Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2840599 Registered with Ofsted: 19/06/2025 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR

p.1

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.

p.1

How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

p.1

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.

p.1

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The daily routine is well-organised and promotes children's needs extremely well. Active learning through exciting outdoor activities, such as playing on climbing equipment, water play and trips outside of the home are balanced with quieter periods of the day. Children have time to reflect and relax with quiet time that encourages them to absorb and process learning. The childminder appreciates that young children need rest and this contributes towards them feeling refreshed and ready to play.

p.2

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children's behaviour is consistently excellent and they know exactly what is expected from them. By talking about their feelings and developing empathy and understanding, children are beginning to work out their own solutions to minor disagreements. This shows their good social learning, as does their ability to happily play together, take turns and wait patiently. The childminder is a great role model whose kindness and respectful care is mirrored by the children she cares for. She effectively removes any barriers children might experience so they can thrive in their learning.

p.2

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder encourages children's good attendance. By working with families, she develops flexible arrangements so that children can attend regularly and benefit from the well-sequenced curriculum.

p.2

Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder is patient, caring and respectful towards children. Together, they share jokes and children are confident to talk and express their ideas. For example, children talk at length about their interest in robots.

p.2

Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

All children are very settled and even young children are consistently content and busy in their learning. If young children do become at all unsettled, the childminder is quick to respond to them offering reassuring cuddles. Her calm and consistent teaching, relaxed style and genuine care contributes towards the productive learning environment. Children show that they have formed affectionate, close relationships with the childminder and her co-childminder. They are a happy and well bonded group, where everyone joins in and feels included.

p.2

Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Older children understand their responsibility in keeping themselves safe. For example, when playing in the garden, they are careful of each other when riding bicycles, which shows they are able to assess risks and know how to manage situations when playing with others. Children enjoy playing outdoors where they are physically active and can explore ways to increase their strength, such as through climbing, cycling and running at speed in the safe space.

p.2

Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children eat a healthy well-balanced diet. The childminder talks to them about how food can contribute towards their healthy lifestyles, explaining that some foods you only eat as a treat whereas others can be enjoyed every day. Through expanding on children's interest in

p.2

Expected standard

stories, this is brought to vibrant life as they play feeding a caterpillar character too much food giving them a tummy ache.

p.3

Inclusion Strong standard

Through robust monitoring and assessments, the childminder has focused on exactly what children who experience disadvantage or barriers to their learning need to learn next. Her accurate evaluations of what children know and can do has enabled her to develop effective plans of support for children. For example, the childminder has ensured there is a sustained plan in place to support children who need extra support with settling in. They quickly increase in confidence as a result.

p.3

Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder displays a deep awareness of children's development. By understanding what to expect and having high ambition for children, the childminder can identify if children do not make expected progress. Through discussion, the childminder demonstrates how she has previously put effective support in place for children with special educational needs and /or disabilities to encourage their swift progress.

p.3

Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder implements a flexible curriculum with a sharp focus on developing children's confidence and communication. She recognises that early intervention is essential to supporting children to be successful and she demonstrates secure awareness of how to put measures in place, such as seeking early support from professionals and making children's communication and language development the focus of the curriculum.

p.3

Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder understands when children might experience disadvantage and recognises the importance of their good attendance and careful use of any additional fundings to promote their learning. The childminder reflects on previous successes, such as providing equipment to increase children's physical development and increasing opportunities for children to attend exciting places to visit outside of the home.

p.3

Achievement Expected standard

Children are making effective progress. Young children have developed into confident individuals who move with a sense of purpose and control. They understand how to manipulate equipment such as, technical toys and are able to complete simple programming to make story telling boxes work.

p.3

Achievement Expected standard

As children are developing into confident communicators, they begin to use individual words, pointing and facial gestures to convey their ideas, needs and wants. They enjoy warm praise from the childminder which encourages their sense of achievement and they smile and demonstrate a sense of achievement by explaining that they can do 'everything'.

p.3

Achievement Expected standard

Children are beginning to become confident and independent. They are cheerful and demonstrate a keen impulse to explore and take part. Children's good relationships with each other helps them to build on their social skills. They show awareness and concern for each other and have a sense of fairness and justice that means they willingly share and take turns. Children's manners are excellent and they say please and thank you and show respect for the toys and equipment they use.

p.3

Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder's curriculum includes a balance of activities inside and away from the home. The curriculum is ambitious and centres around what children are interested in and enjoy such as stories they enjoy. Through effective teaching, the childminder encourages children to learn about characters. They use dough to create 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' character and add dough to fatten him up as he eats more and more. Simple, yet highly effective activities and teaching bring books and characters to life. When playing together, the childminder introduces children to different ideas. They talk about fruits and children describe pineapple as 'spiky'. They debate whether this should be on pizza. These easy conversations, which are continual throughout the day encourage children to be confident and articulate talkers. The childminder introduces new words such as 'teal'. She describes the colour and they different objects that fit the description. This effectively expands on

p.4

Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Exciting activities within the local community encourage children to explore beyond their immediate experience. They enjoy trips to the local library and activity groups. Not only does this help to promote their social skills as they play and learn in a larger group, they develop and expand on their communication and language development. Children sing songs and rhymes and enjoy listening to stories. The childminder encourages children's speech through engaging with them in discussions, poses questions and helping children to work things out for themselves. Children become inquisitive and interested and this in turn, encourages their engagement and concentration.

p.4

Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder works effectively with parents, professionals and other settings. This has contributed towards the childminder providing a well-informed and continually evolving curriculum that meets children's needs well, especially when they have special educational needs and/or disabilities or experience barriers to their education. However, the childminder recognises that there is opportunity to gather even greater detail about children's home experiences and prior learning to embed the already well-planned curriculum and increase the effectiveness of teaching even further.

p.4

Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder works seamlessly with her co-childminder. They have spurred each other on to continually improve and provide invaluable support and encouragement to each other. By being reflective, ambitious and readily taking on board feedback, the childminder has honed her practice.

p.4

Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder has learnt a great deal from professional development and training. She has made multiple changes for her practice, for example ensuring that activities encourage children's purposeful play and developing a deep awareness of safeguarding matters. Her commitment, dedication and obvious joy for her work translates into the enjoyable experiences children receive.

p.4

Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

p.5

Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

p.5

Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

p.5

Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

p.5

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

Children enjoy their learning and demonstrate excitement and interest as they play. They particularly enjoy attending local play groups and activities, such as the library. Here, they practise singing, socialising and learn about the world outside of their immediate

p.5

About this setting

experiences. Their enjoyment in activities is increased because of the multiple aspects of learning they experience. For example, when enjoying stories, children explore the characters of books in great detail. This promotes their emerging early literacy. Children learn about number in their play as they count upwards and backwards and explore quantities and concepts, such as full and empty.

p.6

About this setting

Children are competent and confident talkers. Throughout the day, they experience rich experiences to talk with the childminder and each other. They share easy conversations and confidently share their views. Younger children pick up individual words quickly as they are included in activities and they early attempts at talking are valued by all.

p.6

About this setting

Children enjoy close and supportive relationships with the childminder which helps them to feel confident and secure. They cuddle up for reassurance when needed but demonstrate their tenacity and resilience as they begin to use their excellent social skills to begin to solve problems themselves. Their interest and motivation to learn is evident as they sustain their attention exploring the wealth of activities on offer.

p.6

About this setting

Younger children, those who experience barriers to their education or those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, thrive because of the excellent support that they receive. All children play together happily, with confidence and are excited by their learning.

p.6

Next steps

The childminder should build on the already effective relationships with parents to gather more detailed information about children's home experiences and the influences on their development, in order to further refine planning and strengthen teaching even further.

p.6

About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder, co-childminder, children and parents during the 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. Unique reference number (URN): 2840599

p.6

About this inspection

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

p.7

Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

p.7

Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

p.7

Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

p.7

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.

p.7

Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

p.8

Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

p.8

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.

p.8

Urgent improvement

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 .

p.8

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 .

p.8

Urgent improvement

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8