Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2763148 Registered with Ofsted: 29/11/2023 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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Achievement Strong standard

Children make significant progress from their starting points. Enriching opportunities within the community, such as tending an allotment and visiting elderly care-home residents, expand their perspective and foster personal development. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, fulfil their potential. Children demonstrate excellent spoken language skills. They communicate articulately and confidently, displaying a broad vocabulary that they use with pride.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children confidently acquire skills that prepare them for their transition to school, showing self-assurance as they learn. Their social and emotional health is high; they interact well and form positive relationships with each other. Children listen attentively and respond thoughtfully during interactions, maintaining focus throughout activities that interest them. They approach learning with curiosity, exploring new possibilities and observing outcomes, such as noticing how chalk marks change when sprayed with water.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children develop strong motor skills as they confidently manoeuvre large and small vehicles in the garden and take responsibility for caring for animals. They use tools at the allotment and create marks with pencils and chalk, demonstrating increasing control and skill in their movements.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder establishes a highly positive atmosphere where well-structured routines are embedded throughout daily practice. Children demonstrate remarkable independence during snack time, when dressing and using the toilet. The childminder actively supports children in resolving disagreements and encourages kindness, resulting in children forming harmonious relationships and getting along well together.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder consistently fosters a nurturing environment, offering frequent praise and encouragement. Children respond by sharing with their peers, reflecting the encouraging ethos promoted within the setting. Positive relationships are evident between the childminder and the children, underpinned by effective partnerships with parents. The collaborative approach ensures continuity of care and supports children's overall wellbeing. Children enjoy celebrating each other's achievements, expressing genuine pride in their friends' successes. They can be heard congratulating one another for making positive choices or acquiring new skills, further reinforcing a culture of mutual respect and encouragement.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Regular attendance is promoted by flexibility and by accommodating parents' needs regarding drop-off times. This approach supports families and ensures that children benefit from consistent routines. The childminder proactively addresses individual needs, such as feeding, and provides reassurance when children face new challenges, such as visiting the dentist. She organises imaginative role-play activities to ease anxieties and support all children effectively.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder consistently delivers high-quality care, forging positive, supportive relationships with both children and their families. She expertly supports successful potty training, an achievement that parents greatly value. Children develop secure attachments and demonstrate clear affection for the childminder, confidently seeking her out for comfort and reassurance, which highlights the nurturing and responsive environment she provides.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children demonstrate a clear awareness of their behaviour and consistently manage their emotions well, especially during minor disagreements, under the childminder's effective guidance. The childminder actively promotes independence and self-regulation, routinely encouraging children to articulate their feelings and supporting them as they develop strategies to manage their emotions.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children's unique needs are consistently supported. The childminder prepares nutritious meals from scratch, ensuring that children's digestive health is prioritised. Individual support is thoughtfully provided, such as helping a child understand and adapt to family challenges. The childminder actively educates children about healthy eating habits, oral hygiene and self-care routines, which are shared with the parents. She initiates meaningful discussions about the benefits of drinking water for overall wellbeing and consistently teaches vital road safety skills, equipping children with practical knowledge for their daily lives.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Robust routines for handwashing, sleep, rest, feeding and outdoor activities are consistently maintained. These practices actively promote children's physical health and wellbeing, ensuring that each child consistently receives high-quality care that supports healthy development.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

A broad and ambitious curriculum enables children to explore the world, develop an understanding of nature and learn about the diverse people within their community. Children benefit from regular opportunities to engage with their local environment, fostering a strong sense of belonging. Children practise fine- and gross-motor skills daily through activities, such as music and dance sessions, allotment visits and community planting days, which enrich children's experiences. Caring for animals and plants and growing their own food deepen their understanding of living things. Role play is skilfully used to prepare children for new experiences, such as visiting the dentist.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children learn to understand themselves and others, building respectful relationships locally, which are nurtured and promote social awareness. Children are supported to self-regulate and understand the impact of their behaviour. Mathematical skills are taught explicitly through play and real-life experiences, such as baking and measuring. Children explore shape, pattern and colour in the environment, and learning in this area is enhanced through play, reading stories and singing.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

New vocabulary is introduced through stories and conversation. Children learn ambitious words and deepen their understanding using real-life objects and experiences, such as the birds seen on walks and at the allotment. The childminder fosters purposeful two-way communication with all children. The childminder assesses each child's development using the guidelines in 'Development Matters' and promptly identifies any potential gaps in learning. Targeted activities, such as fine-motor tasks during snack time and in daily provision, address gaps, ensuring that all children make progress.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder demonstrates a strong commitment to inclusion, actively identifying and responding to children's diverse needs. For example, multilingual children are supported in sharing their home language, teaching new words to their peers and sharing cultural experiences with resources, such as books, that reflect their backgrounds. Collaboration with families and professionals ensures that children learn about people and cultures that are different from their own within their families and the community. The childminder provides carefully selected resources, such as tailored stories and opportunities, to learn about people in the community. These inclusive measures help every child to feel valued and secure within the setting.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Thorough assessment identifies communication gaps promptly. Parents receive frequent updates on their children's progress, along with guidance for supporting their children at home. All children benefit from healthy, home-cooked meals, with adaptations made for specific medical needs, ensuring equal access and wellbeing. Settling-in days and opportunities to share home experiences, such as role-playing holidays, further nurture children's social and emotional development. The childminder responds proactively to individual anxieties, such as fear of the dentist, by using role play to build confidence and resilience.

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Inclusion Strong standard

No children are currently receiving any additional funding. The childminder is knowledgeable about the support options available and how to seek extra assistance if needed.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder identifies the strengths and areas for development of her setting with clarity. She manages workload effectively by allocating dedicated days to paperwork and displays effective organisational skills. Her commitment to professional development is evident in her ongoing practice.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Parent partnerships are highly effective. Parents comment positively about the excellent care and advice shared to support their children's educational and emotional development. Termly leaflets and newsletters covering important topics, such as online safety and oral health, are communicated in a supportive manner, ensuring that parents feel respected and valued. They appreciate the childminder's flexibility when changing arrangements and her proactive approach to ensuring that new children settle smoothly.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

She sustains highly effective relationships with childminders and other professionals, such as health visitors and teachers, at local settings. This collaborative approach enhances the quality of care and supports children's holistic development. She proactively seeks advice from other professionals and pursues opportunities to support families, sourcing resources and specialist support for them. Her inclusive practice ensures that all children and families receive tailored support to meet their individual needs. Decisions are consistently made in the best interests of children, such as communicating with parents when a child would benefit from attending a group setting, even though this means the child transitions from her care. This practice demonstrates a clear commitment to prioritising children's needs.

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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 make admirable progress from their individual starting points, demonstrating a growing range of skills and knowledge that equip them well for their future learning. They show confidence and curiosity, actively engaging with the world around them and displaying a keen interest in new experiences.

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

Children feel safe, welcomed and valued within the setting. They build positive relationships with both the childminder and their peers, which contribute to their sense of belonging. Children are consistently well behaved. They show respect for one another and celebrate each other's achievements. They learn about their own feelings and how their actions can affect others. They have a positive impact on each other's wellbeing and group collaboration. They learn to care for themselves through healthy eating and consistent hygiene routines. When out in the community, they understand how to keep safe, including practising road safety.

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

Children show enthusiasm for stories, singing songs and rhymes. The childminder facilitates activities that foster language development and social skills and support vocabulary expansion. Children love discussing observations from their surroundings and relating what they learn in books to real-life experiences, such as 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and the butterflies they had grown.

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

The childminder provides ample opportunities for children to explore their local environment, such as attending music and craft sessions, planting flowers and trees and learning about food growth through hands-on experiences in the allotment. Regular participation in community groups further enriches their development and fosters an understanding of the diverse individuals in the community, including people that live in the local care home.

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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 any disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known (or previously known) to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder, the children, and the parents 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

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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.

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Our grades explained

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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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

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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