We have been waiting for over a year for the phone to ring and just had that funny fealing in my bones they might ring now that everything is in upheaval after Mick's operation :panic:

When the the phone rang this morning and Mrs O said she wanted to inspect ME my heart just sunk! I explained about Micks op and asked if it could be delayed by a month just to give us chance to get ourselves back on our feet (after all they have kept us waiting!) She said she would speak to her manager, but wasn't sure if this would be allowed :rolleyes: She then ranted on about why I hadn't Ofsted been informed about his op :eek: (as if I hadn't got enought o think about!) I explained that for the time he was in hospital I was working within my own numbers or had my son working with me on days that I needed him, so didn't see why I need to inform them (if they were going to pay him sick pay I might have done :D )
I then asked why we weren't being inspected together and explained whilst I appreciated we had to have seperate reports, we work together as a team and all our paper work etc is done jointly. She told me that we all have to inspected seperately now and that our reports would read very differently :rolleyes: (parents will love that!) It also means Mick and I have to endure the stress of 2 inspections, which we really do not need :(
I'm sure there are other husband and wives who have been inspected on the same day since EYFS and I would appreciate any feed back on this. I have got our CDO on the case (who is very sympathetic as she is auntie to one of our mindees) she is going to check locally, but would be interested to hear from others on here.

Can't help Sally, but I hope you get this sorted.

Last thing you need right now is stress.

Sending hugs and positive vibes that Ofsted can show they are human and not just a bureacratic machine :thumbsup:

Good luck x x

sorry Sally I cant offer any help either but hoping you ahvent got the same inspector that I had.

I cant offer advice on informing Ofsted of Micks op either but since my inspection having paperwork torn apart letter by letter I've now learnt to inform Ofsted of EVERYTHING no matter how minor it maybe. Its all down to this Suitable Person thingy, Sarah707 will beable to help you out more there.

Good Luck to you both in the day, I really hope it will be put off for you, the main thing I feel she will pick up on is if you have had all of the children on your own whilst Mick has been off sick which I'm sure you are on top of, you know what you are doing and very good at your job so keep one step ahead especially if you get G.C.

Not had the reality of this yet so don't know for sure, by dh's first inspection 6 months after he registered was done when mine was 18months old, they said that it was possible for our next one to be done together, but didn't know anymore about the timings of when it could be.

I have seen on the internet a couple of husband and wife ones that were obviously done at the same time, but they could have been pre eyfs, i was looking to get an idea of numbers allowed and assistants at the time.

Good luck in getting this sorted, i would be interested in the answer!

sorry Sally I cant offer any help either but hoping you ahvent got the same inspector that I had.

I cant offer advice on informing Ofsted of Micks op either but since my inspection having paperwork torn apart letter by letter I've now learnt to inform Ofsted of EVERYTHING no matter how minor it maybe. Its all down to this Suitable Person thingy, Sarah707 will beable to help you out more there.

Good Luck to you both in the day, I really hope it will be put off for you, the main thing I feel she will pick up on is if you have had all of the children on your own whilst Mick has been off sick which I'm sure you are on top of, you know what you are doing and very good at your job so keep one step ahead especially if you get G.C.

Thanks huggy! It wasn't GC so small sigh of relief there! I certainly did not work on my own with all the children (that would have driven me to drink :D ) which is why I didn't inform them. We don't nomally inform them if we are off sick so didn't see why i should this time (we will soon have to inform them if we go to the loo!:eek: )
Bteam: I'm sure other couples in Herts have been inspected together, which is why I have CDO on the case. thanks for all your support.

we will soon have to inform them if we go to the loo!:eek:


Toooo funny!

I was discussing this with my Hubby and he also stated that we will soon have to email them to ask for permission to use the loo!

Thanks huggy! It wasn't GC so small sigh of relief there! I certainly did not work on my own with all the children (that would have driven me to drink :D ) which is why I didn't inform them. We don't nomally inform them if we are off sick so didn't see why i should this time (we will soon have to inform them if we go to the loo!:eek: )
Bteam: I'm sure other couples in Herts have been inspected together, which is why I have CDO on the case. thanks for all your support.

Yes i had another two couples in mind when i read, but thinking that it could have been pre eyfs, not sure why eyfs affects this though, the practicalities remain the same.

I had the dreaded gc when we requested a variation for dh as an assistant as she was the inspector that did my previous (and first) inspection (a cm colleague threw her off her premises!), well by the time she left the house both dh and i were going to quit because of what she said, trying to revoke two variations given to us over the 12 months before!

All turned out rubbish and had her boss on the phone backpeddling as if her life not just her job depended on it and asking what they could possibly give me to help us!!!!! Dont you just love them!!:rolleyes:

They told me that we would probably be inspected together next time and I'm not aware of that changing.

I wouldn't inform them if Nige was off sick unless it affected my ability to care for the children... I don't need him for ratios so that wouldn't happen.

I would be tempted to ask a general question of Ofsted enquiries about the situation with the 2 of you working together and see what comes back.

You don't need this stress, sending hugs x

Sounds like the inspector got her knickers in a twist about you not telling them about Mick's hospital stay (although why you should have to I have no idea :rolleyes: ).

If she comes back to you and says you have to be inspected alone I think I'd ask to speak to her manager.

Sorry, you're having to deal with this atm. Hugs to you both

Miffy xx

I work with my daughter and we have to have seperate ones although all paperwork is the same and we are both here together.

Thanks guys for your support and advise

Bteam: so sorry to hear you had GC as well :eek: I'm actually shocked she is still around. The inspector who phoned me did a friends inspection last week, said she was lovely and got an outstanding, however I think I may have upset her now, so she could well give me hard time when she gets here :panic: I wish now I had just said "yes come tomorrow" and got it over and done with, but just felt it so unfair when we work to such a high standard normally, to judge us at a low. Its just things like our learning journeys that need updating, bad that makes me feel bad:(

really hope that in reality she is fine and will understand when she sees you in person, and can see that you do work to a high standard, but there have been abnormal circumstances!!

It wont sound like much consolation but you know and your parents know how you work so any change in grade wont affect that, I have never once been asked what grade I am!! I would hold my head up high and show her just how much you do and she should see what you have done in the past and given a couple more weeks where you will be on paper, it is sad that having it on paper may be more important than the visual proof of you with the children!! Lets hope not, I have had friends with easy inspections get outstanding and they admit that they are no better than others who were grilled to get a good, it is so subjective to be almost pointless at the end of the day, (please dont take offence anyone who gets an outstanding because I believe it is an achievement, just some inspectors give a harder time/want more than a miracle to give it)

Best of luck, sure she can have no basis to hold an operation against you, I know a childminder last week had an operation and her dh was around (not an assistant), but because she was there just not doing much she never stopped working nor did she tell ofsted.

Not sure this sounds as I meant it to, but if i fiddle i will make it worse!:laughing:

really hope that in reality she is fine and will understand when she sees you in person, and can see that you do work to a high standard, but there have been abnormal circumstances!!

It wont sound like much consolation but you know and your parents know how you work so any change in grade wont affect that, I have never once been asked what grade I am!! I would hold my head up high and show her just how much you do and she should see what you have done in the past and given a couple more weeks where you will be on paper, it is sad that having it on paper may be more important than the visual proof of you with the children!! Lets hope not, I have had friends with easy inspections get outstanding and they admit that they are no better than others who were grilled to get a good, it is so subjective to be almost pointless at the end of the day, (please dont take offence anyone who gets an outstanding because I believe it is an achievement, just some inspectors give a harder time/want more than a miracle to give it)

Best of luck, sure she can have no basis to hold an operation against you, I know a childminder last week had an operation and her dh was around (not an assistant), but because she was there just not doing much she never stopped working nor did she tell ofsted.

Not sure this sounds as I meant it to, but if i fiddle i will make it worse!:laughing:

You are so right, thankyou

Hi. I work with my mum and we were also told that we would be done seperatly. However i rang ofsted and made a request for us to be doine together. Luckely our inspector was really nice and said that if by the time she came to do my mums i hadnt had a call then we would be done together, which is what happened in my case. I really dont understand why they dont just do them together in situations like these. Silly ofsted!:panic:

Best wishes with you. :o

Hi. I work with my mum and we were also told that we would be done seperatly. However i rang ofsted and made a request for us to be doine together. Luckely our inspector was really nice and said that if by the time she came to do my mums i hadnt had a call then we would be done together, which is what happened in my case. I really dont understand why they dont just do them together in situations like these. Silly ofsted!:panic:

Best wishes with you. :o

nothing suprises me any more with ofsted! however you would think it would be far more cost effective to do couples together. Mrs O hasn't got back to me yet so I'm asuming she going to leave me for a little while :clapping:
My CDO has researched my area and apparently in this area of Herts inspecting seperately seems to be their policy.

Hi

I work with another Registered Childminder although I'm not married to her, lol!

My husband is an assistant but he's never here, although he sometimes does a school run. Ofsted insisted on him being an assistant at my first inspection 6 years ago. Anyway I digress - Mrs O rang today to arrange my inspection and I asked if the other childminder would be done at the same time. She said "No, you have to be done separately" Then she said "that's a bit silly I might as well do you both while I'm there"

OK - so she is doing me in the morning and the other one in the afternoon. It means she's here all day now! Not quite sure how it will work as I do ALL and I mean ALL the paperwork. I will show her everything in the morning and then in the afternoon when she asks to see the other childminders stuff - guess what, it will be the same stuff coming out of the filing cabinet.

They don't inspect individual teachers at schools so I don't know why they can't do a setting inspection for joint childminders, like a playgroup.

Don't you just love 'em?

Just an update for you - we had our inspection today. The inspector was originally going to do me in the morning and co-childminder this afternoon but when she got here she just kind of asked both of us questions. There is only 1 set of paperwork so she could only look at 1 and she gave us feedback together after asking if it was OK to do that.

We'll read each others reports anyway so we weren't bothered. It felt like 1 inspection and although some things were graded differently on our outcomes it was nice being insepcted together as we had each other for moral support.

Goo luck!

Can't help Sally, but I hope you get this sorted.

Last thing you need right now is stress.

Sending hugs and positive vibes that Ofsted can show they are human and not just a bureacratic machine :thumbsup:

Good luck x x

Hi

just been on a sef training tonight, and another childminder was showing us her sef and observations she does, the reason for this is she got outstanding with the completed sef,

thats by the by

she works with her husband and had her inspection in february she said that they normally have seperate inspections with months apart, but this time they did it together,, one inspector came, but asked them questions seperately, one report

hope this helps