Tiddlywinks Nursery Ltd

Tiddlywinks

Inspection report for early years provision

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Tiddlywinks

EY256469 Unique Reference Number 25 January 2007 Inspection date Dianne Andrews Inspector

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Tiddlywinks

Unit 1, The Courtyard, Yeomanry Road, Battlefield Enterprise Park, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 3EH

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Setting Address

01743 464113 Telephone number helen.tiddlywinks@tiscali.co.uk E-mail Tiddlywinks Shrewsbury Limited Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day 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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Tiddlywinks Nursery is situated in a single-storey unit on the Battlefield Business Park, on the north-west outskirts of Shrewsbury, in Shropshire. There are two rooms available for the children, with the larger room divided into two areas. There is a small kitchen, toilets for the children and staffroom and office. There is also an outdoor area, which is partially grassed. The nursery serves the Shrewsbury area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 42 children aged from birth to under 5 years on roll. This includes children in receipt of funded nursery education. The group are able to support children who have special needs. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 08:00 until 18:00, children can access a variety of sessions within this time.

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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 10 members of staff who work with the children, seven of whom hold suitable early years qualifications. The staff access regular training on early years issues and receive support from the Local Authority's development officers.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children's good health is effectively promoted as they follow well-known routines. Older children know to wash their hands before choosing a snack and all children brush their teeth after meal times. Children are protected in emergency medical situations and the setting has sufficient staff that are first aid trained and sound procedures for administering medication. A sick child policy ensures the children who are unwell receive close care and are monitored to make sure appropriate action is taken. Staff follow mainly effective hygiene routines within their daily practice and cleaning rotas are displayed and followed to promote children's well-being. However, some sleep mats and a nappy changing mat are split and tables used at lunch times for the toddlers cannot be effectively cleaned as they are made from untreated wood. This means that children may be at risk from the possibilities of cross-infection.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's health is fostered appropriately through the provision of healthy snacks such as fruit and savoury biscuits. Older children are trialling a café-style snack system to encourage their independence and offer less disruption to their play sessions. All children eat well and thrive on the nutritious lunches provided through an outside catering firm, who strive to source the best quality ingredients which are, where possible, organic. Children sit with their friends and enjoy a sociable lunch time where they actively discuss familiar events and experiences.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children in all areas of the nursery take part in physical activity every day. Music and movement helps children stretch and move with enjoyment and confidence indoors. Babies visit the garden or are taken for walks so they have fresh air and exercise, which develops positive attitudes to physical activity. The outdoor environment has been carefully planned so children of all ages benefit from a good range of resources.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a welcoming environment. Their art work is attractively displayed, although in most rooms displays are not at the children's height to enable them to appreciate it. A wealth of information for parents is instantly visible in the foyer. Equipment is arranged to provide children with sufficient space to move freely between activities, for example staff make good use of both the floor and table tops to present toys. Children belong to a set room and care group. They develop familiarity with the space they are using and know where resources are kept, such as books. This helps them to be confident and feel safe.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Toys and equipment conform to required safety standards and are checked regularly for their suitability. This ensures that children have a good selection of toys and equipment to choose from that are of a consistently high standard. There is a clear progression of equipment from

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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 room to room and this ensures that children are safely using suitable equipment. Children are positively encouraged to be self-reliant and tidy away their own toys or, for example, sweep up spills, so they keep themselves safe.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are cared for in a secure environment where access to the premises is closely monitored. There is a well-considered system, which includes the use of passwords, for the collection of children by people other than those known to the setting. Most hazards have been minimised through the effective risk assessment procedures in place, however, the large goal post in the garden area has not been anchored into position to ensure children's safety in this area.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff have attended basic child protection training to provide them with a sound understanding of how to protect children in their care. They are vigilant and aware of the signs of symptoms of possible abuse and know the appropriate procedures to follow should they have a concern. However, the recording of concerns is not sufficiently detailed to fully promote children's welfare and senior staff have not attended further training to update their knowledge and skills in this area.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Babies and younger children benefit from a well-organised environment where they have space to crawl and toddle safely and explore the resources. They enjoy secure and warm relationships with staff. They share cuddles with happy confidence and staff are kind and attentive to their needs. Flexible routines enable babies to rest or play according to their own needs and parents' wishes, as a result they are settled and content. Recent introduction of the 'Birth to three matters' framework enables babies and younger children to benefit from an wide range of age appropriate activities that enable them to progress.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children happily greet the staff and each other on arrival and join a group activity or choose their own game. They are relaxed and confident in the caring environment. Staff are sensitive to the individual needs of less confident children who are offered appropriate support to ensure they are happy and secure within the group. Children chatter excitedly and converse easily with their friends and adults.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff working with the pre-school children have a clear understanding of the Foundation Stage curriculum and early learning goals and support children well in their activities. Long, medium and short term plans are used actively to promote children's development, although plans are not always tailored to suit the varying abilities of the group. Not all key workers are actively involved in the planning of activities to ensure that all children's needs and their next stages of learning are fully considered. The large majority of activities capture children's interest and cover the desired learning intention. They enjoy good relationships with the children and actively engage with them, sitting with them and encouraging them to take an active part. Sessions are lively, interesting and appropriately paced so children are usefully engaged in purposeful activities. There are suitable opportunities for

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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 them to make choices and develop their own learning although some resources, such as interesting craft materials, are stored out of their reach.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are happy and enjoy coming to the setting and have a positive attitude to learning. They are confident and play well on their own or with others. Most children are very confident communicators, initiating conversations with their peers and adults and they enjoy circle time where they share their news with others, taking turns and learning to listen to the child who is holding the hand puppet. They are attentive and responsive to the staff's use of questioning and explanation during the body parts activity. Children proudly practise their emergent writing skills with the available resources in the writing area, but the role play area does not always support children in writing for a purpose and there is little text modelled within the environment. Children share stories and have opportunities to look at books, however some of the books are in a poor state with missing pages, this spoils the enjoyment for the children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children recognise shapes and use mathematical language in their play, such as high, wide, short and long and count at routine times during the session and practise writing the numerals one to ten. However, opportunities for them to begin to learn the concepts of calculation, such as more and less, are missed and there are few examples of number lines or numerals within the environment to encourage children to link their counting with the numbers during the session. Children learn to take others' needs into account as they learn about how people without hearing use sign language to communicate. They take part in charity events such as 'Children in Need' day and extend their understanding of the wider world as they look at festivals that other cultures celebrate. They also benefit from weekly French lessons.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy using their imagination in the home corner and explore their creativity through a range of media. They use a range of brushes to stir and flick the water in the water tray and they concentrate well as they mould play dough into a variety of shapes representing types of food. They have access to a range of materials, such as coloured card and recycled boxes, but interesting items, such as glitter and sequins are stored out of their reach. This does not encourage them to create freely using their own imaginations. They have opportunities to develop their physical skills for instance they move to music and enthusiastically take part in action songs. They use the outdoor area purposefully, riding wheeled toys skilfully and moving around the space, negotiating around other apparatus and other children. Staff encourage children to feel their heart beating after the exercise and discuss the benefits of a healthy

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children understand the rules and routines of the setting and are encouraged by staff to show concern for others. Staff are good role models and their calm and consistent manner helps children understand responsible behaviour. Older children encourage and help younger children and praise them for their efforts. This positive approach fosters children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children become aware of the local and wider society through routine outings and visitors into group, for example, from a nurse, a police officer and a fire-fighter. Children have access to

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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 resources, such as good quality, informative posters showing different countries and family groups, and some books promoting a positive view of diversity. However, other resources to encourage children's understanding in this area are limited. Although there are no children on roll who have disabilities or learning difficulties the nursery has appropriate procedures in place to ensure that children with disabilities or learning difficulties are offered effective support. Staff liaise with parents and, where necessary, other professionals to ensure children's needs are met.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is good. There is a relaxed and supportive feel to the setting and staff discuss care issues with parents on a regular basis, obtaining information from them, for instance, through the 'Look what I can do' booklet to ensure consistency and help staff to understand the changing needs of children. Various useful information is available for parents through notice boards, letters that go home and a home-link book, so that parents can be involved in their child's learning. They are also offered formal opportunities, every eight months, to review and discuss their children's progress with staff.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children benefit from the friendly and approachable relationships between staff and parents. Babies' individual care needs are met as staff follow their routine in line with their parent's wishes. This provides consistent care and helps the youngest children to settle easily. The nursery offers additional, innovative extra services to help parents, such as the availability of a hairdresser to cut the children's hair within the nursery hours, for which they give written consent and instructions. Parents are very happy with the care provision provided, the many 'thank you' cards and letters are testimonial to their satisfaction.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children's care is enhanced by good organisation of the setting where play space is carefully thought out to provide a safe and stimulating environment. Children are well supported by a skilful and committed staff team who work hard to promote a warm and caring family atmosphere. Staff are deployed effectively, which means children receive a good level of adult attention. For example, they interact well with babies through verbal and non-verbal methods of communication, smiling and repeating simple words, and toddler room staff sit on the floor and involve themselves in the children's activities. Children enjoy their time spent with the adults in the nursery.

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Organisation

A rigorous recruitment process ensures staff are safe and suitable to work with children and have the necessary skills. Good ratios are maintained so that children have one-to-one and small group activities and an effective key worker system enables both parents and children to build relationships with individual staff. Children's welfare is safeguarded by well-maintained and mainly comprehensive documentation. Staff and parents work together to ensure that all necessary consents are in place and that information about children's care is relevant and up to date. Policies and procedures are shared with parents to ensure children's health, safety and well-being.

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Organisation

Leadership and management of the nursery education is good. Staff working with the children have a sound knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum and support the children skilfully

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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 in their activities, although their managers are yet to develop their knowledge in this area to enable them to offer effective support. Training to update skills is planned for and as a result staff maintain consistent good practice. The staff team reflect on their practice through staff meetings and appraisals. The management team, who continue to work directly with the children, assess the nursery education and generally identify areas for improvement, such as changes in the way planning and the use of the play space is organised. Overall the provision meets the needs of the children who attend.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the nursery were asked to improve the range of resources and the organisation of space. The space and resources now suitably organised and available to support the needs and developmental stages of all children attending, however, although wall displays, through the use of interesting posters, positively promote children's understanding of diversity there is still a more limited range of resources to promote an inclusive environment.

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Improvements since the last inspection

They were asked to improve some hygiene routines and to seek advice on the appropriate storage and disposal of soiled nappies. The management has implemented mainly effective hygiene routines and procedures to promote children's well-being, although a recommendation remains at this inspection to ensure facilities do not pose a risk to children of cross-infection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

They were asked to review and update policies and procedures, to obtain the relevant consents from parents and to ensure that adult to child ratios consistently meet minimum requirements. There is now a comprehensive operational plan, which is updated regularly and contains appropriate policies and procedures to comply with regulations. Children are offered very effective support from the way in which staff are deployed and all necessary consents are in place.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last education inspection the nursery was asked to improve opportunities for children to develop their independence and make more of the space and resources to extend children's learning during free play, to extend their experiences in role play and use everyday technology and programmable toys. The staff have worked hard to organise the environment effectively to offer more opportunities for children to access a fuller range of the resources and experiences, this continues to be developed and has been successful in most areas, although some craft materials remain inaccessible. The snack routine has been changed recently to offer children full responsibility for deciding when to take the snack and to encourage them to independently take care of their own needs. Children enjoy using technology to support their learning and benefit from regular use of a computer and early year's programmes.

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Improvements since the last inspection

They were asked to make use of observations so that they inform planning to highlight aims and objectives for the children. Staff are aware of children's individual stages of development and use observations to record and chart their progress, however planned activities do not always show how the activity is to be tailored to meet individual needs.

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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 the last inspection there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that require 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): • ensure that facilities used for nappy changing, rest and eating protect children from the risks of cross-infection • ensure that all equipment in the outdoor area is safely installed, this refers to the free-standing goal post • develop senior staff's knowledge of child protection and the methods used for recording details about concerns and any action taken to protect 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 the planning system further to ensure that learning intentions are clear to take account of children who are more able or need additional support • provide regular opportunities to practise early calculation skills and to access numerals and text within the environment.

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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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