"Outstanding" Ofsted report for Littlehampton childminders

Lesley-Anne Best and Emma Lawson, who run their Beach Town Childcare operation at Lesley-Anne's home in South Terrace, had an Ofsted inspector watching their every move for two days.

It was the second successive "outstanding" mark for Lesley-Anne, and Emma's first '” she was denied the accolade four years ago only because she was too new in the role.

"We are really, really pleased, especially as we both got 'outstanding' this time," said Lesley-Anne, who said they were all the more delighted as the latest inspection was their first under tough new early years foundation stage criteria.

They look after 18 children from a dozen families, from tiny babies up to the age of 11, after school and in the holidays.

'Children thrive'

"We love it. We have some children who come as babies and are still with us years later," said Lesley-Anne.

Lesley-Anne, who first became a registered childminder in 1992, took a break for a few years to work as cabin crew for an airliner, but returned to child care in 2001.

In her glowing report, the inspector said of Lesley-Anne: "The childminder's impressive understanding of child development and her perception of individual needs means children thrive and make excellent progress in their learning and development."

Assessing Emma, the report states: "The childminder is committed to professional development and has a clear understanding of her strengths and areas for future developments. These positive features mean that the childminder promotes the welfare and learning requirements with a high level of success."

The inspector's only recommendation to further improve the "high quality early years provision" was for the childminders to consider how they can continue to develop "a robust system for self-evaluation and quality improvement in order to further improve outcomes for children".

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