Janice McGregor Childminding Services Child Minding Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 22 August 2017 Service provided by: Janice McGregor trading as Janice McGregor Childminding Services Service provider number: SP2011983145 Care service number: CS2011305236
The service Introduction Janice McGregor registered with the Care Inspectorate in April 2012 trading as Janice McGregor Childminding Services. She provides a childminding service from her family home in a residential area of Livingston close to local amenities, including the primary and nursery schools. She is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 7 children at any one time under the age of 16, of whom a maximum of 6 will be under 12, of whom no more than 3 are not yet attending primary school and of whom no more than 1 is under 12 months. Numbers are inclusive of children of the childminder's family. Minded children cannot be cared for by persons other than those named on the certificate. Overnight service will not be provided. The childminder aims to provide a warm, welcoming, homely, stimulating and safe environment. What we did during our inspection We wrote this report following an unannounced inspection which took place on 22 August 2017 from 9.30 until 11.30. As part of the inspection we took account of the annual return and self assessment forms that we asked the childminder to complete and submit to us. We check services are meeting the principles of Getting it right for every child (also known as GIRFEC). This is Scotland's national approach to improving outcomes and wellbeing for children by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. It supports them and their parent(s) to work with the services that can help them. There are eight wellbeing indicators at the heart of GIRFEC. They are: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. They are often referred to as the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators. We sent three Care Standards Questionnaires to the childminder to give to families using her service. One of these were completed and returned to us before the inspection. page 2 of 8
Views of people using the service One young minded child arrived during the inspection. He quickly settled after initially being upset when mum left. His strong bond with the childminder was apparent. He approached her happily requesting different resources. We received one Care Standards Questionnaire for inclusion in the inspection process. Parents/carers indicated that they were very happy with the service provided. They told us: - I can ask for anything (e.g. naps to be shortened) that I feel my child needs and Janice gives me verbal updates. Janice has clear daily routines to fit in meals, naps and developmentally appropriate activities. Self assessment Every year all care services complete a 'self assessment' telling us how their service is performing. We check to make sure this is accurate. The childminder had completed and submitted a self assessment. She highlighted examples of things she did well and other areas she was proposing to develop. What the service did well The childminder had developed very good relationships with families where she worked with them to ensure consistency in her service. The minded child had Children had lots of fun playing with toys and resources. It was clear that there was a positive relationship between the childminder and the child's family What the service could do better The childminder should continue to keep up to date with current best practice and access any relevant training. page 3 of 8
From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of environment Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good 5 - Very Good not assessed 5 - Very Good Quality of care and support Findings from the inspection The childminder had a strong settling-in procedure in place when admitting children into the care service. This included visits to her home so that the child was able to become familiar with the childminder and childcare environment. During this time she had various discussions with parents with the aim of building up strong, trusting relationships. These allowed the childminder the opportunity to gain information and personalise a care plan to support to the individual health and care needs of their child. The childminder was nurturing and understanding of the way changes to family routines could affect the children. A child who arrived during the inspection was unhappy that his sister had started school that day and was not attending the childminder that morning. The childminder worked well to distract and settle him by encouraging him to play with the cars. She was gentle and calm when chatting with him. The childminder had a vast range of resources and activities available for the children. We noted resources that had recently been added that would interest the age of a new child who was due to visit that evening prior to starting the following week. The childminder had a clear interest in their next stages of learning and development. Children's development was supported as the childminder was very knowledgeable of GIRFEC and the SHANARRI Quality indicators. She held detailed care plans for each of the children which showed her awareness of the children's stages of learning and the resources and activities that she had in place to provide care and challenge. A parent told us "Janice gives me verbal updates and regular complete written feedback sheets (quarterly) about what my child is doing and is developing." A key strength of the childminder is the annual reports that she provides for parents based on the SHANARRI Quality indicators. This meant that parents had very detailed information relating to their child's learning, development and support needs. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 page 4 of 8
Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good Quality of environment Findings from the inspection We found that the childminder's home was very child friendly, clean and well maintained. Art work and displays of the children's craft work helped to support a welcoming environment. The childminder undertook checks of the resources to ensure that they were safe for the children to use. The children accessed resources by themselves within the playroom. The comment of the child present of "we have too many things out" showed that he was very aware of the rules relating to safety. He respected the resources as he took responsibility for helping to clear some away before bringing others out. The childminder promoted the children to keep healthy by taking part in active outdoor play. Appropriate risk assessments supported the children to enjoy outdoor activities in a safe manner. The childminder had recently redeveloped her garden to provide a decking area allowing more space for the children to enjoy. She had photographs showing the children taking part in a wide range activities including playing in ice puddles, den building and bug hunts. She used the good practice document 'My World Outdoors' to develop opportunities and experiences. Good use was made of local facilities such as the woodlands, parks and the beach giving the children a sense of belonging to the local community. Comments from parents in the care standards questionnaires indicated that they were very happy with the space available to the children to take part in a range of activities and that the premises were safe and secure. They told us "My child regularly enjoys activities indoors and outdoors. I especially like that she gets outdoors at least once per day, even when it is wet." Children were kept safe and healthy through the childminder using safe infection control practices. For example the childminder encouraged good hand hygiene practices and talked to the children about the importance of washing their hands and keeping themselves healthy. The childminder had policies, procedures and was maintaining records of medication administered, accidents, incidents and attendance records. Appropriate insurance was purchased. These records and policies helped the childminder maintain a safe service. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good page 5 of 8
Quality of staffing This quality theme was not assessed. Quality of management and leadership Findings from the inspection The childminder continued to provide a high quality service to families. As an experienced childminder she had established policies and procedures in place which were shared with families. The childminder showed a very good awareness of responsibility and safety of children. She was very clear that the safety of children was paramount. The childminder was highly motivated to continually improve and develop her service. She told us how she used publications and the websites of Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) and the Care Inspectorate to keep up to date with current practice and changes to legislation. She had strong links with the area SCMA worker who provided support and guidance when required. She told us that she also made use of a variety of childcare websites to aid her research of practice and gain new ideas. The childminder involved parents and children within her service and welcomed feedback from them. Parent told us they would discuss any issues with the childminder and were confident that she would take forward any issues they would agree and action plan together. They were pleased with the regular opportunities they had to talk about the service provided and give their views and opinions. When requested, the childminder completed documents such as the annual return and self assessment. This let us know about the service provided and any areas she was planning to develop. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 5 - very good page 6 of 8
What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection Previous requirements There are no outstanding requirements. What the service has done to meet any recommendations we made at or since the last inspection Previous recommendations There are no outstanding recommendations. Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Enforcement No enforcement action has been taken against this care service since the last inspection. Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 3 Apr 2013 Announced (short notice) Care and support 5 - Very good Environment 5 - Very good Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership Not assessed page 7 of 8
To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. page 8 of 8