MacPherson, Arlene Child Minding Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 6 December 2016 Service provided by: MacPherson, Arlene Service provider number: SP2011982793 Care service number: CS2011300447
The service Introduction Arlene MacPherson, known as the childminder throughout this report, is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of eight children under 16 years, of whom a maximum of six will be under 12 years, of whom no more than three are not yet attending primary school and of whom no more than one is under 12 months. Numbers are inclusive of children of the childminder's family. Care may be provided to an additional named child not yet attending primary school and over the age of 12 months on Wednesdays only between the hours of 12.30pm and 1.30pm during term time and between the hours of 11.30am and 1.30pm during school holidays until 9 August 2017. Should any child being cared for on these days leave the service this variation no longer applies. The childminder provides her service from her home in the Restalrig area of Edinburgh. Minded children have access to the open plan living room, kitchen dining room, play room, family bathroom, and the large enclosed garden. The Care Inspectorate is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all children receiving a care service. We want to ensure that they have the best start in life, are ready to succeed and live longer, healthier lives. We check services are meeting the principles of Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). Set up by the Scottish Government. GIRFEC is a national approach to working in a consistent way with all children and young people. It is underpinned by the principles of prevention and early intervention. The approach helps services focus on what makes a positive difference for children and young people - and what they can do to improve. GIRFEC is being woven into all policy, practice, strategy and legislation that affects children, young people and their families. 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 indicators. We use these indicators at inspection, to assess how services are making a positive difference for children. What we did during our inspection We wrote this report following an unannounced inspection visit carried out on Tuesday 6 December 2016. Views of people using the service On the day of the inspection two minded children were present. One of the children slept through most of the inspection waking only as we were leaving. The childminder checked the child regularly to ensure they were comfortable. The other child played happily with toys they had chosen. The child was confident and relaxed in the care of the childminder, looking to her for help with their play from time to time. The childminder was attentive and supportive to the child throughout the inspection. Self assessment The childminder submitted a self assessment document before the inspection took place. The document was completed to a high standard. It included detailed information about the service, how the childminder met the needs of families, how she identified and met her professional development needs and areas for future development. page 2 of 8
What the service did well The experienced and enthusiastic childminder provided a service which focused on meeting children's care and support needs in a fun and homely environment. What the service could do better The childminder should continue to look for ways to maintain and further develop her high quality service. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of environment Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 6 - Excellent 6 - Excellent not assessed 6 - Excellent Quality of care and support Findings from the inspection The excellent quality of care and support provided by the childminder was apparent in all of the evidence we saw. The childminder understood the importance of effective transitions in supporting and empowering children and in building resilience. Parents were encouraged to spend as much time as possible settling their children and sharing information about their needs. We saw evidence of thoughtful supports for transition, they included picture books from home and from the childminder's. They allowed parents and the childminder to talk about the different settings with the children. This supported children's understanding of the process. Parents were encouraged to take their children's 'All About Me' folders home and to comment on them. The folders were maintained to a high standard. Well recorded observations and next steps were clearly linked to GIRFEC and the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators. This made it easy for parents to see how their children spent their day and how the childminder supported them. Parents were encouraged to comment on the folders at any time. Formal reviews took place at least once every six months. The childminder used a responsive planning model based on children's interests and on comments from parents. This helped to ensure that all children had a voice in what happened to them and that activities reflected their whole lives and not just what happened at the childminder's. This holistic view gave children a clear message that they were important and valued. Well presented and informative news letters kept parents informed of events in the service. Daily chat's meetings, texts and phone calls helped them to stay in touch with what their children did while they were in the childminder's care. The high quality interaction between the childminder and the minded children demonstrated her understanding that in order to develop skills children need a balance between support and opportunities to persevere and experiment. She intervened in the child's play when this would add value to the child's experience and when it was clear that the child would benefit from additional assistance. Meaningful praise was used to encourage page 3 of 8
children and to recognise achievements. We saw the minded child glow as a result of the childminder's recognition of their achievements. In all of their interactions it was clear that the childminder had developed close affectionate bonds with the children which supported their developing self esteem and self worth. Parents praised the childminder for her communication skills and for the environment she created. Their comments included "We chose Arlene because we completely trust her judgement in all areas of childcare. We are really pleased with the daily routine and activities. They are a good balance between play and daily family life. We believe our child is always stimulated, cared for and had balance in their day." Another told us "Arlene is an excellent communicator. Her approach to childcare is everything we try to do in our parenting, gentle, kind, caring, educational, full of play, warmth and fun." Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 6 - excellent Quality of environment Findings from the inspection The childminder made excellent use of the space in her home to provide a warm, welcoming and fun environment for minded children. Children had access to the sitting room, the open plan kitchen/living room/ dinning room, family bathroom and the playroom which opened directly into the large enclosed garden. The childminder understood the importance of making children and their families feel safe and welcome in her home. As part of their settling families were shown around all the parts of the home their children would use. This was an opportunity to discuss the effective health and safety measures in place to protect children. The plentiful range of toys, books and arts and crafts materials were displayed so that children could see what was available and reach them for themselves. By making it easy for children to make their own decisions about their play the childminder demonstrated her respect for the children and her commitment to supporting them in developing independence and decision making skills. The family garden had been developed to create an exciting and challenging environment for children to explore. They included a well equipped mud kitchen which proved a rich creative learning space. We saw photographs of children engaged in their creations in this area. The use of crates, tyres and other 'loose parts' gave the children open ended opportunities to use their imaginations and create their own play. Some children had created dens, others climbing and balancing challenges, these self directed opportunities to create their own play helped support children's self esteem. A parent told us "I like the fact that the children spend a lot of time in the garden playing and learning new things." Many of the families using the service lived locally. The childminder understood the value to them of feeling part of their community. She ensured that they regularly experienced visits to local parks, playgroup, library, visits to friends and walking the dog. page 4 of 8
Parents told us they strongly agreed that the childminder's home provided their children with a safe, secure and stimulating environment. Comments included "Arlene's home is a wonderful, welcoming and homely place. My children feel right at home there" and "Arlene is very open and wiling to invest time and energy in her service." Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 6 - excellent Quality of staffing This quality theme was not assessed. Quality of management and leadership Findings from the inspection The childminder was experienced and well qualified. As a former primary and early years teacher she was able to draw on a wealth of past experience to support her in her current role. She was committed to her professional development recognising the value of training in supporting children to meet their potential. Since her registration the childminder had taken part in a wide range of training courses including the following: - GIRFEC and SHANARRI - Managing Behaviour - Outdoor Play - Pediatric First Aid - Child Protection - Preparing for Inspection - Food Hygiene - How Hello's and Goodbye's Shape Children's Brain Development - SCMA Conference 2016 - Child Led Planning - In addition she read widely on topics related to the care and education of young children. Information about training courses attended was shared with parents. This helped to reassure families off her commitment to offering a professional and well managed service. We saw the services most recent newsletter which included printed information from a recently attended training about attachment and brain development in young children along with links to relevant web sites for those who wanted to look into the topic further. As a member of SCMA the childminder received their regular magazine which included information about new page 5 of 8
developments in childcare and ideas for activities. She also used the HUB. The HUB is part of the Care Inspectorates website which publishes information about care including new developments in childcare policies, procedures and practice. The childminder also used professional websites including Scottish Social Services Council and Education Scotland. The impact of training courses, reading and research was apparent in the quality of the care and support the childminder provided. She spoke knowledgeably about leading theorists and how their work impacted on her practice. We found the childminder to be a reflective practitioner who was committed to making sure that children in her care had a high quality experience which supported their individual needs. The childminder understood that input from parents and children was central to providing a responsive service. She issued questionnaires to parents and to children asking for their views and had on-going conversations in order to ensure the service remained relevant to their needs. A complaints policy told families how to take forward any concerns they might have about the service. Parents who returned our questionnaires told us they were confident that any concerns raised would be dealt with in a professional manner. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Grade: 6 - excellent What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection Previous requirements There are no outstanding requirements. page 6 of 8
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 14 Feb 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