Childminder in Somerset

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 03/11/2014 16/10/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 2 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The childminder has good partnerships with parents and other early years providers that the children attend, which promotes a consistent approach to children's care and development.  The childminder provides good support to promote children's involvement in managing age-appropriate tasks, so that they become independent and develop good physical skills.  The childminder provides a highly effective environment both indoors and outdoors, which motivates children to learn through following their own ideas to initiate activities.  Children develop extremely positive relationships with each other and the childminder, demonstrating that they are emotionally secure and happy.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The childminder sometimes misses opportunities to support children's understanding of the world further by encouraging them to notice similarities and differences in the environment.

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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 and outdoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed children's learning with the childminder during a planned activity.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the childminder's self-evaluation, parents' questionnaires, and written feedback from parents and other early years providers.

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Inspection activities

 The childminder sampled documentation, including policies, procedures, children's development records and planning.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2009. She lives with her husband and their three children, all of whom are over eight years. They live in the rural village of Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, Somerset. The home is within a short walking distance of schools and a toddler group. The childminder uses the whole of the premises for childminding, including toilet facilities, a conservatory and adjoining room as the main playroom, a separate dining room, lounge and kitchen. There is an enclosed garden for outside play. The family has a small dog. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently six children on roll in the early years age range. The childminder also cares for children up to 11 years. She walks to local schools to collect and drop off children. The childminder receives funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The

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Information about the setting

childminder is a lead childminder for the rural areas around Taunton. She is working towards an early years qualification at level 3.

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

 make further use of children's play experiences and activities to promote their awareness of similarities and differences in the environment, to fully promote their understanding of the world.

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who attend

The quality of the childminder's teaching is consistently good. She promotes children's prime areas of learning through positive interaction. This means that children develop competence in key skills for their next stage in learning, which prepares them well for school. Children learn good physical skills through their daily routines, such as putting on their shoes and coats. They persevere with new skills; for example during the inspection, they watched the childminder erect a toy buggy and then had a go for themselves. They are active learners, making independent choices to build on their ideas. The childminder poses open-ended questions to encourage children to talk through their ideas and think of solutions to problems. For example, when very young children gave the childminder a doll and blanket, she asked 'what do you want me to do?' Children replied 'wrap' and indicated actions with their hands. The childminder asked 'what will that do?' to which they replied

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who attend

'baby warm'. The childminder engages children in purposeful conversations to extend their language. For example, they discussed forthcoming fireworks parties. This led children to remember going to the carnival and seeing fireworks there. The childminder encouraged them to use descriptive words and the children then went to draw what they remembered seeing. The childminder ensures all children have opportunities to contribute their suggestions, so that they realise there are times to listen. Older children spontaneously look for their names to register their attendance. The childminder encourages them to sound letters so that they begin to use phonic knowledge to decode words, which challenges their learning.

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who attend

The childminder uses all activities and experiences to support children's mathematical development. She joins in their games, encouraging them to count how many pieces of pizza they have and notice which one is bigger or smaller, for example. The childminder uses all opportunities for children to compare sizes. For example, when putting gloves and scarves on, she asked the children which scarf was the longest and whether they were taller or shorter than the scarves. The childminder asked older children how many pairs of gloves she needed for everyone to have a pair. Children comment on the changes in the seasons and weather, such as the leaves turning brown in autumn and clouds going black to indicate that it might rain. However, the childminder sometimes misses opportunities for children to recognise similarities and differences in everyday objects. For example, when providing the children with gloves, she did not encourage them to see that some

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who attend

had fingers and others did not, or to comment on why one pair did not match.

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who attend

The childminder has a good understanding of how to plan an educational programme that promotes all areas of children's development well. She works closely with parents to contribute information on children's development when they first start with her and on an ongoing basis. She makes observations of children's achievements and uses these effectively to plan the most appropriate activities to promote their next stages of learning. This enables her to meet each child's individual needs well. She uses children's interests and works with parents to support and share information on children's learning and development at home. Parents comment positively on how the childminder's suggestions have made tasks such as shopping a much more enjoyable experience with their children. As a result, all children make good progress in their learning and development.

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

Children are extremely happy and confident in the childminder's home. They gain high levels of self-esteem and their behaviour is exemplary. The childminder prepares children for school by supporting them exceptionally well in becoming independent. Parents comment on how the childminder supported them and their child emotionally by introducing them to teachers and going with them to visit the school. The childminder provides outstanding support for children's personal, social and emotional development. They learn to respect each other's differences and value their contributions. She provides an excellent role model so that more able children help the younger ones. She encourages children to work together to achieve a task, such as holding the bag open for others to put the items in.

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

Children use an excellent range of resources both indoors and outdoors. For example, they practise their early writing skills on a chalk board in the garden and on a clipboard in the playroom. The childminder deploys herself extremely effectively so that she can see and hear children, while enabling them to choose to play indoors or outdoors. This promotes children's preferred learning styles extremely well. The childminder plans regular outings to the woods and local gardens, to observe nature through practical experiences. The childminder enables children to initiate their learning through the outstanding organisation of her premises. In addition, she moves large equipment to extend children's ideas. She took the play kitchen and food outside, for example, when children engaged in pretending to shop. Consequently, children's role play is long lasting and imaginative. The childminder provides an excellent mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities. She uses a

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

picture book of What Shall We Do Today? so that children have outstanding opportunities to contribute to the planning of activities.

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

The childminder has excellent information to safeguard children. She regularly attends training to ensure she updates her knowledge on the procedures to follow if she believes a child to be at risk. Children gain an outstanding awareness of developing a safe and healthy lifestyle. They know to remove their shoes indoors to prevent the spread of germs and protect their health, for example. Children know how to dress appropriately for the weather, asking for gloves because it is cold. The childminder skilfully uses children's games and discussions to draw their attention to health and safety, such as going to a fireworks party. She joined in with children's role play, for example asking 'why are you washing your hands after changing the doll's nappy'? Children then demonstrated their excellent awareness of hygiene and the risk of germs. The childminder uses snack time highly effectively to promote children's physical skills. For example, they poured their own

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

drinks of water and used safety knives to cut their fruit. In addition, the childminder encouraged the children to describe how to use a knife safely. Children have very good opportunities to be outdoors and develop an excellent understanding of the importance of exercise.

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provision

The childminder meets all the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and has a good understanding of her responsibilities. She shares her extensive range of written policies and procedures with parents and has a good understanding of how to implement them to protect and promote children's welfare. She reviews her risk assessments every month and makes amendments for any additional needs. This ensures that she takes appropriate action to minimise any risks to children. For example, when asked to take on an additional child in the early years, in an emergency, she carried out a full risk assessment and informed parents of how she would continue to meet all the children's needs. She has a good system to track children's learning and development, including the progress check for two-year-old children. She identifies any gaps and knows where to seek any additional support to enable children to make good progress.

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provision

The childminder uses a communication book to share information with the pre-school and nursery that some children attend. They share their summaries of children's development and work together to provide specific support. Parents comment positively on the childminder providing professional support and genuine care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The childminder works closely with parents to draw up an action plan and resolve behaviour issues. Parents states that the childminder's positive approach works extremely well, providing a consistent approach for children.

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provision

The childminder knows her strengths and weaknesses through good self-evaluation. She has looked for ways to improve her records of children's development and is implementing a new system. The childminder regularly assesses her personal development and seeks relevant training to continue to update her knowledge. For example, she has increased her awareness of how children learn and how to plan practical sessions for two-year-olds. She is currently in the process of seeking paediatric first aid training before her current certificate expires. The childminder uses questionnaires to seek parents' feedback and has recently implemented children's questionnaires for parents to complete with them. The childminder runs a drop-in group to support other childminders in the area. They share good practice and discuss ways of providing high quality 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 EY391002 Local authority Somerset Inspection number 838324 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 6 Number of children on roll 6

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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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