Jones, Akasha Lauren

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2835075 Registered with Ofsted: 01/07/2025 Registers: EYR, CCR

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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 make rapid progress in all areas of learning, particularly in their communication and language development. Children speak clearly, with confidence, and have an expansive vocabulary. Children hold conversations, respectfully taking turns, listening, and answering and asking questions. Children demonstrate high levels of independence for their age and stage of development. Children show perseverance and high levels of engagement at what they set out to do because the teaching, environment and activities meticulously meet their needs. Children show confidence and independence at snack time knowing when to wash their hands, how to cut their fruit and when they need drinks throughout the day. This supports the development of self-help skills and in preparation for their eventual move to school. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or barriers to their learning, thrive.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder possesses a remarkable insight into the unique personalities of each child, allowing her to establish secure and trusting relationships that emphasise clear and consistent boundaries and expectations. She consistently communicates important messages to the children, such as the need to walk indoors, and explains the reasons behind these rules to ensure their safety. Additionally, the childminder is highly effective at nurturing children's emotional development and continually encourages kindness and respect. This approach is further enhanced by the books and stories she shares, which help children develop empathy for different situations they might encounter.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder acts as a positive and inspiring role model. In all her actions, she remains calm and approachable, showcasing expected behaviours in children, such as using 'please' and 'thank you', and displaying good manners during snack and lunch times. The well- structured and familiar routines help children build confidence and independence. For instance, children are aware of when it is snack time and understand they need to wash their hands. The seamless routines allow children to consistently transition smoothly throughout the day. The childminder has established systems to track children's attendance and absences. She encourages regular attendance and highlights its importance for children's outcomes and their readiness for school. If children miss their scheduled sessions, she reaches out to families to check on their wellbeing.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children flourish under the attentive care of the nurturing childminder. She thoughtfully organises settling-in sessions with parents to collect comprehensive information about each child, which serves as the foundation for her dedication to establishing trusting and professional relationships with families. The childminder fosters warm and trusting connections with every child, enabling them to feel safe, secure, and confident in their environment. Children express and exhibit a sense of belonging and warmth in the childminder's company and her attentiveness to the children supports them in thriving in her care. In every interaction and daily routine, the childminder imparts knowledge about healthy habits to the children. She promotes their physical health by taking them outdoors to the garden, local parks and interesting places such as farms and museums. Collaborating closely with parents, she helps children develop self-care skills, including toileting.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Throughout the day, the childminder offers nutritious meals and drinks, partnering with parents to ensure that lunch boxes are both healthy and balanced. Additionally, she educates children about food waste and encourages them to recycle uneaten food items, such as the stalks of their strawberries. Children excitedly talk about the apple tree in the garden and what they want to create next. They remember their past experience of making apple flapjacks. This shows how they draw on their memories and enthusiastically plan together for their next baking experience.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children are offered a wealth of hands-on, appropriate experiences to learn about the wider world. For example, she talks to parents to gather insights about their faiths, religions and what is significant to them as a family. She then incorporates this knowledge into her curriculum. For instance, she teaches children that not every faith celebrates Christmas and what cultural events they observe instead.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder takes great care in structuring her curriculum. She skilfully connects her teaching themes and the environment to children's prior experiences, interests or the skills they are currently developing. This method encourages children's deep engagement and curiosity. For example, in anticipation of children learning to grasp writing instruments, the environment is intentionally designed to enhance their physical abilities and strengthen their hand muscles. She includes activities such as using water bottles to allow children to practise pulling levers to hit targets, along with stampers, hole punches and numerous chances for children to make marks on a large-scale using chalks.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder is an adept educator. She takes time to reflect on her teaching techniques and is quick to modify her approach to ensure children strengthen their learning and gain new skills. Her monitoring and assessment of children's capabilities and their next steps play a crucial role in this process. The childminder enhances children's play and introduces challenges in motivating ways that inspire them. For instance, while children are playing with cars on the mat, she discusses the different signs they will encounter in their surroundings to ensure their safety, skilfully engaging them in conversations that showcase their existing knowledge. The childminder provides ample individual attention to each child and employs thoughtful questioning along with engaging discussions to bolster their communication and language abilities. This is further enriched by the children's enthusiasm for books and

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder shows a remarkable dedication to inclusion. She has a deep understanding of her families and maintains effective communication and secure relationships with them. Her robust observations and assessments allow her to quickly and accurately recognise when children require extra support. She collaborates closely with parents, offering them consistent updates on their children's learning and development, along with practical strategies to enhance learning at home.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder understands how crucial it is to seek assistance from external agencies and to apply extra strategies to cater to each child's unique needs. She has a remarkable ability to recognise when children and their families might need brief interventions and extra help, especially when challenges affect their home environment. For example, she consults with fellow local childminders to gather their opinions on books and resources that can aid children in navigating life events, to support their emotional development.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder continually modifies her teaching strategies to accommodate the diverse needs of the children. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, benefit from a well-structured curriculum and environment. Together with her high-quality interactions, this ensures that every child is making excellent progress from their starting points.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder has a secure understanding of how to use additional funding to address gaps in children's learning and development or to support their wellbeing.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder is highly reflective and dedicated to continuously enhancing her practice. She actively pursues high-quality training to ensure she can cater to the needs of every child. For instance, she is currently working on a qualification about how to enhance children's curiosity, which is her preferred teaching style. She frequently assesses her provision and utilises evaluations and children's interests to plan her next offerings. For example, with upcoming funding from the local authority, she intends to improve the outdoor area by providing a variety of open-ended resources for children to create obstacle courses, which will help them further develop their physical skills, coordination and balance. Additionally, she collaborates with other local childminders for support and to exchange ideas.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Partnerships with parents are commendable. The childminder regularly shares updates and tips to aid parents in fostering their children's learning at home. These solid relationships also ensure a coordinated effort in supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, along with those who experience barriers in their learning and development.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder has established strategies to assist children who are moving on to school. For instance, she focuses on preparing them for school readiness by promoting independence, nurturing their emotional growth, and taking the time to discuss what they can expect, helping to alleviate their worries. Additionally, she ensures that each child feels supported during this significant transition, making the process smoother and more comfortable for them.

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

Children thrive in the warm, welcoming and inclusive environment the childminder provides. Children build secure bonds with the childminder and benefit from her very caring and understanding manner. Children show complete ease and high levels of wellbeing, as they select their own resources and engage in the well-planned activities that the childminder provides to embed children's learning and support their next steps in development. As a result of the precisely planned curriculum and activities for children, they show remarkable levels of concentration at what they set out to achieve. For example, children show delight at using water squirters to develop their hand muscles to wash away chalk flames from a target.

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

Children benefit from a rich and engaging curriculum that supports all areas of development. The childminder skilfully makes the most of all opportunities to challenge children's thinking based on their current interests and next steps in development. She knows the children incredibly well and has formed strong and secure connections with parents, which enables her to adapt her environment and curriculum to support children who may face barriers to their learning, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The childminder places an importance on attendance and works with parents to ensure children are receiving their full entitlement.

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

The childminder's engagement with the children is remarkably effective. She seamlessly plays and interacts with them, demonstrating rich vocabulary and mathematical concepts. For instance, during snack time, she points out the strawberries they are eating and compares their sizes, introducing terms like 'enormous'. This supports their rapidly

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About this setting

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 17:00 developing communication and language skills. Children demonstrate they are competent communicators. Additionally, the childminder adeptly utilises spontaneous moments to enhance the children's learning. For example, after the children discovered a frog in the garden, she designed a sensory activity using chia seeds and water to mimic frog spawn, helping them learn about life cycles.

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About this setting

Children benefit from outside play and physical challenge. They navigate the outside space with ease and confidence and thoroughly enjoy the sensory resources and opportunities to move their bodies to develop their strength and coordination. This, paired with the regular trips to the park, enables children to practise taking safe risks as they learn how their bodies move.

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Next steps

The childminder should ensure continued improvement in the setting's successful work, including reducing any 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, parents 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. Local authority: Kent

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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. 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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