Childminder ofsted help

[Loveourchildminder]

I’ve name changed for this. Looking for some advice. We love our childminder. Our two daughters (18m and 3) are so happy with her. She nurtures them, keeps them safe and they are noticeably advancing in her care. She’s a bit rough and ready, but provides a comfortable, safe space for our girls to explore, learn and play.

She had ofsted yesterday and it didn’t go well. She was kicked by ratios (had 4 under 5) but had explained to both us and the inspector that because two were siblings this was within guidelines. Inspector was having none of it. One of the other children is a bit rambunctious (nothing we’ve ever worried about, we’ve never had a problem) but it can make it a bit chaotic on the one day he’s there, which is obviously the day the inspector came. It sounds like it all got very chaotic, our childminder was struggling to handle the kids messing around and dealing with the inspector all at once and I reckon got pretty flustered. Inspector not impressed at all. She’s been told she’s requires improvement but could have been inadequate. Our childminder is devastated, and I feel awful for her. She’s particularly worried as this will mean the kids no longer get funding, which is also a problem for us obviously as our 3 year old is funded. She’s saying she just wants to throw in the towel from January, despite all the parents being willing to at least temporarily continue unfunded. I am hoping that she is going to feel better in a day or two because otherwise we are screwed come January.

I guess this isn’t really an AIBU, more a what the hell can we do?? All her paperwork was in order btw. Does anyone know if we as parents can write to ofsted and if it would make a blind bit of difference? Any advice would be really welcome.

I've never heard of the sibling thing.

You don't automatically get allowed increase to ratios for siblings, you have to be able to "demonstrate to parents and/or carers and Ofsted inspectors or their childminder agency that the individual needs of all the children are being met"

Ofsted's first priority is safeguarding and whether all those children were safe in her care

Oh and the sibling thing is quite unusual. Most settings don't take extra young kids because actually 4 under 5s to one adult is very, very hard to safely manage

Lots of childminders do go to 4 under 5s now, especially for siblings - this is allowed and Ofsted have recently posted about it being allowed on their facebook page.

Unfortunately it does put you at the mercy of the inspector on the day - what one inspector will think is fine, another will object to.
I've known childminders marked down for using a shared towel for handwashing while other inspectors have said it's fine, inspections going badly because a childminder has a newly settling in baby who cries all the time and takes their attention - it's just luck basically and there's nothing parents can do to change the outcome.

It might be worth talking to the funding team at the council though - they may allow the funding to run for existing children to the end of next term or even the academic year.

Does the LA definitely remove the three year old funding if a setting is rated below 'Good? Ours doesn't, it changes two year old funding to manual approval instead.

Those Ofsted inspectors really need to decide on one rule book. 4 has been allowed for a few years, as long as you can prove you are meeting the needs of the children, and now they have said on their website that even 5 under 5 is ok, so to then rock up and say that the childminder is out of ratio is very unfair!

I thought requires improvement can keep the funding? Just inadequate that loses it. Has she checked that with the local authority?