I have been working my way through feedback posts and checking through reports on the Ofsted website.

Inspectors currently seem to be especially looking at these areas...

• Completion of the SEF – yes, I know it’s not compulsory but it is highly recommended and there are more and more comments coming through from childminders who have been inspected saying that they didn’t get a higher grading because the SEF wasn’t completed;

• Inclusion and special educational needs and how these are being managed, including policies and procedures and any training accessed;

• Parent partnerships and how these support better outcomes for children;

• Professional development including courses, evidence of ongoing learning etc;

• Risk assessments including one for every type of outing;

• Safeguarding including CRB checks for all those over the age of 16;

• Working with other settings or agencies involved with children’s care and how these support better outcomes for children.

Your inspector might, of course, be looking for something completely different but this should hopefully be a start :D

thanks sarah your always here to help us il make a note of it. need to update sef :)

Childminders local to me who have been inspected said the inspectors were very hot on their outdoor environment, wanting equipment that would keep a child's interest not just a climbing frame, swing, etc...

The suggestion received was drain pipies attached to a wall so they could roll a ball down or pour water down, a huge piece of wood with lots of different locks to name a few.

I know, I know, I know it's our home not a nursery, :rolleyes: :laughing:

thank you sweetie xxxxxxxxxxx

I've just come across some more interesting comments -

- further improve the quality of risk assessments in relation to outings by considering the possibility of a lost child situation in each venue visited.

- the procedure for responding to an incident is not clearly identified for each individual outing.

- activities and resources to reflect positive images of disabled people are limited, thereby possibly compromising this area of their learning.

Guess who has an inspection looming this year :o :D

So do i but I have decided to review this the way I did with revising for any exam i do! I dont! Simply because no matter how much I did they will pick the one thing i haven't done quite to their picky satisfaction on the day!

I know that I am a good childminder and that what I currently do is sustainable every single day of my minding, stuff is always there or there abouts up to date, the kids have a good, varied and plentiful set of experiences to challenge and extend them and if OFSTED can not see that then i will not get too bothered about it, I say this because i know a large number of childminders who have received outstanding in my area and i have a good working knowledge of how we all work, and they are no different to me, and in terms of paperwork do not have some of the stuff in place and a lot of what they do have was mine and I gave it to them!

I got a good some of them got outstanding and the bizarre part is one got it with specifically the bits I had given her, she told me this, and yet my work only got me a good, and i dont have the time or energy to do any more, so as long as I don't slip to a satisfactory then i know they can turn up at anytime, i will do nothing differently.

Please dont take this as a knock, it is just to reinforce how fickle it is and how there will always be differences and things to pick on! So the easier it is for them to find the stupid things that really bear no effect to how the children are cared for then the less time they will spend with me!

Sorry can you tell i had a niggling ride with the last woman who nearly died gutted cos she had to give me a good! Poor woman!

- the procedure for responding to an incident is not clearly identified for each individual outing.



OMW whatever next, surely they do not want us to list possible incidents and what might happen, before long we will have to write down what happens if the first plan cant be done, what is plan b, then someone will have an idea what if plan b doesn't work, what is your written plan for plan c!

Surely we have a lost child policy, we have risk assessments for each outing how many ifs, buts and maybes will they want to see in black and white before we prove that we are not stupid and can think on the spot with what we already have! By the time i have covered every stupid thing short of a pig falling from the sky I will be a nervous wreck and seeing pigs flying to go out anywhere!

Sorry on soapbox and have highjacked a helpful thread!:blush:

I have put lost child, and such things on my RA's, but I refer a lot in mine. Like I have put 'See Lost child poilicy'. Obviously this details how I would deal with the incident, and I don't see the need to re-write it on every RA... I may be wrong, but I will argue with Ofsted. I know my policy - and it's written there for anyone to see!!

Also, one woodland area we go to has a park, so on that, I have put 'see Park RA'. I have a general Park RA, and I would justify this to ofsted, saying I cover all eventualities on my RA's. Some parks need me to cover it all, and others don't, but if we are out in the car, and come across a new park, I'm not going to sit & write a RA before we get out the car!!! I have a general park RA, and I know what I need to be looking at before & during our time there!

xx

My head hurts :( . Also some people do have the gift of the gab and sail through inspections (no offence meant), but for some of us, it can be an ordeal just having to talk about everything.

• Working with other settings or agencies involved with children’s care and how these support better outcomes for children.

That is the one that annoys me, it is something outside your control, you can't always get other settings to work with you, no matter how hard you try. Believe me I know :(

Working with parents is just as bad sometimes Pauline :rolleyes:

Thanks for that Sarah

I've noticed here that registering with Environmental Health is being mentioned

Miffy xx

Ripeberry - I know just what you mean. I was so tongue-tied at my pre-reg visit - I knew all the answers, I just couldn't get the words out.