Rhoades, Michaela Gemma Jameela

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2812207 Registered with Ofsted: 07/01/2025 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, including those with barriers to their learning, achieve extremely well across all areas of learning, particularly with their communication and language. Older children confidently use new vocabulary and take part in rich conversations with the childminder and each other. While younger children build on their understanding and vocabulary, naming and repeating colours and animal names in their play. Children enjoy recalling previous learning, such as how they made yoghurt bark, and make meaningful links across experiences.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children are highly curious and creative in their play. They comment, ask questions to find out more, and share their ideas about the world around them. They show excellent independence, such as following their ideas during creative activities, putting on their shoes to go out, or preparing their snack and helping to set up for rest time. Children develop the essential knowledge and skills needed for future success, ensuring they are ready for the next stage in their learning or school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder works closely with families to ensure children attend regularly and benefit fully from the day's learning and routines. She builds very respectful, warm and supportive relationships with children and consistently sets high expectations for behaviour that are suited to their ages and stages of development. Throughout the day, she models positive behaviour with kindness, clear language and gentle encouragement. Children are supported to play kindly, share, take turns, and use language, such as 'please' and 'thankyou' in their activities and routines.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Inclusive strategies help all children, including those with barriers to their learning or wellbeing, move calmly through the day and show positive behaviour expectations. For example, discussions about feelings and the impact of their actions help all children understand why it's important to be kind to others. This strengthens children's emotional and social development incredibly well.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Routines are predictable and thoughtfully planned, helping all children feel calm, settled and confident. Children show highly positive attitudes to their learning. They are curious, show patience and resilience in their play, and are deeply engaged in activities, such as crafting their own robots. They share and take turns with resources kindly, value each other's ideas and invite each other to play.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder places children's welfare at the heart of her practice. She gets to know them very well and is highly responsive to their needs, ensuring they feel valued, listened to and emotionally secure. Her warm, nurturing relationships and clear, predictable routines, meet all children's needs and help them settle quickly. Children benefit from a range of activities that support their understanding of keeping healthy and staying safe. For example, the childminder discusses healthy lunch options with families. Children learn about how vegetables and fruits grow and try a range of nutritious snacks and home cooked meals. They learn the importance of washing the germs away before mealtimes. They climb and run in the garden, and walk on regular outings, while also learning about road safety.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder uses a calm, reassuring approach to help children regulate their emotions and feel confident in new situations. She uses strategies, such as signing and gentle explanations to help all children feel included and supported in the setting. This helps children, including those with barriers to their learning or wellbeing, to grow in confidence, curiosity and feel ready to learn throughout the day.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder uses her thorough knowledge of the early years foundation stage and how children learn to design a clear and ambitious curriculum. The curriculum is highly inclusive and successfully sparks children's curiosity, building on their interests. Activities are adapted skilfully so all children, including those with barriers to their learning, can participate and succeed. Learning is thoughtfully sequenced, with clear steps that help children progress from their different starting points. For example, younger children use their palmar grip to glue poms-poms, while older children learn to snip strips of paper with scissors. This helps all children strengthen their fine motor skills at their different stages of development.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

There is excellent support for children's communication and language, with consistent high- quality interactions. For instance, children enjoy regular stories and song times, and the childminder narrates children's play and recasts children's speech. She skilfully weaves ambitious vocabulary throughout the day and uses questioning to extend and deepen children's thinking. Children have plenty of opportunities to strengthen their mathematical understanding in their play and routines, such as counting their pretend pizza toppings, discussing whole and halves of their fruit during snack time, and remembering the order they completed activities, such as making yoghurt bark.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

There are a wide range of opportunities to strengthen children's physical development. For example, they enjoy regular outings to the park, local woodland and the beach. The childminder supports children's personal, social and emotional development extremely well. For instance, she discusses feelings through play and stories, and models sharing and turn- taking. Children also have frequent opportunities to socialise with other children at playgroups and outings organised with other childminders.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder has an excellent knowledge of the children in her setting and works closely with parents and carers to effectively provide support and ensure all children, including those with barriers to their learning, make rapid progress from their starting points. For example, she observes children carefully from when they start at the setting, and has regular contact with parents to identify children's needs early and provide timely support. She uses half termly assessments to review children's progress, agree next steps and support their home learning. The childminder works closely with other professionals, such as health visitors and speech and language therapists, to provide tailored support for children's needs in her setting. The childminder continually assesses children's needs, plans for and provides supports, and reviews the impact of her support to ensure it is consistently effective.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder is highly proactive in her approach. She uses her expertise to meet children's needs quickly and effectively, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. She uses tailored support, such as modelling speech, skilfully introducing vocabulary and recasting. She improves her support further by refreshing her professional training, such as attending a signing course to support children's communication and language needs.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children facing barriers to their learning or wellbeing are supported through well-matched experiences, outings and targeted interactions. The childminder understands how to use funding effectively, selecting resources or training that directly meet children's needs. As a result, all children are fully included and make sustained progress.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder has an excellent knowledge of her setting, with a clear view of the strengths and areas for improvement. She works extremely well to get to know children and their families, and leads with a commitment to ensure she is providing the best offer of care and learning experiences. The childminder uses her professional expertise to shape a high quality curriculum. She invests in her own professional learning and completes regular training, strengthening the quality of interactions and ensuring inclusive practice for all children, including those with barriers to their learning.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder places high priority on outdoor learning and community engagement. Children benefit from many outings and experiences in their local area, such as trips to local parks, shops, the beach and community garden. This deepens their understanding of the world, broadens their learning and helps to build their confidence extremely well. She values partnerships with other professionals. For example, she regularly attends playgroups and works collaboratively with other childminders, sharing ideas, planning together and creating joint learning opportunities for children. This network provides professional support, reduces workload, and helps to broaden children's experiences and strengthen their social development.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Partnerships with parents are excellent. For instance, the childminder communicates daily through messages, photos and learning updates, sharing children's progress and next steps clearly. Parents feel valued and involved. This supports consistency between children's home and the setting.

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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 form warm, trusting relationships with the childminder and are highly confident, happy and settled in her nurturing care. For example, they laugh, joke and enjoy playing and chatting with the childminder as well as snuggling in for cosy story times. Families are warmly welcomed into the setting. The childminder builds excellent partnerships with parents to ensure they feel included and involved in their children's learning. This approach strengthens children's wellbeing and sense of security and belonging. Children's attendance

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Inspector:

Sophia Malcolm is promoted well, helping them benefit from the rich experiences available to them every day.

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Inspector:

All children, including those with barriers to their learning, receive targeted support from the moment they start at the setting. This helps all children make rapid progress. Children also thrive socially. They play kindly, share resources and use their words to express their feelings. They enjoy sharing their play with the childminder and each other, such as proudly showing their pretend play-dough pizza creations and excitedly chatting about the toppings they have added. Children's voices and unique personalities are valued. They choose their activities, enjoy following their own creative interests, they talk about their likes and dislikes and confidently share home experiences. This creates a strong sense of belonging and builds on children's confidence and independence, preparing them very well for the next stage in their learning or school.

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Inspector:

Children build a wonderful curiosity and love for learning about the world around them, making meaningful links with their learning. For example, as part of their book focus for 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', children observe real caterpillars growing in the setting and learn about the butterfly life cycle. They build on their vocabulary, using words such as 'caterpillar' and 'cocoon' in discussions. They delight in spotting different types of butterfly on their walk to the local community garden, and eagerly name different fruit and vegetables growing, discussing which crops grow under and which grow on top of the soil. These thoughtfully planned experiences support children's communication and language, and growing understanding of the world.

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Next steps

The childminder should continue strengthening the setting's already successful work to remove barriers for children who need extra help, ensuring this has a transformational impact on all children's achievement and wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder, the children, and took account of the views of 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.

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About this setting

Operating hours: Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00

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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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