Finally - Ofsted are coming!

[FloraDora]

Well, Mrs O is visiting this week. My immediate reaction was 'finally' as I have been waiting for my first grading - registered in Nov 2013.
Calmly looked at Obs yesterday to get them up to date, but did family things too.
Got up early, calmly read inspection proceedure from ofsted, took DH a cup of tea, chatted about activities and jobs I would like him to do....all happy...visitors today, laughed with them about how many ofsted's I had had / had to front as HT , they told me "this will be a doddle compared" tried to agree but words wouldn't come out, jiggly feeling - they left.
Skyped son, " your not having a melt down this time then" was his comment ( I always appeared calm and collected but at home usually had a major meltdown at some point which my lovely men knew how to support - once I had to have a new tea set or I wouldn't have coped!) I laughed......but inside....
DH has sorted all my photos into files and put together a great slideshow showing all children and areas of learning ( photo hobby person so this was a relaxing task)

Husband says I should come down and have a sherry, appreciate the lovely fire that is glowing before dinner........
Uncontrollable hysteric rose up !!!! In my 10 minute meltdown I didn't know what my unique selling point was ( she said she would ask me this at the beginning of inspection- what makes me stand out above other childminders and then confirm it by observing!) why was I doing this when I could just be retired and visiting garden centres? I won't put up any more print in the environment, yes I should, no I won't! Why this week when the wind has battered the garden? I'm not replacing the odd sign that has been blown away, yes I will, no I won't I will just explain....yes I will. I don't know what to highlight in my SeF ( she said she I should highlight my improvements since last inspection before I told her it was my first. I said I could show improvements anyway and she said but you haven't had a grading so how can you ? Ugh because I self evaluate!) I could highlight....but I might waste my time if she's not interested as its my first? I will do it anyway, no, yes, no....yes.

DH " so is this the meltdown that you won't be having because you've done it loads of time and OFSTED have always said you are great then?"
Drink your sherry, look at the fire, it's calming, we'll go to a garden centre tomorrow if you feel the need ...but you can't have any new crockery and I will bring through some blinis I have made specially .....because I knew this would happen tonight"
That's why I love him.

[loocyloo]

:-) good luck. You will be fine.

I know I will be a jibbering wreck when my inspection finally happens despite saying 'what will be will be' all the time!

[blue bear]

Ah bless him, what a lovely family you have. Ofsted are not out to get you, relax if it was good enough last week it's good enough this week!
It is quite intense having them in your home but just try to relax and after the initial welcome, here's the paper work, thers the kettle help your self speech just carry on as normal as if hey are not there. Yes they will ask you questions but it will be fine you will see :)

[Maza]

It's dreadful what they do to us isn't it? Good luck. I don't suppose you know what day they are coming? x

[FloraDora]

Ah bless him, what a lovely family you have. Ofsted are not out to get you, relax if it was good enough last week it's good enough this week!
It is quite intense having them in your home but just try to relax and after the initial welcome, here's the paper work, thers the kettle help your self speech just carry on as normal as if hey are not there. Yes they will ask you questions but it will be fine you will see :)

Thankyou for giving me positive support - I do think I am a little concerned about it happening in my home! My school experience is 'don't ever really trust ofsted' which doesn't help !
Thanks again.

[FloraDora]

It's dreadful what they do to us isn't it? Good luck. I don't suppose you know what day they are coming? x

I have a new LO settling tomorrow and she said she will not come ( good sign...) so anytime up to21st she said!

I nearly applied to be an Ofsted inspector instead of doing consultancy.....how could I live with myself if a phone call can bring on such low self esteem!!

[mumofone]

I have a new LO settling tomorrow and she said she will not come ( good sign...) so anytime up to21st she said! I nearly applied to be an Ofsted inspector instead of doing consultancy.....how could I live with myself if a phone call can bring on such low self esteem!!

Good luck flora, let us know how you get on :-))

[sing-low]

At least the panic is now over and you can concentrate on selling yourself and showing Mrs O how wonderful you are.

You'll be fine, FloraDora. You know your stuff and most importantly why you do what you do with the LOs.

I would definitely highlight the ways you have improved in your SEF. Why not? As you say, you've had plenty of time to self-reflect as you've been waiting so long.

Good luck!

[Simona]

I have a new LO settling tomorrow and she said she will not come ( good sign...) so anytime up to21st she said!

I nearly applied to be an Ofsted inspector instead of doing consultancy.....how could I live with myself if a phone call can bring on such low self esteem!!

Take a deep breathy and believe in yourself...you know your stuff and you can challenge back as much as you may feel challenged!

I am totally lost as to why...generally...OFSTED has reduced the sector to this state of panic? it was not like that in the past ..Ofsted have made many mistakes and showed that they too are 'accountable and fallible' for how they behave and what they do under the 'we want to improve education' mantra

Look at the media recently and the questions being asked about the inspectorate.... we can all see they are coming under fire...even the Shadow Minister for Education has said that, if in power, his party will reform Ofsted ...and this is coming alongside teachers calling for reforms...if not total abolition!!:thumbsup:

[mumofone]

Well, Mrs O is visiting this week. My immediate reaction was 'finally' as I have been waiting for my first grading - registered in Nov 2013. Calmly looked at Obs yesterday to get them up to date, but did family things too. Got up early, calmly read inspection proceedure from ofsted, took DH a cup of tea, chatted about activities and jobs I would like him to do....all happy...visitors today, laughed with them about how many ofsted's I had had / had to front as HT , they told me "this will be a doddle compared" tried to agree but words wouldn't come out, jiggly feeling - they left. Skyped son, " your not having a melt down this time then" was his comment ( I always appeared calm and collected but at home usually had a major meltdown at some point which my lovely men knew how to support - once I had to have a new tea set or I wouldn't have coped!) I laughed......but inside.... DH has sorted all my photos into files and put together a great slideshow showing all children and areas of learning ( photo hobby person so this was a relaxing task) Husband says I should come down and have a sherry, appreciate the lovely fire that is glowing before dinner........ Uncontrollable hysteric rose up !!!! In my 10 minute meltdown I didn't know what my unique selling point was ( she said she would ask me this at the beginning of inspection- what makes me stand out above other childminders and then confirm it by observing!) why was I doing this when I could just be retired and visiting garden centres? I won't put up any more print in the environment, yes I should, no I won't! Why this week when the wind has battered the garden? I'm not replacing the odd sign that has been blown away, yes I will, no I won't I will just explain....yes I will. I don't know what to highlight in my SeF ( she said she I should highlight my improvements since last inspection before I told her it was my first. I said I could show improvements anyway and she said but you haven't had a grading so how can you ? Ugh because I self evaluate!) I could highlight....but I might waste my time if she's not interested as its my first? I will do it anyway, no, yes, no....yes. DH " so is this the meltdown that you won't be having because you've done it loads of time and OFSTED have always said you are great then?" Drink your sherry, look at the fire, it's calming, we'll go to a garden centre tomorrow if you feel the need ...but you can't have any new crockery and I will bring through some blinis I have made specially .....because I knew this would happen tonight" That's why I love him.

Hope you've lived to tell the tale Flora and that you're enjoying a nice glass (bottle!) of wine by now :-) x

[FloraDora]

Hope you've lived to tell the tale Flora and that you're enjoying a nice glass (bottle!) of wine by now :-) x

I only know it's this week or Tues , We'd next ! Wasn't today as I asked not to because I am settling 2 year LO who has never been left before and life is a bit traumatic for her at the moment.

Much prefer the school system of phone call at lunch time, there at 8 next day!

[sing-low]

I only know it's this week or Tues , We'd next ! Wasn't today as I asked not to because I am settling 2 year LO who has never been left before and life is a bit traumatic for her at the moment.

Much prefer the school system of phone call at lunch time, there at 8 next day!

Hope it's tomorrow so you don't have to wait too long!

[mum67]

Good luck FloraDora I'm sure you'll shine through it all. :thumbsup:

Your post reminds me of how I am yes I will, no I won't, I constantly have little arguments with myself lol

[Daisy1956]

Good Luck Floradora. I really feel for you. The O word reduces me to a quivering wreck, spent most of my last inspection on my knees because my legs were shaking so much, at least I was on the children's level. Most days I feel ready then I have a wobble, wish they would just come and get it over with

[FloraDora]

Mrs O came today.

Children are asleep and I am trying to write diaries - beaming. I am an outstanding childminder! She said the content was confidential but not the grade so I am telling the world........or the best support group I have found in Education anyway! - thankyou everyone, the threads on here make me self reflective and the combined knowledge of everyone has helped me become a better practitioner .

Now back to the mundane diary writing. I will write up my morning as soon as I can.

[FussyElmo]

Mrs O came today.

Children are asleep and I am trying to write diaries - beaming. I am an outstanding childminder! She said the content was confidential but not the grade so I am telling the world........or the best support group I have found in Education anyway! - thankyou everyone, the threads on here make me self reflective and the combined knowledge of everyone has helped me become a better practitioner .

Now back to the mundane diary writing. I will write up my morning as soon as I can.

Well done you :clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

[Maza]

Congratulations!! That's amazing news. Can't wait to hear more about it when you've finished beaming!

What a wonderful evening you can have tonight! x

[mumofone]

Mrs O came today. Children are asleep and I am trying to write diaries - beaming. I am an outstanding childminder! She said the content was confidential but not the grade so I am telling the world........or the best support group I have found in Education anyway! - thankyou everyone, the threads on here make me self reflective and the combined knowledge of everyone has helped me become a better practitioner . Now back to the mundane diary writing. I will write up my morning as soon as I can.

Fantastic, well done!! :-))

[hectors house]

Fantastic news and pleased that you got such a great result, lived to tell the tale and hopefully will be rethinking your views of Ofsted inspectors. :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: I know that before my inspection last November, I was a quivering wreck everytime I saw a withheld number on the phone but my inspector was just so lovely and put me so much at ease that I just carried on as normal. Hopefully you can pass on some feedback when you have come down to earth - at least you are allowed to tell people the grade, I wasn't supposed to with mine, but fellow childminders could see from my face what grade I had been given.

[sing-low]

Well done, FloraDora!!! So happy for you!

[Mouse]

:magnificent::cheerleader::happy banana::so happy::excited:

Great news! Well done xx

[loocyloo]

well done you! brilliant news.

I have been thinking about you all week and wondering!

I look forward to hearing all about it in due course!

xxx

[mama2three]

Congratulations - we all know you're outstanding , so glad Mrs O agreed!!!

[k1rstie]

Well done you!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mum67]

:magnificent: news Floradora congratulations :thumbsup:

[lisbet]

Congratulations - we all know you're outstanding , so glad Mrs O agreed!!!

What mama2three said! :jump for joy:

Reading your posts, I often think how much fun your house seems for mindees. And sherry and blinis with your lovely family sounds pretty good too!:laughing:

I look forward to your inspection feedback (once you've finished celebrating) and would love to read your report when it comes out if you feel happy to share it.

Congratulations again x

[mum67]

Fantastic news and pleased that you got such a great result, lived to tell the tale and hopefully will be rethinking your views of Ofsted inspectors. :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: I know that before my inspection last November, I was a quivering wreck everytime I saw a withheld number on the phone but my inspector was just so lovely and put me so much at ease that I just carried on as normal. Hopefully you can pass on some feedback when you have come down to earth - at least you are allowed to tell people the grade, I wasn't supposed to with mine, but fellow childminders could see from my face what grade I had been given.

:thumbsup: congratulations to you also Hectorshouse, brilliant to hear you got OUTSTANDING in Nov aswell :)

[Tulip]

Well done, so very pleased for you :)

[blue bear]

Wow :clapping: well done,you can relax now.

[shortstuff]

Brilliant news. Well done x

[FloraDora]

Thanks everyone for the positive support both before and after the great day :)

So.... Arrived at 9.30. Carrot cake baking already completed - shame, great activity!

She was very nice but as she settled she said I was going to be her first who would get a report in the new style - I knew nothing about this! It's going to be a really short report , the section about my practise is going to be 200 words only.
It's probably so that inspectors don't have to write a long report so more time to do more inspections.
Whilst she was explaining this my very happy friendly LO was backing off, looking unhappy, she sat in the hall on the stairs but luckily my DH was on his way down and sat with her, giving her insecurities some support. But My head was already in the ' 'he's not my assistant' so I have to be able to see her !! So the speech about the new report got a little lost. But later we talked about how this short report won't do justice to my practise, the old style would have a page about what the inspector saw this new one will be a succinct paragraph -(so I don't think they will be a valuable document for others to learn from, lots of my good practise ideas has come from me reading OfSTED reports! - but I should reserve judgement until I see it)

Anyway...she explained that this inspection was very focussed on me, my teaching( yes, she used that word) so most of the morning will be her observing me.
It was.
Every so often she sat in the corner ( where I had put the folders - wasn't prepared to give up my dining room table for her - lunch, craft etc..) and looked at paper work. she observed me all the time, I just carried on as usual.
So basically it was a whole morning of being observed, but I soon forgot her and carried on.

I laid my paperwork out in separate presentation folders rather than how I usually store it in one big file. ( tip from someone on the forum)

The main files she looked at :
* qualifications and training - Which is my CPD folder with a front page of my training - ( title, date, level of training, company delivering the training, evaluation /impact on my practise) and training I have booked on but not yet completed. My old practise still influences so I have an evaluation of each training, sometimes just a copy of the one I have filled in on face to face and I have a simple one for the webinars or online. She liked that she could see what impact training has had, not just attendance and certificate.
*Parent reviews: My parents had written me very nice but very detailed parent view reports - they based their reports on grade descriptors which I think helped as they weren't just saying that their child loved coming they said why and what my input was to their learning- they gave examples of this too - they commented on the progress their child has made. ( when I spoke to her about something she commented that a ' parent had referenced this ' - so evidence was linking up )
I use an online system so I was able to print off all comments from my daily diary and communications onto a document and I also did a brief one which referenced me positively. Plus a copy of the one questionnaire parents completed last summer.
children's learning : I put in this one: the last termly summary for each child - she asked me to show her a 2 year check - which was there - my termly summaries are laid out the same as my 2 yr check.
A print off of the next steps to show her I set them and a progress chart and graph ( produced by the online software which I love) for each child. Clearly showing their starting points and where they currently are.
policies and procedures - I am sure she looked at Safeguarding and complaints only - but I have a contents page to this so she could see what I had on the front page.
SEF and Action Plan - I think my SEF was too much to read ( she didn't say this, I just think this) she asked me to show her some parts ( I will revisit it now to make it more readable quickly! ) and I hadn't uploaded it - my old life system of 'upload it when you get the call' so they are viewing the very latest information doesn't work in childminding it seems because when she asked if I had one on the initial phone call I said I would upload it and she said it would be too late for her to view it by the time it was put on the system so just have it ready with improvements made highlighted ) she did look at my Action plan and discussed it with me which was really around the important improvements I felt were needed either in my knowledge, practise or enabling environment.

I had fire practise, risk assessments, medical etc...available too but I didn't see her really read these.

Observations:
I had set our resources that the 2 LO's today would love to play with and would give me opportunities to show that I had thought about their individual 'next steps' in development and their individual likes too. I wanted the children to show excitement and focus in their play and for her to see first hand some progress TODAY. So my paperwork matched the practise she saw.
My focus is always learning through play and I wanted her to see this so there were 2 adult led activities - the baking which she missed and a story with props, the rest of the morning was just me playing with them.
I often see childminders on here and facebook asking for good ideas for an adult led focus because Mrs O is coming next week or tomorrow - but an activity that is great for my LO's may not be the most suitable for someone else's and I firmly believe that the inspectors will be looking now at the learning that takes place, not the activity and that the learning seen is closely matched to developmental steps of the children they are observing.

That said, this is some of the play that I supported (or sat back from) today with a 34 and 21 month:


house with Sylvanian families and wooden people - stripping animals of their clothes is excellent for 34 month who needs to develop finer motor and strength in fingers. Lots of opportunities to talk, imagine etc..at both levels.
Babies, feeding equipt and buggies - schema enveloping and containing so lots of little covers.
Books, board,paperback,fiction and non fiction, on display stand rhyming focus books as that is what I am currently encouraging older LO favourites.
Mark making area - set out to encourage independence I.e diff types of paper in accessible drawers, whiteboards, clipboards, chalkboards. I use leaflet display stands for holding pens, pencils, chalks etc... Stickers are stored here - LO likes to put a letter/ number sticker and draw circles to enclose. Hole punch (strength) scissors, blu tack to stick on to display living room door ( only place that things go apart from a picture collage of children reading in different places that I did with ch ages ago in book corner and photos of children on a seasonal fruit and veg' what we grow in the garden / what we like to eat' picture on the kitchen door ( to encourage eating healthily) - no other posters. (s a t p i n on living room door they stick their work.)
I have suitable puzzles under a winged chair with legs and on a pouffe in the corner.
Dining table with cover on after breakfast for craft - child choice
Upstairs den - just as usual
Music room - as usual
Landing ( role play area) home with kitchen.

I had pre prepared a smallworld 'Australian' landscape ( tray with sand a deep plate of water a grass sample and a log from the garden for a tree) -to go with focus book- Rod Campbell' Aussie animals ( also in my Australia basket- counting, noises and action book - Over In Australia- Marianne Berkes, a non fiction Crocidile book, Two sets of Australian animals illustrated in book and a soft toy koala and kangaroo)
Idea was to play with animals - find out name from book, join in refrain etc.... 21m just loved playing in sand, 34m who is book crazy usually just wanted to put all animals in water - good sensory in the end with book as added extra - I went with them, dipped in the book and then just played. Today of all days littlest decides to play with the puppets ( I am not a puppet person, I use them, I know their potential at engaging children but despite millions of years experience I still feel stilted with one on my arm!) why today??
After snack - banana and apple - children cut up using Lakeland spreading knife for children and cutting knife ( love this loads) and then a small tree biscuit they made earlier in the week. ( wasn't sure what she would think of this, but I have managed to get oldest to eat fruit by offering a biscuit after and now she eats fruit, so prepared myself for defence explanation) - she never said anything - then my head worried about her just making a judgement so my mouth opened ....and we had a really interesting conversation around healthily eating, they poured water from their own jugs - developing independence.
I found myself pointing things out or talking to her about why this activity was out, by the end of the morning we were conversing professionally about the children's learning, casually and relaxed - then I realised this was probably a joint observation - she was so nice that we just sort of slipped into it in conversation - great skills on her part!
We went into garden.
Now my garden is my sanctuary and a bit of a hobby, so I only have one plastic item - a sand/ water tray. It mostly looks like a grown up garden but I have elements for ch that I can store or put away or looks ok because it is made out of natural materials. The ch go out and just play usually.
Today we took our apple peelings out for the birds, then filled up the bird feeders - then they ran, played and talked to Mrs O as she observed me interacting. They played with open ended natural resources in the outdoor kitchen, we have planks that they ran cars down, oldest fetched cars from inside after setting it up herself, youngest scribbled on paper on clipboard from outdoor writing box, they moved the peelings and oldest gathered /picked / dead headed winter flowering plants without prompting from me. Youngest took the lid of sand tray and filled lots of containers then put the contents on various stepping stones and tree stumps, pretending it was food for birds/ animals - the only thing planned was the bird seed for feeders.
She watched lunch whilst finishing off her paperwork, ch were lovely and asked DH if he had made them, when, how ...( they are rarely this question focussed ) .oldest reminded me I hadn't put on music ( we always have quiet music in background over lunch - I find it has a calming influence for my noisy ch) asked for Pachelbel!!! ( Yes!)

She fed back to me after lunch and I have grinned ever since.

The whole experience was actually good. The inspector was skilful at asking questions without making me feel nervous, consequently I was very relaxed and so able to play with the children as I normally do.

Rather long but thought it might be of interest for those waiting.

[lollipop kid]

Wow - great feedback. Thank you so much for sharing!

I am delighted for you - well done, and well-deserved.

(I may steal some of your ideas for my setting - hope you don't mind!)

:thumbsup::clapping::clapping:

[watford wizz]

Well done you x and thanks for the brilliant feed back.

[Simona]

I would bet £100 that will be 'outstanding'!
Told you...you had nothing to worry about!
Well done and good to know the new inspection reports are already in practice...can't remember what Nick Hudson called them when he announced them....something like short and to the point?
Give us feedback when you get it :thumbsup:

[Kirstylob]

Brilliant feedback and a brilliant grade!!! Well done. Lots of tips in their for those of us still waiting for Ofsted.

[Daisy1956]

Thanks for the feedback and congratulations on your grade.😊

[mumofone]

If an inspector is with you over a lunchtime do you have to offer them lunch? Just wondered what people tend to offer the inspector?

[FloraDora]

If an inspector is with you over a lunchtime do you have to offer them lunch? Just wondered what people tend to offer the inspector?

I offered, but she declined, she took this opportunity to write things and read things before my feedback. She did have a couple of coffees ( in lidded mugs).

[Rubybubbles]

Well down sounds like you had a amazing inspection

[mumofone]

Thanks everyone for the positive support both before and after the great day :) So.... Arrived at 9.30. Carrot cake baking already completed - shame, great activity! She was very nice but as she settled she said I was going to be her first who would get a report in the new style - I knew nothing about this! It's going to be a really short report , the section about my practise is going to be 200 words only. It's probably so that inspectors don't have to write a long report so more time to do more inspections. Whilst she was explaining this my very happy friendly LO was backing off, looking unhappy, she sat in the hall on the stairs but luckily my DH was on his way down and sat with her, giving her insecurities some support. But My head was already in the ' 'he's not my assistant' so I have to be able to see her !! So the speech about the new report got a little lost. But later we talked about how this short report won't do justice to my practise, the old style would have a page about what the inspector saw this new one will be a succinct paragraph -(so I don't think they will be a valuable document for others to learn from, lots of my good practise ideas has come from me reading OfSTED reports! - but I should reserve judgement until I see it) Anyway...she explained that this inspection was very focussed on me, my teaching( yes, she used that word) so most of the morning will be her observing me. It was. Every so often she sat in the corner ( where I had put the folders - wasn't prepared to give up my dining room table for her - lunch, craft etc..) and looked at paper work. she observed me all the time, I just carried on as usual. So basically it was a whole morning of being observed, but I soon forgot her and carried on. I laid my paperwork out in separate presentation folders rather than how I usually store it in one big file. ( tip from someone on the forum) The main files she looked at : * qualifications and training - Which is my CPD folder with a front page of my training - ( title, date, level of training, company delivering the training, evaluation /impact on my practise) and training I have booked on but not yet completed. My old practise still influences so I have an evaluation of each training, sometimes just a copy of the one I have filled in on face to face and I have a simple one for the webinars or online. She liked that she could see what impact training has had, not just attendance and certificate. *Parent reviews: My parents had written me very nice but very detailed parent view reports - they based their reports on grade descriptors which I think helped as they weren't just saying that their child loved coming they said why and what my input was to their learning- they gave examples of this too - they commented on the progress their child has made. ( when I spoke to her about something she commented that a ' parent had referenced this ' - so evidence was linking up ) I use an online system so I was able to print off all comments from my daily diary and communications onto a document and I also did a brief one which referenced me positively. Plus a copy of the one questionnaire parents completed last summer. children's learning : I put in this one: the last termly summary for each child - she asked me to show her a 2 year check - which was there - my termly summaries are laid out the same as my 2 yr check. A print off of the next steps to show her I set them and a progress chart and graph ( produced by the online software which I love) for each child. Clearly showing their starting points and where they currently are. policies and procedures - I am sure she looked at Safeguarding and complaints only - but I have a contents page to this so she could see what I had on the front page. SEF and Action Plan - I think my SEF was too much to read ( she didn't say this, I just think this) she asked me to show her some parts ( I will revisit it now to make it more readable quickly! ) and I hadn't uploaded it - my old life system of 'upload it when you get the call' so they are viewing the very latest information doesn't work in childminding it seems because when she asked if I had one on the initial phone call I said I would upload it and she said it would be too late for her to view it by the time it was put on the system so just have it ready with improvements made highlighted ) she did look at my Action plan and discussed it with me which was really around the important improvements I felt were needed either in my knowledge, practise or enabling environment. I had fire practise, risk assessments, medical etc...available too but I didn't see her really read these. Observations: I had set our resources that the 2 LO's today would love to play with and would give me opportunities to show that I had thought about their individual 'next steps' in development and their individual likes too. I wanted the children to show excitement and focus in their play and for her to see first hand some progress TODAY. So my paperwork matched the practise she saw. My focus is always learning through play and I wanted her to see this so there were 2 adult led activities - the baking which she missed and a story with props, the rest of the morning was just me playing with them. I often see childminders on here and facebook asking for good ideas for an adult led focus because Mrs O is coming next week or tomorrow - but an activity that is great for my LO's may not be the most suitable for someone else's and I firmly believe that the inspectors will be looking now at the learning that takes place, not the activity and that the learning seen is closely matched to developmental steps of the children they are observing. That said, this is some of the play that I supported (or sat back from) today with a 34 and 21 month: house with Sylvanian families and wooden people - stripping animals of their clothes is excellent for 34 month who needs to develop finer motor and strength in fingers. Lots of opportunities to talk, imagine etc..at both levels. Babies, feeding equipt and buggies - schema enveloping and containing so lots of little covers. Books, board,paperback,fiction and non fiction, on display stand rhyming focus books as that is what I am currently encouraging older LO favourites. Mark making area - set out to encourage independence I.e diff types of paper in accessible drawers, whiteboards, clipboards, chalkboards. I use leaflet display stands for holding pens, pencils, chalks etc... Stickers are stored here - LO likes to put a letter/ number sticker and draw circles to enclose. Hole punch (strength) scissors, blu tack to stick on to display living room door ( only place that things go apart from a picture collage of children reading in different places that I did with ch ages ago in book corner and photos of children on a seasonal fruit and veg' what we grow in the garden / what we like to eat' picture on the kitchen door ( to encourage eating healthily) - no other posters. (s a t p i n on living room door they stick their work.) I have suitable puzzles under a winged chair with legs and on a pouffe in the corner. Dining table with cover on after breakfast for craft - child choice Upstairs den - just as usual Music room - as usual Landing ( role play area) home with kitchen. I had pre prepared a smallworld 'Australian' landscape ( tray with sand a deep plate of water a grass sample and a log from the garden for a tree) -to go with focus book- Rod Campbell' Aussie animals ( also in my Australia basket- counting, noises and action book - Over In Australia- Marianne Berkes, a non fiction Crocidile book, Two sets of Australian animals illustrated in book and a soft toy koala and kangaroo) Idea was to play with animals - find out name from book, join in refrain etc.... 21m just loved playing in sand, 34m who is book crazy usually just wanted to put all animals in water - good sensory in the end with book as added extra - I went with them, dipped in the book and then just played. Today of all days littlest decides to play with the puppets ( I am not a puppet person, I use them, I know their potential at engaging children but despite millions of years experience I still feel stilted with one on my arm!) why today?? After snack - banana and apple - children cut up using Lakeland spreading knife for children and cutting knife ( love this loads) and then a small tree biscuit they made earlier in the week. ( wasn't sure what she would think of this, but I have managed to get oldest to eat fruit by offering a biscuit after and now she eats fruit, so prepared myself for defence explanation) - she never said anything - then my head worried about her just making a judgement so my mouth opened ....and we had a really interesting conversation around healthily eating, they poured water from their own jugs - developing independence. I found myself pointing things out or talking to her about why this activity was out, by the end of the morning we were conversing professionally about the children's learning, casually and relaxed - then I realised this was probably a joint observation - she was so nice that we just sort of slipped into it in conversation - great skills on her part! We went into garden. Now my garden is my sanctuary and a bit of a hobby, so I only have one plastic item - a sand/ water tray. It mostly looks like a grown up garden but I have elements for ch that I can store or put away or looks ok because it is made out of natural materials. The ch go out and just play usually. Today we took our apple peelings out for the birds, then filled up the bird feeders - then they ran, played and talked to Mrs O as she observed me interacting. They played with open ended natural resources in the outdoor kitchen, we have planks that they ran cars down, oldest fetched cars from inside after setting it up herself, youngest scribbled on paper on clipboard from outdoor writing box, they moved the peelings and oldest gathered /picked / dead headed winter flowering plants without prompting from me. Youngest took the lid of sand tray and filled lots of containers then put the contents on various stepping stones and tree stumps, pretending it was food for birds/ animals - the only thing planned was the bird seed for feeders. She watched lunch whilst finishing off her paperwork, ch were lovely and asked DH if he had made them, when, how ...( they are rarely this question focussed ) .oldest reminded me I hadn't put on music ( we always have quiet music in background over lunch - I find it has a calming influence for my noisy ch) asked for Pachelbel!!! ( Yes!) She fed back to me after lunch and I have grinned ever since. The whole experience was actually good. The inspector was skilful at asking questions without making me feel nervous, consequently I was very relaxed and so able to play with the children as I normally do. Rather long but thought it might be of interest for those waiting.

Hi flora, can I ask, with regards to your training file and your write ups on the impact of your training On your business what type of thing had you put?

Hi DH

[FloraDora]

Hi flora, can I ask, with regards to your training file and your write ups on the impact of your training On your business what type of thing had you put?

Hi DH

It's official got my report today, will be on Internet in 10 days - celebrating with a rare mid week sherry!

Reports are not sent in post anymore and are now sent by email for you to print off - this apparantly saves £61,000 a year!

The type of evaluation is only brief around these headings:
what new knowledge / skills I have learnt. What will I change immediately in my practice following this training? What long term developments will I implement? Do I need any further support in this area?

[natlou82]

I've only just read what you wrote about your inspection and wanted to say a belated congratulations and a big well done :-D your practice sounds amazing and has definitely inspired me x