It can be hard to think about how to improve your provision when you work on your own - you do not have anyone to run things by or chat to when you want to make changes.
This is one reason why online forums like the Childminding Forum and the Independent Childminders Facebook group are so popular - childminders chat with virtual colleagues, ask advice, share good practice ideas and support each other.
However you swap ideas, it is very important that you constantly consider whether you are working to the best of your ability and challenge yourself to make changes.
You can then add the information to your self evaluation - or Ofsted Self Evaluation Form (SEF) if you prefer to use that document. Remember that the Ofsted SEF follows the format of your Ofsted inspection - you might find it helpful to get to know the SEF because, once it is completed, updating should be very quick and easy.
People and documents which feed information and advice into your provision and may suggest useful improvements you can make might include -
· The children who attend your provision and their families
· Your own family
· Other childminders who you visit or who come to see you
· Your Local Authority network coordinator / childminding officer or whatever they call themselves in your area
· The EYFS 2012 statutory framework and the Childcare Register - as you read the requirements you might want to make changes to how you work
· Development Matters guidance - especially the ‘positive relationships’ and ‘enabling environments’ sections
· Safer Food better Business for childminders - there is a new version for 2012
· The Equality Act 2010
· Information from training courses
· Books and blogs you have read which give you new ideas and inspiration to try new things
· Actions from previous Ofsted inspections… and much more.
It can be very hard to open yourself up to criticism - we all think we are doing a good job and when parents or children turn round and tell us something might be improved our natural reaction is normally to try and justify why we do things in a certain way. However, that is what self evaluation is all about - welcoming new ideas and suggestions and considering how we might implement them.
Of course, if you look at something and decide it will not help you to improve your business - then fine! It is, after all, your business.
.......................
Here is one way of making improvements which you might find useful…
Identify the changes you want to make
They might relate to your policies, the ways you share information with parents, the activities you plan for children, your room layout etc.
Ask others what they think
Look at the list above and consider who / what documents can help you.
Plan the best time to make the change
You might want to implement changes on a Monday and monitor them for the week… or you might wait for a certain child to attend before changing things.
It can be really inspiring to talk to children about the changes you are planning and see what their thoughts are - they often have really good ideas that you might not have thought about before.
Implement the change
Do whatever you are planning to do - remember to inform parents, children and anyone else involved (if appropriate) and work through the necessary risk assessments.
In some cases, such as if you make big changes to your house or garden, you will need to inform Ofsted.
Evaluate how things are going
There is little point in making changes if you do not go on to reflect on how they have affected the children - everything in the EYFS is focussed on how you are constantly raising outcomes for the children.
Ask the children and their parents for feedback as well - it is important to consider the impact of your changes on everyone who has been affected by them.
Make more changes if necessary
If things are not going well, you might want to tweak them… if you are happy then leave them as they are!
Record the process
Write up the ideas you have had… the changes you have made… the people you have consulted etc in your self evaluation document / Ofsted SEF.
.......................
Here is an example of how we made an improvement to our provision here at Knutsford Childminding -
Making changes to our meal provision
Identify the changes you want to make
We wanted to look at our menu provision to make sure it was still appropriate for the new children who attend - especially the after school children who seemed to be getting pickier by the day. We have also noticed that there has been more wastage than usual recently which suggests the children are ready for a change.
Ask others what they think
We chatted to the children and their parents; Sarah read information online about nutritional guidelines; Nige used his knowledge from training courses and his role as a chef.
Plan the best time to make the change
We wanted to implement the changes to fit with the new season because that would make it easier to involve the children in finding out more about seasonal produce.
Implement the change
We wrote a new menu and shared it with parents on week 1 of the new year - then, after giving them plenty of opportunities to comment, we implemented it a week later.
Evaluate how things are going
A few weeks later we asked parents - were children hungry at home? What were they saying about the menu? We kept a note of how much wastage we were getting. We spoke to the children and found out their thoughts.
Make more changes if necessary
We found that most of the children were happy with the new menu. One child was upset because he did not have his favourites on the days he attended (his days changed) so we accommodated this after further consultation with the children.
Parent comments were positive.
Record the process
We included the information in our self evaluation form - we use the Ofsted SEF.
.........................
If you would like more information about completing your Ofsted SEF please see e-book 18 from Knutsford Childminding.
If you are interested in finding out more about how CPD can enhance your provision, I have written a series of CPD Information Guides for gold members on Childcare.co.uk. I hope you find them useful.
Thank you for your continued support - working together we can remain successful and independent!
Sarah / Knutsford Childminding.
This is one reason why online forums like the Childminding Forum and the Independent Childminders Facebook group are so popular - childminders chat with virtual colleagues, ask advice, share good practice ideas and support each other.
However you swap ideas, it is very important that you constantly consider whether you are working to the best of your ability and challenge yourself to make changes.
You can then add the information to your self evaluation - or Ofsted Self Evaluation Form (SEF) if you prefer to use that document. Remember that the Ofsted SEF follows the format of your Ofsted inspection - you might find it helpful to get to know the SEF because, once it is completed, updating should be very quick and easy.
People and documents which feed information and advice into your provision and may suggest useful improvements you can make might include -
· The children who attend your provision and their families
· Your own family
· Other childminders who you visit or who come to see you
· Your Local Authority network coordinator / childminding officer or whatever they call themselves in your area
· The EYFS 2012 statutory framework and the Childcare Register - as you read the requirements you might want to make changes to how you work
· Development Matters guidance - especially the ‘positive relationships’ and ‘enabling environments’ sections
· Safer Food better Business for childminders - there is a new version for 2012
· The Equality Act 2010
· Information from training courses
· Books and blogs you have read which give you new ideas and inspiration to try new things
· Actions from previous Ofsted inspections… and much more.
It can be very hard to open yourself up to criticism - we all think we are doing a good job and when parents or children turn round and tell us something might be improved our natural reaction is normally to try and justify why we do things in a certain way. However, that is what self evaluation is all about - welcoming new ideas and suggestions and considering how we might implement them.
Of course, if you look at something and decide it will not help you to improve your business - then fine! It is, after all, your business.
.......................
Here is one way of making improvements which you might find useful…
Identify the changes you want to make
They might relate to your policies, the ways you share information with parents, the activities you plan for children, your room layout etc.
Ask others what they think
Look at the list above and consider who / what documents can help you.
Plan the best time to make the change
You might want to implement changes on a Monday and monitor them for the week… or you might wait for a certain child to attend before changing things.
It can be really inspiring to talk to children about the changes you are planning and see what their thoughts are - they often have really good ideas that you might not have thought about before.
Implement the change
Do whatever you are planning to do - remember to inform parents, children and anyone else involved (if appropriate) and work through the necessary risk assessments.
In some cases, such as if you make big changes to your house or garden, you will need to inform Ofsted.
Evaluate how things are going
There is little point in making changes if you do not go on to reflect on how they have affected the children - everything in the EYFS is focussed on how you are constantly raising outcomes for the children.
Ask the children and their parents for feedback as well - it is important to consider the impact of your changes on everyone who has been affected by them.
Make more changes if necessary
If things are not going well, you might want to tweak them… if you are happy then leave them as they are!
Record the process
Write up the ideas you have had… the changes you have made… the people you have consulted etc in your self evaluation document / Ofsted SEF.
.......................
Here is an example of how we made an improvement to our provision here at Knutsford Childminding -
Making changes to our meal provision
Identify the changes you want to make
We wanted to look at our menu provision to make sure it was still appropriate for the new children who attend - especially the after school children who seemed to be getting pickier by the day. We have also noticed that there has been more wastage than usual recently which suggests the children are ready for a change.
Ask others what they think
We chatted to the children and their parents; Sarah read information online about nutritional guidelines; Nige used his knowledge from training courses and his role as a chef.
Plan the best time to make the change
We wanted to implement the changes to fit with the new season because that would make it easier to involve the children in finding out more about seasonal produce.
Implement the change
We wrote a new menu and shared it with parents on week 1 of the new year - then, after giving them plenty of opportunities to comment, we implemented it a week later.
Evaluate how things are going
A few weeks later we asked parents - were children hungry at home? What were they saying about the menu? We kept a note of how much wastage we were getting. We spoke to the children and found out their thoughts.
Make more changes if necessary
We found that most of the children were happy with the new menu. One child was upset because he did not have his favourites on the days he attended (his days changed) so we accommodated this after further consultation with the children.
Parent comments were positive.
Record the process
We included the information in our self evaluation form - we use the Ofsted SEF.
.........................
If you would like more information about completing your Ofsted SEF please see e-book 18 from Knutsford Childminding.
If you are interested in finding out more about how CPD can enhance your provision, I have written a series of CPD Information Guides for gold members on Childcare.co.uk. I hope you find them useful.
Thank you for your continued support - working together we can remain successful and independent!
Sarah / Knutsford Childminding.
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