Ofsted been this morning

[JCrakers]

Got my report through, it took just under 7 working days so not bad . It is very short compared to last time.. not sure if I like it shorter.

Anyway, it reads really well so I'm one happy bunny

And I have a questionnaire to fill in to say how I felt about the inspection with Prospects which i'll look at later.

[Simona]

Got my report through, it took just under 7 working days so not bad . It is very short compared to last time.. not sure if I like it shorter.

Anyway, it reads really well so I'm one happy bunny

And I have a questionnaire to fill in to say how I felt about the inspection with Prospects which i'll look at later.

Well done 'happy bunny'

[BallyH]

Good news. You can definatley relax now as the whole episode is over. Well done.

[rickysmiths]

I think you've hit the nail on the head Flora Dora....you have been a teacher so you have all the knowledge to do those cohort trackers. You seem on the ball with a lot of things. Now Ofsted have moved towards teaching in a big way they are expecting a lot from us. We are childminders not teachers. Most of us don't have any experience of teaching. We can only teach through play and the way we know...I missed out the cohort tracking and that's because i've never done it before.

It makes me so angry as they are expecting so much from us....we don't get a break in a 10hr shift, we don't even have time to go to the toilet in peace. A lot of us are on less than minimum wage and they are expecting us to do a teaching job. The inspector expected my to turn lunch into a learning experience, what she hadn't though about is I hadn't had a cup of tea or a sit down from 7am when I got up to 12.30pm......

This is all very interesting as I didn't have a single written observation, I have never ever done trackers of any kind anyway so nothing whatever regarding the children's development in writing out for the inspection. The Inspector didn't turn a hair. Maybe if I had had my LJs out I might of got an outstanding but I wanted to prove a point. EYFS expects nothing developmental in writing except 2 year check and Profile. Maybe if we all spent more time just playing with out children and really getting to know them and using DM as intended, a reference document we would all have much more fun and enjoy our jobs and not feel burdened all the time by actually unnecessary paperwork. If more cms would do this then the Inspectors would have to Inspect us properly.

[rickysmiths]

Sorry to say this and hope you don't mind...just to clarify and not confuse anyone.

Ofsted are expected to observe and judge teaching and grade us ...judge how we translate the EYFS into practice...and we should expect inspectors to understand EYFS too!

Inspectors are not expected to see anything or pass personal judgements....it is what they do not see that cannot be ticked off against their pre-prepared list.

Many settings put numbers and letters in their garden or windmills and such like and that is their choice ...there is no requirement for that....outdoors is all the 7 areas combined.
Of course you can laminate numbers and letters but we can also offer opportunities for chalking, water painting and so on...the activities are limitless in a garden.

If an inspector had ever 'requested' to see anything I would have challenged!

I so agree. I don't and won't ever have anything laminated in my garden. Why would I it is a garden and in itself a classroom. That is why I don't and never will have a mud kitchen. Kitchens are clean places to prepare food in!! I have an area of garden where they can dig in the mud if they want and make mud pies. However we dig in the garden and plant vegetables which we grow and pick and eat. We grow bags of potatoes free from the Potato council and I have in the last year planted apple and plum trees that they will watch grow and a growing Christmas Tree which we will put lights on and they will watch it grow. It is in the front garden so hopefully i years to come they will drive past and be able to tell their children, that is where my childminder lived and I remember her planting that Christmas Tree. That is how connections and memories are made not using plastic coated numbers in places they are not normally found.

Outside numbers are on houses when we go for a walk, on car number plates, on shops, on lamp posts, on post boxes on buses all occurring naturally and in context.

I like to sit in my garden in the evening and at the weekends and I don't and won't sit in a Nursery playground! All the toys are put away and someone new coming to dinner wouldn't have a clue that 4-6 children had been having a riot in the garden hours before! I provide a Home from Home environment and I have yet to go to a mindees home and find it emblazoned with plastic inside or out.

[JCrakers]

I so agree. I don't and won't ever have anything laminated in my garden. Why would I it is a garden and in itself a classroom. That is why I don't and never will have a mud kitchen. Kitchens are clean places to prepare food in!! I have an area of garden where they can dig in the mud if they want and make mud pies. However we dig in the garden and plant vegetables which we grow and pick and eat. We grow bags of potatoes free from the Potato council and I have in the last year planted apple and plum trees that they will watch grow and a growing Christmas Tree which we will put lights on and they will watch it grow. It is in the front garden so hopefully i years to come they will drive past and be able to tell their children, that is where my childminder lived and I remember her planting that Christmas Tree. That is how connections and memories are made not using plastic coated numbers in places they are not normally found.

Outside numbers are on houses when we go for a walk, on car number plates, on shops, on lamp posts, on post boxes on buses all occurring naturally and in context.

I like to sit in my garden in the evening and at the weekends and I don't and won't sit in a Nursery playground! All the toys are put away and someone new coming to dinner wouldn't have a clue that 4-6 children had been having a riot in the garden hours before! I provide a Home from Home environment and I have yet to go to a mindees home and find it emblazoned with plastic inside or out.

This is exactly what I said to my inspector RickySmiths. She wanted to see numbers in the garden. I said we see numbers when we are out and about, on the school playground floor, on our way to toddler group, on our way to the park. I have numbers inside the house via matching games, till money, when we post letters, when we get the pens out and write and look at numbers, the computer toys I have and the books we read...the list is endless....why do I NEED them in the garden? I used to have some foam numbers about 6yrs ago but the went a bit mouldy in the shed and I threw them out....If only I'd had them on the day

Also when she challenged about opening up my lounge for toys I said I wasn't going to do that. Maybe if she had a go at being a childminder then she might have more of an understanding of the job but she obviously hadn't

On my report it states
It is not yet outstanding because:
There are few opportunities for children to spontaneously practice their early writing

So my inspection has made me look at buying more mark making items to go with my felt tips, chalks and chalk wall, easel, wax crayons, pencil crayons, sketch-a-doodle and paints (that weren't readily available due to space and other reasons) I will buy another sketch-a-doodle and a couple of clipboards and then I will be outstanding .... How silly

[Simona]

This is exactly what I said to my inspector RickySmiths. She wanted to see numbers in the garden. I said we see numbers when we are out and about, on the school playground floor, on our way to toddler group, on our way to the park. I have numbers inside the house via matching games, till money, when we post letters, when we get the pens out and write and look at numbers, the computer toys I have and the books we read...the list is endless....why do I NEED them in the garden? I used to have some foam numbers about 6yrs ago but the went a bit mouldy in the shed and I threw them out....If only I'd had them on the day

Also when she challenged about opening up my lounge for toys I said I wasn't going to do that. Maybe if she had a go at being a childminder then she might have more of an understanding of the job but she obviously hadn't

On my report it states
It is not yet outstanding because:
There are few opportunities for children to spontaneously practice their early writing

So my inspection has made me look at buying more mark making items to go with my felt tips, chalks and chalk wall, easel, wax crayons, pencil crayons, sketch-a-doodle and paints (that weren't readily available due to space and other reasons) I will buy another sketch-a-doodle and a couple of clipboards and then I will be outstanding .... How silly

It's good that you have reflected and are thinking of buying more resources ...but...the inspector seemed not to understand what 'mark making' is all about....and possibly poor knowledge of Development Matters...she was maybe using EYO only?

Mark making is NOT just pencils and pens...it is drawing in the sand, using sticks or using fingers to trace shapes and numbers or any marks in shaving foam or cornflour, using brushes etc etc....I am sure you do all these activities!
Many maybe not available in schools but the CIF has to look at EY provision and its great opportunities and where mark making originates from?

Has she looked at DM under PD: Moving and Handling in Unique child and then across to EE....there are several examples of mark making (p22 and 23)
Also Literacy: writing...again UC and then across to EE ...so many opportunities not all using pencils.

Maybe when you fill in your feedback you could mention this obsession with letters in a garden!!

[mumofone]

I so agree. I don't and won't ever have anything laminated in my garden. Why would I it is a garden and in itself a classroom. That is why I don't and never will have a mud kitchen. Kitchens are clean places to prepare food in!! I have an area of garden where they can dig in the mud if they want and make mud pies. However we dig in the garden and plant vegetables which we grow and pick and eat. We grow bags of potatoes free from the Potato council and I have in the last year planted apple and plum trees that they will watch grow and a growing Christmas Tree which we will put lights on and they will watch it grow. It is in the front garden so hopefully i years to come they will drive past and be able to tell their children, that is where my childminder lived and I remember her planting that Christmas Tree. That is how connections and memories are made not using plastic coated numbers in places they are not normally found. Outside numbers are on houses when we go for a walk, on car number plates, on shops, on lamp posts, on post boxes on buses all occurring naturally and in context. I like to sit in my garden in the evening and at the weekends and I don't and won't sit in a Nursery playground! All the toys are put away and someone new coming to dinner wouldn't have a clue that 4-6 children had been having a riot in the garden hours before! I provide a Home from Home environment and I have yet to go to a mindees home and find it emblazoned with plastic inside or out.

Sorry off topic but how dyou got about getting potatoes from the potato council? Do they give out to childminders?

[Mouse]

Sorry off topic but how dyou got about getting potatoes from the potato council? Do they give out to childminders?

Grow Your Own Potatoes | Potato Council

Register here.

[JCrakers]

Not done it for a couple of years

Is this the website?

About the grow your own potatoes project

[mumofone]

Grow Your Own Potatoes | Potato Council Register here.

Have you done it before yourself mouse?

[moggy]

Have you done it before yourself mouse?

I do it every year. Grow Your Own Potatoes | Potato Council

[mumofone]

I do it every year. Grow Your Own Potatoes | Potato Council

Thanks guys, I've just registered! :-) :-)

[Simona]

We have gone from the 'ridiculous' to the 'sublime' in this thread....if you know what I mean....from laminated numbers and letters in our gardens to getting to grips with nature by growing potatoes!!....music to our ears!

[mumofone]

We have gone from the 'ridiculous' to the 'sublime' in this thread....if you know what I mean....from laminated numbers and letters in our gardens to getting to grips with nature by growing potatoes!!....music to our ears!

Yep sorry guys I didn't mean to hijack the thread x

[Simona]

Yep sorry guys I didn't mean to hijack the thread x

Not at all!!
I think you misunderstood...I personally am delighted to CMs people talk about planting potatoes in their garden ...not laminating alphabet and numbers!!
Look what you started RS.

Would that tick the box for our inspectors...will that be 'what they want to see'?

[Simona]

Jcrackers...I hope you can answer this question?

you said you have a feedback to fill in after your inspection...are you able to tell us if it goes to Ofsted itself ...or the outsourced inspection provider which I think you said is Prospects?

thank you

[SYLVIA]

Can I just say the laminated numbers were in the garden as one child is finding it hard to recognise numbers and the hunt for numbers is s game that motivates him. I have many resources printed off to give me ideas. I totally agree that resources found out and about are of course great resources in them selves. I don't have these things in my garden or house on a permanent basis but use them if I feel they help a child's development

[Simona]

Can I just say the laminated numbers were in the garden as one child is finding it hard to recognise numbers and the hunt for numbers is s game that motivates him. I have many resources printed off to give me ideas. I totally agree that resources found out and about are of course great resources in them selves. I don't have these things in my garden or house on a permanent basis but use them if I feel they help a child's development

And you are right in using them if it helps one child in his/her progress
The argument is about inspectors 'wanting to see these or expecting to ' when other methods work very well and should be noted by inspectors.

You will probably explain your methods to an inspector very well and that also goes for those not using laminated resources ....the teaching is how we use different methods and not prescribe to inspectors' expactations

[rickysmiths]

This is exactly what I said to my inspector RickySmiths. She wanted to see numbers in the garden. I said we see numbers when we are out and about, on the school playground floor, on our way to toddler group, on our way to the park. I have numbers inside the house via matching games, till money, when we post letters, when we get the pens out and write and look at numbers, the computer toys I have and the books we read...the list is endless....why do I NEED them in the garden? I used to have some foam numbers about 6yrs ago but the went a bit mouldy in the shed and I threw them out....If only I'd had them on the day

Also when she challenged about opening up my lounge for toys I said I wasn't going to do that. Maybe if she had a go at being a childminder then she might have more of an understanding of the job but she obviously hadn't

On my report it states
It is not yet outstanding because:
There are few opportunities for children to spontaneously practice their early writing

So my inspection has made me look at buying more mark making items to go with my felt tips, chalks and chalk wall, easel, wax crayons, pencil crayons, sketch-a-doodle and paints (that weren't readily available due to space and other reasons) I will buy another sketch-a-doodle and a couple of clipboards and then I will be outstanding .... How silly

The comment I got was that there wasn't enough number used and available and mostly during lunch!!! I have all the numbers on the wall it is lovely metal numbers and letters, I was counting with them when we were playing with the play dough, there are numbers on things on the snack bar including a huge wooden till and a wooden clock, wooden stacking toy with numbers 1-10 all on the window cil above where we were playing. I think they have to say something and she said I missed an opportunity to count during lunch!! I did comment aren't the children allowed a break?

I can't be bothered with comments like that it is stupid and my parents see the effects of what we do. I didn't want Outstanding anyway.