Childminders; how can I ensure I get outstanding?

[navyeyelasH]

I really really want to get outstanding, how can I ensure this happens? I'm quite new to childminder (reg in October) so want to get everything in place for my first inspection in a few months.

I charge at the top end of the scale and feel an outstanding would help parents understand why we charge more than other childminders. Also if it's ok to say this, I do feel like we deserve outstanding as we put our hear and souls into caring for the children!

I know one area I need to work on is talking with a pre-school (have 1 mindee that goes there). But when I've tried to talk to someone at the pre-school (3 times) they ignore me and wont ring back! How can I resolve this and what else should I do to help me get an outstanding grade?

Thanks!

Have you got the A Passion to be Outstanding booklet from Ofsted and also Are you ready for you Inspection?
Read minders reports from your local area and see what the inspectors seem to be focusing on.
go through your EYFS and requirements to ensure that you are meeting and exceeding what they are requiring - how do you evidence this - where is the evidence to show the inspector. Outstanding is a WOW setting. Whats the WOW factor about your place - sell your points.
Outstanding practitioners are also (critcally) reflective and progressive practitioners.

Have you come across www.childmindingforum.co.uk ? Tons of help, support and advice on there from practitioners from all over the UK (and other parts of the world) of all gradings right up to Outstandings and EYPs.

I had this issue about the preschool, marked down for it actually. You just need to prove you are trying to communicate with them. Record what times/dates you called, info given to them. My inspector just told me you inform the parents and hope they tell the preschool.

Write to the pre-school & keep a copy of the letter

I have a reflective practice log

Fill in your SEF

Some pre-schools are very reluctant to put any effort into working together so you need to make it as easy as possible. First you need the parents written permission and on the same form a space for the pre-school key worker/manager to sign in agreement. If they refuse to sign then they are in breach of the EYFS requirements and a gentle reminder should see them agree. If they refuse to sign then write 'refusal to sign' on the form, date it and copy for the pre-school . Log all conversations, phone calls and messages. Copy all paperwork that you send the pre-school. This will show that you are meeting the requirement but the pre-school is blocking you.
Being Outstanding is great but it isnt the be all & end all, and although it has been given out to new childminders that is a rarity. You need to show you are reflective, dynamic, have a clear plan for your setting and 100% focused on the needs of the children and families that use you. Obviously all paperwork must be A1, obs, assessment/planning next steps in place. You must have a clear understanding of the EYFS including the Welfare Requirements. And on the day you need the wind behind you and luck

Hi everyone thanks for the replies brilliant tips about the preschool thanks for that will try them all out.

Katy Mac, what exactly is a reflective practice log? What sort of stuff does it say? I was thinking about having a sort of daily diary for my setting just a few little words ie> "playdough today went well but maybe make it using different colours as children seemed to lose intrest quickly" or similar?

Stomp I hear what you're saying but I really really want to be oustanding. I can't help it it's the A grade student in me! I have worked as a chidminders assitant for a year and did all her paperwork, I've been on 2 EYFS courses so hopefully that will help. Every bit of my paperwork is linked back to EYFS all my policies, permissions etc, everything.

A "clear plan for my setting" could be my downfall I really hate planning as so much depends on what is going on on a spcific day. Basically I have made a folder of all the little things we might typically do in a year; ie sand play, water play, various parks, playgroups, cooking, literally everything we do. And I've made sort of pro-formas which say for this activity I expect a 1 year old to typical do this and this will help them with X which connects to EYFS part bla bla. A 2 year old would do this, this hekos them with X which connects to EYFS part BLA BLA. It's actually 3 a4 folders worth and took me nearly a year to compile! But it is one of those things that once it's done, it's done and only needs little revisions throughout the year.

Then for my planning I have simple monthly planning. Ie one month we might be doing transport so one week we do a outing connected to the theme, next week a craft activity related to theme, next week we might have a talk about theme from a bus driver etc etc. The rest of the days we do something from my proforma list if activities and where appropriate use the activity to learn about our topic. Ie. transport theme, we might go to park and see how many different types of vehicles we see enroute.

Then I do observations, and for each observation I o a "next stage" so the planning is child led. IE in transport wee child a might be learning to say the word car, so my next steps might be to introduce child to other words related to cars ie buses, nikes etc and he hoises they make.

Is that enough do you reckon I really want to avoid day to day indepth panning!

ps Pippin26 I just googled that passionate about outstanding as nope I've not got it and it's really good thank you for that! Have also used childminding forum but am a bit weary of it as there seems to be a lot of misinformation as well as good information - think will use it more when I find my feet and now for certain the lay of the land so to speak!

email me & I'll send it but basically it is a sheet that I put 'what the issue is' 'how we are going to improve it' & 'whether it worked'

So

at Toddler group bottles can't be made up easily - so we took boiling water in a flask - this enabled the bottles to be made up at 70 degrees

Staff don't want to go outside as it is cold & wet - buy coats so they are appropriately dressed - staff ,much more ameanable to going outside

Navyeye - sorry to hear that you feel that way about the forum, as with anything or anywhere you need to take the opinions and information that you find and use with the approach of adopt, adapt or ignore. As with a large forum, there are so many people all offering their opinion and view and of course there are people from different countries etc.
On the whole the information found there is nearly always accurate and informative but it always good practice for the individual to ensure that the information they are viewing is accurate and backed up by personal research. The forum is very good signposting.

There are lots of books and information on the net (google) about Reflection. NCMA also have their own Self Reflection Tool (good precursor to perhaps your SEF) along with your SEF - that should help you with being reflective.
Being reflective doesn't just mean being critical it means recognising your strengths and building on them.