Sanford, Deborah

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): EY367018 Registered with Ofsted: 02/01/2008 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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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

The childminder has established a positive environment where expectations for behaviour are clear and commonly understood. Children respond to these expectations, showing kindness, sharing resources, taking turns and helping each other during activities. When children struggle to manage their behaviour, the childminder intervenes calmly, helping them understand how their actions affect others and encouraging empathy, self-regulation and respect. Children are curious and engage with purpose.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Relationships between the childminder and children are warm and nurturing. Children demonstrate trust and confidence in seeking reassurance and support, which helps them feel safe and secure. The childminder encourages collaboration and cooperation, supporting children to play together, negotiate and resolve minor conflicts independently. Children develop social skills and celebrate each other's successes.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

The childminder actively promotes attendance and punctuality, reinforcing the importance of consistent routines and learning opportunities. She considers children's age, stage of development and individual needs and circumstances when supporting them to maintain her expectations. Reasonable adjustments to the set expectations ensure that all children, including those with additional needs, are included and supported. She speaks to children to help them understand, gives them time to process and praises their actions when appropriate. Children develop independence, confidence, positive relationships and social understanding.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

The childminder provides effective care that meets children's welfare and wellbeing needs, including those for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). She establishes secure and responsive relationships, forming attachments that help children feel safe, valued and confident. Children, including those with SEND, develop trust and reassurance through consistent interactions with the childminder, which supports their emotional wellbeing and resilience.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children are guided to understand their physical development and personal safety. Daily outdoor play, active learning and opportunities for climbing, balancing and exploring promote strength, coordination and confidence. Children follow good hygiene routines, including handwashing and toilet use, and are encouraged to cover their mouths when coughing. These routines support health, self-care and independence.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

The childminder supports children to recognise, express and manage their emotions. Children demonstrate increasing confidence in sharing feelings, asking for help and cooperating with peers. This helps them to develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing. Mealtimes, sleep and toilet routines are tailored to children's individual needs, which helps to support consistency and comfort. Children are encouraged to make choices, develop independence and practise social skills. These skills help children to be ready for their next stage of learning and everyday life.

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Achievement Needs attention

Children's progress through the curriculum, particularly in communication and language, is slower than expected. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not consistently receive the support needed to achieve well from their starting points. While the childminder understands children's needs, teaching and activities are not consistently adapted to different rates of learning or individual interests. As a result, some children are not fully prepared for the next stage of learning.

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Achievement Needs attention

Children are happy, socially confident and engaged in a range of play experiences. Children explore and are creative. They make pretend cakes, play with toy dolls, push cars, move around in ride-on cars and engage in role play. They develop independence through routines, such as self-registering, putting on and taking off shoes and tidying up after activities. Some older children speak in 2-to-3 word sentences and enjoy drawing, building and imaginative play.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The childminder's interactions with children are not always purposeful and do not support children who have additional communication needs and speech delay. Weaknesses in her understanding of the quality of teaching and curriculum implementation limit the progress children make overall. The childminder knows the children well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, but she does not adapt teaching effectively to meet different starting points or emerging needs. Assessment is not used well enough to check what children know and can do or to tailor teaching. As a result, some children, including those facing barriers to learning, do not make the progress they are capable of making.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The childminder has an understanding of the curriculum and holds some ambition for children's learning. She begins to recognise the importance of conversation and provides children with time to think and respond, which supports their confidence and enjoyment of learning to some extent. However, interactions are not always purposeful and do not generally support children with additional communication needs. Weaknesses in her understanding of the quality of teaching and curriculum implementation limit the progress children make overall.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The curriculum broadly meets the learning and development requirements of the early years foundation stage, with a focus on children's physical, personal, social and emotional development. Children benefit from daily outdoor activity, nurturing care and secure routines. However, the curriculum is not sufficiently well designed or sequenced to support consistent progress in all areas of learning, particularly communication, early mathematics and literacy.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The childminder does not identify and assess children's individual needs quickly or accurately enough. Systems to recognise emerging or changing needs are not fully effective, which means some children do not receive timely support to promote their learning and wellbeing. The childminder makes some adjustments to reduce barriers to learning, but these are not sufficiently well planned or reviewed. Adjustments and adaptations are not consistently matched to children's individual needs and do not evolve as needs change. As a result, inclusive practice does not consistently support children to make typical progress, particularly those who require additional help.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The childminder does not monitor children's progress closely enough or review the effectiveness of the support provided. She does not always evaluate the impact of strategies used or use assessment information to adapt practice. Consequently, she does not have a clear understanding of how well children are progressing or whether support is improving outcomes.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The childminder's knowledge of special educational needs and/or disabilities is limited, and she does not undertake relevant training to strengthen her practice. While relationships with families are positive, engagement with professionals and external agencies is underdeveloped. This does not help children to get the support they need in a timely way to help them make progress.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The childminder is committed to providing an inclusive environment where children feel safe, welcomed and valued. However, her practices are not yet having the desired impact on children's progress and readiness for their next stage of learning.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The childminder begins to demonstrate an understanding of her setting's context and maintains stable day-to-day operations. While the childminder recognises the setting's strengths, actions to identify and address weaknesses are not always precise. The underlying causes of issues are not consistently explored, limiting the impact of improvements the childminder makes.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The childminder has started to construct and deliver a curriculum, which incorporates the 7 areas of learning. However, this is not sufficiently tailored or adapted to meet the varying needs of the children in her care, therefore children's progress is variable. For example, decisions made by the childminder are generally made in the best interests of children. However, her focus on children who are disadvantaged or children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is not keen enough to help them to receive the targeted support they need.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The childminder accesses professional development to remain current, but training tends to be generic. It is not sufficiently focused on teaching, learning and supporting children with specific needs, such as those with SEND. The childminder has expressed a desire to improve her understanding of how to best support children with SEND but as yet, no effective action has been taken. Improvements in safeguarding knowledge and processes have been made, including updated procedures following risk assessments, and these are embedded across the childminder's practice.

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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

The childminder does not monitor progress well enough or adapt teaching to meet children's individual needs. As a result, some children do not receive the targeted support they need for their communication and language, which limits their progress. Generally, children can communicate their basic needs and attempt to explain what they know. However, the development of communication skills does not progress at the expected rate to support the desired level of communication due to gaps in assessment and teaching.

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

Children enjoy learning in the childminder's home and engage in a range of activities. They show curiosity and concentration as they paint pine cones collected during woodland walks and explore creative play, such as making pretend cakes from salt dough. These experiences help children develop age-appropriate physical skills, including hand strength, coordination and early mark making. Children confidently use pens and tools. Daily outings to local parks and regular walks support children's physical development, independence and understanding of the natural world.

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

Children show they feel safe, welcome and valued. The childminder provides a warm, nurturing environment where children form secure attachments and seek comfort and reassurance when needed. Children develop confidence, learn to express preferences, make simple choices and show a sense of belonging within the setting. Positive relationships between children encourage cooperation, imagination and social skills through shared role play.

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

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are typically included in all aspects of the setting. The childminder creates activities that are generally accessible and begins to support children with SEND to take part alongside their peers.

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

Children follow routines well and develop early self-care skills, including toileting and managing personal needs. Attendance is promoted effectively, supporting children's emotional security and ensuring they benefit from consistent care, routines and learning experiences. Children generally demonstrate happiness and confidence within the setting.

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Next steps

To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must take the following actions by the assigned date:

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Action Completion Date

adjust the curriculum to fully support children's development, taking into account the different rates at which children develop and learn 18/02/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve knowledge and expertise in how to accurately identify, support and monitor all children's learning needs 18/02/2026

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About this setting

Operating hours: Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 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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Action Completion Date

put in place arrangements to provide appropriate support within the setting and from other professionals to swiftly begin to close any gaps identified, in particular for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. 18/02/2026

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder, children and parents 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 is from 4 February 2026

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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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