Boomerang Kids

Boomerang Kids

Inspection report for early years provision

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Boomerang Kids

EY298720 Unique Reference Number 29 November 2006 Inspection date Lisa Toole Inspector

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Boomerang Kids

Saltdean Barn, Saltdean Oval Park, Arundel Drive West, Saltdean, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 8SJ

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Setting Address

01273 390900 Telephone number boomerangkids@ntlworld.com E-mail Boomerang Kids LTD Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care, Out of School care Type of care

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Setting Address

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 outstanding.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Boomerang Kids opened in 2005 and is a charity run group, managed by a committee. It operates within a converted barn, in Saltdean near Brighton, East Sussex. There is also a secure outdoor play area available. The setting is open five days a week, during school term-time and selected school holidays. Sessions are from 08:30 to 18:00 hours.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The setting is registered to care for 30 children aged from two to under eight years, of these 18 children receive funding for early education. Children can also attend up to the age of 11 years for after school and holiday care. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and with 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 setting employs 16 staff. Of these, 12 of the staff are qualified, including the manager and deputy. Two members of staff are working towards a qualification.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children's good health is very well supported in the nursery because staff take positive steps to prevent the spread of infection and they teach the children about the importance of keeping clean and healthy. Children manage their own personal care needs effectively; they know to wash their hands automatically after visiting the toilet and are encouraged to keep their noses clean. Nappy changing procedures appropriately reduce risks of cross infection of germs and a record is maintained so that parents are aware of when their child is being changed. Children confidently approach staff for a quick hug and cuddle, when they need reassurance, ensuring that their emotional well being is as supported as their general health needs. The majority of the staff have completed first aid training; medication records are accurately maintained and staff are clear about children's individual health needs. This means that children's care needs

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Helping children to be healthy

are being well met. However, the accident record is not always being accurately maintained, which impacts on the children's welfare. This is because not all parents have been asked to countersign the record, which ensures they are informed of any accident their child may have had.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's independence is positively encouraged at snack and meal times; they learn from a young age how to spread their own toast and are able to decide for themselves when to have their snack because the nursery now operates a free flow system within the main nursery room. In the after school club, children enjoy helping prepare their own snack and also decide for themselves what they would like to eat and drink, with spaghetti on toast being a particular favourite. Children enjoy a range of healthy and nutritious snacks, such as fresh fruit, raw vegetables and toast, and parents are encouraged to provide a healthy packed lunch for their child. Children freely access drinking water whenever they need a drink, as well as being offered drinks at snack and meal times, helping them keep hydrated throughout the day.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's physical well being is very well promoted in the nursery. Children learn about the effects of exercise on their bodies by feeling their heartbeats after doing an exercise tape and how to slow it down while they lay down afterwards. Children clearly relish outdoor play opportunities. They are able to decide for themselves whether they play in or outdoors and are offered a wide range of stimulating activities in the garden. They learn and practise how to throw and catch a ball, gain balancing skills, how to ride a tricycle as well as having fun with water and sand play. Children's fine motor skills are also developing very well. They enjoy opportunities to paint, draw, do puzzles and cutting. They are able to access a wide range of mark making tools with ease, as they develop their hand-to-eye co-ordination.

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Helping children to be healthy

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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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Children benefit greatly from the warm and welcoming environment. Staff have created a lovely, child friendly space in the converted barn and this enables children to maximise their play opportunities. Children's work and photographs of them engaged in a variety of activities enhance the appearance of the play spaces and help them gain a sense of belonging. With the help of parents, staff have also created an attractive, inviting, safe outdoor play space, where children learn about gardening as they grow their own fruit and vegetables; ride around and have fun simply running around. Inside, the learning environment is very effectively organised into specific areas, such as maths and creative, with an excellent range of resources easily accessible to children. Staff confidently maximise children's learning opportunities through the way they organise and use the equipment and this captivates children's interest and imagination.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children learn about the importance of tidying up, through visual aids such as an egg timer as well as all singing 'izzy wizzy let's get busy' to announce it is time to begin clearing away; children join in with the song and tidying enthusiastically.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's safety is treated as a high priority; security of the premises is extremely good and there are comprehensive systems in place to ensure that children are only collected by authorised persons. Staff have a thorough understanding of their responsibilities regarding fire evacuation, which helps keep the children safe and drills are regularly carried out. Throughout the day staff are vigilant about children's safety, they are effectively deployed at all times and potential hazards have been carefully reduced to enable children to be able to play safely, both in and outdoors. Children are able to learn important messages about their own personal safety, through gentle reminders and discussion, as well as role play as the lollipop person in the garden to learn about road safety.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff have an excellent understanding of the possible signs and symptoms of abuse and know what action to take if they have concerns about a child in their care. This means that children's welfare is safeguarded at all times.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. Children are thriving in the nursery; they are very happy, settled and move around the nursery with confidence. They have established positive and friendly relationships with the staff and their peers and this creates a harmonious atmosphere. All of the children can access an excellent range of activities which are stimulating, thought provoking, age appropriate and easily accessible. This enables them to flourish and progress in all key areas of development. Activities are adapted according to the children's age and individual needs, with effective and purposeful use of the Birth to three matters framework for the younger children within the nursery. For example, children relish opportunities to squeeze and squash jelly through their fingers, counting how long it takes to drop off their fingers. These kinds of activities enable children to develop their senses, gain basic skills such as counting as well as having lots of messy fun. Children

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

attending for out of school care are actively involved in decision making about what kinds of activities they do; with cooking and drawing being particular favourites. This helps them feel welcome and involved in the decision making process about their care provision. Children are

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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 organised into key worker groups, according to their age and this works extremely well; staff have a thorough understanding of their children's likes and interests and they support their play and learning needs successfully.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding and this means children are making excellent progress in their learning towards the early learning goals. Staff are committed to helping children be very well prepared for school, to be confident and enjoy new challenges; the children are enthusiastic learners.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff have a thorough understanding of the Foundation Stage curriculum, the six areas of learning and how children learn. They skilfully plan a range of quiet and active and both indoor and outdoor activities based around the individual children's developmental needs and the six areas of learning. Staff meet regularly to discuss the curriculum and ensure that it is balanced, stimulating and challenging, to help all the children make progress. Staff carry out regular observations and assessment on the children and input the information into their records of achievement, which are then shared with parents; these clearly show that children are making excellent progress in their learning. They have easy access to a wide range of good quality toys and resources and these are well used by the staff and children alike.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have a keen sense of fun, exploration and are eager to try new experiences. While in the garden they move from pouring and filling with porridge oats, to dropping them into water to see what happens. They learn about floating and sinking with corks and pebbles, and experiences such as planting and growing their own vegetables and fruit, help them learn about where their food comes from. Children have also had fun learning about the barn, how it was re-constructed and enjoy activities such as looking at photographs of parts of the nursery and then going to hunt to find what they see and match it up to the photograph. This helps them make sense of the world around them.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are eager to develop their mark making skills, putting their name on their work at every opportunity. They listen attentively to story time and are able to recall extracts from popular books such as 'The Gruffalo'. They speak with confidence at group times, enjoy show and tell where they talk about things they have brought in from home and staff listen with interest to what the children have to say. Children's vocabulary is extended well with effective support by staff, often through every day experiences such as collecting leaves for printing. Children count, often as they play by themselves, and are able to count beyond ten with confidence. They understand simple concepts such as more and less, heavy and light, big and small. While playing with shells in sand, children press shells to make their own patterns, and another child runs his fingers through the jelly, saying he is making a pattern. Children show

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

curiosity as they explore different blocks of ice, which staff have coloured and put shells, leaves and flowers inside. Children's creative development is flourishing and they enjoy a wide range of activities, including time to just sit and have messy fun with paint. They learn about music, rhythm and sound and role play experiences enable children to develop their personal and social skills as they listen to each other's ideas and use them in their play.

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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

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is outstanding. All children are made to feel very welcome at the nursery and encouraged to take a full and active role, because staff consider each child as an individual with their own needs, interests and likes. Staff also welcome their family and value the contribution they make. Children's behaviour is excellent; they learn to manage their own behaviour, to share and take turns and treat each other with respect. Staff set realistic boundaries and offer children clear explanations for any unwanted behaviour to help them learn important messages about right and wrong. Children have extensive opportunities to learn about themselves and the world around them, through interesting and purposeful activities and through access to a wide range of resources that reflect equality. These include celebrating cultural and religious festivals, visitors to the nursery and outings around the local environment. This positive approach fosters children's

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Helping children make a positive contribution

spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Children have numerous opportunities to learn simple signing as a method of communication and staff also make very good use of visual aids such as the timetable for the day, to help children make sense of their day. All children are carefully assessed on entry into the nursery, in order to gauge their starting points and staff then identify the next steps for individuals so they can appropriately support each child with their learning. Staff work with external agencies to support any children's additional learning difficulty or disability, as well as liaising with parents so they are fully involved in their child's development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The outstanding partnership with parents contributes significantly to the children's well being and development at the nursery. Discussion with parents shows that they are very happy with the care their children receive; they feel actively involved in their learning and value the positive relationships they have with the staff. The nursery provides parents with a comprehensive information pack when their child first starts, along with settling-in sessions tailored to each child's needs and their views on their child's needs, current abilities and likes are also sought. Staff ensure that parents are kept informed about their child's progress through formal discussions at parents' evenings, as well as daily chats. Parents receive written information about the week's activities to keep them up to date with what their children are currently doing at nursery and this promotes a positive and inclusive partnership with parents.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children's care is greatly enhanced by the exceptional quality of organisation and the outstanding leadership and management of the nursery education provision. The nursery has a strong commitment to ensuring that all the children receive high quality care and education, tailored to their individual needs and interests. Staff all play an active role in the planning and organisation of the curriculum for children and they work in an efficient and organised manner, which is supportive and helps ensure the sessions run very smoothly. The key worker system is particularly successful in supporting individual children's care, play and developmental needs. Staff are committed to improving their practice, through quality assurance, by attending training and gaining further qualifications, which all benefit the children. Staff hold regular team meetings to monitor and review their practice and discuss the children's progress. This helps

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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 ensure that the curriculum and teaching fully reflect and take account of the children's individual needs. There is a high ratio of staff to children and over half the staff have an appropriate childcare qualification.

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Organisation

All of the required documentation that contributes towards the children's health, safety and well being is in place and is, in the main, accurately maintained. The one weakness relates to the accident record, where staff do not always obtain parents' countersignatures, to ensure they have been informed about an accident their child has had. The documentation is very well organised, all relevant and necessary policies and procedures are in place and accessible to parents. The recruitment procedures are robust and ensure only suitable adults are employed and children are protected from unvetted persons. The nursery 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 the setting received five recommendations, which related to the organisation of staff, the book corner and snack time, the recruitment procedures relating to health checks and staff's understanding of fire procedures. Since the last inspection the setting has addressed all recommendations. Snack time is now organised as a free flow system and this means children decide for themselves when to have snack and can do so in a more comfortable space, where they develop their personal and social skills. Staff now have a secure understanding of fire evacuation procedures and are more effectively deployed in order to protect children. All staff have now completed health declarations and appropriate procedures are in place when new staff are recruited, which helps ensure all staff are suitable to work with children. The book corner has been re-organised and made more inviting and accessible for children.

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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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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 outstanding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND 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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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): • review the procedures for how parents are informed of their children's accidents.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.

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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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