Happy Days Nursery St Minver

Minver

Inspection report for early years provision

p.1

Minver

EY342450 Unique Reference Number 17 January 2007 Inspection date Valerie Button Inspector

p.1

Minver

St. Minver School, Rock Road, St. Minver, WADEBRIDGE, Cornwall, PL27 6QD

p.1

Setting Address

01637 882160 Telephone number sarahkarkeek@happydaysnurseries.com E-mail Happy Days Nurseries Limited Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care, Out of School care Type of care

p.1

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

p.1

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.

p.2

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

p.2

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.

p.2

THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

p.2

THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are satisfactory. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

p.2

THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

p.2

WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Happy Days Nursery and Pirates Club St Minver, is one of a chain of nurseries run by Happy Days South West Ltd. It opened in September 2006 and operates from a purpose-built building in the grounds of St Minver School. There is a baby room for six children aged up to two years, a toddler room for eight children aged two to three years and the pre-school room for 16 children aged three to under five years. All children have access to a secure, enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery also has use of the adjacent school playing field. A maximum of 30 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The out-of-school children join the three and four-year-olds if there are available spaces. There are currently 34 children on roll, 22 of whom receive funding for their nursery education. The group includes children with learning difficulties. There are no children currently attending for whom English is an additional language. The

p.2

WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

nursery is currently open, Monday to Friday, from 08.00 hrs to 18.00 hrs, all year round. The post of manager is job-shared between two members of staff who also share the lead in the

p.2

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 pre-school room and are full-time in the nursery. All three staff are qualified to at least Level 3. One of the managers is a Montessori trained teacher; the other is a qualified Nursery Nurse. Other staff from Happy Days may also work at the nursery.

p.2

Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children learn how to keep themselves healthy when attending to personal hygiene, for example, they have been taught how to wash their hands carefully and they demonstrate good levels of independence in this and other self-care areas. Babies' hygiene needs are met as staff follow careful procedures when changing nappies. Attention given to babies' care needs is carefully recorded and written information is given to parents at home time. In this way, the nursery ensures that babies' routines and care need patterns are followed, in accordance with parents' wishes. To protect children's health, medical records and accident records are carefully completed and signed by parents. All documentation needed to support the children's health is efficiently maintained. All staff are appropriately qualified first aiders and first aid boxes are readily available.

p.3

Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy fruit at snack time and have sufficient to drink. They have access to drinking water throughout the day and babies have easy access to their drinks. Lunchtime meals are prepared on the premises, by staff who have received training in food handling procedures. Menus are nutritious and displayed for parents to see. Children enjoy serving themselves and meal times are relaxed, family occasions.

p.3

Helping children to be healthy

Children benefit from daily access to an outside play area. They also join in enthusiastically with circle games and exercise indoors, demonstrating that they are familiar with the rhymes and movement involved. A lot of good quality equipment is available to foster babies' physical development. Children use malleable materials, such as play dough to gain control of their muscles and develop coordination. They enjoy using 'tools', such as pencils, paint brushes and scissors.

p.3

Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children benefit from being cared for in new, purpose-built, high quality premises which provide a secure, warm and welcoming environment. They enjoy activities, using a range of good quality resources. Children are encouraged to help care for resources, for example, by tidying up and by washing them. Current organisation, means that children, aged from under one to four years old, play happily together for extended periods of time. This presents some safety issues, for example, when babies are able to access small pieces of toys, such as plastic pegs, which have fallen off the table. Appropriate adult to child ratios are met, but staff are too often engaged in 'house-keeping duties', such as preparing food or answering the door or the telephone. This occasionally results in less effective supervision of the youngest children. Risk assessments of the premises are very comprehensive and clearly demonstrate that action is taken to minimise

p.3

Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

risks, for example, the playground safety surface was coming loose and has therefore been

p.3

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 removed and is awaiting replacement. Emergency evacuation of the premises was last practised in October. Several children have joined the nursery since then and have, therefore, not experienced the procedure, in order to become familiar with it. There is a very clear procedure to be followed, should children become lost whilst on an outing. This lists procedures to follow which would support staff if such an emergency took place at the nursery. However, a separate lost child policy for the nursery premises is lacking, in order to clarify any adaptations needed in a different situation. Children are protected by staff's adequate understanding of child protection procedures. Comprehensive polices and guidance are available on file to guide them, as well as access to senior managers to consult.

p.3

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children are happy and settled at the nursery. They enter confidently and quickly settle to play with their friends. They are cared for by staff who show affection for the children and concern and interest in their welfare. Children have good relationships with staff and each other. They show good levels of independence in attending to their own care needs, such as hand-washing or nose-wiping, and in their use of the good quality play resources provided for their use.

p.4

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Under three-year-olds benefit from being cared for by concerned, consistent adults. Good attention is given to following the routines agreed and discussed with their parents. Good systems are available to plan the programme for babies and to record their progress. However, these are not consistently and regularly completed, in order to provide 'up-to-date' information on their stages of development. Young children enjoy access to a very good range of good quality equipment and play resources to foster their development. They currently spend extended periods of time together with the older children, for example, every afternoon and some mornings. Whilst these times are enjoyed by the little ones, current staffing levels occasionally result in ineffective supervision of the youngest children whilst in the company of the older children.

p.4

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The staff team works together very well and they are very supportive of each other. However, they are over-extended in caring for the children, whilst also having to attend to the preparation of meals, answering the telephone, and greeting parents and children as they arrive and depart at various times over the day. They work very hard, but are often unable to focus on the children for sufficient lengths of time, for example, when one member of staff is left alone with the children whilst her colleague prepares food or attends to children who have wet themselves.

p.4

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Children are making progress towards the early learning goals and often demonstrate good levels of ability, for example, in their language skills and their use of the computer. They enjoy their activities and are interested and able to concentrate for extended periods of time. They make very good, independent use of the learning environment provided for them.

p.4

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Good systems are available to use for planning the programme and for assessing and recording the children's progress. These are based on the Foundation stage Curriculum and the six areas

p.4

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 of learning. However, systems are inconsistently used. Some children have learning targets recorded, but most do not. Assessments are recorded too infrequently to reflect children's current levels of achievement, for example, the development of their drawing skills or their use of the computer. Too little attention is given to evaluating and recording what the children already know, understand and can do when they first begin to attend. Children who have previously attended other nurseries in the company have not transferred their records to their new setting. These factors all make it more difficult for staff to use assessments to: plan next steps of learning for children; ensure that tasks are well-matched to children's levels of ability and adapted for children at different stages of development; and provide sufficient challenge

p.4

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

for them. There is too little evidence that the nursery is working in partnership with outside agencies, such as the speech therapy service, to foster the development of some children's language skills. Children attend varying numbers of sessions, for example, some children attend five mornings a week; some attend one whole day. Planning and assessment systems fail to give sufficient attention to this, in order to ensure that all children attending follow a balanced curriculum.

p.5

Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy their activities, for example, playing with play dough or at the sand tray; laughing as they skilfully draw a car on the computer screen and press a button to change its colour. They are mostly able to successfully manage these activities on their own, though some children seek adult company and support. When adults are able to sit with children, they skilfully use open-ended questions to extend the children's learning, about 'old toys', for example. When children are asked to find their names to confirm their attendance, again skilful interactions ensure the children's success. Systems are in place to support a good nursery education programme for children, provided by able and interested staff. However, current organisation results in too few opportunities for staff to meaningfully engage with children, in order to assess and record their current levels of ability, and to teach them and extend their learning,

p.5

Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children benefit from being cared for by a consistent, caring staff team who are aware of their individual needs and endeavour to meet these as soon as they can. Babies' care needs, for example, their sleep patterns, are met. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered, for example, children give thanks for their food by singing a short song before they eat their lunch and good manners are actively encouraged at meal times. They are encouraged to consider the needs of others, for example, one child following a staff member's request to 'keep another child company' at the sand tray. Children have satisfactory opportunities to learn about the wider world and other cultures as these aspects are including in the planning of the education programme. Currently, too little attention is paid to recording information about children's learning difficulties and ensuring that the nursery works in partnership with outside

p.5

Helping children make a positive contribution

agencies to address these; in this way giving due attention to the Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs and providing effective support to foster children's development.

p.5

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 Staff manage children's behaviour in a calm and consistent way. They use lots of verbal praise and encouragement to reward achievement and raise self-esteem, as well as reward systems, such as the use of 'stickers'. Children respond well. They are given responsibility and are expected to help with tidying up and cleaning toys. They are encouraged to take turns, for example, in using the computer, and receive due praise for this.

p.5

Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is good. All are warmly welcomed and there is a colourful, useful booklet of information for parents. When parents bring their children to the nursery, staff ensure they give time to listen to parents and exchange information, in order to ensure that children are cared for in accordance with their parent's wishes. Good attention is given to ensuring that parents of younger children receive written information about their children's activities during the day. Written educational planning summaries are shared with parents and these include useful suggestions parents can use to support their children's learning at home, for example, talking about the toys and games they played when they were children, or practising fastening coats. Parents also have opportunities to meet with staff and discuss their children's progress at 'open evenings'. However, children's records of achievement do not always

p.6

Helping children make a positive contribution

consistently record children's current levels of achievement, in order to inform parents.

p.6

Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The setting meets the needs of the children for whom it provides. Organisation of the play room ensures that children enjoy ready access to a range of good play resources for most of the day. However, current organisation limits the time available for staff to meaningfully interact with children and, occasionally, they wait a little too long for their needs to be attended to, for example, waiting for drawing paper or for help with their coats. Children benefit from sound attention given to ensuring that they are cared for by a consistent, qualified, staff team who have been checked for their suitability. The registration system for children, staff and visitors is effective in monitoring who is on the premises at any given time. Documentation needed to underpin the children's care and welfare is efficiently organised.

p.6

Organisation

Leadership and management of the nursery education are both satisfactory. The senior managers and support staff of the nursery chain have been monitoring this new nursery, and there are sound systems in place to enable them to do this. Their visits and staff meetings have focused on many areas of provision, for example, induction of the managers or further development of the outside play area. However, as yet, there has been too little attention given to monitoring the organisation of effective staff deployment and the quality of the nursery education provided, and, as a result, there are some weaknesses in the programme provided for children.

p.6

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.

p.6

Complaints 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 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.

p.6

THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

p.7

THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are satisfactory. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

p.7

THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

p.7

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 due regard is given to the Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs (also applies to nursery education) • improve the lost child policy to ensure that procedures to follow if a child is lost from the nursery premises are clear • ensure that emergency evacuation is practised sufficiently often to enable children to become familiar with it.

p.7

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): • ensure that organisation of sessions supports good opportunities for staff to promote children's learning and care needs (also applies to child care) • ensure that plans include information on how activities will be adapted for children at varying stages of development, and children who attend varying numbers of sessions; evaluate the success of plans in achieving learning targets • ensure that entries to children's records of achievement and progress are made regularly, in order to reflect their current stages of development and inform the planning of next steps of learning for them.

p.7

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

p.7

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

p.7