Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2744507 Registered with Ofsted: 15/08/2023 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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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder understands the importance of children attending her setting promptly and regularly. She talks with parents about her routines and expertly adapts these, where needed, to support consistency. This ensures that all children benefit fully from the care and learning experiences she provides, including the development of their flourishing social skills.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder has created a truly harmonious environment, where children quickly become confident in managing their own feelings and behaviours. Children learn about different emotions using visual prompts, such as pictures of facial expressions. Children compare these with their own reflections in mirrors, gaining an early understanding of how feelings can be recognised and expressed. This supports their emotional wellbeing and self- awareness very well.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children understand the childminder's expectations and the setting's ethos of kindness and respect. They demonstrate exemplary behaviour towards one another as part of daily routines. During play, they share and take turns with toys and resources, responding thoughtfully to their friends' needs. The childminder praises children's kindness and models courtesy in her interactions. This underpins their strong social development. Children respond positively to her. When they are asked to tidy away they work together with younger children, returning books to shelves and older children sorting resources into boxes.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children make secure progress across all areas of development. They develop mathematical skills as they count in order and sort and organise objects by size. For example, as children line up play foods, they count how many they have. This helps them learn how to use mathematics purposefully in their play. Children develop confidence in their physical skills. Younger children strengthen hand muscles as they thread laces through holed puzzle pieces. They persist with challenging activities, concentrating until they succeed. Older children develop core skills, strength and coordination in active play. As they climb steps to the slide, they learn how to coordinate their hands and feet to ascend safely.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children's language skills develop well. Younger children hear and use new words in play. Older children think through and respond to questions. For instance, they discuss which foods are healthy choices and which are treats as they share stories. These experiences help children build a strong foundation of knowledge and helps prepare them well for the next stage in their learning, including school.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

The childminder builds effective partnerships with parents to learn about children's routines, care needs and behaviours at home. She uses this information well to help children settle into her setting. Children form warm, trusting relationships with the childminder and with each other. They learn about their emotions and how to express these positively. The childminder is warm and nurturing. When children need comfort or reassurance, she recognises this quickly and responds with sensitivity, helping them develop strong emotional security.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children learn about healthy lifestyles through daily routines. At snack times, they enjoy a choice of fruits, and the childminder encourages them to drink regularly. She works closely with parents to help children broaden their diets, offering new foods and talking about healthy choices in age-appropriate ways.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children benefit from daily opportunities to be physically active, including outings in the local community. The childminder supports children to develop independence, such as learning to put on their wellington boots. However, she sometimes completes tasks for children without fully considering how they could attempt these for themselves. For example, she often wipes older children's noses rather than helping them learn how to manage this independently. This limits opportunities to extend their self-care skills.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder plans a curriculum with children's interests in mind. She understands the differing ages and abilities of children she cares for and ensures that learning experiences are planned and tailored to their needs. To support children when they first start, the childminder uses her initial assessments to identify any gaps in children's learning. She has a secure knowledge of how to support all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those who face barriers to their education. She understands how to access and use any additional funding for children, considering their best interests at all times.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder offers children many opportunities to hear and use new language through play. She reads stories, models new vocabulary and pronounces words clearly so that children can hear them accurately. She introduces new language naturally in conversations, explaining meanings in age-appropriate ways. As children play, she talks with them to support the development of their speaking skills and to encourage confident communication. However, for children who attend more than one educational setting, the childminder has not fully considered how she can share a wider range of information with other providers. This limits opportunities to inform her planning and to ensure ongoing continuity in children's learning.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder provides an inclusive culture across her provision. She demonstrates a clear knowledge of how to identify children, who may need extra support, through her partnerships with parents and carers from the outset. The childminder's knowledge of how to reduce any barriers that children may face in relation to their learning ensures that children would benefit from her inclusive practice. The childminder knows how to monitor the progress children make and how she can seek support from other professionals, to ensure that children benefit from any additional help they may need.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder knows how additional funding can be used to support the specific needs of children in her care, and how she can review this to ensure this helps children reach their full potential. The childminder understands how she would work with parents, and other professionals, such as health visitors, as appropriate. The childminder holds a professional qualification and continues to carry out research to broaden her professional knowledge and skills.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder reflects on her practice, gaining the views of parents and children to contribute to improvements. She continues to review her teaching practice and completes a range of training to keep her knowledge of safeguarding up to date. This helps her to understand, recognise and respond to local issues to maintain children's wellbeing. The childminder holds a professional early years qualification, which underpins her knowledge of children's development. However, the childminder has not yet focused her professional learning well enough to more precisely gain skills and knowledge that can be used to enhance the support for individual children's learning, based on their particular needs.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder has positive relationships with parents. She uses her daily conversations to keep parents updated about their children's daily activities and progress. The childminder also offers advice and support for parents to successfully support learning at home. This successfully involves them in their children's learning and development. The childminder knows the importance of working with parents. However, the childminder has not yet established links with other settings that children attend to support transitions and continuity of learning.

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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 settle happily into the childminder's warm, home-from-home environment. Strong, nurturing relationships help children feel safe, secure and confident from the moment they arrive. The childminder's focus on promoting children's personal, social and emotional development is a strength of her practice. Her calm, kind and respectful approach models positive behaviour, and she consistently teaches these values through everyday interactions. Consequently, all children learn to treat one another with kindness and respect as part of their daily routines. For example, older children notice when younger peers need extra pieces for their crocodile puzzle and, without prompting, offer them to ensure their friends can complete the activity.

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

Children develop highly positive attitudes to learning. The childminder plans experiences that she knows children will enjoy, carefully adapting activities to suit their different ages and stages of development. When children need extra support with new challenges, she responds swiftly, adjusting her teaching so that children keep trying, persist and succeed. For instance, children learn to climb the steps to the slide, building confidence in their growing physical coordination skills.

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

The childminder provides strong support for children's early literacy and mathematical development. Children develop a love of books, as she reads to them regularly and organises the environment so they can independently choose stories that spark their interest. For example, children sit to share a favourite story, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', taking turns to turn the pages and pointing out the foods the caterpillar eats. Through this, they learn new vocabulary and explore unfamiliar foods. Older children begin to recognise and use numbers in their play, as the childminder teaches them to count and group objects

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About this setting

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:00 - 17:00

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About this setting

Local authority: Surrey by size. These experiences help children build a secure foundation of skills and knowledge, preparing them well for the next stage in their learning.

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Next steps

The childminder should focus her professional development more precisely on gaining skills and knowledge that can be used to further extend individual children's learning. The childminder should provide more opportunities for children to learn how to manage their own self-care practices independently. The childminder should develop partnerships with other settings that children attend to promote continuity in their learning and development.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder and the 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.

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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. 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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