1st graded inspection report - how it went today (long!)

[MrsP2C]

As promised report to follow about my first graded inspection that took place this morning & resulted in a GOOD Apologies if it's long but I know I was keen to hear as much detail as possible when I was reading these a few weeks/days ago.

I'd been called about 6 weeks ago asking days/times for EYFS children on my books then MrsO called a week ago to book my inspection 'one day this week'. Thankfully it was today as it's my easiest day - just 1 mindee who's she's such a easy child but quite young (just 1) & not yet walking, hates messy play so I wasn't sure how well I'd impress during observations.

So, I arrived home from the school run to find she'd arrived 15 minutes earlier & my husband had let her in thankfully he remembered to check her ID and I asked her to read my visitor information & sign in. Mindee had fallen asleep in the buggy on the way home so I parked her in hall & shut the door (we have cats!) and sat with MrsO for about 45 minutes (remembering to check in on mindee occasionally ) whilst she went though my paperwork which I'd left out on the dining room table. She asked about the children I have on my book, ages, backgrounds etc - all felt very informal but she was tapping away all the time on her laptop! I made sure I got in plenty of information such as diversity of children & how I work with this, their likes/dislikes/personalities etc so she could tell I knew them well and also gave plenty of anecdotal evidence about activities I do - eg talked about settling in process of my most recent child and how I adapted our days to suit her specific needs and how one child is a very fussy eater but cooking & allowing him to get involved in food prep is helping. She seemed more focused on the children's folders than any of my business folders (RA, policies, accident books etc) although I know she looked through everything as made a few comments - liked how my RA had hand written/dated amendments even though they were dated for annual review & I made sure I mentioned my daily visual checks & need for on-going assessment but how I didn't necessarily record all this which she was fine with.

Mindee woke and I introduced her & sat for a cuddle whilst she came round before taking her into the living room to get dressed/nappy change. Not that I don't anyway, but I was very conscious of talking to mindee all the time, getting down on her level etc trying to get her to relax and be herself (she's quite vary of strangers). I went back into the dining room for snack time (little one in the highchair) so made us drinks & sat and chatted further all the while interacting with mindee. MrsO said she could see I did regular obs & tracked on the areas of learning but was keen to hear how I extended & developed these obs into new learning experience and made sure I followed the specific as well as prime areas. After snack I took mindee into the other room and played with all the normal stuff we do - let her select people from the happyland box, sat back & let her play with the post box but still asking questions & interacting with her, sat on my knee & read various books, did some nursery rhyme which she loves, let her crawl around downstairs exploring etc. Nothing too taxing or obscure but things I knew she enjoyed and MrsO sat and observed, asked a few basic questions, made some lovely comments about our interaction & relationship and gave a few ideas to develop some of the games we were playing. She asked about 2 year check which I haven't had to do yet but told her I was booked onto a course in a few months & had spoken to my local children's centre who are fab & offered to talk me through one then she gave me some helpful ideas but overall seemed happy I would manage it without actually seeing evidence.

Lastly she had a very quick look around the house upstairs - I explained how mindees don't have unsupervised access upstairs so bathroom cleaning products etc all out but would obviously RA this if I got more older children or as current mindees grow. She peered outside in the garden & I explained my longer term plans for creating a more child friendly play area and she gave some great advice about some temporary solutions.

Whole thing lasted just under 2.5hours - she was lovely, mindee was an angel and at the end she said I had good in all 4 areas and should have my
report in 2-3 weeks at which point I can inform parents She complimented me on the interaction with mindee and her obvious bond with me, the type of questions I asked mindee, was happy about my plans for improvement/continuous development, good communication with parents. Didn't mention anything about policies, procedures, safeguarding etc although I think my paperwork is pretty tight in that area It's worth noting that you think it's only the obvious playtime they're observing but she picked-up on little things that I barely noticed such as at one point mindee (crawling) tried opening the door into the hall - I encouraged her to do it herself, talked about minding toes/fingers and stopped her hurting herself but otherwise let her keep trying then obviously praised her when she succeeded - MrsO was impressed I didn't just do it for her & allowed her the space to succeed but being mindful of keeping her safe - never in a million year could you plan this sort of interaction but I guess they know we're on show & do look out for these more natural moments.


Best advice was from my local NCMA CMQIP who said sell your service as they won't go looking for all the great stuff you do you need to make sure you tell them. I honestly felt like I spent the morning boasting about all the great things I do with mindees & 'casually' dropped into conversation lots of little things that I was worried she might have missed in my paperwork like recently setting up termly meetings with parents following a comment in a feedback form, forging relationships with children's centre, a (not very successful!) request to share information with a pre-school & how I would be pursuing this again, I was honest about the fact that I was still working through my formal SEF but she didn't seem bothered & liked the fact I had a extras in with it such as wish list for resources, ideas for story sacks, the early stages of a resources photo book etc. I also talked about how I still felt I was in the early stages of learning where EYFS framework/development matters etc is concerned & I'm not totally confident I'm covering everything in the most effective way BUT she seemed happy I was improving/learning all the time & adapting as mindees grow.

Thanks again to everyone for their help - I did of course spend the entire weekend sorting all my paperwork (loving my new system which I told MrsO was thanks to her coming that I'd developed it ) and had many sleepless nights mainly because my SEF was only half completed (I literally haven't even started the final 2 parts ) and because I was convinced she would be a dragon/mindee a horror - neither of which happened

[christine e]

Very well done you it sounds like it was a really good inspection and a pleasant experience

Now breathe and relax

Cx

[supermumy]

Well done you should be very proud and sounds like a brill day and brill inspection

[Ripeberry]

Thanks for the feedback and glad that you had such a positive experience. Well done on your 'Good'

[hectors house]

Well done and thanks for such detailed feedback - glad to hear your Mrs O was human and not the dragon you expected.

[Belly2009]

Sounds like the perfect inspection! A massive well done to you! Very jealous as I in fact had a very old school dragon!!

[SJ35]

Great!! Thanks for the feedback. My mrs O is currently sat in her car outside!! Argh here it goes!!! X I'll report back later x. And breathe! X

[starlight1]

Thanks for the feedback and well done

[lisbet]

Glad it went so well for you and thanks for the detailed feedback

[kellyskidz!]

Well done!!!

[blue bear]

Well done and thank you for your detailed breakdown of the inspection.

[Rick]

Great!! Thanks for the feedback. My mrs O is currently sat in her car outside!! Argh here it goes!!! X I'll report back later x. And breathe! X

How did it go?

[Rick]

Thanks for the feedback. I've had the call regarding mindees days and times (about 4 weeks ago) so I'm expecting the real call soon!

[Samcat]

Congratulations. Great feedback, thanks.

[Kirstylob]

Well done on getting a Good! Thanks for the detailed feedback. Now you can relax!