Kidz@work Ltd

Kidz@work Ltd

Inspection report for early years provision

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Kidz@work Ltd

EY336446 Unique Reference Number 15 December 2006 Inspection date Geneen Yvonne Hulse-Brown Inspector

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Kidz@work Ltd

Sheffield Business Park Ltd, 1 Europa View, SHEFFIELD, S9 1XH Setting Address

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Kidz@work Ltd

01142 449 600 Telephone number info@kidzatwork.co.uk E-mail Kidz@work Ltd Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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Kidz@work Ltd

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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Kidz@work Ltd opened in July 2006 and is situated on the Sheffield Business Park near to Sheffield City Airport in a purpose designed unit. Children come from the local community and the wider area. There are six playrooms, a large indoor play area with climbing and soft play equipment and two secure outdoor areas for children’s use, with access to toilets, kitchen, office and storage space.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

A maximum of 132 children from birth to eight years may attend the nursery at any one time, of these, not more than 50 may be under two years. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, all year round, from 07.00 to 19.00 and children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 50 children on roll, of these, six receive funding for early education. The nursery supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who have 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 There are 16 staff employed to work with the children and all hold recognised early years qualifications. The nursery is managed by Kidz@work Ltd. The setting receives support from the local authority.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children take part in and enthusiastically enjoy a broad range of activities that contribute to keeping them healthy. They effectively use indoor and outdoor activities on a daily basis to develop their physical skills. Children thrive in an inspiring and exceptional planned outdoor play area. They imaginatively use stepping stones to cross paths, large musical instruments to explore their creativity and build dens using materials draped over wooden beams. They enjoy riding bikes, climbing, balancing on different height steps and playing ball games. Inventive use of outdoor space allows children to explore in all weathers. They benefit from shaded areas to relax and have fun extending their imagination in the well resourced wicker houses. Children purposefully explore the large indoor play area, where they climb on the soft equipment, walk rope bridges and exercise on children sized gym equipment. They confidently negotiate the

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Helping children to be healthy

nursery stairs and thrill at taking their turn down the indoor slide, which takes them from upstairs rooms to the ground floor via the outside of the building. A traffic light system is in place to ensure they wait their turn and only access it when it is safe. Children confidently manipulate small tools, such as scissors, pencils, glue spreaders and paintbrushes, well to successfully develop their fine motor skills.

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Helping children to be healthy

Staff provide numerous opportunities for children to talk about being healthy through the use of projects, displays and planned topics. Children are developing a good awareness of a healthy diet, as staff talk to them about healthy eating as part of the daily routine. They enjoy tasting different foods, such as a wide range of fruits and snacks. Children have a strong understanding of their likes and dislikes, for example, at lunch time talking about not liking corn and tasting cheese and chive crackers. Children are starting to know personal needs, for example, when they want a drink they competently help themselves to their own water bottles. Children sit together in small groups to enjoy nutritious meals provided by the nursery chef who has recently won an Environmental Health Award for good practice. Staff are very aware of children’s individual dietary needs and plan accordingly. Accurate records show what the children have

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Helping children to be healthy

eaten during the day. Babies' and young children's home routines are followed as agreed with parents.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are cared for in a warm, clean and vibrant environment, where effective methods ensure they develop good personal hygiene practices, such as hand washing before snack time and after messy play. Mirror prompts in the bathroom remind them to wash their hands. They understand the importance of good practice and demonstrate it in their play and activities. For example, reminding each other where the tissues are and talking about germs when blowing their noses. Parents are well informed of infections in the nursery as staff use word and picture displays effectively to aid understanding.

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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 good. Children are cared for in a safe and secure environment where risks are minimised. Children understand not to run indoors and take care when climbing, as staff sensitively remind them of good practice. Regular discussions and topics help children learn about keeping themselves safe and builds on their awareness. They negotiate confidently around both indoors and outdoors, extending their independence and learning to keep themselves safe. Experienced staff effectively ensure that the premises are safe and secure by monitoring all visitors to the setting. Accurate records are used to note all visitors to the setting, whilst staff and parents gain access using a finger print recognition system. The innovative design of the premises with child height doors for entry, low windows and vision panels inside the nursery allow children space to develop their independence, observe the outdoors and excitedly negotiate the slide

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children make independent choices of activities from a excellent range of easily accessible quality resources and request anything they cannot see. They plan their own time through use of stimulating indoor and outdoor activities where they explore, experiment and progress their ideas. Creative use of space ensures that all play areas are safe, secure and well planned to allow children a place to be quiet, use their creativity, extend their imagination and develop their play. Children have fun undertaking meaningful experiences that challenge and extend them.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Effective procedures are in place to support good practice, as all staff undertake mandatory first aid and child protection training. They are well experienced and demonstrate a very good knowledge of child protection procedures and how to keep children safe. Staff understand their role in protecting children and use this information effectively to promote the children’s well-being. Well organised procedures are in place for recording concerns and ensuring parents are supported.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children enjoy their time at nursery. They make good progress in all areas of development, as knowledgeable staff plan activities and experiences that maintain children’s interest and motivation. Staff effectively use the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage and the 'Birth to three matters' framework to provide good quality care and education.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are well settled, happy and secure as they enthusiastically undertake a wide range of meaningful and challenging activities. They are confident and interested in their surroundings, establishing very good relationships with staff and children alike. Children actively make choices about their play, by selecting resources to undertake tasks from the extensive and stimulating range available. They demonstrate good, independent skills when successfully planning their own time and make decisions about what to do and who to play with. Children confidently put on aprons to paint, put on shoes and coats to play outdoors and help themselves from the wide range of quality 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 Staff consistently respond to the children's individual needs and adapt activities to follow their ideas and suggestions. Children are encouraged and supported to extend and try out new skills. For example, as children play with the nativity scene staff offer support by talking to children about what they see and count the animals. Children receive high levels of encouragement from staff who use observations and their knowledge of the children to build on what they can do to extend activities at the child's own pace. Young babies are cared for in a warm, secure and sensory environment where their individual needs are responded to effectively. They explore their surrounding both indoors and outdoors with increasing interest and curiosity. Young children enjoy tactile experiences, such as painting, sticking and squeezing play dough as they

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

giggle and laugh together. Sensitive staff offer cuddles and reassurance to help children settle into a new environment and systems are in place for parents to spend as much time settling their children into the setting as they need.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff's good knowledge of the Foundation Stage ensures that children progress well in all areas of development. Children are curious, interested and motivated to learn through well planned and spontaneous activities and experiences, which challenge and extend them. They use their imagination very well during role play activities, wrapping presents to send to Santa and working cooperatively in the post office. They demonstrate good levels of concentration using tools and materials, such as wooden bricks and cubes, to construct simple and complex models. They build and design, extending their imagination and their natural creativity through using a wide variety of craft materials and resources, such as boxes to create models and resources for Santa’s workshop. Children are confident speakers and listen intently to each other when playing and in groups when they

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

reflect on what they have done at nursery. They share experiences, talking about home and what they dressed up as for Halloween, with enthusiasm. Staff listen with interest to what the children say, offering support and suggestions to enhance their experiences. Children listen intently to stories and predict the endings and outcomes. For example, what happens next when the wolf arrives at the house of straw.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are very confident and engage well with each other. They welcome visitors, asking why they are here and what they are doing and eagerly share their achievements. They enthusiastically act out roles in the ‘Nativity Play’ and have fun singing carols and Christmas songs. Children negotiate roles in games, deciding who will be Santa and whose turn it is to give out the pencils. They take turns, share, play cooperatively together and alone to enthusiastically progress their ideas. Behaviour is very good and reflects the staff's high expectations. Children are learning how to manage their own behaviour and show respect for others. They enjoy learning about the lives of others through topics, planned activities and visitors to the nursery. Children undertake outings to the airport to see the planes take off and visit the control tower. Number and problem solving activities form part of all daily activities

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

and children enjoy counting and sorting as part of daily routines, singing and ring games. They confidently count crackers at snack time and how many each person has. When drawing pictures of the wolf they count the number of fingers and eyes. Older children are starting to work out simple calculation when playing with dinosaurs noting that six are playing and four are watching the others.

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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 Accurate observation systems are in place that effectively monitor children's progress and form an effective aid to planning and progressing the children's learning. Children are successfully guided to undertake a good balance of focused and freely chosen activities, with staff responding and making changes to incorporate the children’s ideas and suggestions. However, on occasions routines can limit children’s access to choices and challenges that will extend them further to focus on independent learning. Staff demonstrate a secure knowledge of the early learning goals and use this to plan a well organised curriculum to include all areas of learning. They effectively use open ended questions to extend children's language, develop their thinking and value what they say using positive responses. They use group times to reflect and encourage

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children to think about what they have done. Effective use of the interactive white board enables staff to support children’s interest in technology and provide opportunities for them to build on their understanding. Attractive and well presented displays of the children’s work successfully contribute to promoting their self esteem.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children build strong and respectful relationships with staff and each other. They show very good self-esteem, confidently ask questions and actively make choices as sensitive staff value their individuality. Children receive consistent praise and encouragement for achievement and for trying out new skills, for example, when helping to tidy away and responding to questions at group time. Well planned, meaningful activities and resources help children become aware of similarities and differences, which in turn increases their understanding of the wider world. They recall outings and discussions with enthusiasm talking about visits to the airport and to see the fire-fighters. Children excitedly enjoy exploring the outdoors to broaden their knowledge of the community and their environment. Photographs are starting to be used effectively to reinforce and remind the children of what they have done at nursery and what they saw on

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff and children share their home experiences with each other as part of planned and spontaneous activities. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are welcomed into the provision and systems are in place with other agencies to ensure the children are cared for according to their needs. All staff are competent at 'Tiny Talk' a basic sign language and parents are informed of the sign of the week by pictures to practise at home with their children.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's behaviour is very good and reflects the staff's high expectations. Children understand clear and consistent boundaries, demonstrating care and respect for each other. They share, negotiate and take turns when playing games and using equipment, for example, when taking turns to use cutters and pencils and seeing how many can play in each area. Children sit and listen intently to what each other has to say and voice their opinions confidently. Staff demonstrate good role models of behaviour, showing care and consideration for others, which in turn helps children learn good practice.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is outstanding. Staff consistently ensure parents are kept extremely well informed about what the children are doing at nursery due to the excellent communication systems in place. Parents receive comprehensive daily diaries for every child showing meals, activities and progress throughout the day. Excellent recording and assessment

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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 systems chart the children’s progress through the nursery and information for parents allows them to follow themes and topics through at home. All plans are displayed outside individual playrooms for parents to see what is happening on a day to day basis. Parents and staff work successfully together to meet the children's needs, as they receive very high quality information about the setting and in turn share their knowledge of their children. Parents log onto the secure nursery webcam daily to see their children at play. This process is extremely secure as parents can only access five minute periods of their own children by password. In addition, a large screen is displayed in the entrance to the nursery for parents settling children in and arriving early to collect them. In discussions parents feel this is an excellent way to reassure

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Helping children make a positive contribution

them that their children are happy, keep them informed and view them at play. Parents confidently approach staff and demonstrate a high level of satisfaction with the setting, stating that all staff are well informed and professional in their approach. They are particularly impressed by the innovative design of the premises both indoors and outdoors as the nursery offers children a dynamic and exciting setting where they flourish. The children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The leadership and management of the nursery are good. Effective organisation of the educational provision ensures that children's care and learning is promoted. Very knowledgeable staff demonstrate an accurate understanding of their roles and responsibilities to ensure that children's individual needs are met. A newly established and experienced staff team work well together following effective procedures that monitor and evaluate the provision. The management team have completed the self-evaluation form and plan to use this with staff regularly to continue to review and develop their practice. They effectively support a committed staff team to review practice and adopt new procedures. The nursery webcam is used with staff to monitor and observe practice and for assessment purposes, to highlight training needs.

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Organisation

The nursery staff demonstrate a high commitment to training and development to consolidate practices and further enhance the provision. All staff hold a recognise early years qualification and complete mandatory training as part of their induction. A comprehensive range of policies and procedures are in place to support good practice and offer an effective service. These policies continue to be reviewed to meet the changing needs and development of the setting. The staff team use numerous opportunities to meet together, share information and continue to establish their working practices. Regular appraisals are used to effectively identify the training and development needs of the individual staff and nursery. Staff effectively use observations and assessments to monitor children's progress based on the 'Birth to three matters' framework and the Foundation Stage. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the

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Organisation

range of the children for whom it provides.

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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

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since registration 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 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): • continue to review and update policies and practices to support the development of the setting.

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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): • review how routines are planned to ensure that all children continue to be challenged and make independent choices (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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