Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 160412 Registered with Ofsted: 20/08/2001 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 make excellent progress as they grow in confidence, kindness and social awareness. They independently recognise and attend to their own needs, such as finding their water bottles when they are thirsty. They are becoming increasingly capable in feeding themselves, handwashing and managing simple routines. Through weekly toddler music groups, children build turn-taking skills, experience new environments and resources and interact with a wider group of peers. These experiences help them develop tolerance and begin to manage shared play.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children's resilience and readiness for change is nurtured well as they relish the challenges offered to them in activities. Children are immersed in a language-rich environment where they engage in purposeful discussion and are given time to respond. Singing, movement and repetitive language strengthen their understanding and vocabulary. Early sound awareness is fostered through simple, playful activities that lay secure foundations for future phonics. Mathematical language is introduced naturally through play, such as building and counting. This means that they gain the secure foundations needed for the next stage of their learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children benefit from warm, secure relationships that support their emotional development and confidence. They arrive happily and separate from parents with ease, helped by nurturing greetings, cuddles and calm conversations about their morning routines. Children play harmoniously because clear expectations, such as sharing, being kind and celebrating positive behaviour, are embedded consistently. These shared routines help children feel safe, understood and ready to learn.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children show growing self-awareness and emotional regulation. They take pride in their achievements, for example, as staff thoughtfully praise them for using new single words or joining in dancing when they usually prefer to observe. Children cope well with changes to activities. For example, when water play becomes too animated, the childminder sensitively adapts the activity, offering a small amount in the tuff tray. She encourages them to help 'dry the tray', and children happily do this.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder is expert at recognising children's focus in activities accurately and responds quickly to maintain their interest. For example, she notices prolonged curiosity in water, construction or sensory play and shapes meaningful learning experiences. Exciting outdoor exploration further strengthens relationships and understanding of the world. Children greet local donkeys with affection, delight as they splash in puddles and climb fallen branches together. Through these shared experiences, children develop confidence, resilience and social skills. This enables them to make excellent progress across all areas of learning.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children experience highly responsive care that prioritises their individual needs, emotional wellbeing and sense of safety. They make choices confidently, such as when to have snack, and follow familiar routines, such as washing hands, collecting their water bottles and sitting together in low-level chairs. During snack, children help select plates, share fruit and are gently reminded to eat safely, taking one piece at a time. When children become upset, they receive calm, caring reassurance from the childminder and are supported sensitively to transition back into play.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder recognises how family changes, special educational needs or trauma can affect children's emotional security. She adapts routines, provides consistent care and maintains clear communication with parents to ensure continuity. Flexible arrangements, predictable routines and a stable environment help children feel grounded during periods of instability. This supports their strong attachment and emotional regulation.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children learn how to keep themselves safe, for example, by helping tidy toys to create clear play spaces. Expectations around kindness, sharing and positive behaviour are reinforced consistently. Emotional development is enriched through stories, such as 'The Colour Monster', cuddly toys and facial expression prompts. This helps children identify and label feelings, such as frustration. As a result, children build emotional resilience and secure foundations for future learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder has high ambitions for every child. She skilfully adapts her interactions to maintain children's interests while targeting clear learning intentions. Children confidently explore the interesting environment and make purposeful use of accessible resources.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children develop their mathematical ideas in a wide range of activities. They sort and classify dinosaurs and rigid foam shapes. This activity prompts rich conversations with the childminder about classification. They compare loud and quiet sounds as these materials hit metal and plastic bowls and discuss why 'this bowl sounds different'. Outdoors, children observe squirrels 'climbing up high' and 'moving behind the shed'.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder plans exciting and motivating activities that enhance children's creativity. They thoroughly enjoy painting animal footprints and producing a picture of a turtle, linked to a new song introduced at their singing group the day before. When children adapt activities and explore the paint with their hands and turn handwashing into water play, the childminder extends learning safely by transferring a small amount of water into a separate tray. She explores colour changes with them, asking questions, such as, 'I wonder why?'

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Outdoor exploration is a key part of the curriculum. They enjoy daily adventures that include woodland walks, puddle jumping and exploring fallen logs. This promotes their physical skills and helps them build resilience and confidence in all weathers.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder is committed to supporting every child in her care. She adopts a personalised approach that ensures that next steps are clearly planned, so children make very good progress. She consistently monitors children's development and uses high-quality observations to plan precise learning intentions that meet both next steps and their interests. As a result, any emerging gaps are quickly identified, monitored and addressed.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children explore confidently and engage in a range of self-chosen and planned activities that extend their learning. This enables them to learn at pace and develop strong foundations across all areas. The childminder demonstrates a secure understanding of child development and knows how to access external support when needed. She shares development information with health visitors to promote a collaborative approach. She understands what support is available and uses resources effectively to improve outcomes for children.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Partnerships with parents and professionals are expertly established and support children's needs well. For example, information shared about sleep routines has had a positive impact on children's progress. Parents are kept well informed through shared observations, development information shared online and discussions during handovers. The childminder works closely with families to ensure consistency between home and setting. As a result, children make very good progress from their starting points and develop the skills they need for the next stage of learning.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder demonstrates a clear commitment to professional learning and keeps her knowledge of how children learn up to date. She actively engages with training and current guidance and ensures new learning informs her practice. Her reflective approach is clear; she reviews what works well and identifies how to strengthen provision. For example, participation in the Early Years Professional Development Programme enabled her to recognise additional opportunities to extend mathematical language through play.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

She builds effective relationships with professional partners and knows how to access specialist support when needed. This allows her to respond promptly to individual needs and ensures that children receive timely and appropriate interventions. Her commitment to children's best interests is evident, particularly in the way she encourages children's part- time attendance at a local pre-school to widen social experiences and support school readiness. She treats childminding as a vocation, not just a job.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

She seeks out further learning earlier than required to remain fully compliant with recent guidance. She works respectfully with professionals and parents, showing sensitivity and good judgement when approaching challenging conversations. Since her last inspection, she has introduced an online communication tool to streamline information-sharing and adapted mealtime routines to enhance interaction and supervision. She consistently strives for improvement, always considering the next steps for herself and the children. As a result, the quality of care and education remains high and continues to strengthen.

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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 are motivated and interested in the wide range of opportunities on offer to them. They make excellent progress, from their starting points, in all areas of learning. Children experiment, classify and make sense of the world in a stimulating environment that supports all areas of development. They explore freely, pouring, transporting and engaging in role play, using a wide range of resources, such as blocks, vehicles, small-world figures, sensory materials, creative tools and loose parts. Their curiosity is evident in block play, where they balance structures, extending this into making a road and imaginatively use the tuff tray,

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About this setting

Type: Childminder which becomes a car park underneath. The childminder later covers it with a blanket to create a den and initiate a game of 'I see you'.

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About this setting

Their growing confidence stems from the warm, nurturing relationships the childminder successfully builds with them. Children are encouraged to share, be kind and take responsibility for tidying up and managing simple self-care routines. As a result, they develop key personal and social skills that underpin their future learning well.

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About this setting

Language development is woven throughout the day. The childminder consistently models and extends vocabulary, drawing attention to environmental sounds, such as bowls crashing or dinosaurs being dropped into them, to support early listening and sound discrimination. Stories, songs and rhymes feature in abundance. Children delight in familiar songs, anticipate actions and enjoy dancing with scarves.

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About this setting

Visual prompts enrich activities and spark spontaneous communication. For example, magnetic pictures encouraged a child to say 'bus' for the first time, while a turtle inspired a creative sticking activity and the recent introduction of a new song.

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Next steps

The childminder should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of 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

This inspection was carried out 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. Registration date: 20/08/2001

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About this inspection

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 07:45 - 17:15

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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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