Les Enfants Private Day Nursery

Les Enfants Private Day Nursery

Inspection report for early years provision

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Les Enfants Private Day Nursery

EY244952 Unique Reference Number 07 February 2007 Inspection date Helene Anne Terry Inspector

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Les Enfants Private Day Nursery

Fieldhead Lane, Birstall, Batley, WF17 9BH Setting Address

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E-mail

Les Enfants Private Day Nurseries 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 good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Les Enfants Nursery is one of four establishments run by Les Enfants public limited company. It opened in 2003 and operates from four play areas in a single storey building in Birstall, Batley, West Yorkshire. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The provision serves children from the local community and surrounding areas. The nursery is open each weekday from 07.30 to 18.00 all year round, excluding bank holidays.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

A maximum of 50 children may attend the nursery at any one time. There are currently 50 children aged from birth to under six years on roll. Of these six children receive funding for nursery education.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs nine members of staff who care for the children. Of these, seven staff including the manager hold appropriate early years qualifications to Level 2 or 3 and one member

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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 of staff is working towards a qualification. The nursery receives support from the local authority and holds the Investors In People Award.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a clean and well maintained environment where effective procedures and practices ensure that children's physical, nutritional and health needs are fully addressed. The staff provide good support and guidance to ensure that children develop a good understanding of hygiene, such as brushing their teeth, encouraging them to wash their hands after toileting and after playing with the hamster. Children are learning about healthy practices, when they are reminded to not share cups because of germs and to put their hand over their mouth when they cough. They also freely access tissues to wipe their nose. Children are well protected from cross infection through the use of thorough hygiene practices and a comprehensive sickness policy, which is given to parents. Children use individual cloths, bed linen and the staff regularly wash toys and equipment. Medication and accident records are

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Helping children to be healthy

generally maintained well, however, on occasions, staff do not obtain parent signatures for the accident records.

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Helping children to be healthy

A very good balanced healthy diet is offered to the children promoting their health and growth. The setting has obtained Kirklees Healthy Eating Gold Star Award. Children are offered meals, snacks and drinks regularly throughout the day. The children over two years have free access to a water cooler and they confidently pour themselves a drink and dispose of their cup in the sink. Meals are freshly prepared in the nursery by the cook. Menus are displayed for parents' information. Children are also beginning to understand about food that is good for them, as they are encouraged to make healthy choices. The older children enjoy serving their own food at lunch time, helping themselves to fruit snacks through the sessions and preparing their own sandwiches at tea time. Staff encourage children to prepare a healthy sandwich initially of cheese or ham before making themselves a jam sandwich. Children also play with fresh fruit

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Helping children to be healthy

and vegetables in the home corner, where they can smell it, taste it and feel the texture. Babies' bottle feeds are freshly prepared by the staff and stored appropriately. They enjoy meals prepared by the cook and blended to their preferred consistency. Children's individual dietary needs are fully considered to promote their well-being.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy a wide range of physical activities which contribute to their good health and development. They have regular access to physical activities both indoors and outdoors. Babies have the freedom to crawl and pull themselves up on equipment to practice their walking skills. Older children enjoy moving to rhymes and songs as they jump as frogs and crawl like a lion. They enthusiastically use the climbing and balancing equipment; confidently jumping off and landing on both feet. They also use bikes, scooters, bats and balls with skill.

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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. The nursery is well maintained, bright and cheerful. Children move around safely and freely in the well organised setting, where risks, on the whole, are identified and minimised by staff through very good practices. However, prams are currently stored in the baby room, which may present as a hazard to the children. Regular risk assessments are done by staff both inside the playroom and on outings to ensure safety. Access to the provision is monitored very well through a security system, protecting children from unknown visitors. Staff fully comply with health and safety requirements to keep children safe. Children are also learning well about their own personal safety, as they learn how to use knives and scissors, be safe on outings and they regularly practise the fire drill.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children use a broad range of good quality, developmentally appropriate resources that foster all areas of their development. Resources are age-appropriate within the playrooms; these are very well organised into specific areas of learning and are stored at child height; encouraging children to make choices and promote their independence skills. The baby room has cots to enable children to rest safely.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected by staff who have a good understanding of the child protection procedures in line with the Local Safeguarding Children Board. All staff have attended training in child protection and first aid to ensure children's welfare. All the required policies and procedures required for the safe management of the setting are in place and regularly updated.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Staff provide a very good range of activities and play opportunities to foster all areas of children's development. The majority of the children attending the setting are under three years of age. Staff make very good use of the 'Birth to three matters' framework to support young children's development. Planning and children's assessments are used clearly to extend learning. Children enthusiastically take part in a wide range of sensory and creative experiences, such as treasure baskets, sand, water, malleable materials, paint, cornflour and shaving foam. Children enjoy playing in the sand, building sand castles together as they learn to share and take turns at putting the sand in the buckets. They get excited at watching the glitter floating in the bottles of coloured water and observing their reflections in the mirrors. Activities and resources in all the playrooms are age specific for children attending, and these are all easily

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

accessible ensuring children have free choice, which promote independence. The daily routine is varied and flexible with times for children to have snacks, meals, activities indoors, outdoors and time for rests. Younger children benefit from routines which are consistent with their experiences at home promoting their feelings of security and ensuring continuity of care.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The interaction between staff and children is very good, ensuring that warm trusting relationships are developed and that children are happy and settled. Staff talk to the older children about their interests and school activities, giving children a sense of belonging. They spend most of their time playing with the children, giving lots of cuddles, using playful talk and encouraging them to explore their environment. Staff listen and respond the babies' utterances, which

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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 promotes language development and social interaction. They talk to the babies about what they are doing, which enables babies to link words to actions.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Key staff have a sound understanding of the Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage, which is reflected in the suitable planning that covers all of the six areas of learning throughout the week. Staff also follow children's interests to plan and extend their learning. Children showing an interest in birds are taken to the park to feed the birds and they make bird feeders for the nursery garden and for home. Staff also use spontaneous events to extend learning. For example, children noticing the smell of the lemon essence in the corn flour are given a real lemon to smell and compare the odour, they are then given a taste of the lemon, with children commenting on their like or dislike. Children's assessment records are used to generally inform planning, however, these are not regularly updated to reflect what children can do. This hinders staff's ability to plan for the

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

next steps in children's learning. Staff have high expectations of the children and use effective challenges for the children that are appropriate for their stage of development. Good methods are used to support children in their play. Staff create warm and caring relationships, they are affectionate with the children and display humour during play. This creates a caring environment in which children feel confident to explore and play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Overall, the children are making satisfactory progress in all areas of learning in particular their personal, social and emotional development and knowledge and understanding of the world. Children relate well to others in the setting and seek help and guidance from the staff. They have a good awareness of the boundaries of the setting, for example, they are learning to share and take turns well as they play games, such as lotto and bingo. Children show care and concern for others. The older children help the younger children to get drinks from the water cooler and they care for the pet hamster and the fish. They are very independent and confident in their environment, which boosts their self-esteem and confidence. Children serve themselves at meal times and they help themselves to drinks through the day, they make their own sandwiches at tea time and have a choice of sandwich fillings. They take care of their

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

environment as they help staff tidy toys away and sweep the floor.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's language skills are developing well. They speak to others about their wants and needs and use talk to recall past events and experiences. They giggle and become excited as they look at the photographs on the computer and recall their trip to the park to feed the ducks. They enjoy learning new words to describe what they feel and see as they play with the cooked and uncooked pasta, talking about the feel being sharp and hard or soft, slimy and sticky. Children are learning to distinguish between the sounds of letters of the alphabet, when they play with the magnetic letter board and spell their names on the computer. They ascribe meaning to marks as they draw and manipulate writing materials with increasing control, developing their pre writing skills.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are beginning to count well with more able children counting objects on a one to one basis. For example, they count how many wheels there are on a car and how many pieces of pasta they have in a bowl. More able children are beginning to do simple calculations as they play bingo. For example, children count how many numbers they need to finish the game.

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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 However, children are not given the opportunity to do simple calculations during everyday activities; for example, counting how many children are present, how many boys and girls and how many places need to be set at lunch time.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy observing their environment and investing objects and materials. They observe the changes to melted lard and bird seed as they make the bird feeders, they look at the difference between cooked and dried pasta and grow strawberry plants and sweet peas. They show an interest in how things work and happen when they play with tools and look at the differences between light and dark. Children enjoy playing on the computer, using the mouse to drag and drop and use the key board to write their names. They also use other technology equipment, such as the listening centre. Children use equipment well to foster their small muscle development and hand and eye coordination. For example, they competently use scissors to cut and hold pencils, crayons and paint brushes to create.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children confidently explore a very good range of creative materials, such as paint, malleable materials, collage, sand, water and cornflour. They freely access these materials to represent their feelings, thoughts and ideas. Staff effectively support them to extend learning. Children enjoy music, they learn about how to change sounds by playing musical instruments as they hit them with their hands or a stick, and shake them to the music. They confidently take part in imaginative play using the props made accessible to them.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. The children are well behaved and the staff have a very good awareness of positive behaviour management techniques to enhance children's well-being. Children learn to share, take turns and learn about the consequences of their behaviour on others. Lots of praise and encouragement is offered to children with comments, such as 'I'm so proud of you'. This boosts confidence and self-esteem. Children’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's individual needs are very effectively met through a variety of means including information received from parents at the gradual induction of the child. Discussions revealed that staff are proactive in identifying children with learning difficulties or those with physical disabilities. This enables children to reach their full potential. Children learn about the wider world and people's differences and similarities through activities and as they play with the many resources that represent positive images of diversity in society. For example, books, dressing up clothes and play figures.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is sound. Children are cared for according to parent's wishes, which promote continuity of care and their well-being. There are effective systems in place to ensure information is shared on a regular basis about the child's progress and daily activities; for example, through daily chats with the child's key person, good access to development records and written information on babies' daily routines. Policies and procedures are available to parents about the setting and a newsletter is used to up date on any changes and forth coming events. Parents of children receiving nursery education funding are partially encouraged to be involved in their child's learning. They bring items from home relating to the

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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 nursery's themes and topics; however, they do not receive information on how they can extend the activities and their child's learning a home, to enrich their child's development.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Space, resources and the deployment of staff are used very well to meet the needs of the children. The playrooms are set out into specific areas of learning with good resources at child height. The procedures for the recruitment and vetting of staff are sound to ensure that they are suitable to care for the children. Adult to child ratios are effectively maintained to comply with the National Standards. All the required documentation is in place to ensure the smooth running of the setting and there is a good operational plan.

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Organisation

Leadership and management within the setting is satisfactory. Most staff employed have early years qualifications to Level 2 or 3, and they are well supported to do their roles. Staff are given responsibilities for specific areas within the setting, which boosts staff moral. They are also encouraged to access further training, mainly through the local authority. There are suitable monitoring systems in place to enhance the provision. For example, a good induction system is in place for new staff and all staff receive regular appraisals with their manager. Staff meet regularly as a team and management meet with the companies directors on a monthly basis to review progress. The nursery manager regularly oversees the planning for the curriculum and monitors children's development files. However, children's development files are not completed regularly by staff owing to restrictions on the time that they can spend away from the playrooms

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Organisation

because this impacts on the adult to child ratios. Staff do regularly evaluate the success of their planning in meeting the children's needs. The nursery seeks support and guidance from the local authority to improve the quality of the nursery education offered. Everyone is committed to the continued improvement of the care and education of the children. 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 previous inspection it was recommended that the management improve the documentation, the deployment of staff, accessibility of resources representing positive images of diversity in society and the use of the play space to promote children's learning and development. Good improvements have been made to enhance children's welfare. A record is maintained of all existing injuries to children and there is now a procedure in place in the event that a child is lost. All staff are deployed effectively and adult to child ratios are maintained throughout the day. The playrooms are set out into specific areas of learning with resources easily accessible, including resources representing positive images of diversity in society. This enhances children's development well.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The previous nursery education report recommended improvements were made to the monitoring systems of the nursery education, the recording of children's achievements, the accessibility of resources, and the opportunities for children to further develop language and literacy skills, numeracy, physical skills and the use of technology. It was also recommended that strategies to manage children's behaviour were improved. Satisfactory improvements have been made to promote children's learning. The nursery manager now monitors and oversees the planning and

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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 children's development records, which are now linked to the stepping stones, along which children progress towards the early learning goals. Staff receive regular training to improve their skills. All the resources are easily accessible to promote children's independence skills and there are consistent strategies in place for the managing of children's behaviour, as a result children are very well behaved. Children now make satisfactory progress in all areas of their learning. They use literacy skills as they draw and attempt to write and count well during their play. They use climbing and balancing equipment outdoors to challenge their agility and use equipment to develop their hand and eye coordination. This enhances their physical development. Children now also have good access to equipment to boost their understanding

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Improvements since the last inspection

of technology as they play with computers and tape recorders.

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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. The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaint 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 satisfactory.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure that parents consistently sign the record of accidents • ensure that the prams in the baby room do not present as a hazard to the children.

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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): • develop a system for encouraging parents to extend the activities and children's learning at home • ensure that children's development records are regularly updated to reflect what they can do

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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 • provide more opportunities for children to use basic calculation skills during everyday activities.

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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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