Childminder

Childminder

Unique reference number (URN): 2809184 Registered with Ofsted: 12/11/2024 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

Children make excellent progress across all areas of learning and demonstrate impressive levels of independence and confidence. For example, they put on their wellington boots, climb into the multi-seat buggy and attempt to fasten their safety harnesses in preparation for their trip to the woods. Children show increasing levels of curiosity and remain highly engaged when challenged to find all the animals pictured on their cards. They jump with excitement when they spot an animal. As a result, children develop their knowledge of a range of animals. Younger children learn about less familiar animals, such as badgers, while older children confidently talk about molehills, knowing that moles live underground. Younger children, who show less confidence to share their contributions than older children, try hard to involve themselves more.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children proudly share what they know and readily apply new words modelled by the childminder. For example, younger children explain that one of their electronic toys is not working because it needs batteries. Older children extend this learning through imaginative play as they pretend to take a shopping trolley to the shops to buy batteries. They then pretend to insert the batteries into the toy and demonstrate how it usually works. Children's enthusiasm for books and stories is equally impressive. Children, even those who are less confident, talk fondly, for example, about the characters in the 'Gruffalo' story and confidently recall previous activities and the key events from the story. This demonstrates their developing communication skills and secure recall.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder builds warm, positive relationships with all children. As a result, children develop secure friendships with their peers. For instance, while they eat their snacks, children hold hands and smile warmly at each other. Through play, children, including those who need additional help, develop turn-taking skills and readily use good manners when sharing toys with their friends.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder demonstrates patience and commitment to helping children develop a genuine love for learning. Children respond positively to her enthusiasm and develop confidence in solving minor problems they face during their play. For example, when younger children struggle to operate a water tap, the childminder sensitively guides them to think through possible solutions. This helps children develop their problem solving skills, as well as resilience.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The childminder carefully selects books that reflect children's individual needs, particularly those that require occasional reminders around positive behaviour, such as sharing. She ensures these books are easily accessible, and children independently choose them, particularly while waiting for their snacks at the table. They enjoy looking at the illustrations and sharing their recollections with friends. Children follow daily routines confidently, such as tidying away toys after finishing play. The childminder emphasises the importance of regular attendance and punctuality to parents and carers, recognising how these contribute to children's learning, consistent routines and emotional security.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The childminder prioritises children's welfare and wellbeing at the heart of her practice. She meticulously maintains accurate information for children in her care. The childminder demonstrates a firm commitment to promoting children's emotional development. She supports children to recognise and express their feelings in age-appropriate ways, guiding them to step away when overwhelmed, engage in calming strategies and reengage when ready. Through close relationships, the childminder actively role models rich emotional language. In response, children build trusting relationships, mirror her kindness and show genuine empathy to their peers.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children thoroughly enjoy their play outside in the garden and in the wider community, where their physical development and wellbeing is supported successfully. The childminder securely promotes children's routines, emphasising the importance of being healthy individuals. Children recall in everyday routines the importance of developing lifelong habits that benefit their bodies, such as apples containing nutrients that are good for their hearts. They happily run in open spaces when out and about, under close supervision from the childminder, recognising that their hearts pump faster. The childminder carefully considers opportunities where children learn to manage their own safety. For instance, children patiently wait at the top of a path in the woods so that they can see the childminder and she can see them.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder designs an ambitious, progressive and inclusive curriculum. She sets high expectations for what children learn and achieve from the outset. Carefully sequenced learning experiences build on children's interests, which motivates them and sustains their engagement. For example, recognising children's fascination with collecting natural items, the childminder provides them with bags as they explore the woodland, knowing children proudly wear their bags on their arms as they collect their chosen treasures to explore further when back at the setting.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder has a secure understanding of child development, which underpins her planning of activities that are carefully matched to children's ages and stages of development. Her highly effective teaching and high-quality interactions are embedded, combining explicit teaching with purposeful play to extend children's learning and close any identified gaps. This is particularly evident in how the childminder develops children's communication and language skills, especially for those children who are not as confident as others to express themselves. She skilfully models back-and-forth conversations, promoting children's already impressive vocabulary. For example, when discussing crabs, she introduces descriptive words such as 'scuttle', 'scurry' and 'sideways', accompanying these with actions to help those children who need additional support to understand their meaning.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The childminder skilfully weaves mathematical learning into everyday experiences, such as snack time. She introduces unusual equipment, such as a hand-cranked apple peeler that produces long strands of peel. She uses this exciting opportunity to model mathematical language to compare the lengths of peel, using words such as 'longer' and 'shorter' for older children, while helping younger children understand 'long' and 'short'.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The childminder has high and clear expectations for all children and confidently explains how she supports those who face barriers to their learning and wellbeing, such as children who feel less confident to express their ideas. She knows her children incredibly well and uses accurate observations and assessments to quickly identify gaps in their learning and development. The childminder addresses these through purposeful, targeted planned activities and experiences, including trips in the local area that promotes children's emotional and physical well. She recognises that every child is unique and provides sensitive, individualised support, adaptations and encouragement that reflect their specific needs. For instance, the childminder gently encourages children who need to develop their physical strength to take on responsibilities, such as helping push the multi-seat stroller. This effectively builds their confidence and physical abilities.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Parents and carers highly value the clear and consistent communication and successfully use shared strategies to support their children's learning and development at home. The childminder continually reflects on her practice and undertakes regular training to deepen her understanding of children's emerging needs. This helps her provide consistent guidance and reinforce positive behaviour. For instance, before trips to the woods, she clearly explains what children can expect and uses consistent instructions and gestures to help them understand and implement safety boundaries. She reinforces these clear messages more to those children who need it, such as 'if you can't see me, I can't see you'. Children learn to understand these instructions and some confidently remind their friends of the boundaries too. This helps children, especially those who need additional help, to develop their understanding of safety and take responsibility for their own behaviour, which in turn

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Inclusion Strong standard

effectively prepares them for their eventual move to school.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The dedicated childminder maintains an impressive understanding of her setting's strengths and areas for further growth. Regarding strengths,for example, she consciously offers enriching real-life experiences that effectively broaden children's understanding of the world around them and fosters a lifelong love for nature. The childminder actively reflects on her practice and prioritises continuous professional development, such as researching targeted behaviour strategies to elevate the provision she offers. To gain fresh ideas and expand her expertise, she regularly collaborates with other education professionals, peer networks and parents and carers. Furthermore, by directly aligning her professional learning with expanding her knowledge of children's individual needs, she prepares herself to support a diverse range of learning requirements. This proactive approach, for instance, deepens her understanding of children's social and emotional development, ensuring every child feels

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The driven childminder creates a nurturing home-from-home environment, where children thrive, and she makes a significant difference to children in her care. Parents speak highly about the education and care their children receive from the childminder, valuing her extensive expertise and clear communication about their children's development. They particularly value the regular, responsive updates, including ideas for strategies parents can use to support their children at home. Consequently, children, including those who face barriers to their development, consistently gain the essential knowledge and skills they need for their stage in education.

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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 flourish in this nurturing home-from-home setting, where the carefully planned environment ensures every child feels valued and appreciated for their individuality. They settle with ease and form warm, trusting relationships that sit at the centre of every decision made about children's high-quality education and care. Children feel safe and secure and respond positively to consistent, thoughtfully planned activities and personalised routines. This is clearly evident in the way children move confidently around the setting, eagerly exploring and engaging in their learning independently and together. Children's starting points are carefully considered, as well as their individual needs, strengths and personalities. All children, including those who face barriers to learning, are fully included through well considered adaptations to the provision. As a result, children make excellent progress.

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

Children benefit daily enriching experiences, such as woodland treasure hunts, which nurture their curiosity and enthusiasm for learning about nature and the world around them. For example, during woodland walks, children eagerly search for different pictures from a

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About this setting

Unique reference number (URN): 2809184 template of various animals. They show excitement and a genuine sense of achievement as they find and name the animals strategically placed along their route. Children recall facts they have previously learnt and ask thoughtful questions to find out more. They engage in frequent, meaningful two-way conversations, making the most of every learning opportunity. For instance, when they discover that ferns existed in prehistoric times, children eagerly make connections with their extensive knowledge of dinosaurs. They respond with awe and excitement, exclaiming 'wow'.

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About this setting

Children demonstrate a genuine love for books and stories. They readily cuddle up with the childminder or with their friends to enjoy familiar stories and information books. They confidently discuss themes from books, such as kindness and respect, demonstrating their developing understanding of positive relationships. Children's mathematical learning is seamlessly woven into everyday experiences. They competently count holes in resources, sing number songs, recognise numerals and count aloud during both self-chosen and adult- led activities. Rich learning experiences such as these, help children become confident, resilient and logical thinkers, who are extremely well prepared for the next stage in their education.

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Next steps

The childminder should continue her excellent hard work to ensure transformational outcomes for all children, in particular children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who may face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with the childminder and children and read parents' written feedback 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. Type: Childminder

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About this inspection

Operating hours: Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:45 - 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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