McDouall, Rhoda Mary

McDouall, Rhoda Mary

Unique reference number (URN): 116474 Address: 10 St. Johns Road, Penn, HIGH WYCOMBE, Buckinghamshire, HP10 8HW Type: Childminder Registered with Ofsted: 10/03/1998 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: McDouall, Rhoda Mary

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

Overall, children's progress is highly impressive. They benefit from an abundant, rich curriculum that is fully embedded and tailored to their individual needs, ensuring outcomes that are consistently high.

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Achievement Strong standard

From their starting points, children demonstrate significant improvement, showing high levels of curiosity, confidence and perseverance. They are enthusiastic, interested and deeply focused during play, engaging in activities that are both challenging and thought- provoking. Children use their rich vocabulary to describe their observations of the science experiments that they are highly invested in, as they eagerly rush to record how their floating vegetables are sprouting each week. They use their mathematical language to predict the growth they might see the next time they attend. They use words and concepts, such as '4 more, on top of' or 'underneath'.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children confidently recall prior learning, such as when discussing how they paid for plants at the garden centre, showing secure memory and developing problem-solving skills. They take pride in achieving personal targets, for example working towards staying dry in their physical development and self-care skills, demonstrating resilience and ownership of their next steps in learning. Children show a maturity beyond their age in managing their feelings and emotions, they confidently and eloquently talk about their worries and uncertainties, such as in relation to moving on to school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Relationships between the childminder and the children are extremely warm and authentic. It is evident that children are deeply trusting of the childminder. They listen intently because the childminder listens to them in return. She values their ideas, hypotheses and viewpoints. Children show extremely positive attitudes to learning. They confidently join in, maintain sustained shared thinking and demonstrate immense pride in their work and creations.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

During shared play activities, where children need to cooperate, the childminder does not impose solutions. Instead, she uses thought-provoking, responsible and highly effective questioning, such as 'Is that a good idea? Do you think it's safe?' This approach empowers children to risk assess, consider safety and independently modify their actions. The childminder is an excellent, consistent and limitless model of self-regulation for the children.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder's language emphasises difference rather than hierarchy. She chooses highly supportive language, which promotes children's self-confidence, understanding, tolerance and respect by saying things, such as 'Neither is better they are just different but both are very beautiful.' This helps children understand expectations and values without shame or comparison.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Stories and books are used effectively to support upcoming transition points in children's lives. When reading a book about starting school, the childminder sensitively invites children to express their feelings, reinforcing security and preparedness. This demonstrates foresight, fully embedded emotional support and a nurturing, highly productive approach to developing positive attitudes and routines. The childminder works with families to help support children's regular attendance and punctuality in preparation for starting school, and is alert to signs that may indicate cause for concern which may require further action.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing are nurtured to an extremely high standard. The childminder creates a warm environment, where children feel genuinely safe, valued and understood. Her practice is wholly effective, and consistent, ensuring that children's physical and emotional needs are met with care, sensitivity and foresight.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Daily routines are fully embedded and thoughtfully designed to promote children's safety, security and independence. Children benefit from ample opportunities to make choices, manage their personal care and take increasing responsibility for their actions. The childminder offers motivational encouragement, enabling children to feel proud of their achievements, whether mastering toileting, exploring outdoors or navigating friendships.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Wellbeing is enriched through engaging, stimulating experiences that allow children to express themselves freely and confidently. The childminder supports them to recognise and talk about their feelings, helping them develop emotional resilience and empathy. This approach ensures children are calm, settled and deeply connected to the rhythm of the day.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The environment is well resourced and organised with foresight, enabling children to explore safely and purposefully. Risk assessments are proactive and responsible, allowing children to experience creative, challenging play while remaining secure. Children thrive, displaying joy, curiosity and a absolute sense of belonging within this highly supportive setting.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder delivers a highly effective, authentic and experiential play-based curriculum that is exceptionally well designed to meet the needs, interests and stages of all children. Learning experiences are highly stimulating, motivating and rich, providing children with ample opportunities to deepen their knowledge and skills across all areas of learning. Through careful sequencing and a clear understanding of child development, the childminder ensures that children build securely on what they already know, recalling prior learning with confidence and purpose.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Teaching is consistently interactive, engaging and thought-provoking. The childminder skilfully models ambitious vocabulary, weaves mathematical concepts through play and introduces safety awareness in ways that are meaningful and memorable. Her questioning is thorough, thoughtful and highly reflective, encouraging children to hypothesise, test ideas and revisit earlier thinking. This results in a curriculum that is not only well developed but fully embedded, enabling children to make rapid, confident progress.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Learning is exciting and immersive. Whether exploring role play, discussing real world experiences, or problem solving outdoors, the childminder plans creative and inspiring opportunities for children to explore. Her practice is consistently impressive and highly effective, ensuring teaching has a significant impact on supporting children, including those who may face barriers to learning to succeed.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder demonstrates highly effective insight and a tenacious commitment to inclusive practice. A thorough, highly embedded graduated approach is used when emerging concerns arise. This is supported by clear, demonstrable records and proactive, highly effective partnerships with parents and multi-agency professionals. This ensures that potential gaps in learning or development are identified early, with prompt actions taken.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Together with the childminder's excellent ability to adapt her approaches to teaching, based on children's individual needs and starting points, and their highly accurate assessments and observations of progress, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those who face barriers to learning receive tailored, highly impactful, targeted support. Although there are currently no children attending in receipt of additional funding, the childminder keeps her knowledge and skills up to date and relevant to ensure that children receive any additional support and resource they may be entitled to, to enable them to access their full entitlement.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder is deeply committed to maintaining a highly productive, well-resourced learning environment. Parent feedback is consistently positive, with families describing smooth settling-in experiences and proactive communication. They value the childminder's home-from-home, rich, nurturing environment, stating their children benefit from plentiful opportunities to learn about nature, plants and the world around them, without unnecessary technological distractions. The childminder prioritises explicit teaching and intense interactions with children to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the world and life cycles of all species. She specifically organises the care arrangements for children to ensure that the ages and stages of children attending can be precisely matched by the planned experiences, which include a wealth of outings to build on children's unique family circumstances. She evaluate her practice and plans her personal development to ensure

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

children continue to be challenged, believing their potential is limitless.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder ensures highly effective collaboration with other settings. She arranges visits from pre-school teachers to observe children who will be transitioning so that communication is fully embedded, transitions are seamless and all practitioners share a clear understanding of each child's needs. This level of foresight, responsibility and positive improvement highlights leadership that genuinely leads by example and has significant impact on children's long-term success.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Being a child at this setting is a deeply nurturing, exciting and awe-inspiring experience. Children arrive eager to explore because they feel genuinely valued, listened to and understood. The childminder creates a warm, trusting and authentic atmosphere, where every child is known as an individual, and their thoughts, ideas and hypotheses are treated with genuine interest. This builds strong emotional security and enables children to play, investigate and express themselves with confidence.

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About this setting

Unique reference number (URN): 116474 Daily experiences are highly stimulating, rich and interactive. Children engage in motivating, thought-provoking activities that spark curiosity and imagination. They revisit ideas, make connections to previous learning, such as recalling visits to the garden centre, and test theories through play. Whether discussing how hot irons can be, exploring how cardboard behaves in the rain, or negotiating the process of how the water in ice cubes freezes from the outside first, children are encouraged to think deeply, reason and solve problems for themselves.

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About this setting

Children feel empowered because their voices shape their learning. The childminder supports them to manage routines, consider others and take ownership of their actions. Friendships flourish, confidence grows and every day feels filled with ample, limitless opportunities to discover, communicate, imagine and succeed. By working extremely effectively in partnership with parents, the childminder is best placed to respond to any changing needs or circumstances that may impact on a child's learning or development. As such, she is incredibly responsive and flexible in delivering support and early help, where required, to ensure that parents are supported to promote their children's attendance.

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Next steps

The childminder should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards, the childminder should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences for all children and particularly those with those who may face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with parents, children and the childminder during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection 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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Address:

10 St. Johns Road Penn HIGH WYCOMBE Buckinghamshire HP10 8HW

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Address:

Operating hours: Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:30 - 17:00

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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