The Palace Day Nursery

The Palace Day Nursery

Inspection report for early years provision

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The Palace Day Nursery

EY341118 Unique Reference Number 05 February 2007 Inspection date Patricia Joan Latham Inspector

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The Palace Day Nursery

2 Windsor Street, Bletchley, MILTON KEYNES, MK2 2LN Setting Address

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The Palace Day Nursery

01908 640901 Telephone number palacedaynursery@btconnect.com E-mail Greenstone Investments Limited Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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The Palace Day Nursery

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?

The Palace Day Nursery is privately owned. It registered with new owners in 2006 and operates from a converted house in Bletchley close to the centre of Milton Keynes. It is open every weekday from 07.30 to 18.00 all year round. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 27 children aged from three months to five years on roll, six of whom receive nursery funding. Children attend from the local community. The nursery is able to provide support to children who speak English as an additional language, or have learning difficulties or disabilities. The nursery employs six staff, five holding relevant early years qualifications. A full time cook is also employed.

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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

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children remain healthy, and the risk of cross infection is minimised, because staff follow good policies and procedures. All areas that children use are regularly cleaned and staff wipe all surfaces, where food is served, with antibacterial spray. Staff use good hygienic practise when changing children’s nappies and the nursery policy is to exclude children with contagious illnesses until the infectious period is over. There are effective measures in place to deal with medical emergencies and necessary parental permissions are obtained for seeking emergency aid or administering medication. Children are encouraged to follow good practise, older ones learning about the danger from germs and how to keep themselves healthy. All children wash hands frequently and brush their teeth after meals. Cot sheets and blankets are changed regularly and babies toys and utensils are sterilised thoroughly.

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Helping children to be healthy

All children receive nutritious food for all meals and snacks, and have access to regular drinks, to maintain their health. Meals are freshly prepared, with the menu rotated to provide a variety of dishes. Children’s individual dietary needs are catered for and daily choices include meat and vegetarian options. Baby’s bottles, which parents provide, are stored and reheated appropriately. Mealtimes are treated as social occasions and are eagerly looked forward to by the children.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have the opportunity for regular physical exercise to promote their physical well-being and to enable them to develop, and practise, physical skills. Babies have ample room to crawl and appropriate resources to help them to walk. They have opportunities, in good weather to go out into the outside play area and there are buggies available so that they can be taken for walks around the locality. Older children are able to use outdoor play equipment each day to enable them to practise climbing, balancing and other physical skills and a sports teacher visits regularly to provide fun activities which keep children fit and healthy. In the summer term children are able to have swimming lessons.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Staff provide a safe, and welcoming environment for children and parents. All rooms are bright and feature wall displays of children’s work. There are several notice boards giving information to parents, with photos of the staff and details of activities taking place within the nursery. The older children’s displays give parents information about the learning that has taken place whilst their children were doing the activity.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are supervised closely and encouraged to follow good safe practise at all times, inside and outside of the nursery. All exits are kept secure and staff are aware at all times when people enter the premises. All safety procedures are in place, such as fire evacuation, and staff are aware what to do if a child should become lost at any time.

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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 Children have a wide range of good quality resources to support their play and development. This includes all necessary baby equipment and toys, and items to cover all areas of play and learning. However, resources to help further older children’s understanding of how to use basic information technology are limited. Children are able to use other local resources, such as the public library, and staff hire additional items to vary activities when needed.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff follow established procedures to safeguard children’s welfare. Any concern’s regarding children’s safety are recorded and, if deemed necessary referred to the appropriate authorities. Pre-existing injuries are recorded and there are designated staff, who are trained, to co-ordinate child protection concerns.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. All children attending the nursery receive a good level of care and are able to take part in stimulating activities. A daily routine is followed in each room which provides consistency, promoting children’s sense of security. Within this, children, especially babies, are able to follow their own personal routines, with staff arranging meal times, and ensuring food is reserved for little ones, if they are too tired to stay awake to eat with the others. Staff have undertaken training in Birth to three matters, using the framework to provide suitable activities. These enable younger children to develop as skilled communicators and to become competent learners. They form secure relationships with staff, are happy and relaxed in their care and able to communicate their needs appropriately. Babies show great delight and excitement when seeing familiar faces, readily approaching staff when needing comfort and all children receive good

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

support when practising skills, such as learning to share toys. Planned activities are appropriate for the age of children taking part. Babies activities include messy play, which promotes creativity as well as hand/ eye co-ordination. Toddlers take part in a lot of imaginary play and activities which help develop social skills. Older children have their individual care needs met, for example they also can sleep if they become over tired, with other children being offered quiet activities whilst they do so.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Staff have a clear understanding of the Foundation Stage stepping stones and plan the curriculum to cover all areas of learning. However, some aspects, for example in mathematics, are not fully covered. Time is used wisely throughout the day to ensure children do not sit around aimlessly. Whilst waiting for lunch to be served children are given books to look at, or discuss things they have done over the weekend. Staff interact well with children and link activities into interesting themes to make learning fun and stimulating. Staff question children effectively, whilst they sit with them, to extend and re-enforce learning and are skilful at spontaneously providing interesting activities. However, because there is little planning for these activities, sometimes necessary resources are not to hand. Regular observations of children’s attainment are recorded, and staff have begun to link

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

these into the Foundation Stage stepping stones, although this is not done for all children. Neither are recordings dated, which makes it difficult to identify the progress that children make.

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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 Children eagerly undertake the programme of activities, concentrating and persevering to complete tasks, such as writing in their news books. They are gaining good communication skills, using a wide vocabulary when playing together, and are competent at recognising the shape and sound of letters. The children enjoy stories and looking at books, however they are not easily able to access them themselves. Books in their room are placed on a high shelf and, although there is a well resourced reading area, children cannot access it without supervision. Children are able to practise their writing skills when completing their work books but there are not many other opportunities for them to do so when doing other activities, such as writing their own name on art work.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are encouraged to count and recognise numbers in a wide range of everyday activities and, as a result, are becoming competent at doing so. They count the number of children present each day, and look in a mirror to count the number of teeth they have before completing the wall display about dental health. Children are able to recognise, and name, basic shapes and have resources to help them develop skills in pattern recognition, although there are few planned activities to ensure these skills are learnt. Activities are provided to encourage children to investigate, and explore the world around them and children have many opportunities to learn about the differing people and places in the locality. They visit the public library regularly to choose books and take part in story time. During Eid, children made cards and took them to local Asian shopkeepers.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use their imagination in role play and creative activities. They have great fun bandaging staff as they play in their Doctor’s surgery and produce wonderful examples of rockets from recycled material whilst doing a topic on space. Children take part in musical activities, including song and dance, which improves their co-ordination and spatial awareness. They also take part in regular physical activities which helps them master a range of physical skills. Other activities help children develop an understanding of how their bodies grow and keep healthy.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is fostered and it is a strength of the nursery that staff promote the self esteem of all children attending. They ensure that all children feel important, and valued, by paying close attention to their care, listening attentively when they talk with them and giving lots of praise to children when they achieve. Children have a growing understanding of differing cultures and are learning to respect others and their feelings. Children are encouraged to play well together and are given small tasks to do, such as fetch their own coats or help get a drink for a friend. This develops their independence. Staff have good strategies in place to manage children’s behaviour, and give consistent guidelines which helps children to develop their own boundaries. There are effective procedures in place to support children who have a disability or learning difficulty, although there are none attending

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is good. They are given detailed information about the nursery and can speak to staff any time about the care of their children. Daily diaries are completed for children in the baby room, which are used to pass information between home and nursery. Regular newsletters keep parents up to date with relevant issues, and a termly parents' evening

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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 is arranged so they can discuss their child’s progress. Parent’s are encouraged to be involved with children’s learning and are kept informed about activities that children are doing. A recent questionnaire to parents resulted in many positive comments, along with some suggestions that staff have acted upon, such as having a ‘birthday board’.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The nursery is managed and organised adequately. All policies and procedures are being reviewed and are available for parents. The manager has a detailed operational plan which includes the recruitment and vetting of staff and the designation of specific roles and responsibilities. This ensures that all staff working with children are suitable to do so and work together as a team. Management also encourage staff to attend additional training to extend their knowledge and improve practice. Staff are encouraged to evaluate their practise and regular staff meetings are held to discuss issues. All this contributes to the smooth running of the nursery and ensures that children remain safe, healthy and receive good care.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of nursery education is satisfactory. Staff are deployed well to support children’s learning and written long term plans ensure that all areas of learning are included. However, there are no formalised plans for daily adult led activities designed to deliver specific learning outcomes. This makes it difficult for staff to ensure all aspects of learning are covered, that activities are adapted for more, or less, able children and that learning outcomes are always being delivered. There is little formal evaluation of individual activities, or the overall educational programme, to identify strengths and weaknesses or to inform future planning.

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Organisation

All necessary documentation is organised and stored securely to ensure children’s details remain confidential. Relevant information regarding children attending is obtained, and updated as necessary. Required attendance and medical records are maintained; however a complaints log has not been established. Details regarding children are retained for the required length of time.

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Organisation

The nursery meets the needs of the range of children for whom they provide.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since registration there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.

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Complaints since the last inspection

The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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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

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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): • establish and maintain a complaints log.

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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): • further develop the recording of children's attainment, linking it into the Foundation Stage stepping stones, and dating recordings so that progress, and future learning needs, can be clearly identified • ensure focussed activities have written learning aims differentiated for differing abilities; evaluate these, along with the overall curriculum, to ensure all aspects of learning are effectively delivered.

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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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