Ok Ok I know I'm getting ahead of myself here but........

[Vyx]

Hi Folks

From reading loads of great posts on here I am beginning to put together an awful lot, including things that Mrs Ofsted might be looking at at pre-reg inspection.

We have figured out what to do with the dogs, figured out what to do with the parrots and I know the ivy in the garden has to come up (it's mixed in with the roses but i'm guessing they will have to come up too - ****** big thorns on some of 'em).

Will Mrs Ofsted have any issue with the fact that the whole back garden is gravel? (big gravel mind). Do you reckon I'm gonna have to get it re-lawned?

Many thanks.

Vyx

xx

[Vyx]

Bump :laughing:

Has anyone come across this before?

Many thanks

xx

[singlewiththree]

Not with gravel. I have gravel over half my garden and under my playhouse on stilts so in fact probably not seen as that safe, the network co-ordinator was more concerned about it than ofsted, so I wouldn't worry about gravel just risk assess that you would check it for cat poo.

[Vyx]

Hi Paula

Many thanks for your thoughts. Hmmmm risk assessment on cat poo............do you think 2 large cat hating dogs counts as an action to minmise the risk? :laughing:

[Lainey Lou]

Hiya, unsure about the gravel but I've got ivy in my garden and Mrs Ofsted didn't even mention it. Hope all goes well. xx

[sarah707]

I would say you'd have to be careful what kind of resources you have outside and show how the children have access to a local park or something so they can climb etc. :D

[Vyx]

Hmmmmm

Fortunately we have a childrens park on the estate where we live.

Was thinking of putting play bark down (an idea nicked from the photos on your website Sarah *grin*) on some or all of the back garden, Martin seems to think we would 'get away' with putting the bark down over the gravel but I think that we will have to take the gravel up. We are going to have to section some of the garden off from the kids anyway as we have 2 fairly large dogs which we are going to provide a large kennel and run, at the bottom of the garden, for during childminding hours, and fence it off with a padlocked gate so the kids can't get anywhere near 'em (they're sweet and I love 'em but you just can't take any chances with inquisitive hands thru the bars of the run), so hopefully we can just modify a part of the garden.

What do you think?

XX

[edayhouse]

Hi
Pretty sure that you would have to take up the gravel before laying the bark!! a bit of work but .....
We have got playbark down in an area for the children - the playbark is alot softer for the kids to land on rather than just normal bark.

We have had no problems with the local cats being attracted to the bark but other folk have said that there cats love it - another problem maybe...

x

[Vyx]

Hey edayhouse (sorry don't know your name)

I was thinking that (about having to take up the gravel) but at least if we section off a doggy area then we will be able to get away with not having to 'de-gravel' the whole garden (it was gravelled in the first place because the dogs tore the lawn up :( )

Thanks for your input.

Vicky

[bongywongy]

Hi

I'm sure everyone on here was nervous when they had their registration visit but in general it was nothing to worry about.

Focus on reading the preparing for your registration visit booklet which came with your application pack. It has all the questions that the inspector will ask you.

Have you completed a risk assessment for inside and outside of your house and identified aread that may need attetion or safety features fitting?

You mentioned that your garden is gravel which I shouldn't think will be a problem. Make sure you have identified the gravel as a potential risk on your risk assessment. This just requires close supervision. As you probably know lots of children love playing with pebbles!

Your dogs need to be included on your risk assessment and fit to be in the proximity of children or in a space that children do not have access to. Lots of families have dogs so this is quite notrmal. You will need to make sure feeding bowls are kept out of reach of children and obviously you clean up any excrement.

The ivy will need to be removed but roses are noton the dangerous plants list although can be quite paintful it children catch themselves oin them. You may want to remove them too.

[Vyx]

Thanks very much for your input Bongywongy.

I am still very early in my process and, as in Cheshire you are not given the application pack until you have completed the ICP, I don't have that info yet, just thinking ahead.

I do risk assesments in work so don't envisage too much of a problem with those.

The Ivy is mixed in with roses and some of them are huge with ver large thorns so have already decided to take them up.

many thanks

Vyx

[mama2three]

my ivy covered garden ( acres of the stuff!) didnt get mentioned by mrs ofsted at all - just hoping another wont bring me up on it in the future. ive removed it from the main play area but would take an enormous amount of work to get rid of the rest!
My garden is on 2 levels - again she was happy that id assessed the risks and could minimise them.
As for bark - you could put a weedproof membrane over the gravel then a few inches of bark - would save you from removing it all.
At prereg they are less interested in what the risks are than your ability to spot and deal with them ( so my mrs O told me!)

[Vyx]

Hmmmmmmmm, mama2three, thanks for your thoughts. I may see if I can get away with just cutting the roses right down, like to the ground. They are big and I'm constantly catching myself on them (gotta 'sleeping beauty' thing going on) and they are unsightly.

It's encouraging to know others' experiences in terms of the pre reg visit and what they will accept, given the proper risk assessments.

Many thanks

Vyx