Mlinaric, Madeleine Francesca

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2766548 Registered with Ofsted: 12/12/2023 Registers: EYR, CCR

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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 are making rapid progress and developing the skills they need to achieve across all areas of learning. They are keen to explore activities and focus well on tasks. For example, children choose cards and put them in a slot to play music. They move and bounce to the familiar tunes and smile with glee as they successfully operate the audio player. Each day, children enjoy exciting experiences, such as visits to parks and farms to help them learn about nature and the world around them.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children communicate their needs extremely well. For example, they use signs and gestures to express when they need their nappy changed. Children are learning important life skills to develop their independence. Repetition of activities enables children to accomplish skills and embed their learning. This includes practising using cutlery and progressing to drinking from an open cup, mastering essential skills they will need in the future.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder creates a wonderful calm and tranquil setting where children flourish and thrive. She is a positive role model and has high expectations for children's behaviour. The childminder consistently promotes positive manners and encourages children to say 'please' and 'thank you'. This helps to build children's empathy and respect to support them in social situations.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder knows children very well and has secure bonds with them. She communicates well with parents and carers. The childminder has policies in place to promote children's punctuality and regular attendance. This ensures that children benefit from the educational experiences on offer. The childminder establishes clear routines that encompass children's eating and sleeping schedules to ensure that their individual needs are securely met.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children are content and play harmoniously alongside each other. They are kind and willingly share resources. For example, children happily take turns on a ride-on toy, and the childminder praises them for being kind. This helps children learn to build positive relationships. The childminder teaches children to recognise their feelings and emotions by acknowledging if they feel happy or sad. This helps children understand how to regulate their behaviour. As a result, children behave extremely well and are highly respectful of each other.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder meticulously plans for children's health and wellbeing. She has a robust set of policies and procedures in place. She rigorously and strategically amends these to adapt to meet the changing needs of all children and their families. This includes teaching children to establish health and hygiene habits, such as toothbrushing and handwashing routines. The childminder is highly effective at promoting healthy eating to help children learn to make healthy choices. This includes talking about healthy food that makes children grow strong and encouraging children to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables. Children are closely supervised at mealtimes to ensure that they eat safely. The childminder conducts children's personal routines, such as nappy changing, with dignity and respect. For example, she ensures that children have privacy while being changed and follows procedures to keep the area clean and hygienic.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder knows the children very well and has secure attachments with them. This supports children's wellbeing and helps them learn to build relationships. The childminder puts plans in place to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who may face other barriers to learning have strategies in place to help them develop a sense of belonging and make progress. Children enjoy wonderful daily trips outdoors to benefit from fresh air and exercise. Overall, children's welfare and wellbeing are met to a very high standard.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder has high expectations for all children and has robust routines in place to meet their individual needs. She carefully sequences her high-quality curriculum to ensure that all children develop the skills they need to achieve to help them move to their next stage in learning. For example, she provides opportunities for children to develop their physical skills and strength for future learning. This includes developing fine motor skills to support early mark making. For example, children enjoy using pens to draw lines and shapes on paper attached to the wall. This helps to develop children's early literacy skills. The childminder adapts activities to meet all children's needs. For example, she arranges the play environment so young children can move along furniture to practise their walking skills. The childminder has an excellent understanding of children's ages and stages of development. She focuses her teaching accurately on what children need to learn next to

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

help them securely reach their milestones.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder supports children's speech and language skills very well with high-quality teaching techniques. For example, she skilfully repeats words children say and commentates on play. The childminder introduces new words to increase children's vocabulary, including mathematical language, such as 'big', 'small' and 'more'. During children's play, the childminder consistently counts items and introduces numbers to support their early mathematical development. A favourite activity is singing familiar songs and rhymes. Children enjoy visiting the library to take part in a 'rhyme time' session. This helps children to recognise sounds that make up words and subsequently helps to develop their speech and language skills.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder is very knowledgeable and has experience of working with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who may face other barriers to learning. She completes rigorous assessments to identify children's starting points and highlight any barriers or gaps in learning. The childminder has robust plans in place to provide next steps to help children move successfully through the curriculum and make excellent progress. A continuous cycle of assessment ensures that the childminder reviews and adapts plans as necessary to meet all children's changing needs.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder has a very secure understanding of child development. She knows where children should be regarding their learning and development and what they need to do to get to the next stage in their development. The childminder systematically and skilfully makes adaptations and adjustments to the play environment to ensure that she meets all children's needs. For example, she arranges resources so young children can practise pulling themselves up to standing to develop their leg strength and balance for walking.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder makes full use of the support and advice available from local services to enhance her practice and provide the highest standard of care for all children. She successfully collaborates with other professionals and tailors her teaching methods to ensure that all children achieve and make the best possible progress. When available, she explains that extra funding, such as the early years pupil premium, would be used to provide resources and enrichment experiences to support children's individual needs to help them make progress.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder works very closely with parents and carers. She gathers a wealth of information when children join the setting to ensure that she can meet their individual needs to the highest standards. This includes information about children's medical and dietary requirements, sleeping routines and developmental needs. She provides settling-in sessions and photo books to enable children to become familiar and comfortable in her home. The childminder prepares children very well for transitions, whether that be moving on to another setting or to school. For example, she liaises closely with new providers, sharing reports and data so children can move smoothly to their next stage in learning.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder is highly reflective and uses a detailed and perceptive analysis of the setting's strengths and areas for improvement to identify areas to develop. For example, she is further developing her outdoor play area to enhance children's learning opportunities even further in the setting. The childminder ensures that she takes care of her own health and wellbeing. For example, she has made adjustments to her operating hours to manage her time more effectively. Parents give positive feedback and are very happy with the care the childminder provides. They particularly like the range of activities and exciting experiences the childminder delivers and are happy with the progress their children are making.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder prioritises her ongoing professional development. She consistently completes training to improve the quality of the provision and make a significant difference to children's education and care. This includes learning about food safety and child development in the early years foundation stage. The childminder meticulously keeps her knowledge and skills up to date. For example, she follows the latest guidance on safer sleeping and nutrition to ensure that her practice is informed and professional. This enables her to provide the best possible care and education for all children.

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

Children have secure attachments with the childminder. They are very happy and settled in the setting. Children seek the childminder out for cuddles when they need comfort and confidently express their needs. They enjoy exploring the play environment and selecting resources to play with. Children are keen to take part in activities, engaging and focusing on tasks for sustained periods of time. There is a great emphasis on books, and children thoroughly enjoy choosing one to read with the childminder. They listen intently and point to pictures on the page as they follow the story. This helps to develop children's early literacy skills.

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

Children are developing their speech and language skills very well. They follow instructions and are developing their early speech by repeating sounds and words. Assessments and communication tools help to identify gaps in children's speech and language development. This enables strategies to be put in place to help them make secure progress.

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

Children enjoy engaging in role-play games and play collaboratively as they share resources to play imaginatively. Children copy the childminder as she plays alongside them, role modelling how to care for baby dolls. For example, they use a bottle and pretend to feed their dolls. Children concentrate and keep trying to put clothes on their doll, showing resilience and perseverance. Children beam with pride when they receive praise for successfully dressing their doll. This helps to boost their confidence and self-esteem.

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

Children's safety is a priority. There are secure procedures in place to ensure that children's health and welfare needs are met securely. For example, mealtimes are closely monitored to

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About this setting

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

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Facts and figures used on inspection

ensure that children eat safely. Information is gathered from parents regarding allergies, intolerances and dietary preferences to make sure children eat the correct food. Regular attendance and punctuality are promoted so children can fully benefit from the educational experiences on offer.

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Next steps

The childminder should continue to develop her outdoor provision to enhance learning opportunities and experiences in this area even further.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder 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 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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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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