My wonderful CM is about to be Ofsteded. Is there anything I can do ....

[WriggleJiggle]

to help her get a glowing report? I'm sure she will do anyway, but just wondered if it were possible to influence it in any way.

(apart from giving the inspector buckets ful of wine and chocolates)

A nice letter of recomendation maybe - also a good luck card telling her she's fab

Write her a reference - I got one from each of my parents before my inspection last month. Tell it from your heart - and from your dc point of view, they're big on 'what it's like for a child here' at the moment. Tell her good luck from me

What a lovely post.

I agree. A really good letter/reference - I just had mine and the inspector was pleased to see such positive feedback from one of my parents - and it gave me a lovely warm glow, too!

I agree. Each one of my families did a LOVELY (I needed tissues ) letter for Ofsted to see and the inspector was very impressed. Definitely worth putting some words together and agree, from the heart and child's pov is good

I thought about that, but wouldn't that seem as though I had done it purely for the Ofsted visit (and therefore not as valuable perhaps?)

I also considered writing a 'what great observations, thanks for keeping in touch so well' type thing, thinking that could just be slotted into dd's file, and perhaps dated a month or so ago? - would show that the care was a partnership between parent and CM and that her observations were accurate and informing.

Or, knowing that she is worried about how her observations link to future planning, something to do with that perhaps?

I want to show just how fantastic she is, without it seeming as though I had written it specifically for Ofsteds visit.

Then again, my child will not be there on the day of the inspections, so is it likely that the inspector will wish to see any of her files, or will they just look at the paperwork for the children that are present?

Look on it as your input into her inspection - if you were there when the inspector was you would tell them how brill she is, so all you're doing is putting it in writing because you won't be there. Look on it as a 'reference' for her

BTW, depending on the inspector they'll probably ask to see all of the files, even children who aren't there - mine did

Could you not just write positive comments every now and then in your DC daily diary. Or does your CM not give out questionnaires to make sure ongoing care is to your satisfaction. There is normally a comments box on there that you can say nice things on.

My fabulous childminder has just been OFSTEDED too. Apparently there was only one thing that kept her from being given an 'outstanding' quantification - her own 'self evaluation'.

If there is still time, it might be worth asking your childminder if she / he is fully up to speed and date on that aspect. The inspector wants to see that the minder has asked the parents questions on how she / he could improve and acted accordingly.

Yet the self-evaluation form isn't supposed to be mandatory

Mine were written FOR Ofsted - I already had references from them for other parents but they wrote to tell inspector what they thought of me

my lovely clients all wrote a message to the inspector in their children's diaries saying how great they thought i was. Inspector was most touched by that.

Just a thought

I wish I'd thought of doing that for ds1's CM. Lovely thought.