Finally had the call, they have given me three dates!

[navyeyelasH]

I'm a bit [sad though, the inspector told me on the phone she more or less would not give an outstanding for a first inspection.

How silly is that?!

Also she said (despite what others in Ofsted and on my ICP course said) that each childminder (there are 2 of us working together) needs to have their own policies and procedures. So we have to have two sets of the exact same documents one with my name and one with the other CMers name (we currently have 1 set using a business name).

What got my goat was "I'm hazy on the legal details but I think you need 2 separate sets". I hope when she comes she doesn't think things.

I'm grumpy and tired today so excuse the moaning!

Poor you, I HATE the fact that some inspectors will and some won't give O/S at first inspection - so how well you do really is down to WHO you get - don't you love how consistant they are - NOT!!!!

As for the policies and procedures - that sounds RIDICULOUS!!! I've just emailed Ofsted about this to get it clarified in writing. I mentioned the waste of paper which is not good for the environment and the storage space wasted plus the fact parents would ignore one whole set as they are exactly the same!!! Makes much more sense to have ONE set with BOTH names on!! Not sure when your inspection is but I'll let you know once I get a reply from them.

I also think that's TERRIBLE that she 'thinks' things. I would be on your guard at your inspection and if you are not happy, you can always appeal at the end (I recently had 2 actions totally dropped by going through a lengthy complaints procedure when I wasn't happy with the inspector - they are not always right!! )

Good luck

oh good luck NEL

grrrr at your inspector, how annoying

(still not had my call )

Sorry, am I correct in thinking you've not actually had your inspection?
If so....... How the hell can she imply your grade before even meeting you?!

This is just SO wrong.

BM I was told that too, the inspector put her foot through the door and said summat like 'Please note that I NEVER grade outstanding at first inspection' I was so green and overawed that I never challenged it, though I should have. (got a good)

NEL, it might be worth ringing your CDO/Early years Team officer to tell them this; they might be interested

I got told on my 2nd or 3rd (sorry gets a bit hazy!) that the inspector I had never gave out outstandings, so not to expect t his when they rung to set a 2 week time frame of when to come and see me.

I hope that you do not need the 2 sets of paperwork, does seem particularly stupid to need duplicate sets - to get around this could you not do the 2 seperate sets and just save them on a pen drive stating that as they are the same as the group ones then if the parents want a seperate minders copy then it is easy enough to print one off, therefore saving paper etc

Good luck with the inspection and as looney said be on your guard

its beooming more common for them to TELL YOU they WILL NOT give you outstanding before they set foot through your door, they did this to me last time..im getting my next one in a week or two..my EYT know all about it and have spokent ot the inspoectors about it but nothing is being done..i was persoanlly told( despite her telling me BEFORE she even entered my home!) that to get outstanding i would have had to have had chickens, veg patches etc etc...ermmmm...you de-graded me BEFORE you even saw if i DID have any of these AND i live in almost the centre of town with a not so huge garden...where would the chldren play if i rotavated it for some carrots and chickens!!!???..hopefully this time she will be more reasonable and grade me fairly (i got a good anyway) on what i DO do, not what her ideals are...best of luck.x
oh an i have a lovely Cm poem and some fab obs/next steps EYFS sheets here if you want them emailed?

so sorry about pants spelling am doing a million things at once here, getting all my own bits ready LOL

Erm I know a childminder who recieved outstanding on their first inspection. And I have seen others in who minds etc. Do challenge that statement as there is no "rule" that says it - You should be judged on what they see and what you evidence (policies, SEF etc)

yy dobby but as you can see from this thread alone that inspectors can and do rock up with prejudgements in their minds

navy - further to my email to Ofsted about your policies and procedures, you do NOT need to do this I'm happy to forward the email I have so you can print and show the inspector For your info, the answer came from a Quality Assurance Manager from the Quality Assurance National Team (On behalf of Ann Tallboys HMI, Divisional Manager) so I would like to think this is correct information!

She didn't actually point blank say it but she more or less said it. I have searched all her online reports and she has only given out 3 in the last 1.5 years so it doesn't look good. She sounded lovely, don't get me wrong but te whole system is pants!

Looney that would be bloody awesome if you could. Will that rub her up the wrong way do you think?

My email: [email protected] it's all over the internet so am not bothered about secrecy etc.

Thanks for the support everyone. Now I need to go and find some sort of inspection checklist!

I'll email you in a mo And no, if she says you need 2 and you show her the email, that's it. If she seems off with you because of it or you worry that it's affecting her judgement on other things, you report that.

I tried to argue my point to jusitfy something with the inspector that made a visit to me (not inspection) and I think I DID rub her up the wrong way by trying to justify why I didn't agree with some things she said. Well, I reported all this, went through 2 stages of complaint processes and in the end, I was right and she was wrong and she would have got in quite a lot of trouble over it. I've learnt to not be scared of these inspectors, lots of lovely ones but some right hitlers too who just enjoy having the 'power' of making us squirm and those are the inspectors who should not be in that job!!! Anyway, if more people stand up to them, hopefully they'll stop being the way they are.

Sorry, really went off on one there Will email you now x

When I had my last inspection, my DH was at home that day, and we all joked that he should get registered as a CM so we could work together.

The inspector recommended not to do that (he would rather boil his eyeballs than be a CM anyway!) - she (very very nicely) said that we wouldn't be allowed to use just my paperwork, he would have to have his own written policies, risk assessments etc.

Left hand....right hand..... ....say no more. Inspectors are a law unto themselves. Mine last year kept referring to the Welfare Requirements throughout, yet I was expected to know it inside out . When God created earth he should have made a separate one for cms that had 9 days and 45 hrs a week so we have time to do all the bloody stuff that's needed now

TP - interesting eh!!! Well, I will keep my 'confirmation in writing' to show the inspector should they say anything!!!

I am a childminder and i work with another childminder in my home.
We had our inspection at the beginning of february.
The inspector was really nice and she never once suggested that we should have seperate policies!
She did ask a few questions when she rang about the SEF, risk assessments etc.
We emailed her our joint SEF at its incomplete stage as well as our policies and procedures just to save her time reading them when she was here.
She looked at our observations, risk assessments etc and complimented us on them...which was lovely!
Anyway, we got graded 'Outstanding'.
When i said we thought we would never get that grade she asked why...so i told her that we had missed out on it at previous inspection because we were new childminders, and wernt established (previous inspectors words!) she was horrified!
She said that it is a grade that is there to be given, and it should be given to those that can demonstrate they deserve it!
I do think that she had made some judgements about us before she arrived, due to what she read in our SEF (all good by the way!) and because she could see were honest about our practice in it, that helped her to grade us.

Sorry ive waffled on so much, but just wanted to give you our experiences.
Hope yours goes just as well as ours did. Good Luck!

I'm doing my SEF and in parts I am honest, saying that I've not done cooking with one particular child, because she does not like it!
But I do have chickens and a veg patch, it's just that the garden looks like a bog at the moment and I just wish they could come when it was dry .
I'm due my first grading in the next week or so, but have only actualy been minding for 5 months.

Well I work with my DH and we follow the same policies and procedures and I WILL NOT be printing out a 2nd set when he has his 1st inspection (which apparently he will definitely not get an outstanding for!).

Why on earth does having chickens get you an outstanding?! Would having a couple of chicken-shaped stuffed toys be the same?

how do you find out about the previous grades inspectors have given?, i cant seem to find it ofsteds page?

I don't understand why childminders working together would have separate written policies and procedures?

If two or more childminders are working together, it is essential they are in agreement on each policy and procedure. It would make more sense to me for each childminder to sign the SAME copy of each policy/procedure to say that they have agreed that this is the way they will work TOGETHER.

If childminders don't live together, I can see the point of each holding their own copy of the same document.

Some childminders HAVE received outstanding on their very first ever inspection. But my inspectors, IMO, had already made up their minds about my grade before they even spoke to me or looked at my records. I was told its impossible to get an outstanding at all.

I showed my inspector that my records were informative about child's learning & development and all I'd got from preschool was a ticklist. She told me that was fine because "they are a preschool". But my detailed records are not enough, I have to do even more than before. I would like to give my inspector an unsatisfctory grade, I don't see why I should have more work than preschool, we are supposed to be following the same rules.

looney just got your email, have been feeling a bit ill so haven't done any work stuff! But thank you, so helpful. I'm sticking to just one set - it's common sense! Wre are being inspected on different days which I noticed is also different to your email??

Pinkchick - I'm very lucky my partner is a computer programmer and made me a programme that "reads" Ofsted reports - when he gets home I will see if it is possible to share this with you.

But the long winded way is to on Ofsted website, click inspection reports, click on childminders, click on your area, click on each EY number, scroll down to open inspection and at the top it says "carried out by ...."

It's boring but handy!

ayla99 - that's barmy!!

ooh NavyeyelasH thats handy, that would be great!..thankyou