Dunstanburgh Day Nursery

Dunstanburgh Day Nursery

Inspection report for early years provision

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Dunstanburgh Day Nursery

EY104355 Unique Reference Number 09 January 2007 Inspection date Cathryn Parry Inspector

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Dunstanburgh Day Nursery

Dunstanburgh Rd, 1 Bywell Street, Walker, Newcastle, NE6 2QN Setting Address

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Dunstanburgh Day Nursery

0191 2654546 Telephone number pauline.batey@newcastle.gov.uk E-mail Dunstanburgh Road Day Nursery Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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Dunstanburgh Day Nursery

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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Dunstanburgh Community Nursery is one of several nurseries managed by the Early Education and Childcare Services Department within Newcastle City Council. It opened in 1991 and operates from purpose-built premises. The children are based within three core rooms, two of which are in the main building, and a mobile room. It is situated in the residential area of Walker in Tyne and Wear. A maximum of 55 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 08.00 to 18.00 for 51 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 60 children aged from seven months to under five years on roll. Of these, 25 children receive funding for early education. Children come from a wide catchment area. The nursery currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and disabilities, and also supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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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 19 members of staff. All of these hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children access daily opportunities for physical play, including outdoor activities. They are learning appropriate personal hygiene practices through regular routines and positive role modelling. Children are encouraged to wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet. This is further promoted with relevant posters in the bathrooms. Children’s health is adequately maintained and the risk of infection reduced as the premises and equipment are suitably clean. Staff respond to incidents during the day, such as washing a jigsaw when a child sneezes on it. This is complemented with a daily cleaner being employed. Appropriate policies, good relationships with parents and relevant training ensure individual children are cared for well should they become ill.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are adequately nourished as staff provide reasonably healthy and nutritional meals and snacks. These include chicken pie, vegetables and milk puddings. Children ask for drinks when they are thirsty, as well as older children having free access to drinking water throughout the day. This promotes their self-help skills. Individual health and dietary needs are met completely, ensuring children’s well-being. All relevant documentation with regard to health, including consent forms are in place and up to date. These have a positive impact on promoting children's welfare.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a welcoming and safe environment. The premises are very secure with thorough procedures being in place for the collection of children. This ensures they are well protected. The staff are very sensitive to children's individual circumstances and respond swiftly and positively to ensure they are safeguarded effectively. Regular risk assessments both indoors and out, successfully minimise the risk of accidental injury. Children are able to explore confidently using high quality resources. These are purchased through reputable dealers. Their knowledge about personal safety is encouraged by gentle reminders from staff to pick up toys so they do not trip. They also participate in road safety activities and regular fire drill practices. This positively contributes to children developing a sense of danger and how to keep themselves safe.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff have a very good understanding of their role and responsibility concerning child protection. Consequently, children’s safety and well-being are ensured. All safety equipment is in place reducing the opportunity for accidents. This is complemented with staff identifying and addressing risks, for instance, sweeping up the sand so children don't slip. The manager has endeavoured to ensure fly screens are repaired in the kitchen, as recommended during an environmental health inspection in May 2006. However, the work has not been carried out. Consequently, windows and doors in this room can not be opened to ventilate the area, which has negative impact on meeting health and safety regulations.

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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 enjoy their time at the nursery and are happy to participate in the variety of activities provided. These include jigsaws, using the indoor slide and singing songs and rhymes. An appropriate balance of child-centred and adult-led experiences ensures suitable challenge for their age and stage of development. Children up to the age of three make suitable progress as staff have attended training and show an acceptable understanding of the ' Birth to three matters' framework. Babies’ interest is stimulated through the provision of a sensory area, using a variety of lights, mirrors and textures. Everyday activities, such as counting the cups and plates at meal times, encourage children's mathematical thinking. A range of creative activities including painting, cutting and sticking, promote children's self-expression and coordination whilst having fun. Children are regularly spoken to and given time to reply, which

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

nurtures their communication skills. Staff value what they say and extend their thinking through appropriate questioning. An example of this is where a spontaneous discussion took place regarding why giraffes have long necks in order to reach the leaves. Children enjoy using their imagination, for instance, when pretending to be animals. They are gaining an appropriate understanding of the natural world, including growing sunflowers and nurturing established plants. The nursery is well resourced. However, toys are not always effectively distributed or labelled for children aged under three years. This has a negative impact on the suitability, accessibility and range of opportunities for younger children. All the staff are effectively deployed and interact very well with all the children. This ensures children's play is supported, and promotes a stable and secure environment.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of the teaching and learning is good. Staff provide a positive role model through their own enthusiasm. Individual children have ample opportunities to access a breadth of stimulating and sufficiently challenging activities and experiences. These cover each of the six areas of learning, which is reflected in the short, medium and long term planning. A flexible approach by staff enables children's individual interests and spontaneous learning opportunities to be followed. An example of this is where a child's discovery of worm in the garden resulted in the whole weeks planning being revised. This encourages children to be curious and extends their knowledge whilst having fun.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The environment is arranged into different areas where children can freely access resources, which encourages free choice and independence. They use their imagination well and this is developed into extended and purposeful play. For example, whilst playing with the toy dinosaurs the opportunity to discuss where they live and what they eat is naturally utilised by a member of staff. Children are confident in small and larger groups, including performing a nativity concert for family and friends. They discuss past events and are gaining a sense of time, as an egg timer is used to notify children of tidy up time.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are learning initial letter sounds and many are able to recognise their own name in a written form. Staff extend children's vocabulary, for instance, when discussing what an elephants tusks are called. Children confidently count along with staff, as well as some confidently counting to 10 on their own. They use mathematical thinking when discussing how long the elephant’s

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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 trunk is and how heavy the item in the bag is. Many children can name primary colours and simple shapes. This is promoted with attractive displays. Children explore, test and develop physical control, for instance when participating in planned throwing and catching activities. Opportunities to develop information technology skills are available throughout the sessions, including using a tape recorder with headphones.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

All staff show a sound understanding of the early years curriculum, adopting a flexible approach to meet individual needs well. They regularly review their observing, planning and evaluating systems, which is highly beneficial to the quality of education offered. Staff are aware that these systems have the potential to be further developed to maximise individual children’s progression.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. A short induction period, including visits with parents, enables children to settle into the new environment. Their self-esteem and sense of belonging is encouraged as individual pieces of art work and photographs are widely displayed on the nursery walls. Children are learning right from wrong and are starting to take responsibility for their own actions. They are developing the ability to share and take turns, for instance when using the doll's buggy outside. Children are beginning to show concern for each other. An example if this is where one child gives another his dinosaur to stop him being upset. Adult support for children with learning difficulties and disabilities is good. They attend appropriate training and liaise with other professionals. Consequently, individual needs are met and all children are included in all of the activities provided. Young children’s independence is developing as they are able to access baskets of

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Helping children make a positive contribution

interesting and safe materials easily and freely. Older children are given time to complete self-chosen tasks such as putting on aprons. This promotes their independence and confidence.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. The staff’s confident approach to equal opportunities actively contributes to children’s positive attitudes to the wider community. This is complemented with access to a wide selection of resources in the pre-school room. However, these are limited for younger children, in particular resources showing positive images of people with disabilities. This has a negative impact on raising children's awareness and understanding of difference. Children are encouraged to understand how different facial expressions reflect how people feel. This encourages them to express their own feelings and to empathise with others. Appropriate behaviour management strategies are employed throughout the nursery, which result in children generally behaving well.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is good. High emphasis is put on relationships with parents, which has a positive impact on children’s overall well-being. Staff have implemented a number of strategies to involve parents and gain their views. These include sharing books with home, inviting parents on visits to places of interest and providing a comments board. Verbal information is shared with parents daily and at regular reviews. Consequently, they are fully informed of their child's progress. This is complemented with free access to their child's individual file, which includes written information and photographs. All of the parents spoken to during the inspection were highly satisfied with the service provided.

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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 satisfactory. The leadership and management is satisfactory. The manager ensures staff have appropriate support through regular staff meetings and individual staff appraisals. She promotes their professional development through training within the nurseries budget restrictions. However, this is not consistently recorded in individual staff records. Consequently, documentation does not show an accurate reflection of courses attended and can not be used to identify gaps in training. The manager shows a suitable understanding of the Foundation Stage and the 'Birth to three matters' framework, which enables her to offer staff support if required. Procedures used for monitoring deployment of resources in the nursery are not effective. This results in some areas being more appropriately resourced than others. The manager shows a caring attitude to the children, their families and staff. She is proactive in providing a secure and safe

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Organisation

environment. All legally required documentation is in place and implemented well. This positively contributes to children’s overall well-being.

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Organisation

Children have access to appropriate play opportunities through the suitable organisation of space and time. Indoor space is organised into different areas and staff purposefully deployed, enabling children to participate independently and in groups. The use of the hall area for meal times provides an appropriate environment to promote children's social skills. The flexible routine ensures children's individual needs are met, for instance adhering to babies specific sleep patterns. The staff also incorporate time for visitors to attend the nursery. This broadens children's knowledge, for instance, with regard to road safety. Low level storage of resources generally encourages children's participation.

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Organisation

Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection, the provider was asked to ensure that children have an appropriate range of activities and resources that promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice in relation to disabilities and to organise and group children more effectively in the 2-3s room.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Equal opportunities resources have started to be developed and children are now appropriately grouped. These have a positive impact on children's overall development.

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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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Complaints 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 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 good.

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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): • effectively deploy and label resources for children aged under 3 years • further develop equal opportunities resources for younger children • ensure recommendations raised during an inspection by an environmental health technician are addressed appropriately.

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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): • continue to develop an effective planning and evaluation system • ensure individual staff records accurately reflect training attended (also applies to care).

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

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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