Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): EY241339 Registered with Ofsted: 07/03/2003 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR

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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

Children's progress is carefully tracked and planned for, and, as a result, all children achieve positive outcomes from their individual starting points.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children confidently explore their environment and wider community. They test out ideas and develop an understanding of how things work. Children practise important self-help skills, such as putting on shoes and socks, and are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings in a warm, nurturing environment.

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Achievement Strong standard

Books, songs, rhymes and meaningful discussions are central to daily interactions and support children's communication and language development effectively. Children choose songs to sing and books to read and use their growing vocabulary to recall experiences and express their ideas. Interactions, including commentary and explanations, support children's critical thinking and help them to consider cause and effect of why things happen.

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Achievement Strong standard

The childminder delivers a curriculum focused on supporting core life skills. Children learn boundaries, share, take turns and use their words to handle conflicts. As a result, children are well prepared for the next step of their learning journey when transitioning to pre-school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children benefit from strong, well-established partnerships between the childminder and parents. This ensures a consistent approach between the home and the setting. Effective information-sharing is a clear strength. Comprehensive daily reviews ensure that children's achievements, changing needs and any factors affecting their attendance or wellbeing are discussed and reviewed. The childminder plans sensitively to support children through change and promotes continuity in their care and learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children confidently approach the childminder to share books, talk about their ideas or receive a cuddle when needed. The childminder responds attentively to children's cues and supports them to express their needs. For example, early identification allows the childminder to recognise when a child is beginning to feel unsettled. The childminder helps children to identify feelings of tiredness and adapts routines accordingly, such as offering an earlier lunch to support rest. This consistent and responsive approach to children's wellbeing promotes children's emotional security and self-awareness.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder consistently models and reinforces positive behaviour as a core value. She sensitively highlights how children may be feeling when sharing does not take place, and, as a result, children play collaboratively and take turns with resources. Children show care and concern for one another, demonstrating strong social bonds, for example when they ask about arrival times of their peers and share experiences together.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder knows each child extremely well, including their interests, developmental stage and family context. She uses this knowledge to plan accurately for children's needs

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Expected standard

and supports them sensitively, including signposting families to other professionals when appropriate to support children's ongoing development and progress.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children experience a well-sequenced curriculum that actively promotes curiosity, enjoyment and progress. They regularly engage in meaningful community experiences, including woodland walks, muddy puddle play, soft-play sessions, music groups and visits to local places of interest.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children benefit from high-quality group experiences, including a weekly music group led by the childminder. Imaginative opportunities, such as visiting castles and watching trains pass under a bridge, spark children's curiosity and deepen their engagement. As a result, children broaden their understanding of the world and extend their vocabulary. For example, after a beach visit, children confidently describe birds they observed, enabling the childminder to deepen learning through discussion and visual tools.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children benefit from consistently high-quality interactions throughout the day. They listen to stories, sing songs and share ideas, which the childminder skilfully extends to support communication and language development. Care routines support the childminder's planning for children's personal development and helping them to recognise their body's response when hungry or tired and to recognise varying emotions.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder plans the curriculum effectively around individual children's interests and starting points. The curriculum is sequenced effectively to promote children's individual progress from their starting points. The childminder identifies possible barriers to learning and adapts activities to enable all children, including those with barriers to their learning, to participate. For example, targeted activities, such as making bird feeders, support fine motor development as well as early mathematical understanding through exploration of shape, quantity and classification. As a result, every child's next steps are clearly identified and planned for, ensuring that they all make progress from their starting points.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children form positive, trusting relationships with the childminder and respond well to her guidance. She calmly explains expectations and encourages and praises children, allowing them time to process information, manage and express their emotions and develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children generally demonstrate an emerging understanding of health, safety and self-care. They are learning to tidy away toys to reduce risks and understand the importance of sitting at the table when eating and drinking. Children confidently follow safety routines, such as holding the banister when using the stairs, and are familiar with personal care routines, including handwashing and toileting. The childminder recognises opportunities to further promote healthy eating and independence, for example by encouraging children to pour their own drinks or help set the table. She works with parents to support children's understanding of healthy eating. As a result, mealtimes are calm, and children are beginning to recognise when they feel full.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

The childminder typically adapts experiences thoughtfully in response to children's need for either active or calm play. For example, on Mondays, the children enjoy a morning walk in the woodlands to reconnect after time apart.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children feel a strong sense of belonging, supported by sensitive routines and positive attachments with the childminder and peers. As a result, children are confident to try new things, such as travelling over an arch and gradually reducing the level of support needed as their confidence grows. The childminder skilfully reduces the support, from physically holding their hand to verbal support, praising children as they successfully achieve new skills. Children respond positively to praise and enjoy spending time with the childminder for stories, songs and comfort.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Children benefit from the childminder's strong understanding of child development. Effective assessment of each child's development enables her to identify concerns promptly and take effective action. The childminder continually reviews children's progress, adapting targets and planning activities. As a result, all children make positive progress in their development.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Children's development is monitored accurately, and the childminder uses this information effectively to plan clear next steps and review progress. She provides targeted daily activities that allow children time to practise and embed key skills. For example, planned opportunities that promote movement and climbing strengthen children's lower body development. Consequently, children build confidence, improve coordination and demonstrate increasing physical capability over time.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Children feel supported during periods of change. The childminder knows them extremely well and quickly recognises when changes in circumstances may affect their emotional wellbeing. She supports transitions effectively, for example by preparing children for the arrival of a new sibling through books, discussion and role play. The childminder understands how to access additional support services and acts promptly when concerns arise. She works well with parents to support children. However, relationships with other professionals could be strengthened further to promote information being shared consistently.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Children experience inclusive and responsive care. The childminder's engagement in continued professional development enables her to identify possible gaps and delays and to adapt activities to meet children's individual needs. For example, she supports children learning English as an additional language through the use of visual prompts and key words in their home language, adapts provision to provide appropriate challenge and engagement of school-age children, and provides targeted support to promote turn-taking and support emotional regulation.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder's strong commitment to professional development underpins the quality of care and learning children receive. She reflects on what is working well and areas identified for further development, for example enhancing the outdoor environment to provide greater opportunities for gross motor activities. The childminder understands her responsibilities well and keeps her knowledge up to date with current guidance and good practice. She selects training purposefully to strengthen her practice, for example developing strategies to positively support superhero play and to embed learning, including early mathematics, into everyday interactions. As a result, children benefit from consistently thoughtful and informed teaching.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Children experience an environment that places strong emphasis on enjoyment, curiosity and meaningful experiences. The childminder actively sparks children's interests and provides a wide range of activities she identifies as essential early life experiences, including riding a train and a double-decker bus and visiting the seaside. These form a purposeful 'experience list' that broadens children's understanding of the world to support future learning. Children engage with these opportunities enthusiastically and confidently, discussing the birds they have seen and the noisy train when it goes through the tunnel.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder demonstrates a secure understanding of child development and actively shares concerns or next steps with parents when appropriate. This approach supports early identification of developmental delays and promotes positive outcomes for children. The childminder recognises that strengthening partnerships with a wider range of professionals may help to further enhance consistency and support smooth transitions to benefit children.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

As a result of the nurturing environment provided, children are happy, curious and motivated learners. Parents value the balance of a small, caring setting alongside rich opportunities for socialising and varied experiences that support children's overall development and help them make positive progress.

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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

Children thrive in an environment that promotes learning, curiosity and enjoyment in a safe and caring environment effectively. They confidently follow their interests through a wide range of well-planned activities, visits and clearly identified next steps that ensure that every child makes clear progress in all areas of development.

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

Children benefit from a focus on meaningful opportunities that successfully enhance their experiences. For example, children observe trains, feed wildlife and explore the beach. They draw on these experiences during discussions and when sharing books. As a result, children are well prepared for the transition to pre-school or school.

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

Children access the environment with confidence and independence. They choose songs to sing, select books to read and engage in imaginative play, such as making tea for guests in the home corner. The childminder consistently uses high-quality interactions to extend learning and deepen children's thinking. For example, activities such as making bird feeders prompt further discussion about plants and growth, including why some vegetables, such as tomatoes, do not grow at certain times of the year. Children make links in their learning.

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

A clear focus on communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development underpins routines and activities and supports children's overall development. As a result, children become confident, motivated learners who enjoy exploring, questioning and challenging themselves.

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

Secure, trusting relationships promote positive behaviour and enable children to play cooperatively, take turns and develop important social skills within a familiar and well- balanced routine. Parents and carers say that their children are happy and benefit from the

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About this setting

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 07:30 - 17:30

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. best of both worlds, experiencing a home environment enriched by a wide range of social and learning opportunities, both in small groups and within the wider community.

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Next steps

The childminder should further strengthen professional partnerships to ensure optimal transitions and outcomes for all children.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder, parents and children 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. This data is from 3 February 2026

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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. 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

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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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