Pre-reg tomorrow afternoon - need some advice

[sing-low]

Hi

I have my pre-reg visit tomorrow afternoon and I am wondering which rooms I need to show the inspector? Obviously kitchen, play area, bathroom but what about my own children's bedrooms? I am not going to use my eldest daughter's room at all for mindees (she's 10 and would be majorly unimpressed if they played with her things). So will the inspector need to see it? If she will then it'll need a tidy! My son's room I know I will have to show as that's where mindees will nap (it's the only space there's room for a travel cot). I haven't done much to his room (just making sure nothing can be touched from inside the travel cot). I'm hoping that's ok as toddler-proofing his room would be a major project and not really fair on him either.

Then what about my bedroom? It's up in the attic so would not be accessible to minded children at all.

And finally, I have a basement playroom/office/craft room which again I'm not planning to use for minded children at the moment because it is totally unsuitable. But I might want to in the future (once it had been properly sorted - i.e. wine locked away, craft supplies inaccessible, bookcases secured etc.). Should I show this room to the inspector or not? If I don't show it to her does that mean I can't use it until after I have my first graded inspection? And if I do show it to her how do I make it clear that I know what I need to do to get it up to safe standards?

Thanks in advance for any help, Rachel

[clareelizabeth1]

I only had to show the inspector the rooms I was going to use. She did ask to see another room but only as she wanted to see the view from the window. I was very embarrassed as the occupant of room had left a weeks supply of his dirty pants on the floor. Now I make sure all rooms are glance friendly every working day. OFSTED weren't bothered by the pants though.

[Rick]

Yes only the rooms you intend to use need to be shown. Just mention how you intend to stop children entering those rooms if thy are not totally child friendly (safety gates/locks, for example). The inspector may look in the garden if you have one so if you intend to use one make sure it is ready for inspection.

Go round your house and be comfortable you can discuss your safety measures and how you intend to use the rooms in your house for your childminding business.

Good luck....the waiting is much worse than the inspection! :D

[shortstuff]

The best advice i was given is crawl around at the childrens height n see what they will. Ofsted wont but they are not used to your home so they will see things we are 'blind' to. The different perspective will give you an insight x hth

[sing-low]

I only had to show the inspector the rooms I was going to use. She did ask to see another room but only as she wanted to see the view from the window. I was very embarrassed as the occupant of room had left a weeks supply of his dirty pants on the floor. Now I make sure all rooms are glance friendly every working day. OFSTED weren't bothered by the pants though.

Thanks, that's a good tip! I'll make sure to quickly check all the rooms for underwear!

[sarah707]

How did you get on? I hope it went well! :D

[Rick]

........yes do tell :D

[sing-low]

Thanks for asking, it went fine! I was really nervous but the Inspector was very nice and did a great job of making me feel relaxed and not rushing me. The interview part was ok - doing the Are you ready for your inspection? leaflet beforehand (and re-reading it just before she arrived) made that part of it feel familiar. I'd made sure to have all my paperwork ready although finding the specific bits I needed was a challenge - so much paper!

The house inspection was where I felt I didn't do so well - some things I hadn't thought through properly but she gave some good advice about what I could do to make things safe. And then there were a number of things in the garden. Sadly, my beautiful climbing rose will have to go and I need to remove some wire from my fence. There were quite a few things in the garden but I think it helped that I started to remove the wire straight away - showed that I accepted her opinion (even if I didn't really agree).

So glad it's over, now just to wait for the certificate and advertise for some children!

Really appreciated having this forum to ask questions of and look at previous answers - it has been invaluable!

[Rick]

Thanks for your feedback!
Well done :clapping: