Davies, Melissa Jayne

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2803460 Registered with Ofsted: 26/09/2024 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 Strong standard

Children progress well from their individual starting points because the childminder has a detailed understanding of their development and uses ongoing assessment to build securely on what they already know and can do. Communication and language develop particularly well. Children confidently use an increasingly rich vocabulary as they retell familiar stories, engage in conversations and express their ideas through imaginative play. They demonstrate a genuine love of books and confidently recall favourite stories, while using mathematical language naturally to count, compare, recognise patterns and solve simple problems during play and everyday routines.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children who require additional support benefit from timely intervention and effective partnership working with parents, carers and external professionals. As barriers to learning are reduced, they participate fully in the curriculum, develop confidence and independence, and continue to build securely on their knowledge and skills alongside their peers.

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Achievement Strong standard

Across all areas of learning, children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for future success. They become confident, curious and increasingly independent learners, who are well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Effective partnerships with local settings ensure relevant information is shared, helping children experience a smooth transition into their next stage of education.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children benefit from calm, well-established routines that help them feel safe, secure and confident throughout the day. Warm, respectful relationships and consistently high expectations create a harmonious environment, where children understand what is expected of them. They confidently make independent choices about their play and learning, move purposefully between familiar routines and embrace new experiences with curiosity and enthusiasm. Children demonstrate growing independence as they pour their own drinks, dress themselves, tidy away resources and confidently follow familiar routines. The childminder consistently reinforces positive behaviour through clear explanations, praise and encouragement, helping children develop increasing self-control and consideration for others.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children consistently demonstrate kindness, cooperation and respect towards one another. They readily take turns, share resources and celebrate each other's achievements without prompting. They remain deeply engaged in their chosen activities, showing sustained concentration, perseverance and pride in what they achieve. Through sensitive interactions and meaningful opportunities to discuss their thoughts and feelings, children increasingly recognise and manage their emotions appropriately. This helps them build positive relationships and responsible attitudes towards themselves and others. Familiar routines, such as singing the 'Soapy Bubbles' song during handwashing, help children understand expectations and participate enthusiastically in daily routines.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Highly effective partnerships with parents and carers ensure routines, expectations and approaches to behaviour are shared consistently between home and the setting. Regular communication enables any changes to children's wellbeing or circumstances to be responded to promptly, helping children establish positive routines, settle quickly, attend regularly and sustain positive attitudes towards learning.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder has a detailed understanding of each child's individual care routines, preferences, family circumstances and developmental needs. She works closely with parents and carers to ensure sleeping, meals, daily routines and transitions reflect children's individual and changing needs, providing consistency between home and the setting. Regular communication enables the childminder to respond promptly to changes in children's wellbeing, care routines or family circumstances, ensuring care remains responsive and tailored to every child.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children develop warm, secure attachments with the childminder and confidently seek reassurance, comfort and encouragement when needed. Sensitive, responsive interactions help children recognise, express and increasingly manage their emotions, developing resilience, emotional security and growing self-confidence. As a result, children feel safe, valued and emotionally secure.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder successfully promotes children's understanding of healthy lifestyles, personal safety and physical wellbeing through everyday experiences. Children enjoy nutritious meals and snacks and take an active role in preparing snack, washing their bowls and learning why good hygiene is important, including how germs spread and why they wash their hands. Mealtimes provide valuable opportunities for children to develop independence, practise self-care skills and discuss healthy food choices. Children are also supported to use tools safely during activities, such as using utensils to cut dough while creating beanstalks, helping them learn to recognise and manage risks appropriate to their age. Regular opportunities for outdoor play and well-established routines that promote oral health and personal care help children increasingly make independent choices that support their own health, safety and wellbeing while developing the confidence and skills to care for

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder has designed an ambitious curriculum that reflects children's interests, developmental stages and next steps while ensuring all areas of learning and development are carefully woven throughout daily experiences. She continually develops the learning environment to enrich children's experiences. For example, recent enhancements to the outdoor environment include a dedicated reading tent with books and resources that encourage storytelling and conversations. This fosters children's love of books and enriches opportunities for them to communicate, create stories and develop their imagination. Alongside this, a mud kitchen provides rich opportunities for children to explore using their senses and engage in imaginative play.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Teaching is highly responsive and purposeful. The childminder uses ongoing observation and assessment to adapt activities and interactions to children's individual ages, stages and needs, ensuring all children access the curriculum and achieve well. She skilfully builds on children's ideas through questioning, modelling and conversations, extending children's language, challenging their thinking and deepening their understanding during everyday experiences.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Communication and language are threaded throughout the curriculum and promoted consistently through everyday interactions and play experiences. Carefully planned activities and high-quality interactions extend children's vocabulary and confidence to communicate. Mathematical language and concepts are introduced naturally through play and everyday routines, while children's personal, social and emotional development is consistently promoted through sensitive interactions that help children recognise, express and understand their feelings. Children regularly visit the local community, including parks, shops and the library, where meaningful experiences build on their interests, broaden their understanding of the world and bring learning to life.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder has an in-depth understanding of each child's individual strengths, interests and developmental needs, using ongoing observation and assessment to identify any emerging barriers to learning and wellbeing at the earliest opportunity. She carefully monitors children's progress and adapts teaching and experiences so that all children are fully included and able to succeed. The childminder works closely with parents and carers and other professionals, children's individual next steps are reviewed regularly and woven into everyday experiences.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder works in close partnership with parents, valuing their contributions when planning support for their children. She engages positively with external professionals and promptly implements specialist advice to improve children's experiences and outcomes. This is evident in the effective way speech and language strategies have been embedded into daily practice and reviewed to monitor their impact. The childminder has a secure understanding of how early years pupil premium funding can be used to remove barriers to learning and is clear on how to use any future funding purposefully to address identified gaps in learning, build on children's interests and promote their wellbeing.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children benefit from teaching and experiences that are carefully adapted to meet their individual ages, stages and needs. As a result, barriers to learning are reduced effectively, children develop confidence and independence and make secure progress from their starting points. The childminder demonstrates a highly reflective approach to continually develop her knowledge, including through planned professional development in supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This builds on the effective inclusive practice already established and ensures she is well equipped to meet children's changing and diverse needs.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder demonstrates an accurate understanding of the strengths of her provision and is committed to continual improvement. Self-evaluation is purposeful and directly informs improvements to children's experiences. Her reflective approach ensures improvements are embedded into practice and continue to enhance children's experiences, ensuring children consistently benefit from ambitious teaching, enriching experiences and nurturing care. For example, recent enhancements to the outdoor environment have created richer opportunities for communication, storytelling, imaginative play, sensory exploration and emotional development.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The childminder has established effective partnerships with parents, carers and external professionals, ensuring information is shared promptly and specialist advice is implemented consistently. Decisions are informed by children's individual needs and support is put in place at the earliest opportunity, helping all children access the curriculum and make good progress. Parents speak highly of the nurturing environment and the consistently effective communication they receive, recognising the positive difference the provision makes to their children's confidence, development and wellbeing.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Professional development is used purposefully to continually strengthen practice. The childminder actively seeks opportunities to extend her knowledge and keep her practice up to date, including developing her understanding of supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

Children thrive in this warm and nurturing setting, where they quickly develop the confidence to explore, investigate and become independent learners. They arrive happily, confidently choose from the well-organised learning environment and eagerly engage in experiences that reflect their interests and individual next steps. Warm, trusting relationships help children feel safe and secure, enabling them to develop positive attitudes to learning and high levels of emotional wellbeing. Families are warmly welcomed into the setting and their contributions are valued, helping the childminder to understand each child well and provide consistent support for their learning and development.

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

Children achieve highly because they benefit from an ambitious curriculum that brings learning to life through meaningful experiences. They enthusiastically retell familiar stories using props, sensory resources and imaginative play inspired by focus stories, such as 'Jack and the Beanstalk', extending their vocabulary, communication and storytelling skills. They excitedly search for insects during bug hunts, observe birds visiting the garden and talk about what they notice, developing curiosity about the natural world. The childminder skilfully builds on children's ideas through conversations that introduce new vocabulary and encourage them to think, solve problems and make connections. Mathematical language is woven naturally throughout play and everyday routines, while regular visits to the local library nurture children's enjoyment of books and foster a love of reading from an early age.

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About this setting

Registration date: 26/09/2024 Children flourish because their individual strengths, interests and needs are recognised and celebrated. The childminder has a detailed understanding of each child's development and uses ongoing assessment to identify their next steps, adapting experiences so that every child is fully included and able to succeed. Children confidently use emotion stones to recognise and talk about their feelings, helping them understand emotions and begin to develop strategies to manage them. Kindness and respect is embedded throughout daily experiences as children learn to care for one another, share resources and celebrate each other's achievements. They discuss which foods and drinks help to keep their teeth healthy and why good oral hygiene is important. Outdoors, children confidently climb and balance on equipment, learning to assess and manage appropriate risks within a safe environment.

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About this setting

They immerse themselves in storytelling, imaginative play and sensory exploration in the reading tent and mud kitchen. As a result, children develop the knowledge, skills, confidence and independence they need for the next stage of their learning.

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Next steps

The childminder should continue to build on her effective inclusive practice for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities by further developing her knowledge through professional development, ensuring she is well equipped to meet children's changing and diverse needs.

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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. Register(s): EYR

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About this inspection

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 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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