Simpson, Claire Sheila

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2712396 Registered with Ofsted: 16/03/2023 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

All children, regardless of their background, age or ability, are securely developing the knowledge and skills they need for their next stage in education. For example, they become absorbed in exploring and investigating toys and resources, concentrating and demonstrating a love of learning. Children have a 'can-do' attitude and show great determination. Very young children manage to walk increasingly longer distances when they are outdoors, gaining strength and showing curiosity about what is just a bit further on. Older children enjoy talking about what they have been learning, such as naming an ever-growing number of colours when they are outdoors. They show a positive attitude to finding out more. Children demonstrate impressive mathematical skills as they compare shapes and sizes. They count small quantities accurately and use their fingers to point as they count.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children are confident communicators. They speak with fluency and pronounce words correctly with guidance from the childminder. On walks outdoors, they are quick to notice what is going on around them, stopping and saying, 'Look! A bee!', expressing their delight and making a buzzing sound. The youngest children enthusiastically join in with the fun and develop their communication and social skills.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children display huge amounts of independence and confidence in their abilities to do things for themselves. The clearly embedded routines support their understanding of how to live healthy lifestyles. For example, they know to wash their hands when they come in from playing outdoors and before eating their lunch. Very young children competently use an open cup to drink their water and enjoy the praise from the childminder and their friends.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder builds warm, trusting relationships with children, who regularly look to her for cuddles and reassurance. She has a detailed knowledge and understanding of children's daily needs and is highly responsive to support their wellbeing. The genuine closeness and warmth the childminder shares with children creates a firm sense of emotional security and belonging. There is lots of laughter and shared moments of fun. Children show consideration and kindness to each other. Even the youngest children wait patiently when the childminder needs to help one of their friends to get ready for outside play. They understand the need to treat others with fairness and respect. The childminder praises them as they gather dandelions for each other on a woodland walk, so that everyone can look at them closely.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children flourish in the childminder's care. They are happy and confident because they feel secure in their daily routines and know that the childminder will respond to their needs. They understand the childminder's well-established boundaries and routines and know what is acceptable. Children take care of toys and resources and quite naturally share and take turns. The childminder shares the importance of regular attendance with parents, who comment that their children love their time with the childminder.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder talks to parents about children's achievements, preferences and home routines from the very start. This helps her to provide precisely tailored care that supports children's welfare and wellbeing extremely effectively. This important relationship with parents continues, to promote high levels of consistency for children's development. Together with the nurturing relationships the childminder forms with children, this ensures they are comfortable, safe and secure in her home.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children have a wide range of opportunities to be physically active. They benefit from regular visits to groups and daily walks in the fresh air where they run, climb and develop strength and agility. At these times, the childminder ensures children know how to keep themselves safe. They proactively look out for hazards during walks and enjoy alerting the childminder when they spot any litter. When the childminder tells them to stand still, they react immediately, knowing the rules that keep them safe. The childminder gives all children age-appropriate opportunities to become independent and manage risks for themselves. They show great determination as they balance and climb with the childminder's guidance and praise. Children have opportunities to grow their own produce, which they harvest and enjoy eating together. They gain a secure understanding of eating nutritious food and know why this is important for their good health.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder competently plans and implements a well-sequenced, exciting curriculum across all areas of learning. She gets to know children extremely well to successfully meet the learning and developmental needs of all children, including those who may be at risk of falling behind. The childminder has a secure understanding of child development and regularly assesses children's knowledge and skills as they play. She is highly skilled in using her understanding of each child to weave meaningful learning opportunities consistently into everyday experiences. The childminder purposefully and confidently teaches children mathematical concepts, for example when children find 'short' and 'long' sticks and then use them to make marks in the earth. Children quite naturally count objects when they are out for a walk.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder designs her curriculum thoughtfully to focus on supporting children's communication and language skills. Spontaneous, high-quality interactions consistently help children to confidently express their thoughts and ideas. The childminder gives children ample time and encouragement to look around and describe what they can see, for example on a walk to the duck pond. Children rapidly progress from saying a few words to using well- constructed sentences due to these valuable opportunities. Very young children thoroughly enjoy joining in with the back-and-forth conversations as they sit at the table to eat their lunch. The childminder introduces new words in a meaningful way, so children develop their pronunciation and use a rich vocabulary.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children benefit enormously from daily outings to a wide variety of parks and woodland areas. They gain strength and stamina as they play and find out about the natural world around them.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder develops a precise understanding of children's learning and development by carefully evaluating her observations of them at play. These insightful assessments help her to swiftly notice when children need extra support. Although there are no children attending with special educational needs and/or disabilities, the childminder has a firm understanding of how to adapt her practice when necessary. She has extensive knowledge about the support available from other professionals, so that she is able to support all children and families.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder has a detailed understanding of child development and ensures she uses professional development opportunities to support individual children in her care, particularly when they face barriers to their learning. Children benefit from consistently high-quality interactions, including using signing during play and everyday routines, which promote their inclusion and wellbeing. For example, she regularly praises children's attempts at doing things for themselves so all children gain a sense of pride in their achievements.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children of different ages and stages of development enjoy a rich and inclusive range of experiences with the childminder. They develop communication, physical, social and emotional skills during age-appropriate activities and routines, such as eating meals together. The childminder is highly skilled at meeting the varying needs of children of different ages and stages of development. For example, very young children begin to use a spoon competently as older children skilfully and confidently use cutlery.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The dedicated childminder demonstrates a firm commitment to providing consistently high- quality care and education for children and their families. She continually reflects on her work with children and adapts her approach to meet the needs of each individual child in her care. The childminder is well qualified in childcare and education and invests considerable amounts of time in developing her skills further. For example, she has carried out research about how to support children's oral health and shared this with parents.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder forms highly effective links with other providers and schools in the local area to support consistency and continuity for the children in her care. She provides ample opportunities for children to learn about the local community. Parents are highly appreciative of the care and education their children receive from the childminder. They say that she is an extension of their family and appreciate the wide variety of exciting experiences she provides. She keeps them fully informed of children's progress through photos and daily conversations. In addition, the childminder shares her insightful and accurate assessments of children's developmental progress at regular meetings with parents, which ensures consistency and continuity. Parental feedback helps the childminder to provide children with experiences that develop a lifelong love of learning and ensure they go on to their future education with confidence and self-assurance.

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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 thrive in the care of this highly committed and knowledgeable childminder. They form warm and affectionate bonds with the childminder, who is highly attuned to children's individual personalities and needs. Children confidently move around the stimulating environment, where they feel safe and secure. They explore a wide range of interesting, well-planned activities that stimulate their curiosity and support their enthusiasm for learning. All children show an eagerness to focus on what they need to do, persevere and become confident in their own abilities. This is because of the childminder's high expectations of

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Inspector:

Margaret Baird them during play and everyday routines. For example, very young children find their shoes for going outside and have a go at putting them on. Regular encouragement and praise from the childminder help to consolidate their learning, and they develop positive attitudes to learning. Older children show an awareness of what they need to learn and how to develop their skills. They eagerly identify colours in the environment, checking with the childminder and smiling broadly when they are successful.

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Inspector:

The childminder is highly skilled at identifying moments when she can develop and extend children's knowledge and skills. For instance, when children show interest in finding dandelions during a woodland walk, she encourages them to look closely at the different parts of the flower and explains how the wind blows the seeds to make new plants. They show great delight as they watch the seeds drift into the air as they concentrate hard to blow them away. At such times, the childminder gives children time to think about what they have seen and values the comments they make. This reinforces their learning, and they are able to build on what they know about the world around them. All children make excellent progress and rapidly develop the knowledge and skills they need to move confidently on to school or pre-school.

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Inspector:

Children settle quickly when they start to attend and gain a sense of security and belonging from the very start. Older children enjoy their familiar daily routines and show an awareness of the need for younger ones to sleep when they feel tired. Children are patient with each other and show kindness and consideration to their friends due to the childminder's warm and caring interactions.

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Next steps

The childminder should ensure continuous improvement in the setting's successful work to remove barriers for children who need extra help, to realise a transformational impact on all children's achievement and wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder and children 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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About this setting

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:30 - 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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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

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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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