Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2729897 Registered with Ofsted: 02/07/2024 Registers: EYR

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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 Expected standard

Children develop confidence in communicating their thoughts, ideas and feelings through conversations, stories and play. They enjoy talking about their experiences, answering questions and learning new vocabulary as they explore a range of activities and experiences. Children develop secure foundations in communication and language. They listen to others, join in conversations and begin to recall familiar events and stories. Children build confidence in expressing themselves and sharing their ideas with others.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children, including those who may need additional support or face barriers to learning and wellbeing, receive support to take part fully in activities. They generally develop increasing confidence, independence and a sense of belonging in the setting. Children develop the skills they need for their next stage of learning. They typically learn to follow routines, manage their emotions, build relationships, solve problems and become increasingly independent. Through their experiences, children develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to support a successful transition to school when the time comes.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

The childminder creates a calm and welcoming environment. She has clear and consistent expectations for children's behaviour. Children understand the daily routines and generally respond positively to the childminder's gentle guidance. The childminder promotes positive attendance and punctuality through effective communication with parents and carers. This ensures children benefit from regular participation in the curriculum.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children form warm and secure relationships with the childminder. They confidently seek her out for comfort, reassurance and support. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and emotionally secure in her care. The childminder knows children well. She takes account of their age, stage of development and individual needs when supporting their behaviour and emotional wellbeing. Where needed, the childminder adapts her approach to ensure all children, including those with additional needs, receive appropriate support.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

The childminder typically promotes a culture of kindness, care and respect. She encourages children to use positive manners and models respectful interactions throughout the day. Children are beginning to share resources, take turns and play cooperatively with one another. The childminder manages minor conflicts calmly and fairly. She helps children to understand their feelings and consider the needs of others.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

The childminder consistently praises children's efforts and achievements. This helps to build their confidence and encourages positive attitudes to learning. The childminder's clear and consistent approach enables children to understand expectations and develop increasing independence, resilience and self-control.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder has an appropriate understanding of her curriculum. She plans experiences that support children's learning across the areas of learning and reviews her practice to promote children's development. However, some planned learning is not consistently matched to children's developmental stages. For example, the childminder plans some activities that focus on concepts beyond the understanding of the youngest children. This limits opportunities for these children to remain fully engaged and make the best possible progress in their learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder begins the day with a familiar welcome routine. Children sit together for a welcome song, choose how they are feeling from an emotions board and warmly greet one another. These routines promote children's personal, social and emotional development and help them to feel secure, included and ready to learn.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder supports children's communication and language well. She asks meaningful questions about where children live, who they live with, their age and favourite colours. This encourages children to talk about themselves and develop conversational skills. During water play, the childminder introduces and reinforces new vocabulary, including words such as 'seeds' and 'press'. This helps children to extend their language through play.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder uses stories to develop children's listening and comprehension skills. She encourages children to recall events from 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea', building on their previous learning. However, the childminder does not consistently adapt the story session to meet the needs and attention span of the youngest children. As a result, some children lose interest and become restless before the story finishes. This reduces opportunities for them to remain engaged and fully benefit from the intended learning. Nevertheless, the childminder uses ongoing observations to understand what children know and can do and adapts her interactions to support their individual learning needs. She knows children well and provides appropriate support for those who may face barriers to learning, enabling children to make expected progress from their starting points.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder identifies children's individual needs promptly through effective assessment, close observation and regular discussions with parents and carers. She establishes children's starting points accurately and uses this information to plan support that enables all children to participate fully in the curriculum. The childminder includes the youngest children well in play and learning experiences. She adapts activities, interactions and resources so they learn alongside older children.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder takes effective action to reduce barriers to children's learning and wellbeing. She makes appropriate reasonable adjustments, adapts her practice and provides targeted support to meet children's individual needs. The childminder creates an inclusive environment where children feel valued, develop confidence and build a sense of belonging.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder monitors children's progress closely and reviews the support she provides regularly. She evaluates the impact of strategies and interventions. The childminder adapts

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Needs attention

her approach when children require additional or different support. This helps children to make effective progress from their starting points.

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Needs attention

The childminder completes relevant training to strengthen her approach and applies this knowledge effectively in her practice. She works closely with families and maintains effective communication with professionals and external agencies where appropriate. The childminder uses their advice to shape children's support, opportunities and experiences. This ensures children receive coordinated help that enables them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

The childminder does not consistently implement her healthy eating and oral health practices. As a result, children do not always receive clear and consistent messages that promote healthy lifestyles and support their physical wellbeing. The childminder does not implement healthy eating routines consistently. She permits children to drink sugary drinks brought from home instead of water, and snack arrangements are inconsistent, with some children receiving an unhealthy mid-morning snack while others wait until lunchtime to eat. These practices do not reflect the childminder's healthy eating policy. They also reduce opportunities for children to develop positive habits that support their long-term health and oral hygiene.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

Children confidently seek reassurance and comfort from the childminder, who knows them well and responds sensitively to their individual routines and care needs. Sleep arrangements are well established, and the childminder carries out regular checks to ensure sleeping children remain safe and comfortable. She also supports children's emotional wellbeing effectively. Children use an emotions board to identify and express how they are feeling, helping them to develop an early understanding of their emotions. The childminder creates an inclusive environment where children feel safe, valued and listened to.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

The childminder encourages children to protect themselves from the sun by wearing hats and applying sun cream before outdoor play, promoting their independence by encouraging them to rub it in themselves. The childminder provides warm and nurturing care, and children form secure attachments with her. Children's emotional and care needs are met well through the nurturing relationships they share with the childminder. However, inconsistencies in promoting healthy eating and oral health mean that children's physical wellbeing is not supported effectively.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The childminder is committed to improving her provision and engages in relevant professional development to keep her knowledge up to date. However, her monitoring and self-evaluation are not sufficiently robust to identify when established policies are not consistently implemented in practice. The childminder has clear plans for the future development of her provision, including creating a dedicated garden room to extend children's learning opportunities and recruiting an assistant to increase the capacity of the setting. She understands many of the strengths of her provision and maintains positive partnerships with parents and carers. She communicates effectively with families, shares information about children's learning and wellbeing and works with other professionals when required to support children's individual needs. These partnerships contribute to continuity in children's care and learning.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Although the childminder has comprehensive policies and procedures in place, she does not monitor their implementation effectively enough to ensure that practice consistently reflects her stated expectations. Consequently, weaknesses in day-to-day practice have not been identified through self-evaluation or addressed through targeted improvement planning. This limits the effectiveness of leadership and means that opportunities to strengthen children's experiences and promote consistently high standards are missed.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The childminder meets her statutory responsibilities and demonstrates a positive commitment to professional development. However, she has not strengthened her quality assurance processes sufficiently to ensure that all aspects of the provision are monitored effectively and that improvements are implemented promptly to secure consistently positive outcomes for children.

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

Although children benefit from a broad range of learning experiences, they do not consistently receive clear messages about healthy eating and oral health. As a result, children do not develop a secure understanding of healthy lifestyles. Children enjoy a calm and welcoming environment where they feel safe, secure and valued. They develop warm relationships with the childminder and confidently explore their surroundings, returning to her for reassurance and support when needed. The atmosphere is relaxed yet purposeful, enabling children to engage happily in their play.

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

Children benefit from spending plenty of time outdoors, where they develop their physical skills, confidence and curiosity. They explore water play using flowers, orange slices and pipettes, strengthening their coordination while investigating how materials move and change. They balance on stepping stones, paddle in water and ride tricycles. This develops children's balance, strength and spatial awareness. Children become curious about the natural world as they search for bugs, count what they find and discuss aeroplanes flying overhead. They also dig in the sand and care for plants. This supports children to develop

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About this setting

early mathematical skills, an understanding of the natural world and a sense of responsibility.

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About this setting

Children use real and natural resources to extend their imaginations and thinking. They create pretend vegetable soup using fresh produce and water. Children develop their language, creativity and confidence as they describe textures, smells and their ideas. Indoors, children enjoy mark making with chalk and engage in imaginative play with farm animals, vehicles and small-world resources. These experiences help children to develop early literacy skills, problem-solving and sustained concentration.

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About this setting

Children generally behave well. They learn to share, take turns and resolve minor disagreements with support from the childminder. Children develop confidence, resilience and independence through a broad range of enjoyable experiences. They make steady progress in their learning and prepare them for the next stage of their development.

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Next steps

To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the following action by the assigned date:

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Action Completion Date

improve the implementation and monitoring of policies, particularly those relating to healthy eating and oral health, so that all children consistently receive clear messages that promote healthy lifestyles and their wellbeing 15/07/2026

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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. Unique reference number (URN): 2729897

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About this inspection

Operating hours: Monday,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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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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