Platform One Nursery Ltd

Platform One Nursery Limited

Inspection report for early years provision

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Platform One Nursery Limited

160119 Unique Reference Number 26 September 2006 Inspection date Roulla Xyrizos Inspector

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Platform One Nursery Limited

Grange Park Station, Vera Avenue, Grange Park, London, N21 1RE Setting Address

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E-mail

Platform One Nursery Limited Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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E-mail

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Platform One Nursery opened in 2001. It operates from a converted station house situated in a residential area in Grange Park, Winchmore Hill, North London. The Nursery serves the local community and children from other areas.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 46 children on roll with a of maximum of 20 children attending the nursery at any one time. There are 11 children who receive funding for nursery education. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently no children with special needs attending the nursery.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The group opens five days a week throughout the year. Sessions are from 08:00 - 18:00. Children attend for a variety of sessions within these hours.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 The nursery employs 6 full-time staff and 1 part time staff. There are 6 staff working with the children on a daily basis. Over half the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 2 or 3. The setting is a member of the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP).

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a warm and clean environment. Children are beginning to learn the importance of personal hygiene such as washing their hands before and after meals and through regular daily routines.

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Helping children to be healthy

Good hygiene measures are in place in order to minimise the risk of cross infection. Staff sterilise all equipment in the baby room, and all staff wear gloves and use antibacterial spray throughout the setting and after each nappy change. However babies may be at risk of cross infection because adults are not encouraged to remove their shoes when entering the baby room.

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Helping children to be healthy

The setting maintains documentation relating to recording of accidents and administering of medication and this ensures that children's safety and welfare is safeguarded. Key staff have had specific training in administering specific medication such as Epipen.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy good quantities and variety of food to ensure that their nutritional needs are met and to help children understand the importance of making healthy choices. Children's individual dietary needs are recorded and provided for and take into account special dietary requirements. Children are offered fresh drinking water throughout the day.

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Helping children to be healthy

The setting makes very good use of the outdoor area and children enjoy daily physical activities such as climbing frames, net and ball games, and large play apparatus. Children demonstrate good coordination skills when cycling and have good control and steering skills. Children benefit from physical activity which promotes their good health.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a welcoming, safe and secure environment both indoors and outdoors. Children play with a range of toys and equipment which are of good quality, safe and developmentally appropriate. Fire evacuation plans are displayed in all rooms and there are good security systems in place and the setting operates an entry phone system.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Public Liability insurance is in place. Procedures to ensure systems are in place, for example, to check the vehicle insurance certificate is current, are not always followed consistently. The setting takes positive steps to promote children's safety because staff undertake daily risk assessments of each room and smoke alarms and heat sensors are in place in every room.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Child protection procedures are in place to protect children, although recording procedures regarding possible concerns are not always in place.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children are happy, confident and enjoy socialising with each other and staff. Children make their needs known and approach staff with ease because staff know the children's individual personalities, likes and dislikes. Children feel secure and settled because staff are warm and friendly. Baby Room staff have an achievement board on the wall which contains mini certificates outlining what children have achieved, for example crawling all around the baby room independently.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff respond according to children's individual needs. For example, during sleep time some children need to be sat with and sung to and others do not require this and are quite happy to be put to sleep alone.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are interested, excited and motivated to learn and have a positive attitude to learning. Staff respond warmly to children's questions and are happy to adapt or change activities affording children choices throughout their day. For example, children in the Toddler room wanted to play at dressing up, and staff immediately responded and accommodated this request.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Practitioners have an understanding of the Foundation Stage and plan a satisfactory range of activities and experiences that cover the six areas of learning. Staff maintain good dialogue, ask children questions and encourage them to talk.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children communicate confidently with staff and with each other and they have formed very good relationships with one another. Children's behaviour is good because staff encourage children to share and play together and constantly offer praise to all children. Children are learning to be independent and to cope with their personal hygiene. Children are becoming confident when speaking or singing and they listen actively and participate in stories, songs and activities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children find out about their local community through outings to the shops and post office, and use their imagination well especially when playing in the home corner. For example, when playing in the home corner, children pretend they are building, using a variety of tools such as toy hammers.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Planning and assessments do not always show the next stage of children's learning, although improvements have been made since last year’s inspection. Staff now use note pads in which to undertake observations. However, observations do not always show evidence of how the setting plans to extend activities in order to meet children's needs. As a result, children are not always offered sufficient challenge to enable them to progress in some areas. For example, in communication language and literacy there are irregular opportunities to help children develop early writing skills in the form of mark making and writing for a purpose. In Math there are missed opportunities to extend children's learning in number counting, for example by

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 encouraging children to set out their own plates and cups, pour water, or use language to talk about size and position.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The setting is working closely with the local Early Years Partnership in order to further develop their planning and observations and is currently working on adopting more robust procedures.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children's behaviour is good because they are well supported by staff who are good role models. Children react positively to encouragement and praise and this is given freely and regularly by staff. Staff adopt good behaviour management strategies, for example they will explain to children the importance of sharing and taking turns when playing with bikes in the garden area.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Activities are available which help children to develop an awareness of their own and other cultures for example children and staff read books depicting other cultures, and play with toys which are representative of the wider community. The setting demonstrates an appropriate awareness of how to support children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. The setting encourages parental involvement in organising various religious festival celebrations. Parents receive regular feedback about their children by way of regular newsletters, information on notice boards and daily verbal feedback. Information about nursery education Foundation Stage is prominently displayed on notice boards in the children's rooms. Children benefit from this sharing of information that enhances their learning and builds on their existing knowledge and skills.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The organisation of care meets the children's needs. Good use is made of space and resources so that children are well cared for and supported throughout the day. Space is organised so that children are able to access resources easily and play together. There is sufficient adult support to help children feel secure and confident. Children belong to key workers with consistent staff.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the setting is satisfactory. The setting uses policies and procedures to promote the learning, care and welfare of the children. The Manager has also attended a training course in management skills and understanding. There are regular staff meetings and policies and procedures are explained to new staff at induction. Staff meet with the manager to discuss their progress. This ensures that all staff are aware of their responsibilities. The Manager is able to identify strengths and weaknesses appropriately.

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Organisation

However, the organisation of documentation is not always appropriate to ensure documentation is available for inspection.

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Organisation

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection recommendations were made: to provide more resources showing disability; more opportunities for children to develop their mark making and writing skills; extend opportunities to enable more capable children to calculate and problem solve, and to increase the range of equipment to develop children's gross motor skills. The setting has implemented all the recommendations, and children are making better progress in most of these areas. However, improvements to planning, so children develop their mark making skills and extend their Math skills remain as a recommendation at this inspection.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection since September 2004 there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards. The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • take steps to minimise risk of cross infection when entering baby room • ensure Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures are in place regarding Child Protection concerns

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • improve systems for curriculum planning by developing opportunities for children to write for different purposes in their self chosen play, and extend on opportunities provided for more capable children to calculate and problem solve

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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