Wooden, plastic or natural? Which resources do you choose?

I was chatting to a childminder the other day who told me that she was getting rid of all her plastic toys and replacing them with wood and other natural materials. She said she was totally fed up with plastic toys that were only good for doing 1 thing at a time … she had recently been on training where they had talked about the joys of loose parts play and she was keen to make sweeping changes to her provision with the aid of some clever storage solutions such as wicker baskets and hanging baskets outside.

There are a lot of useful Pinterest boards singing the praises of loose parts play – they are worth exploring if you want to add some natural resources to your provision. However, while I know it is personal choice, I remain concerned about whether a total move to natural materials would work for a childminder who looks after babies and children of very different ages… there are so many bits and pieces (stones, fir cones, coins, beads, buttons etc) and they are often quite small.

I agree that plastic doesn’t always teach children a lot – it is the same temperature (unlike wood and metal) and texture (unlike stone and fir cones) and it is often made in very loud colours (unlike natural materials which are calming, relaxing colours). Yet plastic can be cleaned easily (important if you have little ones), it is readily available in charity shops and at car boot sales and it is comparatively much cheaper than buying all wooden resources.

We have a combination of wooden, plastic and natural resources here at Knutsford Childminding. We collect and use natural materials during our walks and we make some of our resources from recycled materials. We often make our own books when we have been on outings as well – the children love taking and printing photos and the rich language they use reassures us we are supporting their learning. Fabric is an excellent way of bringing natural resources into the provision – lengths of material can be used to create spaces and envelop children and much more.

So, to go back to the title of this little blog – wooden, plastic and natural? I advocate a balance and when new childminders are registering I always advise them to buy a range of resources – some plastic and some wooden toys both inside and in the garden – then they can take the children on nature walks to find natural resources. In our provision, some of our best play sessions have involved children using their imaginations to create play scenes from ‘finds’ during our regular nature walks. However, we have plenty of plastic resources as well and some of them are the children’s favourites such as Peppa Pig and Action Man role play figures and our collection of Happy Land characters.

In mini e-book 56 ‘Resources and the EYFS’ (from Knutsford Childminding - £1.99) I have looked at how you can provide children with a range of different resources to support their holistic learning and development.

Which resources do you choose in your provision… and why?

Risk assessments after an accident…

Accidents and near miss accidents sadly happen, even in the best managed provisions. We cannot keep every child safe from harm all the time because children trip and fall, run and crash, jump and bump, climb and tumble, pull and push and run in front of swings… and do all sorts of other dangerous things without thinking or realising. We simply cannot be there to watch out for them every single time! We are even told by experts to engage children in risky play and to let them explore the world around them which increases the risk of them having an accident. Plus, studies tell us (and we know from our own personal experiences) that children have to learn about danger if they are ever going to learn to risk assess for themselves.

Accidents and near misses present important learning opportunities for providers and must be carefully reflected on and managed because they can tell us a lot about our provisions and ways of working and they can help us to prevent future accidents. When a child has an accident or near miss, write it up on an accident and injury form along with any first aid administered and, when signed by parents, put it in their file… report the accident or injury if required… and keep a brief record of what happened in your personal diary so you can look back on it and think about how you might improve your provision in the future. A list of previous accidents and near misses will also help you to see if there are any trends – things that are happening over and over again which need to be resolved.

For example, looking back at your accident and injury or incident forms you might note –
• 3 children have bumped into the same garden feature –> move the feature to another area of the garden.
• A child is regularly running towards the road on outings –> give her a choice between reins or a wrist strap from now on.
• A child is constantly falling over your threshold and tripping on steps –> suggest parents take him to the optician for an eye health check-up. Meanwhile, think about how you can highlight the threshold / steps so they are more visible to the children.
• Children are slipping and falling on your grass -> cover the grass, re-seed, cordon the area off or take other steps to keep them safe.
• 3 children have slipped on your new wooden floor -> supply / ask parents to provide non-slip socks or slippers.
• A child is biting others -> start to shadow the child to note any triggers. Ask parents in for a meeting to discuss your concerns and plan a strategy to work together and support the child.
• A child is getting out of their car seat on journeys -> stop the car, re-fasten the child, explain the danger firmly – and ask parents in for a meeting to discuss a plan for the future. You might also consider buying a safety cover for the seat fastener.
• An older child has caught a younger child’s finger in a car door -> think about whether the older child is taking on too much responsibility. Revisit your procedures for getting in and out of the car and ensure you are in charge of closing doors and taking responsibility for keeping the little ones safe.

Of course, making changes to your provision goes hand-in-hand with teaching children about their own safety by, for example –
• Involving them in the risk assessment process;
• Teaching them about personal safety through books and role play;
• Reading books, telling stories and planning sessions to cover stranger danger;
• Reminding children about safe play rules at the park before they run off to play;
• Asking children to walk in the house so they do not slip;
• Explaining why it is important that they wear high visibility clothes and wrist bands on outings;
• Using wrist straps, backpacks with reins etc even on very short outings;
• Reminding children that they need to tell you if they hurt themselves or break your equipment or notice something is wrong or spot a hazard.

Working with parents
It is very important to work closely with parents to reinforce safety messages. When you teach the children about safety – personal safety, stranger danger, how to play safely at the park etc – share information and planning with parents and tell them the words you are using so they can reinforce your teaching at home. Similarly, if you have written a social story for, for example, a child who is running away from adults and it is working well, let them borrow it or take a photocopy so they can read to their child at home.

Parents need to be informed if their child is not responding to safety messages. Ask them in for a meeting to discuss your concerns and try to find out what is happening at home. For example –
• If a child is getting out of their car seat with parents and they are not strapped back in it is going to take much longer for them to learn the importance of staying safe in the car
• If grandparents indulge a child by laughing when he hits them, he is not going to learn that hitting is inappropriate in a childcare setting
• If an older child is frightened to tell parents he has broken a toy because he is always harshly punished, he will hide things in your house as well which might lead to a baby choking or hurting himself on small parts.

Communicating concerns with parents works both ways… if a child is doing something dangerous with parents or other family members at home they need to tell you quickly so you can take steps to support their child. For example…
• If a child came shooting down the slide head first at the weekend you need to know for when you next take them;
• If a child is worrying the pet dog at home you can take steps to keep him away from your animals unless fully supervised;
• If parents have noticed their child is fascinated by electrical sockets, you can put barriers in place around yours – and plan some activities to teach the child about electrical safety;
• If a baby has started climbing or rolling over the weekend you can be extra vigilant;
• If a child is opening the door at home to try and get out you might need to re-think where you keep your keys;
• If parents are worried because their child is talking to / approaching strangers on outings, you can suggest some books to read and activities for role play in the provision and at home;
• If an older child is fascinated by fire, you can advise parents who to speak to for help and ensure risk assessments are in place for flammable materials and the child is closely supervised while on your premises.
Remember - if a child has had an accident at home you need to record it so you can keep an eye on them in the provision – and so you can learn from what they have done and review your own risk assessment - it is good practice to have some printed ‘existing injury’ forms with your attendance register so you can quickly fill them in when children arrive. You will find some free forms (written by me) on the Childcare.co.uk website.

Going back to the original reason for writing this blog – we need accept that accidents happen but, instead of getting defensive and saying, ‘it wasn’t my fault’ we need to reflect on accidents and near misses and consider how we can improve our provision and ways of working to support the children. We need to do this for a number of reasons -
• For ourselves – to ensure that we are reflective practitioners who take safety seriously and are ready to respond positively to learning experiences.
• To support parents – they are sometimes ok after an accident and sometimes they need to blame someone. If they see you thinking about what happened and reflecting on how you can improve things in the future, they are more likely to respond positively to your explanations.
• For Ofsted – if a complaint is made or we have to notify them about a serious accident and injury and they come out to investigate, they will want to see that we have used the incident as a learning experience.

The following self-reflection questions after an accident or near miss might be useful…
• What happened? Did you see what happened? If you didn’t see it, why not?
• Were there any witnesses? Can they suggest how the accident might have been avoided?
• Was an accident, injury and first aid form promptly written up to be signed by parents?
• How did parents react? Did they shed any light on why it might have happened eg ‘oh yes she’s doing that at home’ or ‘yes we have noticed him biting’?
• Does the accident / injury need to be reported? If yes, who needs to know – Ofsted, RIDDOR, Local Safeguarding Children Board, Local Authority advisor? Has it been reported promptly and within the required timescales?
• What does the current risk assessment for the area of provision in which the accident happened say? Does it cover what happened? Does it need to be re-written / updated? Is it robust enough?
• Were you within ratios at the time of the accident?
• Were children being effectively supervised? Were you distracted elsewhere?
• Was there a problem with your premises or equipment? For example, was the flooring uneven or the rug a trip hazard? Were the locks on your cupboard doors in need of replacement – but you hadn’t got round to it yet?
• Did you make a mistake? For example, did you leave the ironing board out or forget to put away a knife after making lunch? Did you forget to strap the child into the pram? Did you answer the phone while a child ate the paints? Did your enthusiasm to take the children to the park in wet weather lead to the child slipping on play equipment? None of us are perfect – and it is important to acknowledge that sometimes we need to change our own ways of working to ensure we protect children – especially as we work from a home environment. We need to remember that we are, after all, running a business and not a home during working hours.
• Were you following your own safety rules? For example - baby needed a nappy change and your procedures say ‘1 in all in’… but you left 2 children out playing because they were involved in their game... and one of them bit the other or had an accident that was avoidable if only you had followed your procedures and brought them inside with you.
• Was a child taking on more responsibility than they should for their age? For example, was an older child lifting a baby who they subsequently dropped or putting food in a toddler’s mouth causing them to choke?

And then the big question… how can the child/ren be kept safe in the future? What, if any, changes need to be made to your provision or ways of working? For example –
• Do ratios or staff deployment need to be reviewed? Perhaps you were in ratios but in the future staff could be better utilised to ensure more effective supervision. Or you were in ratios but on reflection 4 children under the age of 5 or 2 babies under 1 plus 2 pre-school children for continuity of care is too much to manage by yourself and you need to take on an assistant or give notice to a child.
• Can you plan some group or one-to-one activities to teach the children to take more responsibility for their own safety? How can you share this learning with parents so they use the strategies you are teaching children when they are at home?
• Do the older children need to run their pent up energy off at the park after school rather than climbing the walls in the house?
• Do you suspect that a child has an as yet undiagnosed medical condition that means he responds to danger in a different way from other children? How can you work with parents to get him the help he needs?
• Do you need to buy extra safety equipment / update your house or garden to keep children safer?
• Is the child over 8 and impacting negatively on outcomes for the little ones? Do you need to give notice as required by the EYFS?
• Were you expecting too much from the child for their age / stage of development? You might find it useful to go back to Early Years Outcomes and Development Matters and look at physical development / health and self-care and note typical behaviours for different ages of children.
• Think about how parents / the child’s family can be involved to support the child in the future and record this on your ‘working with parent’s documentation.

It is very easy after an accident or near miss to go into denial mode. You want to protect your business and reputation and you don’t want to accept that something you did (or didn’t do) has contributed to a child being hurt. However, parents need to see that you are taking responsibility for what happened to their child and changing your procedures as a result of the accident.

If Ofsted come out to investigate a serious accident to a child, they will want to see that you have reflected on what happened and recorded how you will prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. This can be very hard sometimes because you might feel that you did everything possible and it was simply an accident – and as we said at the beginning accidents do sadly happen. However, it is an unusual situation when some lessons cannot be learned after a child has been hurt, even if it’s to bubble wrap the child from now on…

For more information about risk assessments please see e-book 5 ‘Risk assessments’ from my Knutsford Childminding website.

I have also written some free risk assessment advice on my EYFS for Childminders website.

I hope you find this blog useful and informative. Please let me have your feedback - or contact me to ask me to write other blogs which you feel will help you to improve your provision. You can contact me via the Independent Childminders Facebook group or the Childminding Forum.

Thank you. Sarah.

Sarah Neville / Knutsford Childminding

Teaching children British values

In her first major announcement since taking office, Nicky Morgan (the new Education Secretary) has said that early years providers must teach ‘fundamental British values in an age appropriate way’ to children from the age of 2 - Guardian article.

David Cameron has backed her up, saying that we need to teach ‘freedom, tolerance, respect for the rule of law, belief in personal and social responsibility and respect for British institutions’. The announcements follow concerns about extremist views being taught to children in some Birmingham schools and the intention is to protect children from extremist radical views.

There is a consultation which most of us will probably ignore. It is open until 17th October 2014 – so nothing is going to change quickly…

Childminders are asking - what are the ‘fundamental British values’ that we need to teach children? Well, first of all they need to be meaningful … and understandable. We are talking about teaching something many adults (in my experience) struggle to fully understand to toddlers in nappies and children who might not have a very good grasp of English.

Ms Morgan says we are to teach children about –

• Right from wrong
• Taking turns and sharing
• Challenging negative attitudes and stereotypes
• Mutual respect and tolerance of different religions and beliefs

I have been thinking about some of the ways we might support children’s learning about 'fundamental British values' and my list of planning ideas includes –
• Teach children to share and take turns – in conversation, at the shops, when reading books etc
• Celebrate British special days eg St George’s Day
• Help children to understand about friendship and support them to make friends
• Focus on listening skills so children wait before shouting out and understand not to spoil a song or book by talking through the words
• Promote manners – please, thank you, sorry, age appropriate behaviour at the table etc
• Take children on outings into the local community
• Teach them about British flowers, trees, birds and animals
• Cover a variety of themes about people who live in the world around us
• Watch British television programmes
• Teach them about the British weather
• Teach empathy and understanding
• Give children age appropriate words to describe disability
• Help children to set appropriate behaviour boundaries
• When doing arts and crafts, use British artists and sculptors for inspiration
• Cook British food with the children
• Learn about British villages, towns and cities
• Use the learning characteristic ‘critical thinking’ to support children to ask questions and become independent and creative learners.

So… what we are doing already then?!?

I believe if we focus on this sort of teaching as we already do and not on marginalising or intolerance of minority then we will be ok. The problems will start if we teach children that only one way is right and that, because we are British, we are somehow morally superior to other nations and cultures - because that will teach intolerance, stereotyping, racism and extremism in itself.

While I remember, Ms Morgan has said that we cannot teach –
• ‘Creationism as scientific fact’
• ‘Climate change denial’
• ‘Views and theories which are contrary to established scientific or historical evidence and explanations.’
I can honestly say I have never tackled those subjects with my under 5s … or my over 5s for that matter … so that’s not a worry!

Ofsted will be inspecting us on how well we teach ‘fundamental British values’, so we will need to keep an eye on the consultation which will hopefully tell us more about what Ofsted will expect to see when they visit us.

Meanwhile, this is a very interesting and informative blog .

And for another bit of fun… can you pass the UK citizenship test?

I got 10/10 but I am not allowed to boast about it… well that wouldn’t be British now would it??

Chat soon, Sarah x

The planted practitioner - ideas for promoting children's learning

When more than one childminder / assistant work together, experiment by ‘planting’ one of the practitioners somewhere exciting for the children… at a table with some resources or in the garden doing something different to the norm or on a cushion with an activity and see what happens…

What tends to happen is the children flock around the planted practitioner to see what they are doing. Reassured that the practitioner is not going to be called away elsewhere, the activity unfolds and the children display high levels of involvement and, as a result, have an increased motivation to stay and listen and talk and learn.

The planted practitioner is able to listen to the children fully because the other practitioner is taking care of any children not involved in the activity and can step in if a child needs extra support such as to change a nappy. The planted practitioner can also better help the children to explore new ways of doing things because s/he is not being constantly distracted by other things happening in the background.

During the activity the practitioner will be able to mentally note observations which can be written up later. It is important that the practitioner does not stop the flow of children’s learning to write observations, take photos or get up to do something else … they are planted and engaged and will remain planted as long as the activity lasts or until they have to, for example, wind up the activity to get the children ready to leave for school pick up.

It is a good time to make observations during planted activities because the practitioner who is planted is able to work very closely with the children who are involved in the activity. Lots of language will be heard as the children talk through ideas and share information… and children’s learning in other areas of Early Years Outcomes will be observed.

The other practitioner might take photos from a distance or write some notes if s/he is not busy elsewhere, but most importantly one practitioner is planted with the children and the other practitioner is floating.

The planted practitioner can also use the activity as an opportunity to chat to the children, ask open ended questions, wait for answers and teach the children new things because they are already interested and involved and they want to learn. As we all know, when children want to learn they are receptive to learning new things and trying out new ideas.


Important things to note
Time – the best time to plan for this type of teaching is when children are most receptive to new learning (they are not tired, hungry or expecting something else to happen) and there is a good length of time available, for example, after breakfast or morning snack. Think about daily routines and look at timescales for activities – find stretches of free play sessions every day when a learning experience can be planned.

Space – there must be plenty of space for this type of teaching so children can move around freely without bumping into each other or feeling pushed out and can see / hear what is happening without being distracted by other things going on around them.

Undivided attention – the planted practitioner gives their undivided attention to the children who want to join in with the activity. This must be agreed with the other practitioner who is on hand to step in and deal with the other daily routines such as preparing snack with a group of children, reading books, keeping the house and garden safe and clear from trip hazards, dealing with toileting or administering first aid etc.

Type of activity – all kinds of activities might be planned for planted learning times. Some popular ones include –
• Making and using playdough – add smells or other sensory stimuli
• Small parts play such as making Hama beads with older children
• Water play with cups and spoons to measure, weigh and learn about capacity, weight, floating and sinking etc
• Making a farmyard scene with Lego or building a train track
• Setting up something new such as a wormery, vegetable patch or herb garden
• Using tubing and guttering to watch how water travels
• Making a new jigsaw
• Updating Learning Journey files

Asking questions – there is a big difference between asking interested questions which gain a positive response from a child and asking questions to find out what a child knows or can do. It is important to ask open, interested questions which challenge children to think about new ways of doing things – and to wait until they reply rather than rushing in to fill a silence.
Closed questions only allow for one answer such as –
• What colour is it?
• What shape is it?
• How many can you count?
• Is it big or small? Etc…

Good questions to challenge thinking and support learning might be…
• What should we do next?
• How does that work?
• What do you think will happen if..?
• Can you think of a way to..?
• Why do you think that happened..?
• Show me…
• Can you explain that to me?

Types of play - the EYFS talks about 3 types of play – adult led, adult guided and child initiated.
• Adult led – the practitioner chooses the activity to support the child/ren to learn something new or to follow a particular interest. The children join in, sometimes guided towards the activity and sometimes through natural curiosity.
• Adult guided – children play their games and the practitioner joins them, playing alongside them and taking on roles to support their play. Sometimes, the practitioner brings them different resources to enhance their play and learning.
• Child initiated – children play their own games. Adults might later guide their play by adding resource ideas, but the play is led by the child.
Most ‘planted’ activities will be adult led or adult guided.

I think it is tricky, but not impossible, for childminders who work on their own to plan ‘planted’ sessions. The problem starts when one child wanders away from the activity or someone needs attention which takes you away from the other children. Perhaps childminders who do not have a co-childminder or assistant might join up with a colleague to plan this type of teaching and learning opportunity for the children.

Don’t forget, if you try something new write it up in your SEF with an evaluation of how it went and what you might want to do differently next time! Ofsted like to see practitioners learning and growing in their practice.

Children and choking ... some thoughts

‘Ofsted say lack of supervision was largely responsible for child’s nursery death’ (Nursery World, 07.2014) -

In this tragic incident, a young child wandered over to a sensory jelly play tray set up in her nursery, picked up a piece of jelly and popped it in her mouth. She choked and the staff could not get it out. She was apparently unsupervised because staff were in the vicinity but not directly with her.

The Ofsted judgement that lack of supervision was to blame for the tragic incident could have very serious consequences for all early years providers. We all offer opportunities for messy play and we all feed children. If we turn our backs even for a moment - or if we leave the room to answer the door or support a child on the loo - or if we pop into the house from the garden when children are playing – or if some children want to go outside to play while others want to stay in the house… what do we do?

Can we really make our gardens / homes so safe that we remove everything that might be a risk ‘just in case’ a child chokes and we are blamed for not supervising them properly? What about the 9 year old who chokes on a grape? What about the 4 year old who, totally out of character, decides to hide behind the garage and eat a snail – shell and all – and it gets stuck? Both these scenarios have happened to me – should I have cut up the grape for a 9 year old… how could I possibly have foreseen my own normally sensible 4 year old would be so daft as to wonder what a snail tastes like?

Even if it's not messy play that causes a child to choke, it could be a pebble at the park… a conker in the garden... a piece of Lego in the playroom... a crayon at toddler group… some food or a small toy another child has dropped on the floor and the practitioner has missed. We would all hope that we have been well prepared by our first aid training and can get it out but we know that sometimes obstructions cause a perfect plug and no amount of back blows and abdominal thrusts are going to shift them.

The EYFS states that ‘Children must usually be within sight and hearing of staff and always within sight or hearing’ (EYFS 2014 requirement 3.28). I imagine the staff at the nursery in this tragic accident were hovering, like we all do from time to time, between rooms supervising children who want to do different things … a bit like when Ofsted inspectors tell us we should offer free outside access but there is only one childminder and John wants to be outside while Jane wants to play in the house - and we can’t be in 2 places at once!!

The Nursery World article states that Ofsted judged ‘nobody saw or heard her choke’ … we know from first aid training that when children are properly choking we don’t hear it … and we know from our own practice that children do things when we are not watching them - so we cannot possibly see everything they do all day.

For the future, I think we all need a choking risk assessment linked to this Ofsted judgement so we cannot be accused of failing to think about how we supervise the children adequately. Risk assessments do not save lives – they are only a piece of paper - but having a robust risk assessment helps us to show evidence to Ofsted and our insurance companies that we have thought through what we do and considered the risks.

I think we need to consider the following in our risk assessment –
• Should we Velcro all children to us and keep them with us at all times? How will that work when we are in the kitchen preparing food (depending on house layout) or going to the toilet?
• Should we remove messy play or food from the children every time we turn our back?
• Should we have a ‘one in all in’ rule for garden play, regardless of what some Ofsted inspectors say about free flow play?
• Should we reflect on whether using food for messy play is a good idea?
• Should we limit resources so if we have younger children in the house / garden we only offer toys that are suitable for them eg no small Lego or small parts play for older children on days little ones attend?
I also think each one of us should look at how well we supervise children through the day and see if there are any areas of our provision where we cannot see / hear them and think about how we can rectify this.

Hopefully this will be enough to protect everyone – until the next tragic incident presents us with yet another judgement we need to consider.

Childminders - focus on quality provision

Questions to help childminders focus on quality provision

Gill Jones, deputy director of early years at Ofsted, spoke to early years providers recently at the Childcare Expo in London. Further information about what she said can be found in the May/June 2014 edition of Morton Michel’s Home Childcarer – a free online magazine.

Ms Jones set a series of questions for childminders to help us examine our practices –
• Am I providing enough high quality experiences to enrich children’s communication skills?
• Is there enough high quality interaction with adults who are good role models?
• Do I challenge the children enough?
• How well am I working with parents to support the children’s learning?

Our guiding principle here at Knutsford Childminding when reflecting on areas of provision and making changes to accommodate new requirements / expectations from Ofsted, our Local Authority and elsewhere is – ‘we know that we already do this really well but it would be even better if we…’
We set very high standards for ourselves and our provision and we want to continue to demonstrate these to Ofsted, regardless of any new documentation / expectations they throw at us. We have reflected on the questions asked by Gill Jones – here are our thoughts…

Am I providing enough high quality experiences to enrich children’s communication skills?

What we already do well… we focus on children’s communication skills as part of our commitment to ensure the 3 prime areas of learning are well established as early as possible in children’s lives.

Children’s communication is supported through high quality interactions with staff and during our daily planned learning activities such as –
• Daily group singing and reading sessions;
• Daily routines eg at the table during snack, lunch and tea and nappy changing;
• One-to-one planned interactions with children;
• One-to-one unplanned interactions during adult guided and free play sessions through the day.
We regularly review each child’s communication through observations of their interactions during different types of play. We use these observations to evaluate what changes we need to make to their individual planning in the future.

We use the following nationally recognised communication and language schemes –
• ‘Letters and Sounds phase 1’ – games are incorporated into children’s learning experiences;
• ‘Toddler Talk’ (from the Communication Trust) – a new Toddler Talk card is used with the children every day;
• ‘Every Child a Talker’ - which helps us to monitor children’s social communication and use of speech sounds.

To further reflect on this area of provision we will…
Consider whether communication is effectively supported in the garden and on outings - as well as it is in house.


Is there enough high quality interaction with adults who are good role models?

What we already do well… we recognise that quality teaching is a big part of the revised inspection framework. We know that we need to consider how well we are teaching and interacting with the children so that they are given the best chances to make good progress while they are with us.

We aim to offer every child a range of varied and imaginative experiences every day they attend and we adapt planning and available resources to follow their interests and learning needs. We have a very clear understanding of how children learn (from training and over 20 years’ experience) and we attend / engage with further training and CPD when it is available to enhance our knowledge.

We work very closely together and talk about children’s needs as part of our regular meetings to discuss the children and the progress they are making. We are confident that our expectations for every child are consistently high.
To further reflect on this area of provision we will…
• Look carefully at the way routines are used and complete a routine continuous provision plan. Use it to consider if we are making best use of our daily routines to support children’s learning including –
o Adult led sessions;
o Adult guided sessions;
o Child initiated play.

…………………………………..

Do I challenge the children enough?

What we already do well… we recognise that the Ofsted inspection process is focussed on raising outcomes for children – if they are not challenged they will not learn new things and make good progress.

To challenge children we…
• Use observations to assess current abilities, strengths and weaknesses.
• Assess observations using Early Years Outcomes (EYO) as a guide to the progress each child is making – our assessments are closely linked to EYO and focussed on what the child can do as well as what they need to learn next.
• Note how we can help children to make progress.
• Share information with parents about how they can support their child at home.
• Work with other settings to promote shared learning experiences.
• Plan individually for every child as part of our educational programme which also includes group planned activities to support children to learn new things and to challenge and extend their knowledge.
• Evaluate activities we have planned to ensure our activities, resources, use of space, routines etc are being used effectively.
• Discuss if we need to make focussed interventions for any of the children.
• Observe children’s play to monitor their ongoing engagement, wellbeing and learning.

We regularly make changes to our layout, garden access and resources to ensure our environment effectively stimulates each child – and make changes as necessary. We discuss staff effectiveness and our use of the house, garden and outings in our monthly meetings and access further CPD when useful.

To further reflect on this area of provision we will…
Consider whether our observation, assessment, planning and evaluation schedule is robust. To do this we will look at Learning Journey files from other providers to ensure we are including everything that might be needed to ensure we can effectively monitor children’s progress.

…………………………………..

How well am I working with parents to support the children’s learning?

What we already do well… we work very closely with all parents, involving them in their children’s learning experiences and asking for their input. We aim to share children’s learning with families and we regularly suggest ways children’s learning might be enhanced at home in newsletters, children’s Learning Journey files, daily diary books, emails we send to parents through the month and daily chats.

We use the following methods to share information with parents to support children’s learning –
• Daily diaries - which focus on one area of learning each day and talk about children’s engagement and enjoyment of the activity
• Daily doorstep chats with parents to share information about their child’s learning during the day
• Parent ‘what we are doing today’ display in the entrance hall
• Learning Journey files which parents are encouraged to interact with regularly
• Ongoing ‘what I can do now’ documents and observations from home
• Monthly newsletters - which inform parents in brief about what their child has done, is doing next and provide a learning at home idea
We are trialling a new way of communicating via email (to cut down on printing costs) and will evaluate the effectiveness of this with parents shortly.

To further reflect on this area of provision we will…
Speak to parents about how well they think we are working with them to support their children’s learning. We will use what they tell us to enhance our already robust ways of working.

…………………………………..

We will use this article by Linda Thornton and Pat Brunton to help us reflect on our provision and what changes we might need to make to ensure compliance with the latest Ofsted expectations.

The article is linked to the latest Ofsted evaluation schedule (doc 120086 – Nov 2013).

More thoughts…

We intend using these questions from Gill Jones at Ofsted as a starting point for a professional discussion. We will talk about what we already do and how we might improve our provision in the future. We will involve local and national childminders in this professional discussion so that we can carefully evaluate how well we are doing and how we might improve our already outstanding provision.

We will consider what changes we might need to make to areas of provision such as –
• Record keeping / documentation
• The way we use the key person system
• Resources and equipment
• Daily routines
• Continuous provision plans
• Children’s wellbeing and engagement
• The effectiveness of our use of the 7 areas of learning
• Children’s behaviour
• Inclusive practice including how well we promote equality and diversity
• Safety and how well we support learning using risk benefit assessments
• Parent partnerships / conversations
• Use of the characteristics of learning
• Working with other settings
• How well we share ideas for developing children’s learning at home
• Use of space / layout of the house and garden
• Partnerships with other agencies / professionals / settings
• Children’s interactions with each other
• Community involvement including outings

To further enhance provision we will consider whether we need to update our self-evaluation form as a result of working through this self-reflection process – we use the Ofsted SEF.

As a result of further reflection it may be necessary to update e-book 18 ‘SEF guide’ from Knutsford Childminding.

It will also be important to consider what information is shared with our childminder colleagues via the Independent Childminders Facebook group and the Childminding Forum to ensure all childminders who want to stay independent of agencies and individually inspected are able to share good practice and benefit from each other’s experience and knowledge.

I hope you find this blog useful. Please ask me if you have any questions.

Chat soon, Sarah

Sharing information with parents

I attended a very good training session last night about involving parents in their children's time with us here at Knutsford Childminding. I think we do a pretty good job of sharing information and asking for feedback - and so do our parents - but there is always more to learn, so off I went to Stockport after a 10 hour working day for 2 more hours of training!

The training was attended by a range of settings - I like it this way because I enjoy learning from other providers and we all do things in different ways. It started with an introduction about why it is so important to share information with parents and what the EYFS 2012 (and revised EYFS 2014) requires of us. We then talked about how we already share information and shared further ideas with each other.

We spent some time focussing on different challenges practitioners might have in their settings - from ensuring we communicate effectively with disabled parents or parents who do not speak English as a first language - to sharing ideas to enhance children's learning at home with hard to reach parents who don't have time to stop and chat.

It was interesting to see that all settings have similar challenges and to think about how we manage them so that we can share information with parents effectively without letting the barriers to communication get in our way. A variety of methods were suggested including -

- Face to face chats at the beginning and end of the day
- Email
- Newsletters sent out in each parents preferred way
- Using a translator if parents do not speak English confidently
- Texts and phone calls
- Daily diary booklets
- Wow moment cards that parents fill in at home
- Regular meetings
- Settings were keen on getting parents involved in walks in the local area and inviting them in to do gardening, contribute to activities or eat meals with the children
- Professional secure Facebook page or blog
- Displays for parents to look at when their child is being collected
- Learning Journey files that parents regularly read through and comment on
- Travelling bears or book loans to involve parents in their child's learning at home
... and much more!

The most important thing we recognised was that we need to engage parents and find out how they want us to communicate with them and respect their choice. For example, if we have an online way of sharing information and they never log on, we need to provide information in a different format for them... childminders have been downgraded at inspection for exactly that scenario!

Any training is good - it makes you reflect on what you do and how you do things - and it gives you ideas for the future. Even if you come away thinking 'I know all that' you can be smug in the knowledge that you are doing everything right!!

Chat soon, Sarah x