Childminder in Somerset

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/11/2014 29/06/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Children make excellent progress in relation to their starting points. The childminder's precise and well-focused assessments of each child enable her to plan extremely well to provide stimulating and challenging activities.  The childminder promotes children's communication and language development immensely effectively. Stimulating, lively discussions encourage children to express their thoughts and ideas confidently.  Children develop warm and affectionate relationships with the childminder. They show high levels of self-esteem and emotional security.  The childminder evaluates the effectiveness of her provision very well. She strives for continuous improvement and develops clear, well-focused action plans.

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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 the childminder and children.  The inspector had discussions with the childminder and children.  The inspector read feedback from parents.  The inspector sampled children's learning records, and regulatory documentation.

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Information about the setting

The childminder was registered in 2002. She lives with her husband and three in Langport, Somerset. The ground floor is mainly used for childminding which includes a lounge, kitchen-dining room and toilet facilities. Sleeping facilities are provided on the first floor. There is a fully enclosed garden available for outside play, with steps down to the lawn. The family has a dog, to which the children have supervised access. The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently five children on roll in the early years age range. She sometimes works with an assistant. The childminder has a relevant early years qualification at level 3.

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

 persist with strategies to share information about children's learning with other providers of the Early Years Foundation Stage, where children attend more than one setting.

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who attend

Children of all ages and abilities make extremely good progress in all areas of learning because the quality of teaching is excellent. The childminder monitors children's progress very well, and her assessments of each child are precise and well-focused. She gains comprehensive information from parents about each child when they are due to start attending her setting. Observations of children, and discussions with parents during settling in visits, add to this. As a result, the childminder clearly and precisely identifies children's starting points and whether they are at the expected developmental stages for their age. The childminder makes extremely good observations of children that are evaluative and specifically identify what they are learning. The childminder's ongoing assessments of children are excellent and show that most children are consistently operating at expected levels or above. The childminder identifies the next steps to

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who attend

promote learning and puts a plan in place to achieve these for each child. The extremely good quality of the childminder's assessments enable her to identify and seek out any appropriate support and intervention for children.

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who attend

The childminder has highly successful strategies in place to engage parents in their children's learning. All plans for children and their ongoing assessments are easily available to parents because the childminder uses a secure online system that they can easily access. This means parents can review and comment on their children's progress, and their development plans, at any time, and they make good use of this. Plans identify what parents can do at home to further support children's learning. In addition, the childminder produces a comprehensive termly report for parents that show where children make good progress, and where there might be areas of concern. The childminder makes very good use of information from discussions with parents about events in children's lives at home. For instance, information about different families' plans in the approach to Christmas led to lively discussions with children about Father Christmas, and when to put

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who attend

The childminder carries out the required progress check for children between two and three years of age. These assessments give a particularly detailed overview of progress in relation to communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development. The childminder makes sure other professionals involved in supporting individual children have input into the progress check. The childminder demonstrates her very positive approach to partnership working through involving other providers in the progress check. For example, where children attended her setting and another for equal amounts of time, the progress check was completed jointly by both providers. This meant parents received one report with consistent assessment and next steps to promote progress.

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who attend

The childminder's has an excellent understanding of each area of learning and how to promote these through stimulating and challenging activities. She knows each child's interests and preferred learning styles extremely well. She uses this knowledge most effectively to plan rich and varied experiences for children. For example, children were fascinated by boxes with different coloured transparent film, some of which had magnifying properties. They held these up and looked through them and were delighted to see each other turn red, green or blue. They pointed out when their eyes and noses looked bigger or 'far away'. The childminder encouraged children to think about which colours made them look lighter or darker, and the patterns they could see by layering different colours. Children had a wonderful time as they looked at familiar objects and talked about how these had changed colour or size depending on what they looked

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who attend

through. They excitedly encouraged each other to 'Look at this,' and showed the childminder their discoveries.

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who attend

Children communicate extremely confidently because the childminder is very skilled in encouraging them to explore their thoughts and ideas. For example, children decided to use large blocks to make trains and lorries. The childminder's excellent questions encouraged children to explain how they intended to construct their vehicles. They compared differences, such as trains run on tracks and lorries run on roads, and which go faster. The childminder supports very young children's speech development very well. For example, children had recently become aware of themselves and parts of their bodies. Children pointed to their noses and eyes and made sounds to represent the words. The childminder developed this very well, using mirrors with children and pointing to her features and theirs and encouraging them to repeat nose, ears, hair and eyes. Children were later observed independently looking in the mirror and naming their features.

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

Children develop strong bonds with the childminder. They show high levels of self-esteem and are emotionally secure. The childminder shows children plenty of warmth and affection, and they respond happily. For example, children were keen to sit on her lap and to cuddle close to listen to a story. The childminder makes sure that, where children speak other languages in addition to English at home, she has sufficient knowledge of key words and phrases to offer children comfort and reassurance. This particularly benefits babies and very young children as they settle and build close relationships. The childminder's strong focus on making sure children are emotionally secure supports them well as they move on to the next stage in their learning.

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

Children are very well behaved and show a very good understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. For example, children consistently showed good manners and were quick to pick up on a friend forgetting to say 'thank-you'. The childminder encourages children to talk about how they feel, and why. She recognises children sometimes fall out with each other for reasons that might not make immediate sense to adults. However, she acknowledges that those reasons are very important to the child, and this is respected. She encourages children to talk to each other about why they are upset and to resolve issues together.

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

Children's health is promoted very well. They have a very good understanding of why they should wash their hands before snacks and after using the toilet, and take care to do so thoroughly. Children understand the difference between food that is good for them and food that should be for special treats. For example, children had enjoyed the story of the gingerbread man, and were due to make and decorate their own gingerbread. At snack time, following a selection of fruit, children were delighted to be offered a gingerbread man biscuit. They completely understood this was because they had been learning the story and not to expect biscuits every day.

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

Children enjoy a very well-organised learning environment, indoors and outside. Children can freely help themselves from a good variety of stimulating resources. These provide an extremely good range of learning opportunities in all areas, and children confidently explore and investigate as they play. The childminder makes sure there are examples of letters and numbers displayed inside and outdoors to promote children's learning. For example, all of the storage boxes for play equipment outside are decorated with letters, shapes and numbers. Children enjoy very good levels of physical activity during play and as part of daily routines. They walk with the childminder to and from school to collect older friends. They visit the park each day, and they confidently use climbing equipment, slides, and the trampoline in the childminder's garden. Children enjoy energetic action rhymes and moving to music and spontaneously initiate these with the childminder.

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

The childminder is highly skilled at sensitively raising children's awareness of safety and of potential harm that may occur during play. For example, children explored a box of Christmas tinsel and had a lovely time as they draped this on each other and danced. They were careful not to loop tinsel around each other's necks and earnestly explained that to do so would be dangerous. Regular cookery lessons teach children how to use utensils safely, such as knives to prepare fruit, and electric blenders to make smoothies.

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provision

The childminder has a very good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She implements these well to protect children from harm. Her knowledge of child protection is extremely good and she implements her safeguarding procedures rigorously. She makes sure she keeps up to date with current good safeguarding practice and updates her knowledge by attending regular training. For example, she protects children by being clear to visitors, including parents, that they must switch off mobile phones and must not take pictures of children while they are in her care. The childminder has a thorough understanding of safe recruitment procedures. She has recently employed an assistant, and has completed checks to ensure they are suitable to work with children. She made sure the assistant had a thorough induction into her setting, with particular emphasis on safeguarding children and

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provision

The childminder monitors her practice very well and has extremely high expectations. Her self-evaluations are precise and well-focused, clearly identifying areas for improvement. She makes action plans to track what she has done to develop her practice and improve outcomes for children, and where further development is needed. For example, she has increased her use of sign language with children during activities. As a result, they have a simple awareness that not all children use speech, and are able to recognise and respond to basic signing. The childminder considers her own professional development. In addition to short courses, she has gained professional early years qualifications, which has enhanced her knowledge of good practice in promoting children's learning.

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provision

The childminder monitors the effectiveness of the educational programme extremely well. Her excellent observations and precise assessments of each child means that any lack of progress is quickly identified. Where children's starting points are below expectations, the childminder works very closely with parents and other professionals to target specific needs. As a result, the childminder makes sure any gaps are narrowed.

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provision

The childminder develops strong and effective partnerships with parents. She makes sure information is shared very well. For example, she has chosen to use an online system to keep records, including those monitoring children's progress in learning. Parents can securely and confidentially access their own children's records, and can contribute to these. As a result, parents are using this system to add their own observations of learning at home, which rarely happened when using paper diaries. This benefits children because the childminder is able to link their achievements at home with those in her setting when planning.

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provision

The childminder develops very good partnerships with other professionals supporting individual children. This includes other providers of the Early Years Foundation Stage where children attend more than one setting. She is pro-active in making contact and offering to share information to support children's progress, and quickly develops strong working relationships. Occasionally, some providers do not respond, and the childminder is not always persistent in following them up where this is the case. However, her extremely good relationships with parents mean that they keep her up to date with their children's progress in other settings to promote consistency.

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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 EY222018 Local authority Somerset Inspection number 842596 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 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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