Stanah Primary School

Bramley Wood Day Nursery

Inspection report for early years provision

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Bramley Wood Day Nursery

Unique Reference Number 119296 Inspection date 06 July 2006 Inspector Claudia Padfield

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Bramley Wood Day Nursery

Setting Address Old Bracknell House, Crowthorne Road North, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 7AR Telephone number 01344 300677

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E-mail

Registered person Kingsclere Nurseries Ltd Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Full day 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 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?

Bramley Wood Nursery opened in October 1995. It operates from a converted house close to Bracknell town centre. Children are accommodated on both levels of the property. There is access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery serves the local area. The nursery is part of Kingsclere Nurseries Limited, which has six other nurseries in Berkshire. There are currently 77 children from three months to five years on roll. This includes

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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 31 funded three and four year olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery supports children with special needs. At the time of inspection there were no funded children who have English as an additional language. The nursery opens five days a week, 52 weeks of the year. Sessions are from 08:00 until 18:00 Monday to Friday. There are 21 staff members who work with the children. Over half the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 2 or 3. One member of staff is currently working towards a recognised early years qualification. There are 11 staff members who hold a first aid certificate. The group receives support from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) and staff regularly attend relevant training offered by them.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children stay healthy because they are cared for in a clean and well maintained environment. They learn the importance of personal hygiene through good levels of support and discussion with the staff. For example reminding children to flush the toilet and wash their hands. Putting sun cream and hats on before going out in the garden. Good systems are in place to care for children who become ill or have an accident. Staff update their first aid training and act in the child's best interest when administering first aid. The staff team revisit polices and procedures to ensure these are carried out effectively to protect the children's health. Children are well nourished and enjoy a healthy and nutritional range of meals and snacks. These are freshly prepared and successfully contribute to their well-being, healthy growth and development. Children enjoy snacks and meals at a leisurely

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Helping children to be healthy

pace talking with friends and sharing news and events with the staff. Older children are actively encouraged to participate in the serving of meals. They take food to the tables and are able to help themselves if they require seconds. Children with special dietary requirements are catered for working closely in partnership with parents. Children have access to a large shady garden and have many opportunities throughout the day to work and play outside. Staff are vigilant about the children's well being applying sun cream and hats before they go out. Children enjoy the fresh air and space to run and play with friends. Staff ensure they have regular breaks to have a drink when doing physical activities such as foot ball and an obstacle course. Children eagerly participate in fit kids music and movement closely watching staff and following the actions and directions given.

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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 secure and welcoming environment. They have a varied

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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 range of toys and equipment throughout the nursery day, which are regularly checked through risk assessments and visually by the staff team. Outdoor climbing equipment is dirty but children have access to a wide range of garden toys and equipment to sustain their interest and staff ensure an age appropriate range of challenges are provided. Children eagerly prepare to go in the garden, staff are vigilant and apply sun cream every time they go out and ensure all children are protected from the sun by wearing a hat. They also encourage and require children have regular drinks breaks to ensure they do not become dehydrated, explaining the importance of drinking when the weather is hot. The older children help themselves and develop their levels of independence. Staff attend training to increase their knowledge regarding health and safety

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

regulations and complete regular checks throughout the premises. For example staff clean the older children's bathroom every hour. This ensures the children are safe to visit the bathroom independently. Children learn how to keep themselves safe through discussion and gentle reminders from staff. Children also learn about fire safety through practising regular fire drills with staff. These measures raise the children's awareness of danger and means that staff act appropriately in the children's best interest. However sleeping procedures for the younger children need reviewing to minimise the spread of infection. Children's welfare is promoted appropriately. Staff have current first aid knowledge and a sound understanding of child protection issues. These measures contribute towards keeping children safe.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children are confident and settled. They arrive eagerly and enjoy the warm welcomes from the staff team. Staff organise the different rooms well to provide an interesting and variable environment. Children have access to a range of different experiences and opportunities and most are able to make choices about when they participate. This is developing their sense of independence. Children show good levels of self esteem and staff act as good role models for the children, praise them and listen to what they say, truly valuing their contributions. Warm relationships are evident as children happily settle to known routines and keenly greet friends as they arrive. Staff use the Birth to Three Matters Framework and the Foundation Stage to plan the children's curriculum and support the children's development through daily observations. Weekly planning is evaluated but not shared with parents, but staff do

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

use the evaluations to feed future planning. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Children make progress towards the early learning goals because the staff have a sound knowledge of the Foundation Stage. Systems are in place to plan and evaluate the curriculum ensuring staff offer all areas of learning. However the execution of activities and routines are not suitably prepared and children often have to wait and watch other complete the task before they do. This leads to older children loosing interest and not behaving appropriately. During large group activities children usually have to wait due to limited resources

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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 available. This impacts on the learning outcomes for the children. The lack of preparation during activities and opportunities for children to be freely creative with the right resources leads older more able children to become frustrated. Planning is in place and extensions are also planned, these are often not carried out to sufficiently challenge the most able children within the group. The group have strategies in place to support children with English as an additional language and children with learning difficulties. Staff demonstrate good levels of concern and make daily observations to support their progress records. Children count for a purpose during daily routines and skilfully add on and take away during practical problems. Some children recognise their name but staff miss opportunities

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

to extend the more and less able. Children enjoy opportunities to share books with staff during the day. Staff use good levels of questions and story telling skills to hold the children's interest. Children also have regular opportunities to act out favourite stories within small group time. They enjoy creating the characters and blowing down the house in the three little pigs. This develops their role play and demonstrates their interest in acting.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children are treated with equal concern and interest by the staff team. They value their individuality and know them well. Staff actively seek information regarding the child's personal needs whilst ensuring they remain safe and healthy. Through topics and discussion staff increase the children's understanding of the wider world. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Staff use positive strategies to promote good behaviour and offer regular praise and encouragement. Children are generally well behaved although routines allow time for older more able children within the group to lose interest and get up to mischief. Children are learning to co- operate during group activities and show increasing concern for each other. They wait patiently and take turns using equipment during cooking. Staff have robust systems in place to support children with learning difficulties. They

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Helping children make a positive contribution

liaise well with a range of outside agencies and value the parental role, keeping regular observations and updating all parties of the individual play plans. The partnership with parents and carers is satisfactory. Parents are asked for general information regarding their child on entry. This information is appropriately used to settle children and ensure a consistent approach is formed. Staff key work the children and verbally update parents at the start and end of the day. Regular newsletters and good use of notice boards to display each age groups planning ensure that parents are informed. Parents are offered time to discuss their child's progress with staff, who make daily observations and cross reference these to the pre profile as evidence on how the child is progressing. Currently staff miss opportunities to share the weekly evaluations of the curriculum, but they do use these to inform future planning.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

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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Organisation

The organisation is good. The well planned and welcoming environment contributes to the settled and confident children. Policies and procedures are successfully adhered to by staff which supports the care of the children. All the required documentation is in place and staff complete regular update sheets with the parents to ensure they have the correct contact details at all times. Overall the setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. Recruitment and vetting procedures ensure the children are well protected and cared for by staff with a good knowledge and understanding of child development. Induction procedures are thorough and ensure staff have a good awareness of expected practise. Regular staff appraisals and monitoring systems are used effectively to ascertain continued suitability and areas for development. The leadership and management is satisfactory. Children are cared for by a long

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Organisation

standing staff team. The management regularly observe the staff and evaluate planning and procedures. Priority is placed on monitoring and evaluating all aspects of the provision. Staff reviews monitor the quality of teaching and learning, which has seen recent changes and adaptations to suit a more outcome base for the children attending.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the Nursery were recommended to devise and implement a procedure for recording children's progress in activities to inform future planning. This has been implemented by daily observations that then feed the children's profile or Birth to Three Framework. Staff plan weekly in advance, which are displayed for parents and evaluated at the end of the week. These evaluations are used to plan future activities and next steps in learning. This has been revised by the staff team who use the evaluations to effect future planning but they do not display the evaluations for parents. Children benefit from a staff team who understand the assessment and observation systems in place. They were also required to make all records and polices more easily available. These are displayed and the nursery have a parent hand book, which is kept in the office for parents to read. This leads to a more open and clear method of communication.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Children benefit from the good working relationship.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since the last inspection. 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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Complaints since the last inspection

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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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): • ensure systems are in place to keep garden furniture clean for use

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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): • ensure parents have the opportunity to see weekly evaluations of activities • Ensure the planning, preparation and execution of large group activities promote positive learning opportunities for all children. • develop, plan and provide further challenges for the more able children

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

procedures set out in the leaflet Building better childcare: Compliments and concerns about inspectors' judgements 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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