We had our Ofsted inspection recently and one of the questions I am being asked repeatedly is, ‘What happened on the learning walk?’
Ofsted has stated that, for a childminder, it can be more of a ‘learning sit’ because we don’t exactly have the same set-up as a nursery where there is lots to see and a variety of rooms to visit. However, as it’s such an important part of inspection, I thought it was worthwhile pulling out some of the main threads from our learning walk, to share with colleagues.
My top inspection tips
**The more you can cover on the learning walk, the less questions the inspector will need to ask you.
**If you say it on the learning walk, you have to be doing it in practice. For example, if you say to your inspector that all staff follow a calm approach to supporting children’s behaviour and the inspector walks into a room to see a staff member shouting at children, this will be picked up during feedback.
Here are some of the questions our Ofsted inspector asked us during our learning walk:
**Do you care for any children with special educational needs or disabilities or children for whom you receive extra funding?
Talk about children you receive extra funding for – or children you are concerned about but aren’t yet diagnosed – in your setting. I note that Ofsted usually ask this question during the initial phone call, so they can plan the inspection.
The inspector will focus on your tracking for these children and look closely at how you have used the extra money to raise outcomes. For example, if a child receives EYPP (Early Years Pupil Premium) funding, Ofsted will want to see how that has been spent and what the child has learned as a result. Ofsted has said that inspectors won’t ask to look at written tracking – they will want you to explain it to them.
Note that if you are concerned about a child, Ofsted will want to see how you have followed-up and got them the support they need.
**What information do you request from parents?
Time to talk about starting points. Before children start in our care, we ask them for their child’s starting points – the things they can and cannot yet do, linked to the EYFS 7 areas of learning. We use the ‘starting points’ sheets from Childcare.co.uk to request this information. They are here in the new parent learning and development forms folder - https://www.childcare.co.uk/childminderpaperwork. However, if parents are reluctant or unwilling to fill in forms, we are happy to ask questions instead.
We also try and get a good family history – we ask questions about siblings, the child’s early life experiences, family who are involved in the child’s life etc. We use the ‘all about me’ form in the same link. Some of our main questions for parents are about what the child enjoys doing so we can make sure we have the toys they enjoy playing with and games they have played at home ready for them, to help them settle in. Our inspector was happy with that reply.
**How do you settle children into the setting?
We have written settling in procedures which we share with parents, but our inspector wasn’t interested in looking at anything in writing beyond the statutory documents.
We explained that, during the initial meeting, we talk to parents about how their child is likely to separate from them – for example, we have noticed that some children are struggling with separation anxiety because they haven’t left the home, gone to groups with parents or attended other settings due to parents concerns about the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
As a result, we explained that we have changed the ways we settle children in – we are more flexible to their individual needs and will offer short sessions with an adult available to them until they are ready to play. this has meant some changes to our ways of working but has been very successful, so we will continue it for the future.
**What is your curriculum?
This is one of the first questions our inspector asked us. We explained that our curriculum is the 7 areas of learning in the EYFS and that we supplement the requirements by reading and using ideas from a combination of the 2 non-statutory guidance documents – Development Matters 2021 and Birth to 5 Matters 2021.
We explained that we adapt the 7 areas to suit each child’s learning needs and we also link to children’s interests – we showed the inspector our children’s shelf where they put any toys and games they want to come back to through the day.
We wanted to show our inspector our written curriculum, because we thought that it would help us to explain what we do better but our inspector refused to look and wanted us to share verbally instead – she also said at the end of the inspection that she had seen what we explained in action through the day.
**How does curriculum intent link to your activities?
Be ready to talk about your curriculum sequencing and differentiation. This was a big part of our inspection – the inspector wanted to really understand how we adapt our activities depending on the child’s individual learning needs and how we sequence the curriculum for children of different ages.
We explained that we use the Childcare.co.uk curriculum to sequence learning – not as a tick list, but to make sure we don’t miss anything – www.childcare.co.uk/eyfs.
We then explained how we ensure children have time to practice and repeat learning, as well as teaching them new things. We talked about how this leads to school readiness and shared a positive ‘this child is so ready for school’ comment from a reception teacher at a receiving school.
**What’s happening here?
Our inspector asked this question while I was playing ball games with a child. I explained that he enjoyed rolling the ball and eye tracking is so important for early literacy skills as well as the physical elements of the game.
We showed our inspector what we had set out for our little ones and older children and how they were currently using the resources. For example, we have a shelf with toys the children enjoyed using the previous session, in case they want to access it again.
**Tell me about your daily routines. This is important for scheduling the inspection as well as showing that you have a good routine which children know, so they can relax in their learning.
I explained that we are free playing just now – then we will do our wake up shake up music and movement activity; we will go and play outside before snack time where we have playdough set up and some movement games; the children will then wash their hands and help choose and prepare their snack; after snack, we will move some more by making obstacle courses which is a current favourite activity... etc.
We showed our inspector our daily routine display – also known as a visual timetable – which we introduced to support a child who was struggling with what was happening now and next and when parents were coming to collect. We explained how that had been successful and now the older children help us to put our display out for the next day.
**How do you balance teaching and learning through the day? We talked to our inspector about our daily routines and linked it to –
- Free play when children follow and develop their own interests.
- Play linked to interests – when we plant ourselves and play with the children.
- Direct teaching when we lead learning to teach something new.
- Group times when we talk to the children or gather them for group learning – for example, daily group reading, games we play at mealtimes and music and movement time.
**Our inspector asked about the 3 Is – but she didn’t call it that.
Our inspector asked, for example –
- What is your learning intent for these children?
- What do you want the children to learn from this activity?
The inspector was not interested in looking at our paperwork which clearly set out each child’s next steps (this had been an action from our last inspection). Instead, she wanted us to explain why things were out and what we wanted to see as the outcome.
**How do you ensure children stay engaged at story time when you have different ages?
We showed our books on different shelves – board and interactive books for babies and older children’s books on a higher shelf. We often have 2 or 3 story times through the day and the inspector watched a couple.
We explained how we read board and interactive books for the little ones and longer books for the older children. While we often use puppets to encourage engagement, we don’t expect our little ones to sit for as long as older children, so we have activities they can potter off and explore if they lose focus.
**How does the curriculum build?
This led to a conversation about how we scaffold children’s learning, so we are teaching through play and they are learning the right things at the right time.
We showed how we play alongside and with the children, so we know what they know and can do and what experiences they have had in their little lives. We use all this information to support them in their learning – for example, we might offer different activities for a child who had a baby at home or a child
Characteristics of learning
Interestingly, we weren’t asked a separate question about the characteristics. However, at the end of the inspection our inspector said she’d seen how children were motivated to play, engaged in what they were doing and using their developing thinking skills.
At that point, we explained to our inspector that we want children to play and explore during their time with us – at their own pace, using the characteristics of learning to pace their experiences. For example, we explained that we support learning through:
- Playing and exploring – we want children to investigate, experience and have a go.
- Active learning – we want children to learn to concentrate and keep on trying if there are challenges.
- Creating and thinking critically – we want to see children developing their own ideas and thinking through what they are doing.
**How do you prepare children for school?
We had young children on inspection day, but this question came up in relation to some of the older ones we were picking up later from nursery.
We explained that school preparation starts from day 1 of the child’s time in the setting. We offered to show (but she would not look at) our starting school letters which we send out to parents monthly and the ‘Letters and Sounds phase 1’ activities and themes we plan for our pre-school children.
Instead, we talked about how our pre-school curriculum is based on school readiness skills such as confidence, independence and understanding of school expectations and how we build on what children already know and can do when we are putting together the curriculum.
**How do you work with parents?
Our inspector dashed out, with her laptop, to talk to 2 of our parents. If you are asked, try and get as much as you can into your answer to this question – it will save time later. However, if you say something and parents don’t back it up during discussions, you will be talking yourself into a hole. You might mention:
- How you communicate day-to-day with parents.
- The information you share with parents – observations, planning, assessments etc.
- Your parent folder and how it is updated.
- Your parent notice board – even if parents don’t come inside the setting.
- Successful information sharing with absent or harder to reach parents.
- Care plans you have written and ongoing support you offer to, for example, parents who have children with additional needs.
**What are your arrangements for the progress check at 2?
We’d been talking about how we assess children’s learning and this brought us nicely onto the subject of the statutory progress check. We note that our inspector asked parents about their experiences of the check as well – wanting to know whether they were involved (we had a Zoom call with them before putting it together) and whether it was linked to the health visitor check (we’d asked for the date so we could send it with them – unfortunately it was on the phone so this did not happen).
Our inspector asked what we would have done if we’d had concerns about the child, knowing the health visitor didn’t see the check. We said we would ask parents permission to send it directly to the health visitor and this seemed to answer her question.
**Do you work with other agencies or professionals?
We don’t currently work with other agencies or professionals for children related to SEND – but we do have a close partnership with a local school for a child in nursery, so we talked about that instead.
We have regular meetings with the child’s key person to discuss how they are getting on and we share information from what the child is doing and saying in our setting. when we wrote the progress check at 2, we shared it with the other setting and developed a targeted plan for the child together with parents.
Our inspector seemed happy with this answer.
Overall, our inspection was one of the calmest we’ve had – and I have been through a lot of inspections. My main tip is to show what you are doing in practice – if you say it, make sure that you and / or staff are doing it, every day because putting on a show for inspection won’t work.
I'm always happy to answer questions and you will find FREE weekly webinar training on a variety of Ofsted inspection topics here - www.childcare.co.uk/webinars
Chat soon, Sarah.