Stephanou, Victoria

Stephanou, Victoria

Unique reference number (URN): 2752088 Address: 9 Atterbury Close, Northampton, NN6 7AA Type: Childminder Registered with Ofsted: 11/10/2023 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Stephanou, Victoria

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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

Children flourish in this calm, purposeful environment where routines are deeply embedded and consistently upheld. From the moment children arrive, the childminder sets clear, high expectations that children understand and follow with confidence. These predictable routines help children feel secure, enabling them to settle quickly and engage fully in their play and learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder's calm, consistent guidance helps children understand boundaries and make thoughtful choices. As a result, children show kindness, share willingly and include others in their play. For example, older children help younger children to stick their picture on a flower at self-registration time.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder gives regular, specific praise that highlights the skills children use. This builds their self-confidence and motivates them to repeat positive behaviour. Children show positive attitudes to learning. They are engaged, motivated and sustain concentration during the activities provided.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder works closely with parents to promote the importance of regular attendance and explains how consistent routines help children thrive. Open communication ensures that parents understand how attendance supports children's learning, wellbeing and readiness for school. The childminder is clear about the steps she would take if concerns about attendance or welfare arose.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Overall, children thrive because behaviour expectations are clear, routines are secure and interactions are consistently nurturing. This creates a highly positive climate where children feel safe, respected and ready to learn.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children make secure progress from their starting points. They learn new skills, such as turning the tap on the water butt and pouring water into different-sized containers at the mud kitchen. Children show how their skills build over time, for example squeezing and pinching play dough to strengthen their hands before picking up small pieces from a peg puzzle.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children take part in all activities and move around the environment with confidence. They make secure progress in communication and language and interact well with their friends and the childminder. Children learn new vocabulary such as 'mane' and 'furry' when reading about a lion. They develop skills they will need at school. However, at times, they do not always have sufficient opportunities to practise some of these skills independently.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children are happy, settled and show that they feel safe in the childminder's care. They approach her with confidence, ask for help when they need it and express their wants and needs clearly. The childminder offers children meaningful choices throughout the day, such as selecting their snack or choosing a coloured bib, which supports their sense of control. She talks with children about how they are feeling and uses familiar stories to help them recognise their emotions, for example discussing being 'scared' when reading 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. The childminder also encourages children to think about how others might feel when behaviour is unkind.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

The childminder is attentive to children's care needs and promotes healthy lifestyles. She maintains effective hygiene routines, considers children's privacy and explains why drinking water is important. Children enjoy healthy snacks and typically choose what they would like to eat, supporting their growing autonomy.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children benefit from daily outdoor play and confidently ask for help when needed. They visit local parks and playgroups, helping them build social skills. Secure bonds with the childminder are evident, and well-embedded routines, including handwashing and toileting, help children feel safe and supported. The childminder also guides parents on healthy eating and safe lunch box choices. This helps ensure that children receive consistent messages about wellbeing both at home and in the setting.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder plans a curriculum that meets the developmental needs of all children. She uses her effective understanding of the early years foundation stage and high-quality interactions to shape their next steps. Activities build on what children know and can do, and both free play and planned experiences are purposeful and well resourced. The childminder adapts activities effectively for children of different ages and stages, such as ensuring younger children can access low-level resources independently.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder encourages children to develop their independence, such as putting on their coats and shoes or drinking from a cup. However, her teaching of these skills is not yet consistent. At times, she steps in too quick, for example wiping noses or washing hands for children, rather than guiding them to try first.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Literacy is well embedded. During story time, the childminder pauses to ask open questions and waits patiently for children to respond. Song time is lively and engaging, with puppets, actions and movement used to capture children's attention and support their developing physical skills. Mathematical language is woven into play and routines, with words such as 'full' and 'empty' introduced during water play.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder supports children to understand their emotions through stories and discussions. She helps children recognise and name feelings, and she validates their emotions. Although the childminder celebrates festivals, such as making dragons for Chinese New Year, she has not yet explored ways to deepen children's understanding of diversity and the wider world.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder identifies children's needs with care and accuracy. She observes children regularly and uses what she sees to shape their next steps. Parents play an active role in this process, sharing learning from home and contributing to assessments. This joint approach helps build a rounded understanding of each child's development and ensures that children's emerging needs are recognised early, so support begins without delay.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder adapts the curriculum so that every child can take part and practise new skills in ways that suit them. Activities are flexible, and she adjusts resources or routines to meet children's individual needs, including those who can become overwhelmed by too much sensory stimulation. For example, she reduces noise levels, offers quieter spaces or simplifies activities when needed. Her practice is consistent across the setting, ensuring that all children participate meaningfully and feel included.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder works effectively with other settings when children move on to the next stage of their education. She understands how to use additional funding and has completed relevant training to strengthen her knowledge of supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. She knows referral routes well and is confident to challenge other professionals when needed. As a result, barriers to learning reduce over time and children make steady progress from their starting points.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder is committed to providing high-quality care and education. She works in close partnership with parents, using regular communication to share information about children's learning and development. Parents speak highly of the care she provides and value the thoughtful sessions that support both the child and the family to settle in to the setting.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder sets high expectations for behaviour and works effectively with other settings, including the local school nursery, to support continuity of care for children. She reflects on her practice and identifies strengths and areas for development. However, she has not yet explored ways to strengthen her knowledge of how to help children understand the similarities and differences between themselves and others, and the wider world.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder accesses training to develop her curriculum and provision. Recent training has strengthened her understanding of physical development for younger children, including supporting transitions from highchairs to low chairs and providing activities that build core strength and gross motor skills.

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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 enter a calm, welcoming home where they feel valued and secure. They recognise themselves in family photos placed at their level, which helps them feel a beneficial sense of belonging. Warm relationships with the childminder and with one another give children the confidence to explore and take part in play.

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

Children engage with enthusiasm. They eagerly choose puppets for singing time, and babies use gestures to show which song they want to hear. Children join in with excitement, counting the monkeys in the rhyme and repeating familiar lines with joy. They happily draw

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About this setting

Unique reference number (URN): 2752088 their friends into their play. For example, they share different egg shakers and experiment with the sounds they make, showing growing confidence in their social awareness and a real enjoyment of sharing experiences.

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About this setting

Children develop a wide range of physical skills. They climb the ladder on the climbing frame, practise balancing and use their fingers and hands to hold onto and then turn on the tap on a water dispenser. In the mud kitchen, they show curiosity as they mix flavoured tea bags with water and watch the colours change. They pour water to make puddles and proudly demonstrate new skills as they jump and splash.

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About this setting

Children learn positive manners and social expectations, using 'please' and 'thank you' during play. The childminder supports them with gentle reminders and encouragement. The childminder understands the important role parents play in early education and communicates regularly with them about their child's progress. She works closely with parents, sharing regular updates about their day and inviting information from home. This helps her respond to children's changing needs and ensures a consistent, reassuring experience for every child.

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Next steps

The childminder should further enhance the curriculum by building meaningful opportunities for children to explore diversity, culture and the wider world, deepening her own subject knowledge to support this. The childminder should strengthen the consistency of teaching children independence skills so that children practise and embed their self-care skills consistently.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder and parents and carers 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:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30

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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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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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