Daisy Chain Nursery Ltd

Daisy Chain Nursery Ltd

Inspection report for early years provision

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Daisy Chain Nursery Ltd

302026 Unique Reference Number 23 January 2007 Inspection date Melissa Louise Patel Inspector

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Daisy Chain Nursery Ltd

9 Pearson Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD9 6BG Setting Address

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E-mail

Claire Heslop 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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Daisy Chain Nursery Limited opened in 1997. It operates from five playrooms in a converted large detached house in the Heaton area of Bradford. The setting serves families from the local vicinity and surrounding areas. There are two safe, enclosed, outdoor play areas. There is one play area for the babies under two years of age and the other play area is for the children over two years of age.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 84 children from birth to five years on roll, including 22 children aged three years of age receiving nursery education funding and two four year olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions throughout the week. The setting has systems in place to support children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The nursery opens five days a week throughout the year between the hours of 08.00 and 17.45.

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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 13 members of staff employed to work with the children, including the management staff of the nursery. There are eight staff that have early years qualifications to level 3 or equivalent and two staff that are qualified to level 2. The setting receives support from an advisory teacher from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership. The nursery provision are members of the National Day Nursery Association. They are quality assured through Quality Counts. The provision uses Ofsted self-evaluations and they have regular education reviews through staff meetings.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a clean and hygienic environment throughout the nursery. The children benefit from good hygiene procedures, such as the nappy changing procedure, which is followed through well by the staff. The nappy changing areas are clean and bright enabling children to feel comfortable during their nappy change. Children are learning good hygiene practices. For example, they wash their hands before and after meals. The children are given gentle reminders if they forget. In addition, the staff follow other good hygiene procedures to promote children's good health, such as wiping down the tables before and after eating and ensuring the bathroom areas are cleaned regularly. Good accident, medication and sickness procedures ensure that the children's welfare is maintained well.

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Helping children to be healthy

The children are nourished well. They eat meals which are cooked freshly on the premises every day. The written menus support healthy eating plans for the children. For example, they enjoy hot meals at lunchtime, such as homemade pizza, spaghetti Bolognese, tuna and lentil pasta and lots of fruit and vegetables. The children eat light teas, such as sandwiches and fruit. They are able to access drinks when they are thirsty, which are readily available in labelled cups or bottles. They drink water or milk. Young babies also have healthy meals; usually they eat what the older children are having, blended down according to their individual needs. Children's dietary needs are met fully through discussion with the parents and following through their wishes.

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Helping children to be healthy

The children's and babies' gross physical skills are developing well indoors as they can move around freely in a spacious environment. They also move to rhymes and music. The babies receive support as they try to sit up, walk or crawl. Good planning, using the 'Birth to three matters' framework, ensures children's health and physical skills are assessed and that plans are made for the next steps in their development, in order to further their physical well-being. All children experience outdoor play. The babies have a separate area to the older children in order to keep them safe as they explore. The older children have lots of space to run and climb. They learn to manipulate and control the sit and ride-on toys. They play catch, use hoops, and at planned times use a large parachute, in order to develop their physical skills. In addition, they are learning to develop a healthy lifestyle by receiving fresh air as they play outdoors.

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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 children are cared for in a safe environment overall, which is bright and stimulating for young children. For example, there are lots of attractive displays in all the rooms and lots of very good information for the parents. In addition, the environment for the children is well maintained indoors. However, the outdoor play house has not been completely maintained in order to fully promote safety in this area for the children.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There is a good security system at the nursery, which ensures the children are kept safe and secure. In addition, good health and safety procedures are in place to ensure that the children's care and welfare is promoted well. The children can move around independently in their own rooms. They select and use a very good overall variety of resources, which are appropriate for their different ages and stages of development. The children are learning the importance of fire safety awareness. For example, there are effective fire procedures in place, which are practised regularly with the children.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There are clear risk assessments carried out on the premises indoors and outdoors, in order to promote children's safety well overall. In addition, the children's safety is effectively protected and promoted as the staff have a clear understanding of how to protect children and whom to contact if concerned about a child.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children and babies arrive happily at the nursery and they settle quickly into the daily routine. They relate well to the staff. Babies and children benefit well as the staff use the 'Birth to three matters' framework well overall, in order to enhance children's learning and development. For example, there are treasure baskets filled with exciting objects provided for the babies to explore. Feeding time is viewed as an important time to develop a sense of comfort and belonging for the babies. The staff communicate well with the young babies during activities. However, the language is not always extended to continue and to further develop their communication skills.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children benefit from a very good overall range of resources and planned activities throughout the nursery, relating to the 'Birth to three matters' framework and the Foundation Stage. This enhances the children's learning well. The children use large and small building blocks. They enjoy filling and emptying different sized containers in the water and start to learn and understand about full and empty. They enjoy digging in the sand, joining the train track and playing outside.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children learn from good communication overall during activities and daily routines, which promotes children's care and learning well. They paint with brightly coloured paints. There are lots of resources to enable children to mark make in all rooms. This helps children start to develop their early reading and writing skills and they have fun as they do so. The children enjoy stories and listen very carefully. They use toys that pop and press and fit pieces of jigsaw together. This helps develop their hand and eye co-ordination well. The children also benefit

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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 as the staff have a good overall understanding of children's different ages and stages of development and know what activities to provide for the children. In addition, the children's care needs are met effectively. For example, they eat at appropriate times and can rest if they wish.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff plan activities well to promote all areas of learning effectively for the children through regular planning meetings. In addition, the staff involved have a good knowledge of the early learning goals. Written plans clearly demonstrate planning through the stepping stones and the early learning goals. In addition, they include how the activities are adapted for less or more able children. The activities and the planning are evaluated.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's progress is assessed and monitored using the stepping stones towards the early learning goals. For example, the children's individual files clearly show what they can do and what is planned next. The assessments also show if a particular activity has been adapted according to their individual need. This clearly demonstrates that the children's individual needs are being catered for well. However, the children's progress sheets on the stepping stones are not stored confidentially in order to prevent any unnecessary comparisons regarding children's individual development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff are well motivated and the teaching methods are effective in helping children progress well. This is because the staff show a good awareness of how children learn and how to keep them interested. The staff organise their time and resources effectively to support children's learning. They ask effective questions during activities to make children think. For example, the children enjoy playing in the sand and are learning how the sand feels in their hands. They are asked, 'how does it feel?' and they have appropriate time to answer. They are asked other effective questions during a story, such as 'what do you think will happen next?' and 'Why?'

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are interested and they are motivated to learn. They are generally confident and they relate well to staff and one another. For example, they explain to the staff how the play dough feels in their hands. They behave well overall and respond to requests from staff appropriately. For example, they join in group activities, such as at story and singing time. They demonstrate their independence through daily activities, such as giving out the snack, taking themselves to the toilet and washing their hands. The children start to learn about other communities and different ways of life. For example, they talk about making chapattis with the play dough.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children start to develop good early reading and writing skills, through the sufficiency of print around the room. They often practise mark making using different tools and start to learn to write for a purpose. For example, the children draw a picture, describe what they want to say and attempt to write about it. They start to learn to write their name. They communicate their ideas effectively and name objects they recognise clearly on the computer. They can recognise some letters on the computer and relate them to letters in their own name. In addition, they learn to recognise their name. For example, they look for their name on the bottles of water when they are thirsty.

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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 The children learn effectively from a good range of books through stories to support their learning. However, the books children access on a daily basis are not all in good condition or varied, in order to encourage children's learning further whilst selecting their own books. Children are starting to learn well how to solve mathematical problems through daily practical activities, such as counting and simple calculation. For example, they start to count in a large group and as they give out cups at snack time. Some children can confidently count to 10 and more in a group. More able children recognise numerals around the room and during activities. For example, they point and name numerals up to 10 on the toy cash register. Children use mathematical language frequently, such as 'on' and 'under'. They fit together different shapes

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

as they assemble jigsaws and blocks. They start to learn about size and patterns as they do so.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children learn about size and volume as they fill and empty different sized containers. The children are learning well about shape as they cut out circles and name them. Some children can state confidently which is the biggest. They learn simple calculation and can state how many cutters are left if you take one or two away. Children have many opportunities to explore and investigate to support their learning well. For example, they have opportunities to learn about the environment in the sensory garden. They can help plant seeds and vegetables and watch the birds. Children construct the train track and again start to learn about shape and size. They explore a range of textures to use as they create pictures, such as through using paper, glue and material.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children start to realise tools are for a purpose as they paint, mark make and use scissors, developing their fine motor skills as they do so. They distinguish between what is rough and smooth during sand play. Children benefit from a good range of information and technology equipment to support their learning, such as cash registers, toy telephones and a computer. They start to learn how objects work and they use the mouse competently to point to different letters on the computer. They do this with interest and enthusiasm. They learn about different cultures through discussion and everyday activities and planned events, such as celebrating Eid and Divali.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use their imagination well as they play outdoors. They first pretend they are sleeping on the benches and then they are catching a bus. They freely express their ideas and ask questions in everyday activities. For example, 'what does this do?' They listen to music and learn to play instruments, such as a drum and triangle, with rhythm. They know their colours well overall and can name a range of them when asked.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have a variety of experiences to learn how exercise keeps their body healthy and to develop their gross motor skills well. They learn about the type of foods to keep their body healthy. They are effectively challenged as they climb the balancing posts and work out how to climb the climbing ring. They competently manoeuvre small sit and ride-on toys and throw and catch a ball. Therefore, they are learning control of their bodies well. In addition, they learn about the concept of free space as they find a space at story time and as they run around freely outdoors. They develop fine motor skills very well in lots of activities and routines. They are particularly challenged as they effectively work out how to fit very small items of clothing on to small dolls. They express a sense of achievement when they complete the task.

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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 good. Equal opportunities are promoted well. For example, the children are all included well in the activities. Children are learning well about diversity. For example, the children are starting to learn about differences in society through celebrating festivals, such as the Chinese New Year, Eid and Divali. They also learn through play and conversation. The children enjoy a range of good resources to reflect positive views of differences in society. For example, there are a range of resources, such as books, pictures and dressing up materials.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's good behaviour overall is reinforced by praise and encouragement from the staff during conversation and activities. For example, they receive explanations and reassurance if any minor disputes arise, such as whilst playing and learning to share toys. In addition, the children receive positive and cheerful responses from the staff, in order to encourage positive behaviour well. The clear behaviour policy supports positive behaviour management effectively. The children are learning well about boundaries. For example, they learn to wait their turn to play with the toys outdoors and they wait until everybody is ready before they go outdoors. The children's individual needs are catered for well. For example, they benefit as there are good systems in place to support children with any learning difficulties or disabilities. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is outstanding. Therefore, the children's care and learning is supported exceptionally well through the very good working relationships with the parents. There is excellent written information available for parents throughout the nursery, which is available on the notice boards. There is lots of extremely useful information sent home to parents, such as relevant policies and procedures, including operational procedures and information regarding education and care. For example, the parents are kept extremely well informed regarding their child's learning, through receiving regular information regarding the curriculum and the early learning goals. The children benefit very well because the provider sends home ideas for parents to carry through at home to support their children. There is also a new system in place for parents to send information back to the nursery on what the child is doing at home, if the

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Helping children make a positive contribution

parents wish to use it. The provider is constantly reviewing the way the provision works with parents, in order to improve and to ensure relationships with parents are maintained to a very high standard. There is an excellent induction for parents, which ensures all required areas are covered before any child starts at the nursery, in order for the provider to support the children effectively. There is a parent representative from each room in the nursery. The representative meets up with the management regularly to discuss the provision's strengths and weaknesses, in order to help the provision develop. This contributes to an excellent working relationship with the parents. In addition, the staff provide an extremely welcoming environment for the parents, and provide very good daily verbal information regarding the children's care and learning. This ensures the children benefit, as they are comfortable seeing their parents'

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Helping children make a positive contribution

extremely good relationship with the staff.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The clearly written operational plan reflects how the provision actually operates on a daily basis. For example, the documentation is readily available and effectively promotes children's overall care, welfare and learning. Children benefit from clear policies and procedures which are reflected in daily practice, such as the health and safety procedures and good deployment of staff. Good organisation of the environment ensures that the children can move around independently and use safe and varied resources indoors and mostly safe resources outdoors. Children's care and learning is enhanced by the staff working well together as a team. In addition, there are appropriate staffing ratios. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Organisation

The leadership and management for the nursery education is good. Staff are supported well. The procedures ensure that the staff know their roles well. For example, there are regular staff meetings and appraisals as well as a good induction programme for the staff. Regular planning meetings ensure that the staff work hard to ensure children's learning is planned and reviewed, in order to work towards meeting the early learning goals effectively. Children benefit as the staff are provided with relevant information on the curriculum in order for them to deliver the Foundation Stage. In addition, the staff receive some in-house training and they are encouraged to go on courses outside the provision, which they do. Most staff are involved in planning for children's learning. They demonstrate a good understanding of their roles with regard to the organisation of the planning of the Foundation Stage overall. The provision has acted well on

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Organisation

the issues since the last inspection. There is a strong commitment to make changes and improvements. The management and staff regularly review the nursery education that is provided, in order to promote children's learning effectively.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection, the provider was asked to ensure that all the accident records include detail of the date and time of the incident and make sure that the children have the sole use of face and hand cloths in the baby room.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The provider has ensured that the accident records are now accurately recorded. There are now individual hand and face clothes for the babies. Therefore, the promotion of children's health and safety has been improved.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last nursery education inspection, the provider was asked to consider the children's assessment records and planning, to ensure it is clear how children progress through the stepping stones to the early learning goals. The provider was also asked to highlight how activities will be adjusted for more able or less able children and consider the climbing equipment for more able children.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The provider has now ensured the children's assessment records and the planning demonstrate clearly children's progress through the stepping stones leading to the early learning goals. In addition, the children's assessments also show the link to the stepping stones and the early learning goals. They clearly show whether the activity has been adapted according to their

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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 individual need. The climbing equipment has been effectively developed by providing a climbing ring for the children. The children have to plan how to climb over it. Therefore, the planning for children's learning, the children's assessments and climbing equipment for more able children have been developed well, in order to develop children's learning effectively.

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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 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 develop and extend babies' communication skills with regard to the 'Birth to three matters' framework • improve maintenance to the outdoor play house.

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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): • improve the quality and variety of some of the books children access on a day to day basis • improve confidentiality with regard to the children's individual progress sheets for the stepping stones.

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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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