Question about Ofsted inspection.

[Wanderingsheep]

Hello. I'm due to have my first proper inspection this week.

I was just wondering how much of my attention the Ofsted inspector will demand. Will she leave me to get on with it or will she be sat asking me question after question after question?

Sorry if this sounds like a silly question but the reason I ask is that, when I had my initial inspection last year, the inspector made it quite difficult for me to do things with dd ie. Give her her lunch etc (she kept looking at her watch while I was feeding her and sighing as if she thought DD was taking a long time to eat).

Anyway, the point is that I am thinking about the kinds of activities to do but don't want to do something that requires heavy supervision (they are only small children) if the Ofsted inspector wants me talking to her all the time.

Any tips for the inspection will also be gratefully recieved

TIA

Anybody?

well in my nursery they tendend to obseve then ask a few questions then obseve going round the rooms, however i'm sure it is different as a child minder.

In an inspection years and years ago, we had an inspector feed one of our children even though we were encouraging them to feed themselves, (we had explained this to them) which i thought crossed a line,

Thanks for answering, cookielove

I'm dreading it. The lady made me feel really awkward last time and I keep thinking if that's what it was like with just DD then what will it be like when I have my mindee? Although I know that it's a different lady who is coming this week. Hopefully she will be nice!

the lady we had this time, was really lovely and we passed with flying colours, which was great seeing as we had recently moved to a new site and were still finding are feet

the inspector will look at all your paperwork and may ask you questions about it while you are busy with the children. if she DOES huff and puff while you are busy, ask her politely if she is feeling alright and if you could get her a glass of water !!

you will be inspected while you are working and the children's needs come first - whether your own child or another child. when i had mind recently she started asking a lot of questions as the toddler was getting grumpy for sleep. after a couple of minutes I said i need to attend to the child first and then i could talk to her - i was not rude or anything untoward, but it was clear that it would be easier for me to talk with little one in bed.

I suggest that you have at least 5 or 6 things planned for the morning, and by this I don't mean crafts - could be wooden blocks, cars and trucks, play dough, dolls house, dressing up, drawing etc, so that if the children are starting to get restless you can change the activity to keep them interested.

one thing i wish i had done is prepare lunch before the inspector arrived and if you provide lunch I would strongly recommend that you do that.

also, have all your paperwork, files, photo album, reports etc etc set out and ready for her as soon as she comes in.

don't forget to ask her for her id if she does not offer it.

i also wish that i had farmed my 4 year old DS out that day....... he was quite hard work!!!!

Thanks a lot for that numberfour!

That's really helpful! I think I will prepare DD's dinner beforehand as that's also where she was a bit huffy and puffy, that I had the cheek to go and make my child lunch, lol! Mindee brings his own so that's not so bad.

yes, i landed up having to make quick sandwiches for the little ones. I wish I had done even a pasta and salad or roast chicken the night before or something like that so it looked good, the children liked it and it was easy to prepare.

don't be afraid to "take control" of the inspection. when she comes in, show her what you want her to see so that she does not miss it. a friend of mine missed out on showing the inspector her photo album and it really upset her afterwards.

show her around your house / play room / lounge / dungeon / wherever you do your minding!! and then show her a place at a table or couch where all your books and paperwork and files and stuff are and tell her that that is where she can sit! she will want to follow you around as you move from room to room.

I have a small house with only an upstairs loo and at one time all the little ones wanted to go up and she asked if she should come up too!!! I said no, that i would not be long. Even the couple of minutes in the bathroom without her was a relief..... and at least i could go to the loo with only 3 children around me and not 3 children and an adult!!

Remember to ask to see id badge, and as soon as inspector comes in ask them to sign visitors log we have a visitors badge as well, also tell inspector of your fire proceedure and where the exit is, I usually say were not due to have a fire drill so if the alarm sounds it is a real situation, please leave by the following exit - or some such - as No4 says put all your paperwork out so that they can look through it all, it's best to do this so they don't keep asking if you have this or that and distracting you from looking afer mindees, it's also good as you can sometimes forget something which they don't ask for but shows an extra quality to your minding business. My last inspector didn't really get much chance to ask much as we had 6 little ones and it was rhyme time so we spent much of the inspection singing to her LOL:

All of the inspectors i have had visit me have been smashing, without exception, and quite often join in with the activity, talk to the children and one even let a mindee play on her laptop, i still panic each time its due only natural I suppose but when they are their it's actually quite nice and it seems to go quite quickly.

I'll probably get a right dragon next time after saying this but seriously after 5 visits not had a single problem, just be as honest as you can if they ask if you have something or do something explain what and why you do things a certain way and if you don't say why not.

I'm sure you will be fine having snacks and lunch ready is a definate good piece of advice. Good luck

Make sure too that she puts her handbag out of reach of mindees and if you offer her a tea or coffee, point out to her where it is safe to put her cup!!

atworknotworking: thats a really good point about pointing out the 'fire exit' thats the one thing I hadn't thought of.

Thanks for the tips everyone! I've had the inspection today and all went well! The lady was really nice and was lovely to the children .

My friend who is seriously big time into paperwork and strives to keep her excellent grade last year had an inspector at hers for OVER 6 HOURS!

HOWZAT!

The woman even went on the school run with her and had her packed lunch with her, cant remember if she ate it inside or sat in the car.

It seems my pal wouldnt let inspector go until she`d shown her EVERYTHING she had taken time to invest her time and energy in preparing maticulously in order to keep her grade. Is it really worth it eh?

She kept her grade!