Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): EY410909 Registered with Ofsted: 04/06/2010 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 consistently achieve well in all areas of the curriculum. Children demonstrate considerable skills for their age. Young children develop excellent communication. They speak clearly, with confidence, and have an expansive vocabulary. Children hold conversations, respectfully taking turns, listening, and answering and asking questions. They have mathematical understanding and skills. Children use different tools as they measure, and they count how many breadsticks they have at snack. Children excitedly practise skills to walk and balance along the wobble board as well as transferring these skills to climb into the digger area in the garden.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children have excellent independence skills, helping prepare them for the next stage in their education very effectively. Children are very kind and caring towards others. They show high levels of concentration and persevere with tasks. They are deeply curious and have a very positive attitude to learning.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children are praised consistently for their efforts, and this supports their self-esteem and motivates them well to learn. They learn very effective skills to support them in their next stage of learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder fosters a positive learning environment and has high expectations for behaviour. Children quickly learn the rules and the importance of appropriate behaviour. The childminder quickly intervenes where frustrations occur, to embed how to be kind, for instance. As a result, children respond positively, for example, when reminded about sharing. The childminder has excellent relationships with children, and routines are fully embedded in daily practice. The childminder plans routines to make the most of all opportunities to teach children and encourage them to practise new skills. Children learn to be independent and show excellent skills for their age. For example, children eagerly sing along to the tidy-up song as they help the childminder. The childminder is very patient and gives them time to try to do things for themselves, such as getting ready for garden play. She sensitively offers tips and helpful techniques if needed.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder has a consistently calm tone and manner. The childminder understands the importance of adapting her positive behaviour approaches to help each child manage their emotions in ways that match their age and stage of development. Care routines are carefully planned to meet individual needs to support all children. As a result, children cooperate well, play together and feel respected and valued. The childminder is responsive and reassuring when children become upset. She supports them well, and they quickly regain composure and join back in with play. Children learn to understand and manage their personal-care needs and use appropriate language to communicate these.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder has effective systems in place to monitor attendance. Effective partnerships with parents and carers support regular communication, helping children benefit from consistent and valuable learning experiences.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder prioritises children's welfare and wellbeing extremely effectively. She has a deep understanding of each child's individual care and works closely with parents when these needs change. She provides a warm, nurturing and supportive environment where children feel safe and valued. Close relationships between the childminder and the children help foster emotional security and confidence. These secure attachments are consistently well established and evident in children's confidence to seek reassurance and engage in their play. Children's close relationships with the childminder help them manage their emotions and confidently explore, and then they are keen to try new things.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Healthy lifestyles are promoted through well-established daily routines. Children learn about hygiene practices, washing their hands and cleaning up, conscientiously putting things in the bin and learning about safety practices. Children learn about their local community and the wider world. The childminder takes them on walks to develop children's strength, stamina and resilience.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder plans a highly coherent and well-sequenced curriculum that matches children's interests, prior learning and stages of development. She provides rich, purposeful experiences that build meaningfully on what children already know and can do. As a result, children make sustained progress, securing knowledge and skills over time. The childminder assesses each child thoroughly and has comprehensive knowledge of their developmental stages. She expertly uses this information to ensure that activities consistently and precisely meet the needs of each child.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder supports children's communication, language and literacy skills successfully. Language and a love of books are embedded in the curriculum. Children have a love of books and sit down happily to share books about their interest, eagerly pointing out the ladybirds and bees in the book. The childminder responds to things that children notice in the moment and uses them as teaching points.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder supports children's personal, social and physical development effectively. Children learn to do things for themselves, such as getting ready for garden play and helping to tidy up. Children develop mathematical skills successfully through planned, explicit teaching as well as through their play. For example, the childminder displays a numbered 'spring garden' of flowers for children to talk about numbers and sets challenging number tasks for older children, where they use a variety of measuring resources to complete number activities.

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Inclusion Strong standard

There are effective monitoring systems in place. The childminder uses these to check that children are making age-appropriate progress. Resources are tailored to support children's communication. The childminder is skilful at supporting children's behaviour, so they feel at ease. This helps children to transition smoothly between routines with minimal disruption. The childminder strives to make a meaningful impact on the lives of all children and continually seeks out ways to improve her practice. She has an ongoing approach to developing specialist knowledge and has enhanced her understanding of how to meet children's individual needs. Partnerships are quickly formed with other professionals, and relevant information is shared in a timely way. This helps to identify when children are falling behind and to quickly access the support they need to make progress.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children who are eligible for additional funding are supported well. The childminder listens to children's views and plans according to their interests. Reasonable adjustments are made so that children are motivated to build on what they know and can do. The childminder has a secure working knowledge of her local authority to seek support for children and appreciates the importance of gaining help for children from outside agencies and implementing additional approaches to support children's changing needs as they develop. The childminder provides resources and activities to supplement the experiences they receive at home and help close any gaps in their development, for example coloured telephone receivers encourage children's language development, supporting children who have English as an additional language.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder leads with clear vision and a high-quality curriculum for all children, including vulnerable children and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Her ethos is centred on nurture and friendship, which inform the childminder's approach to teaching and learning. She readily adapts her practice to meet the emerging and identified needs of all children.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder has very secure partnerships with parents and carers, who speak enthusiastically about how the care and learning provided has influenced their children's development. She works closely with her local authority and other professionals on exciting projects that benefit the children in her care immensely. For instance, the childminder is working with local schools to secure more fluid transitions when children move on to the next stage of their education. She works alongside the local authority inclusion team to offer training and support for other childminders locally. These discussions demonstrate a reflective and proactive approach to professional development. This ongoing collaboration consistently strengthens her practice and enhances the experiences she provides for children. This professional collaboration contributes to ongoing improvement.

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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 feel genuinely valued in the warm, responsive and nurturing home-from-home environment. Their individual needs, interests and abilities are skilfully recognised and purposefully supported. Children have secure and caring relationships with the childminder. This has a positive impact on their emotional security, enabling them to learn and play with curiosity and growing independence.

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

Children show high levels of engagement and are confident and enthusiastic learners. The childminder offers a rich and thoughtfully planned range of activities for children to explore. For example, children show clear excitement during water play. They find out about frogs and eagerly look at the 'bug book', discussing and sharing their knowledge. Children are confident communicators. The childminder narrates play, repeats words clearly and asks open-ended questions. Children who speak English as an additional language hear their home language, as the childminder uses key words to support their communication skills, for instance.

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

Children consistently display positive behaviour and show respect and excellent attitudes to their learning. Their physical development is actively promoted through well-planned experiences. For example, children use a wobble-board to develop their core strength as part of their next step in development. Children enjoy purposeful, imaginative play, such as pretending to be a bumble-bee, as part of their minibeast topic. Early mathematical understanding is continuously developed. Children confidently count, recognise numerals and use mathematical language during play.

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

Parents share that the childminder provides highly effective support and is a major contributing factor to their children's development. She understands the importance of supporting children's regular attendance. She checks in with parents and carers and offers flexible supports to reduce any barriers children have to their wellbeing or learning. Children feel safe, secure and emotionally ready to learn. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, reach age-appropriate milestones, make secure progress and thrive.

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Next steps

The childminder should sustain her work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. She should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of 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 and children during the inspection. She considered the written comments left by parents and other professionals during the inspection.

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About this inspection

A quality assurance visit by an additional inspector was carried out at this 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 inspection

The inspection started on 11 December 2025. It was paused in line with 'Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy'. Inspectors returned

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About this setting

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 06:30

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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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on 17 April 2026 to complete 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. 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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