Childminder red flag?

[CMworry]

NC for this just in case she's on here!
My childminder was off sick all of last week. First time ever and we've used her for 5 years on and off with all our children. Since my youngest started with her in November I've had the feeling she's snowed under and maybe it's all getting too much for her (admin mainly). I then heard that Ofsted had been due in last week but I don't think this is/was supposed to be common knowledge. She's now said she's back to work tomorrow and also mentioned that Ofsted will be in this week. Would you be concerned by this? It kind of seems like she might have panicked when they said they were coming and taken the week off sick to buy some prep time.

YABU = probably just unlucky timing
YANBU = too much of a coincidence, she might have something to hide

No childminder is perfect and maybe the woman just felt entirely overwhelmed. I don’t think she has anything necessarily.

the idea of someone coming into my home to critique me would make me ill. I’m in Scotland and it’s the care commission/inspectorate who do this and they can be pretty relentless.

*to hide necessarily

Even if she needed time to prep and compose herself, why would this be a red flag? How does this affect the physical care she gives the children.

I've just had ofsted, paperwork wise all they wanted to see was my DBS and my first aid certificate. It's not that heavy for paperwork, most of it is watching and talking to you on the day.

Granted not easy if you needed her to work but she can't help being ill, even if that illness is stress caused by ofsted.

What do you think she’s hiding? If she’s been reliable and good for 5 years, it’s unlikely that she is hiding anything sinister like neglect. At most, she’s just tidying and doing admin. She could just genuinely be sick. I don’t think it’s a red flag.

Even if she did take time off to catch up on admin and prepare, she wouldn’t be the first person, in any job, who took some time off saying they were “sick” when they were stressed at the idea of an appraisal or deadline, or needed a breather to sort some stuff out. She’s been your childminder for years, there’s a relationship of trust there when it comes to her care, I’d assume the best of her here.

You’ve known her for five years and had no concerns. OFSTED, as a lot of teachers will tell you (myself included), is daunting. Carry on as normal.

No you are over thinking it - maybe 6 years ago before the change in the eyfs it would have been a thing but these days ofsted don't look at your paperwork at all
They literally sit and chat with you about how you teach the kids and then watch your interactions with the kids
.. its incredibly stressful but not a week of preparation stressful. Fwiw I'm a childminder who has before this year only ever closed for actual sickness bugs, anything else I've worked through but I caught a flu bug about a month ago that absolutely floored me and I took 2 days off (and the three days before I only had 1 or 2 very easy to entertain kids and I went to bed as soon as they went home).

Maybe she hasn’t done all the ofsted paperwork? And I don’t blame her.
If you feel comfortable with her with your child, that’s what I would focus on🙃

Thanks everyone! I'm overthinking it, she's great. Also just to clarify I wouldn't blame her at all if she needed time to prep. I've done similar!

Maybe her planning is behind so she spent the week catching up? Not a red flag more someone who isn’t keen on paperwork.
or she was ill