Couple of questions about the inspection

[Cazz]

Mine is going to either be this week or next (waiting for that phone to ring :panic: ) but could you just answer a few questions for me please?

1. I know you should look at their ID but do you ask them to sign the visitors book?

2. If I should need to go to the loo is it okay to leave mindees unattended with her (she'll obviously be CRB checked).

3. When I need to take baby upstairs for a nap should I take all the others with me or is it okay to have them in earshot (only takes a couple of minutes as everything is prepared in the bedroom).

4. Will she want to look at every room in the house (ie ones not registered)?

5. If she's here over lunchtime should I offer to make her some lunch?

6. Am I right in thinking that she won't be interested in my dd at all? (Don't know why she wouldn't though - she's adorable :D )

Thanks for your help - hope I won't have any more questions but I'm getting seriously nervous now!

[Pipsqueak]

Mine is going to either be this week or next (waiting for that phone to ring :panic: ) but could you just answer a few questions for me please?

1. I know you should look at their ID but do you ask them to sign the visitors book?

you don't have to do the visitor book thing - I don't have one
2. If I should need to go to the loo is it okay to leave mindees unattended with her (she'll obviously be CRB checked).I would just explain that you are popping to the loo - it what you do in a normal day

3. When I need to take baby upstairs for a nap should I take all the others with me or is it okay to have them in earshot (only takes a couple of minutes as everything is prepared in the bedroom).again see above

4. Will she want to look at every room in the house (ie ones not registered)?
she may want to have a look round the house - she will follow you around, shouldn't want to look at unregistered areas
5. If she's here over lunchtime should I offer to make her some lunch?
can do no harm in asking. I offered and made her a cuppa when she arrived.
6. Am I right in thinking that she won't be interested in my dd at all? (Don't know why she wouldn't though - she's adorable :D )no you dd won't count in the inspection but a good inspector will probably interact with the all the children. Just a tip - introduce the children to her and vice versa

Thanks for your help - hope I won't have any more questions but I'm getting seriously nervous now!



Good luck - just be yourself and remember your main focus is the children - just do what it is you normally do, she will have to wait and you are pre-occupied with the children

[Mouse]

If you have a visitors book then you should get them to sign it. There's no point in having one if you don't use it, but you don't need one.

I have left mindees unattended with the inspector. I have it in my policy that the children will not be left unattended with any visitors other than someone from our local Early Years team or an Ofsted inspector. I've left them while I've gone to make drinks, get snacks, take another one to the toilet etc. It's never been a problem and I've never been questioned about it.

When you go to take the baby for a sleep, I would tell the inspector that you normally leave the other children downstairs as you can still hear them. They want to see how you are normally, and taking all the children upstairs with you is not what you'd normal do.

My inspector didn't even go upstairs last time she was here. She said "Is the bathroom safe for the children?" I said it was & that was it! From experience they've only ever looked in the rooms used for minding (ie. not the bedrooms), but I have heard people say they have been in other rooms.

I've never offered them lunch. I give them a drink, but that's it. They've always seemed keen to get away before lunchtime!

They don't really take your DD into account, but won't ignore her completely! Once my son was behaving dreadfully & she commented on the consistent way I dealt with it (good job she didn't see me have a fit at him when she'd gone!!)

I know it's hard, but try to be relaxed about it. Good luck!

[Twinkles]

Another tip is to show them the fire exits when they arrive ( thanks Sarah :thumbsup: )

My inspector looked in ALL the rooms I still go cold with the thought of her looking in my teenage son's rooms :blush:

[Cazz]

Thanks Pipsqueak!

All my mindees only come 1 day a week and I've decided to keep my planning very simple this week in case she is here. My 4 year old mindee has to be in the right frame of mind to do any arts and crafts activities (and besides I figured the inspector would be sitting at the dining table where we would normally do this).

I bought a secondhand Little Tikes playhouse this weekend and cleaned it all up, then re-arranged my playroom and put it in there as the weather is so awful at the moment and I know they will want to play with it - dd has hardly been out of it since we put it in there yesterday! My planning is do some role-play based around the house and I'll set up a shop and have the ride-on car available. Do you think that will be okay? I'll be interacting with them and hopefully we'll have lots of fun too!

I really hope she doesn't want to look at the unregistered rooms - upstairs is a mess (apart from dd's registered room). My older children are "sorting out" their bedrooms and there's boxes and bags everywhere. The main bedroom is in a state as well as things have been moved from downstairs and temporarily put in there!

I'm panicking but I'll be so relieved when it's over!

[Cazz]

Another tip is to show them the fire exits when they arrive ( thanks Sarah :thumbsup: )

My inspector looked in ALL the rooms I still go cold with the thought of her looking in my teenage son's rooms :blush:

OMG you're joking - see my post above!!

Good tip about the fire exits - although that'll mean she will see the garage as well!!

[mama2three]

cazz she wont care about mess as long as its 'safe mess' !! in your non-minding rooms!
when my house was on the market everything used to get jammed into the car boot during the viewing , I think it may happen during inspection too!

[shelly03]

Am i missing something I thought the inspectors only look in registered rooms.

[HappyH]

Hi
I had my first graded inspection last week (such a relief). I didn't think to show her the fire exits but they are displayed on a plan in the hallway. She certainly didn't look in any un registered room (thank god! I'd need to do a risk assessment for anyone entering our bed room!). But what I would say is don't plan too much, kind of go with the flow, I had an idea for the day but the kids thought different. We ended up sat round singing 'little white bull' (Mrs O joined in) and generally I was led by them. She really seemed to like this.
Got a 'Good'
hope it goes well.
Helen

[~Chelle~]

on my third inspection she only went into the kitchen and dining room (have to walk through them to get the the lounge :blush: ) and she had a look out the window at the garden. She was mainly interested in the paperwork.

Relax and just be yourself. x

[margimum]

I was worried about the inspector looking in upstairs rooms (teenage boy!!) so put little catches on outside and inside of doors at adult height. Locked from inside if occupied and outside if not:laughing: :laughing:
I wonder if she was intrigued about what was inside?.... she never mentioned it:laughing:

[KarenM]

My bedroom houses the snakes - so I guess it depends on the bravery of Mrs O if she wants to go in there :)

[Cazz]

My bedroom houses the snakes - so I guess it depends on the bravery of Mrs O if she wants to go in there :)

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

May be a good way of speeding up the inspection!! :D

[TheBTeam]

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

May be a good way of speeding up the inspection!! :D

Aha, my living room houses my snake, perhaps she will stay on my doorstep!:laughing: