panic panic panic.. Ofsted just rang

[SillyMillysMummy]

i have only been registered for 4 months and they want to do my inspection next week! I am away all weekend now until sunday night, but i have kinda told a fib saying i only have ad hoc children, so is calling back monday to arrange. So my questions are. 1. Will they look at my contracts and find me out?

1. Is there anything they will definately look for?

am dreading mine too - only been registered since December but had a call from Ofsted today - nearly wet myself when she said who it was!!! once I'd got a grip realised she was calling to see if I was minding yet (I am) and then she said I will be contacted to check for availability to inspect soon .

must get paperwork in order! Keep telling myself satisfactory is fine, especially for the first one. Good luck for when you go ahead with it, x

mine is scheduled for Mon or Wed next week, she sais she wasnt allowed to tell me when, am furiously making sure everything is up to date, and my cm co ordinator is coming out on thursday to have a check round. As far as I am concerned satisfactory is fine, but do worry that it then stands for 3 years

mine coming in 2 weeks. i am soooooo scared

Anyone out there due an inspection who has caller id on ya phone - don't answer any calls showing 'Private', it'll be Ofsted! Ha, ha, ha

Mine overdue and was supposed to come end of last month but then got appt for operation so have postponed it till end of March. Mine also said she couldn't tell me when she was coming, but I only work a Wed & Thurs afternoon at the moment, so can narrow it down to at least 2 days. Have, however, known some cms who have waited in for several weeks and not had 'the visit'. If you normally do playgroups, drop-ins etc, tell them that and carry on as normal - narrow them down as much as you can. Good luck everyone

underpaid, wish you had said that last week lol

Good luck SillyMillysMummy! I also registered in Dec so it's looming I'm sure. Doesn't help having Support Worker adding pressure that I must attain at least a "Good" but for me "Satisfactory" will be good enough!

I must admit I don't have any under 1's. I have two x 22 months, one due to start nursery this Sept and two due to start school this Sept. They are my youngest. They are the only ones I have to do observation and assessments on.

The others do have their own files, but I only put photos on these and the children do the rest. The OLDER CHILDREN WRITE THEIR OWN COMMENTS under the photos and they put in their own work (drawings etc.). Ofsted love this kind of input from the children and the children really OWN their own files.

I only record the WOW moments for the littlies. If I am looking to observe something in particular, say for instance whether a child knows where its body parts are, I will set up an activity and only observe that child. Otherwise I record things spontaneously as they occur day to day.

I have a weekly sheet on my wall:

Mon Tues Wed

PSED 22/2 BB
fell
off chair
KC said
"you
awright
B..."

CLL 23/2 Watching
CBBS MM
copied
Justin
Doing
Sign Language

PSRN 24/2 Edu Beam
MM balanced
one foot on
one foot off

KUW

PD

CD

Don't know if this is going to come out ok, but the idea is that you have the days across the top and the 6 areas of learning down the side. Each time I observe a wow moment I jot it down on the sheet, bit like using post its except that you dont lose the bits of paper and the chart can be filed for evidence for Ofsted to show that you cover all the areas of learning over a period of time.

Then when I have time, I transfer any photos I have taken from my camera to my pc, and check the chart for details of what actually happened at the time. I then put the observation on the child's file. At the end of the school term I do a summative assessment which is just a list of all the things i have observed over the term.

My observations look something like this:

PICTURE IF ONE IS AVAILABLE (ON THIS OCCASION THERE WASN'T ONE SO i JUST PUT A BOX WITH - NO PICTURE AVAILABLE - IN IT.

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Making Relationships
(16 - 26 mths)
DEVELOPMENT MATTERS:
Can be caring towards each other

22/2/09 CHILD LED: While the children were sitting eating lunch BB fell off chair KC went over to him and said "you awright B..." and came to me and said "BB fawl". I gave BB a cuddle (he hadn't hurt himself) and thanked KC for telling me.

PARENT COMMENT:

FORWARD PLAN: Choose books and stories in which characters show empathy for others

If you look in your practice guidance you can easily find the language to use for your observations. After a while you instinctively know which area of learning they come under, you know the age of the child, the rest is there for you to easily look up.

If you are ok on the computer if you go to
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/eyfs/ and click on search areas of learning and development you can cut and paste all the info you need. The early support stuff is good too if you have a child who is struggling.

I am not plugging the site, but if you go to eyfs-in-practice they have a folder with all the welfare requirements in it - you just slot in your evidence. Their policies and procedures are very good too - you can just adapt them to your setting. There is also an example of how to do your observations and assessments and the above provision sheet.

Sorry the chart didnt come out right. Not sure how to type it so it shows right on the site.

I'll try again

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

PSED

CLL

PSRN

KUW

PD

22/2 BB
fell
off chair
KC said
"you
awright
B..." WOULD GO next to psed under Monday

Does this make sense?

CD

Then each time you do an observation write on sheet.

Sorry the chart didnt come out right. Not sure how to type it so it shows right on the site.

I'll try again

DAYS OF THE WEEK - Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

PSED

CLL

PSRN

KUW

PD

22/2 BB
fell
off chair
KC said
"you
awright
B..." WOULD GO next to psed under Monday

Does this make sense?

All the above postings are right: if you are a new minder, Ofsted will not be expecting paperwork like mine. They would be suspicious of too much paperwork or formal detail. It is only because I have been minding for so long and I have done my NVQ Level 3 and EYFS Level 3 and stayed up night after night to get the paperwork right that I am at this point now. I have had nights where I didn't go to bed at all (not recommended for anyone - I am naturally a night bird and don't need much sleep). I have now found a manageable way of recording everything, but it has been a very long journey. My kids had to do without a mum and my husband thought we had separated without me telling him. I made sure it did not affect my day to day minding but my private life didn't exist. My parents were great, I kept changing the way I did my observations so many times they thought they had different children each time they read about them. I was insecure, I cried, had temper tantrums, thought about giving up on more than one occasion and going back into office work. I felt very sad that my setting was turning into a formal nursery (I've got over that now and feel it is a home environment again). You would have to see my set up and my FEW setting files and my observation files to see how little paperwork I do now.

I think new minders coming into the profession have such an exciting journey ahead of them, if they take their time and do a little at a time. The main thing is they enjoy the job of looking after the children and don't stress.

Ofsted will only mark you as unsatisfactory if they find something that puts the children at risk. To get satisfactory, you need to go through the welfare requirements and highlight everything that is a requirement and make sure you have covered it.

PF, you are very very good am loving the time on your last post

I do understand that as a new cm its difficult to have evrything completely under control as you have, but its frustrating knowing that the ofsted report is what parents look at before they even come to see you and one that doesnt have positive marks (i dont think satsfactory sounds positive) can put potential clients off. In all honesty if I dont get any more mindees within the next 3 months I will have to give it up and get a normal job anyway and your right my own family have most definately suffered

thanks so much for your help though on the positive side

I have always thought satisfactory is a horrible word. I agree it doesn't sound very positive. The fact that it lasts 3 years is also unfortunate. Even if in that time you take courses, get more experience or just carry on doing a good job there is no way of moving it up to good. I have been lucky over the years to gain good when it was the highest and outstanding when that grade came in. I am no better a childminder than many who have gained satisfactory or good, I am just good at what I do, both paperwork and with the children and I know how to show it both on paper and in words.

That sounds like commonsence, but lots of childminders know what they do but have a problem putting it into words. That is why I think the EYFS Practice Guidance is so helpful, it gives childminders THE WORDS TO USE when they see a child doing something. It also helps you to know what to look for and how to plan ahead.

I am sorry to hear you might move out of minding into a normal job. I feel like that myself sometimes. Then my 10 year old asks to bring friends home after school or in the long summer hols, or i have to get him when he is sick and all my plans go awall.

I am lucky at the moment to be full, not sure what I would do if I started to empty due to natural wastage (children starting schools or nurseries I don't pick up from or going to high school).

I would love to continue, I really do love what I am doing and the mindees I have. Since October I have only ever had 5 enquiries, 3 of which started with me, 1 i couldnt help, so thats a really good hit rate just not enough traffic ((smm went back to her old sales job there for a second)) I have done all the advertising that is reasonable, I am just starting to think that maybe there isnt the minding needed.

On a plus point, have just been to a toy library for the first time, to pick up a couple of multicultural type things that i thought ofsted might like and.... what amazing places they are, will definately be going back