challenging and suitable activities for children. This affects how she supports individual children's learning and helps them make further progress. For example, she provided worksheets for very young children to colour in printed pictures. This limited children's ability to draw freely and find out what marks they could make using the crayons. The childminder also talked about how she provides tracing and dot-to- dot worksheets for young children to develop their literacy skills. However, such worksheets are not ideal for very young children as they do not have sufficient pencil control to benefit from these activities. Despite these weaknesses, the childminder does provide some suitably challenging activities that help children make sound progress in

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who attend

The childminder interacted appropriately with children as they played with the toys during the inspection. She encouraged them to count the bricks as they stacked them up to make towers. As a result, children showed they are developing skills in counting. They learned about shapes and colours as the childminder talked about how to fit the shapes into the correct holes in the toy. The childminder supported their developing language skills as she repeated and reinforced words with them. As a result, children are becoming confident speakers. They are beginning to use simple sentences when talking with the childminder to express themselves.

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

The childminder forms positive relationships with children. She is calm, caring and supportive. As a result, children form positive emotional attachments to her. They go to the childminder for cuddles when they need comfort and reassurance, showing they feel safe, secure and content. The childminder has sound strategies for managing children's behaviour and helping them understand what is acceptable. As a result, children behave appropriately and begin to form friendships. Young children learn to play amicably alongside others. The childminder teaches them how to share and take turns. She dealt sensitively with any disputes and children responded positively to her gentle intervention.

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

The childminder helps children to develop the skills they need to be ready for moving on to school. For example, she promotes children's growing independence as she encourages them to help tidy up and provides opportunities for them to do things for themselves. For example, the childminder's assistant supports the children in helping to make their own sandwiches.

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

The childminder is not making the best use of her environment and resources to meet children's needs. At times, there is a lack of clear play space for children to fully engage in activities of their choice. The main play area is rather cluttered and the childminder does not always ensure that there is a wide variety of activities available. There are not always sufficient easily accessible resources for children to independently initiate their own play if they do not want to join in the activities already out. However, children enjoy the activities available and become absorbed in their play.

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

The childminder promotes children's health by providing healthy meals and snacks. Children adopt appropriate personal hygiene practices as the childminder reminds them of the need to wash their hands before eating. Children enjoy daily exercise and fresh air and this helps promote their awareness of healthy lifestyles. They go to local parks where they learn to climb and safely use more challenging outdoor play equipment. The childminder teaches children about safety through everyday routines and planned activities such as practising emergency evacuation.

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provision

The childminder has an adequate knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She has completed recent safeguarding training so has a suitable knowledge of how to safeguard and promote children's welfare. For example, the childminder has a clear understanding of what to do if she has a child protection concern and this helps her to promote children's safety. She recently updated her written safeguarding procedure following her training and has made sure that her assistant is aware of the current safeguarding procedures. The childminder and her assistant take appropriate steps to maintain a safe environment for children. They have introduced a record of risk assessments and carry these checks out regularly. This enables them to identify and appropriately minimise hazards to children. As a result, children move around safely and independently.

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provision

Overall, the childminder has adequate systems for monitoring and reviewing the educational programmes. She makes sound use of her assessment records to identify gaps in children's learning and then plan activities to help narrow the gaps. This means that children continue to make some progress.

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provision

The childminder works appropriately with parents to support and meet children's welfare needs. Parents commented that they 'like the home-from-home environment' and the 'varied and healthy diet'. They also stated that they feel their children are well cared for and happy. The childminder has sound procedures for working with agencies and other settings to help promote consistency of care and education for individual children.

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provision

The childminder has met the actions that were raised at the last inspection. This has resulted in improvements to the childcare provision including to children's safety and well- being. She has all the required documentation in place that helps her to promote children's welfare. The childminder makes sure she has all the necessary assessment records available at all times. Both the childminder and her assistant have completed first- aid training so they have an up-to-date knowledge of how to deal with injuries to children to protect a child's well-being.

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provision

The childminder has begun to evaluate her strengths and weakness in order to help identify areas that she needs to develop. However, the childminder does not have systematic and consistent ways to help evaluate her practices effectively and make improvements that will benefit children. The childminder is taking some positive steps to improve her knowledge and skills by attending further courses. The childminder is also accessing courses for her assistant to develop his knowledge. For example, the childminder has booked places for them on training courses such as behaviour management, child development and the Early Years Foundation Stage. The childminder shows she has the capacity to continue to make steady improvements to outcomes for 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 EY300656 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 977352 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 12 Number of children on roll 18

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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

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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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