Daisykins Ltd

Daisykins Ltd

Inspection report for early years provision

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Daisykins Ltd

EY240005 Unique Reference Number 05 October 2006 Inspection date Sharon Waterfall Inspector

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Daisykins Ltd

3 Whitehall Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV21 3AE Setting Address

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E-mail

DaisyKins Ltd 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 satisfactory. 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?

Daisykins Nursery operates from a large Victorian house situated close to Rugby town centre. They offer full day care to children aged nought to five years from 08.00 to 18.00, five days a week all year round, except for Bank holidays. Children who attend come from Rugby and the surrounding rural area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Children under three years are cared for on the ground floor of the property with separate care rooms for children under and over two years. There is a separate sleep area and changing and toilet area, and the nursery kitchen is situated on this floor. Pre-school and toddler plus children are cared for on the first floor, with playrooms and, in addition, special rooms for eating and a cloakroom. There is small enclosed rear play area.

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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 There are currently fifteen funded three and four-year-olds attending. The setting supports children with learning difficulties and disabilities and those who have English as an additional language. The nursery has a staff group of eighteen including the cook, sixteen of who have childcare qualifications. The nursery has support from an advisory teacher from the local authority.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. The children benefit from a very nutritious and interesting menu throughout the nursery. Fresh fruits and vegetables are supplied daily and the provider ensures that the recommended daily amount is met. During the lunch period the food cooking smells appetising and enables the children to feel secure in the familiar routines. Meals are presented well and the children are learning about acceptable table manners as they sit together for meals with staff, creating a family atmosphere. Staff work closely with parents to ensure those children with special dietary needs are catered for appropriately. Food is pureed or mashed for the babies, who are held by consistent staff for their milk feeds.

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Helping children to be healthy

During an obstacle course activity in the garden the funded children were able to develop and practise many of their large motor skills. The children were very keen to try the differing activities and often included themselves within other groups to have a go. Throwing, aiming and catching skills are developing as children throw and catch a ball, aim bean bags into hoops and small hoops onto pegs. These activities enable the children to engage at an appropriate level and to challenge their abilities; for example, younger children stand very close to the hoops and pegs, whilst older children are asked to stand further back. Most children are able to move their bodies with control and co-ordination completing the hopscotch and climbing on the slide. Fine motor skills are enhanced as the children use a wide range of one handed tools, such as knives for cutting fruit, pencils and pens and scoops in the water play.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children stay healthy as staff follow current and appropriate environmental health and hygiene guidelines. Policies and procedures are in place though are not consistently implemented at all times to support children's overall health and welfare. Omissions in the recording of medication administered, medications not labelled and the first aid box being stored in the wrong place limit the effectiveness of the procedures. The children learn about the importance of personal hygiene through the daily routines and in the main are protected from the spread of infection as staff understand simple, good health and hygiene procedures.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. The layout in the individual care rooms is open and spacious with bright, airy rooms for the older and younger children and well-presented, colourful wall displays reflecting current themes or children's work. All children have a base room within which they are cared for by consistent key workers, giving children security and a sense of belonging. They are able to move around freely and safely. There is a wide variety of good quality developmentally appropriate toys for

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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 indoor and outdoor play, to support the whole age range. The rooms where the funded children spend much of their time are organised into specific learning areas and are developing to enable the children more independent access to resources. The baby room is organised to enable children's care and play needs to be met simultaneously, with an enclosed sleep area, carpet play area and a messy area where the children also eat. A stimulating environment where the children are happy and secure has been created.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Reasonable steps have been taken to identify and minimise many hazards to support children's safety, though an issue remains with the safety gates. This procedure is supported by a risk assessment of the premises being conducted annually and staff understand health and safety issues within their environment, as they complete a daily check of each care room. The children are encouraged to understand safety issues to ensure that they are able to limit any accidental injury and to have the ability to learn how to keep themselves safe. Lots of reminders about not running in the nursery and the children tell staff they have to hold the banister when they go down the stairs were observed. There are clearly defined procedures for emergency evacuation, however advice is to be sought from the fire safety officer to ensure recording of drills and use of fire doors adequately protect children's safety.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are protected from abuse and neglect as staff understand their role in child protection and the person with responsibility for child protection has a clear understanding of the procedures to follow if there are concerns regarding a child. Students and staff are informed of the procedures to follow at induction and are confident in applying the written policy.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Staff in the baby, toddler and toddler plus room plan activities in line with the Birth to three matters framework. They have a good knowledge of providing an interesting and stimulating range of both natural and commercial resources to promote children's development through all areas. Planning is comprehensive, though information gained through an on-going assessment procedure is not effectively used to plan future steps. In the baby room staff are fully and positively engaged with the children at all times, talking, singing and making eye contact with them, aiding pre-lingual skills. A range of rattles, squeakers, mirrors, shape sorters, pull and push along toys enable the children to begin to explore and find consequences to actions, such as pushing a button makes an animal pop up. These achievements are encouraged as staff clap and tell the children how clever they are. The children also explore new textures and experiment

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

within their play as they use gloop, chocolate spread, water, sand and shaving foam. These activities enable them to respond to changes within their environment and communicate their feelings with those around them. Within the toddler room the children are able to engage in free painting and drawing, helping them to be creative, have independent choices and represent their own ideas. They enjoy listening to stories and are showing interest in books, snuggling into familiar adults and enjoying being together. The toddler plus room is on the first floor and although the children have a base room, they also share an area with the pre-school children. This helps them to become familiar with the environment, staff, children and resources for when they move into the older age group. More emphasis is placed on children beginning to

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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 know names for colours, exploring colour through many different paint techniques, sorting and matching.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. The staff member that oversees the pre-school has now attended training courses on the Foundation Stage and this has improved her knowledge and the implementation of interesting and varied activities for the children. Newer staff into this area are able to give ideas and themes into the planning during meetings. The planning is in line with the early learning goals and stepping stones, though is not evaluated effectively and assessment has been inconsistent, with new staff unsure of what forms and sheets they should be completing. Therefore the planning and assessment systems do not link together to plan children's individual next steps for learning. Through observation of the activities provided and the children's engagement, they are making satisfactory progress towards the early learning goals.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

During a science activity the children explore different foods, one three-year-old describes the smell of a strawberry as paint, it tastes sweet and the children learn that strawberries grow in fields. They identify the pineapple and describe the feel as skin and soft, staff uses the words, hard and spiky. She explains that the pineapple grows on a tree and the children smell and taste it. A child knows that the carrot has to be peeled before it can be eaten and describes it as hard. The pear is described as nice and sweet. A child peels his banana and munches it; another child asks for a grape and takes it out of her mouth to show the staff member that the red grape is green in the middle. Watermelon is described as heavy, green, red and smooth. A 3-year-old holds the star fruit and he says he doesn't know what it is but it is smooth, hard, and prickly and he doesn't like the smell. The children state their favourite fruits as grapes and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

strawberries. The mango is cold and hard but the children are not keen to try it. This activity encourages the children to think about using their senses and expands their language skills and vocabulary. They have new experiences, tastes, textures and are able to show what they know.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Their sense of place is developed and they find out about the place they live and work in as group of three-year-olds supported by staff build from Duplo, a replica nursery. It is absolutely fantastic and the children are delighted in explaining to all staff what the different areas in the nursery are. They have put in the main room and library areas complete with tables, computer, water and sand trays. The toilet area has chairs as toilets and a sink and the children know they must wash their hands after using the toilet. They have created the garden area with flowers and also created a car park area. They tell one member of staff that it is her car in the car park and that the inspector is sitting at her computer. Some elements of fantasy have been created with a tunnel from the toilets and a helicopter for one child to get to work. Excellent awareness of their immediate

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children are developing their number counting and recognition skills as they look for a variety of sea creatures, they have to identify the item first from the name, such as a walrus and dolphin and they then count them up to five. An older three-year-old can count to twenty

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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 with support and another counts up to ten in French. They use these skills to solve problems posed such as measuring how high they are and comparing to other items in the room. The children explore different colours, textures and dimensions as they use a range of free products during collage. Displays around the room show that the children use a range of textures and paint effects such as oil painting, hand prints, collage, looking at paint techniques.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children make marks and representation through using the white board, a three-year-old copies a staff members representation of a flower. He is able to form a circle and add a stick to it. The children engage in free painting and use small drawing pads freely. They recognise their names at registration and sign themselves in, they also find their names at snack times for a place at the table.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. A warm, family environment has been successfully implemented within this nursery. The key worker system is effective in ensuring within most areas that children are cared for by consistent staff, who discuss issues with parents regularly and are involved within the planning and assessment of children's activities and progress. Children are treated as individuals and value is placed upon them reaching their potential as a person and within the appropriate age and stage measures. Children move to and from the differing age care rooms when they are developmentally ready and spend several sessions visiting and settling in, becoming familiar with the staff, children and rooms before making the permanent move. Staffing arrangements are designed to meet the needs of individual children who attend and have special needs. All children have access to the facilities, activities and play opportunities, in order to promote their

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Helping children make a positive contribution

welfare and development. Children's awareness of diversity within the wider society is positively promoted by effective planning of experiences and resources provided during themes in the education provision, such as exploring different wedding celebrations.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The children behave very well; they learn acceptable rules for social engagements and social skills through the daily routines and the excellent staff role modelling. For example, all children throughout the nursery sit as a peer group for snacks and meals, they help to set the tables, collect aprons and bibs, use correct cutlery, use manners and wait for all of the children to finish eating before the meal has finished. They are learning to share and take turns when playing and to work together to achieve results. Through out the nursery staff encourage the good sitting, good listening, good looking rules and this strategy is effectively and consistently applied by all staff. The children respond well to the reminders and questions about who is good looking and what it means. In the pre-school room humour is often used and the children enjoy joining in with fun activities. Children's social, moral, spiritual and cultural development

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. Staff take time to fully discuss all issues regarding children's needs as they join the nursery and settling in visits are tailored to suit the family. Comprehensive information is given through the prospectus and a large array of displays and notices around the nursery. Newsletters and questionnaires are also sent out to parents to seek their views. In discussion with funded children's parents they feel confident in knowing their

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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 child's key worker, discussing how their child is progressing and being involved in changes within the setting.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Management and staff follow the settings appropriate policies and procedures to protect children, promote their well-being and support all to develop to their potential. Recruitment and vetting procedures are robust and ensure that all staff are suitable to care for children. Although, procedures for ensuring staff are aware and vigilant regarding student vetting status. This supported by the on-going training, induction and staff meetings enabling management to assess needs within the staffing structure. Currently staff roles are changing to reflect better links between management and staff, with increased responsibilities for two co-ordinators. Most written policies and procedures that are required to meet the National Standards are in place, though the missing child policy needs to be expanded to include uncollected children.

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Organisation

The leadership and management is satisfactory. The new management system has highlighted areas for development within the pre-school and the consistency aspect of implementing the Foundation Stage. Due to staff absences and changes within pre-school staff, planning and assessment of children's activities and progress have been inconsistent. Although activities are interesting and fulfil the six areas of learning, it is currently unknown how older children are being challenged and at what point in the stepping stones individual children are progressing through. Evaluation of the planning has been sporadic and is not effectively used currently to aid planning the next steps in children's learning. The new staff team are committed and show strong enthusiasm in making improvements but have not yet been in place long enough to have had long term effects. Issues from the last inspection have addressed though the issue

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Organisation

of challenging older children remains an organisational aspect.

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Organisation

With the warm, family atmosphere, well organised and child friendly environment and caring staff, the provision meets the needs of the range of children attending.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection there were eight recommendations raised to improve the care for children. Written policies were asked to be made available to parents and staff in a format that is easily understood and that the child protection policy was shared with parents. The staff now hold copies of the policies required under the National Standards within files in their rooms for easy reference and the child protection policy is included within the prospectus and is displayed, supporting children's welfare. The implementation of the Birth to three matters framework has improved the range of resources ensuring they cover all aspects of development and children's ability to have more independent access to them, enabling children to initiate aspects of their own play and learning. Topics on health and a very nutritious menu have ensured that children have a very positive attitude to food. Staff are now consistent within the rooms

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Improvements since the last inspection

and the key worker system is effective in ensuring that an individual is responsible for the needs of each child. A great deal of work has been completed on effective behaviour management and policies are displayed and discussed with parents.

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Improvements 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 At the last nursery education inspection four key issues were raised to improve the education provision for funded children. These included increasing staff's knowledge of the early learning goals, the day to day supervisor has attended a range of courses relating to the implementation of the Foundation Stage and it is intended that she will cascade information to newer staff within the room. The play rooms have been reorganised into specific learning areas with relevant resources and equipment stored within them, aiding children in accessing resources and making their own choices. The session structure enables children to have time to have free play and for more adult led activities in their family groups. The routines are familiar to the children and staff spend time directly supporting the children. The activities provided are interesting and

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Improvements since the last inspection

children engage on self chosen tasks well, as the assessment and evaluation procedures are not currently linked it is difficult to judge which of the children would require further challenge from the activities.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection 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.

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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 satisfactory. 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): • improve the effectiveness of the administration of medication procedure, in particular ensuring that all medications stored are clearly labelled and dating all administration records • ensure the contents of the first aid box are checked frequently and replaced as necessary, ensuring sufficient contents at all times • seek recommendations from the Fire safety Officer regarding use of fire doors and records of fire drills and the fire log book • ensure all equipment on the premises is in good repair and is well maintained, with particular reference to safety gates throughout the premises • improve organisational procedures to ensure staff are fully updated and vigilant regarding the status of students vetting procedures and to expand the written missing

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The quality and standards of the care

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 child procedure to incorporate a procedure to follow in the event of a child failing to be collected.

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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 the systems for planning and assessment are on-going and are consistently implemented, with information gained used to plan children's next steps in learning and that it evidences children's progression through the stepping stones • improve monitoring and evaluation of the nursery education provision and build on the staff team and knowledge of the foundation stage.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

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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