Wadkin, Kay Margaret

Wadkin, Kay Margaret

Unique reference number (URN): 2839644 Address: Davenport Methodist Church, Holmes Chapel Road, Congleton, CW12 4SS Type: Childminder without domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 19/06/2025 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Kay Wadkin

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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 Strong standard

The childminder has high expectations of the children's behaviour, which all children understand. Children are calm, settled and relaxed and use the exciting resources with maturity and respect. For example, children demonstrate that they know that before they swing on the rope swing, they need to look around to check that the area is safe. They then ring a bell to warn other children that they are coming. Children do this without being reminded. This demonstrates the well-embedded routines and expectations of the setting.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children develop positive relationships with adults and other children. They display kindness to others, readily sharing resources and welcoming others into their play. For example, in the role-play area, children independently organise their own games and take turns in playing different roles. Children wash their hands and line up calmly before lunch. They open their own lunchboxes and independently access drinks throughout the day, demonstrating their increasing independence.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder models respectful and positive behaviour and gives children plenty of encouragement and praise. Children are supported to persevere and develop confidence in their own abilities. When sharing a book, the childminder is full of praise when a child counts the number of balloons in an illustration, saying 'Wow, well done! I hadn't noticed them!' This supports children to be curious in their learning and develops their self-confidence.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder promotes the importance of regular patterns of attendance with parents. This supports children to establish positive routines and to settle quickly.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder has developed warm and trusting relationships with children and families. Children feel safe, secure and happy in the setting. Children who need some additional support to settle or to engage fully in the activities on offer are sensitively and thoughtfully supported. Children benefit from a well-planned, inviting outdoor environment where they thoroughly enjoy learning through play.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children are supported to recognise and talk about their feelings. The childminder sensitively discusses emotions with children, including feelings associated with starting school. This supports children to feel confident when leaving the setting and making their next steps.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The setting promotes healthy lifestyles effectively. Children choose to independently access their water bottles throughout the day at the 'hydration station' and learn about healthy eating. Snacks include a range of fruit and vegetables, and children enjoy nutritious home- cooked meals, which they eat together around the campfire. Children grow vegetables and then pick and eat what they have grown.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children are adept at managing their personal hygiene and self-care. They confidently use the foot pump to fill a bowl of water to wash their hands before eating. Children learn about

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Expected standard

exercise and how their bodies feel in different conditions. They are encouraged to identify when they are too hot or too cold and when they need to take off or put on their coat.

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Expected standard

Children show a mature awareness of their own and others safety. For example, children identify when they need safety goggles and recognise when they need to take care not to slip.

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Achievement Expected standard

Typically children, including those who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing, make positive progress in their learning. This supports children to gain the skills they need in preparation for their next stage of learning, including on to school.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children demonstrate their physical abilities as move confidently around the outdoor area. They display strength and dexterity as they grasp hold of the tyre swing and pull it back towards them. Children develop fine motor skills, when turning the pages of books or holding a pen as they draw a map of the setting. Children learn new words, such as 'giant' and 'huge' and use a range of vocabulary.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children are enthusiastic learners. They concentrate well and show curiosity and perseverance. Children develop important skills for their next stage of learning. They learn to share resources, manage their own self-care and become increasingly independent.

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Achievement Expected standard

Parents say that they notice their children becoming more socially confident when visiting new places and interacting with others, as a result of their experiences with the childminder.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The childminder provides an interesting and exciting curriculum. She follows children's lead and uses their interests to introduce learning in the moment. The childminder knows the children well and adapts activities where children need additional support or greater structure.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Support for communication and language is a strength of the setting and the area buzzes with chatter and laughter. Children benefit from frequent interesting conversations with adults. The childminder uses open-ended questions and introduces new vocabulary during everyday activities and stories. Children are encouraged to explain their ideas and extend their language.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Children enjoy a wide range of experiences in their outdoor setting. They investigate materials, explore mathematical concepts, develop their physical skills and use their imagination. For example, children work together in the mud kitchen to create a 'river' and a 'sticky mixture' and confidently explain what they are doing. The childminder encourages children's independence, both as learners and members of the setting. Children pour their own drinks, serve themselves cereal and manage aspects of their own care. They speak to others with respect and are supported and encouraged to independently resolve any minor disagreements between themselves.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Children access resources, such as books, which reflect life in Modern Britain and explore some festivals and world foods. However, this aspect of the curriculum is not as fully developed as possible. At times, this limits the opportunities for children to deepen their understanding of the community beyond their own.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder knows all the children very well. Children are treated as individuals and the childminder makes appropriate adaptations to meet their different needs. Before children start, the childminder gathers useful information about their interests and routines, which helps children to settle swiftly into their new surroundings. She spends time getting to know each child, enabling her to respond effectively to individual needs. She understands children's strengths and areas for development and ensures that all children feel included and valued.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive appropriate support. The childminder work closely with parents and other professionals, including speech and language therapists, to support children's development. This ensures that children benefit from a range of advice and support.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The childminder uses strategies, such as additional processing time and emotion cards, to help children to participate successfully. This ensures that all children make positive progress.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder knows the children and families very well and is committed to providing an inclusive and nurturing environment. The small size of the setting enables the childminder to develop strong relationships with children and respond quickly and effectively to their individual needs.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Overall, the childminder has a secure understanding of the strengths of her provision. She regularly reflects on her practice, in order to to maintain and improve the quality of education and care. For example, she is keen to further develop her skills and knowledge of outdoor learning. However, the childminder is less detailed in her review of some aspects of the curriculum. For example, when planning the smaller steps of learning.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The childminder is committed to her own professional development and regularly reviews her practice. She keeps up to date with changes in requirements, for example, to safe sleeping and eating guidance. Monthly meetings with her co-minders provide opportunities to discuss improvements to the setting and to share the expertise within the small team.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Partnerships with parents are effective. The childminder shares information with parents at the end of the day, communicates observations through an app and provides regular newsletters. Parents are full of praise and appreciation for the childminder. They say that their children are happy, settled, love coming to the childminder's setting and that she is 'amazing'.

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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 flourish in the care of this kind and caring childminder. They are well supported to develop warm and trusting relationships with the childminder and with each other. Children

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Inspector:

Sarah Gower-Jones have lots of fun as they learn and play together in the outdoor setting. They start their day with a social breakfast around tables. Children display good manners and excellent independence skills as they competently pour their own drinks, choosing between a cold drink or warm ginger tea. They chatter confidently to their friends, taking turns to speak and listening politely to others. All children's contributions are respected and valued.

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Inspector:

The childminder supports children to be critical thinkers and to lead their own play. In the large outdoor area, children explore the well-organised spaces. They work together using a set of pipes to make a continuous track to roll cars or water down. Children delightedly explain how they have found a new car and that it can now roll down the track. This demonstrates that children are proud of their achievements and that have a growing self- confidence.

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Inspector:

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make progress from their starting points. They are well supported to develop their communication and language skills and a love of reading and books. Children laugh and point at the pictures as they share a book about Paddington Bear with the childminder. They discuss the feelings of the characters and the illustrations, clearly enjoying the story. This demonstrates children's growing understanding of emotions and feelings and their developing speaking and listening skills.

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Next steps

The childminder should provide further opportunities for children to learn about communities beyond their own, in order to extend their understanding of life in modern Britain. The childminder should further refine systems for reviewing the strengths and areas for development of the setting, in order to raise the quality of the planned curriculum to an even higher standard.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder, co-childminders 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.

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Address:

Davenport Methodist Church Holmes Chapel Road Congleton CW12 4SS

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Address:

Type: Childminder without domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Wednesday,Thursday : 09:00 - 17:00

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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

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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