Kids Inc Day Nursery

Kids Inc Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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EY271884 Unique Reference Number 31 May 2007 Inspection date Jane Davenport Inspector

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71 Cleveland Road, South Woodford, London, E18 2AE Setting Address

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E-mail

Select Enterprises (South East) Ltd. Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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E-mail

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

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are outstanding. 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 outstanding.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Kids Inc Day Nursery was registered in 2003 and is one of a small chain of five privately run nurseries owned by Select Enterprises (South East) Ltd. It operates from a converted nursery building, which is situated in South Woodford in the London borough of Redbridge.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

A maximum of 51 children from birth to under five years may attend the nursery at any one time. The provision operates each weekday from 08:00 to 18:00 all year round. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 57 children on roll, 21 of whom receive funding for nursery education. The nursery is able to support children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The provision employs 17 staff, not including the manager, 12 of whom hold recognised early years qualifications. Other staff members are currently working towards a qualification.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are a number of nursery pets, including hamsters, gerbils, a guinea pig and goldfish. The nursery participates in the QUILT quality assurance scheme.

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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 outstanding. Children's individual health requirements are extremely well met. The staff team's excellent knowledge and understanding of the setting's health policies and procedures ensure that children's wellbeing is robustly supported. Children learn from an early age about the importance of washing their hands after using the toilet, after handling the pets and before eating and this is effectively reinforced at circle time by a very lively discussion and demonstration. Children talk with great confidence about hygiene practices, with contributions such as "it's to kill the germs", "so you don't get sick" and "because animals haven't had a wash". Children volunteer enthusiastically to stand up and demonstrate to their peers how they turn on the tap, dispense soap onto their hands, scrub them thoroughly, dry them properly with a paper towel and then throw it in the bin.

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Helping children to be healthy

Staff members have a very good knowledge of first aid procedures and a high percentage of staff hold a current first aid certificate. This means that they can give appropriate care if there is an accident. Accident and medication records are kept appropriately and parents give prior written consent for emergency medical treatment and to administer medication, which ensures children receive the correct dosage according to their needs.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are able to help themselves to easily accessible drinking water throughout the day and enjoy freshly cooked meals and healthy snacks, which encourages them to develop healthy eating practices. Meal times are social occasions when children and staff sit together demonstrating good social skills and learning table manners. They patiently wait until everyone has their meal and discuss what they have to eat and what is good for them. Children's individual dietary needs are recorded and known to staff and fully met alternatives are always available to accommodate non-meat eaters and children with special dietary needs. Children independently serve themselves at meal times and an excellent system of using colour coded plates, green for vegetarian, red for special dietary needs and blue or yellow for all others, is used effectively and sensitively as a reminder of what children need to choose.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have many excellent opportunities to become physically active, helping to develop their skills and fitness. All children regularly use the extremely well organised outdoor play area for imaginative play and physical challenges. They use wheeled toys skilfully, pedalling, pushing and avoiding obstacles. The children show good control and spatial awareness as they enthusiastically join in with the range of games and activities provided by the highly motivated staff team.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Children learn to keep themselves safe in a welcoming and stimulating facility, where they are able to freely move around the learning environment. Staff members are vigilant about children’s safety and ensure this by the highly effective implementation of thorough daily risk assessments and exceptionally detailed health and safety policies and procedures across the provision, including staff welfare and all outings. Children talk with animation about safe practice, for example, they discuss an outing they had the previous week and how they had to stop, look and listen and wait for the green man at the crossing lights before they crossed the road. Staff are highly skilled at extending discussion and drawing out contributions from all children,

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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 leading to further debate on car safety, the wearing of seatbelts and helmets and walking on pavements, not in the road. Each child's contribution is acknowledged and valued and results in an exceptional learning experience for them all.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children benefit enormously from the exceptional, well organised and vibrant learning environment and an extensive range of equipment and resources is available which is suitable for the ages and developmental stages of children attending.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected because practitioners have an in-depth knowledge of child protection issues, recognise their role and responsibilities and know how to implement nursery and local child protection procedures. The recording of all staff, children and visitors to and from the nursery, detailed policies for the collection and non-collection of children and arrangements for recording pre-existing injuries contribute to ensuring children are safeguarded from harm.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. Children thoroughly enjoy their time within the nursery. They achieve well due to the staff's excellent understanding and use of early years guidance such as the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and " Birth to three matters". Staff use these expertly to plan an interesting and stimulating range of activities to provide high quality care and education.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

All children are able to select the toys and resources they wish to use within all the rooms, for example, toys are displayed on shelving at appropriate heights within the baby room. Children are very comfortable within their environment and receive a high level and quality of support from the staff. Older children make friends with their peers and all children develop good relationships with the stable staff team. All children play happily and older children initiate conversations and involve other children and adults in their play. Staff provide children with an extremely high level of interaction both in planned and free play activities. Children thrive in the relaxed and well-organised environment provided by the staff.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding. Planning is excellent and staff have developed highly effective systems in recording individual children's achievements and using these to inform planning for children's next steps in learning. Excellent challenges are provided for the more able children and children's thought processes are very well stimulated. Children are making very good progress towards the early learning goals.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are developing very positive relationships with staff and with one another. They understand the need to share and take turns when playing together, are familiar with the rules and routines of the setting and happily abide by them. They are sociable and confident to talk in a small, familiar group about past, present and future events. They understand differences in their lives to others around them and talk happily about their home and family life.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children love books and stories and are captivated by staff's enthusiasm and expression in story telling. Experimentation is actively encouraged; for example, one child asks the member of staff to read a short, familiar book backwards. She does so, to the delight of the children, who agree that the story doesn't make sense that way and a child then happily volunteers to read it the correct way round. Children's language and expression are encouraged at every opportunity; their own stories are valued, appreciated and made into books. Labels are abundant

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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 throughout the nursery so that children quickly become used to the written word. Children in the pre-school room have their own phonics book and a "copy board" book in which they practise step by step pre-writing skills, identify individual letters, short words and practise their pencil control. Games such as "I spy" reinforce the children's developing expertise in identifying letters and sounds. They individually identify an object in the room with its phonetic initial letter and other children are able to correctly guess what the object is.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children regularly count and use mathematical language during activities. For example, whilst hooking ducks in the water play, they discuss how many ducks they need for the song "Five little ducks went swimming one day" and how many they need to take away to end up with the correct number. This is an excellent way of encouraging children to solve simple addition and subtraction problems in a non pressurised way. They also develop their concept of size and colour as one child is asked to hook a "little, green duck", and, in turn, asks a friend to hook a "big, green duck".

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children explore the environment and learn about nature, and some excellent planned themes promote this further. For example, children were encouraged to observe and note the changes from frogspawn to tadpoles to frogs and then accompanied staff on an outing to release their frogs back into the wild in a pond in local woods.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

They learn about their own cultures and beliefs and those of others through appropriate resources and planned activities. One excellent example of this is the use of "holiday bear", who accompanies children and staff when they go on holiday and brings back various items from around the world.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are provided with excellent opportunities to promote their physical development. The rear part of the garden has a range of fixed play equipment, bikes and other sit and ride toys. Children demonstrate very good spatial awareness as they skilfully negotiate objects and they are able to access and use a good range of equipment to develop their large and fine motor skills.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Well organised exercise sessions are used to help them become aware of changes to their own bodies after physical exertion.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's creativity is encouraged at all times. They are given the space and support to express themselves freely; for example, they put on their aprons and are then actively encouraged to splash the water about outside as they "paint" the walls with their large paint brushes without restriction.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Extra curricular activities such as ballet, drama and French take place on a regular basis and enhance the children's ability to express themselves whilst learning a new skill.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is outstanding. Children show an excellent attitude towards one another and are extremely confident and self assured. They flourish in the nursery because they are exceptionally well supported by staff who encourage them to become autonomous and competent learners. Children play extremely well together learning to share and take turns and they negotiate this with confidence. They show genuine concern for one another and benefit enormously from the example set to them by the excellent staff team.

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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 All children and their families, including those with special needs and English as an additional language, receive outstanding support from staff, enabling them to thrive and make excellent individual progress. Children gain an extremely well developed respect for themselves and others as they learn about their local community and the wider world and value and celebrate their differences and similarities. For example, a creative drama session on Rosh Hashana clearly helped them to gain a better understanding of the Jewish religion . Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnerships with parents of children is outstanding. Staff pay high priority to establishing and securing the links between home and nursery, ensuring parents are actively involved in their child’s learning. Parents receive extremely detailed information and discuss the curriculum and the philosophy of the nursery, which helps them to understand how their child learns and develops through play. They receive extensive support in extending their child’s learning at home, for example through practical play experiences and daily diaries. They work together with staff to assess their child’s ongoing achievements and progress and agree next steps for development. This helps to ensure all children make excellent progress and allows parents to play a full part in their child’s learning.

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Organisation

The organisation is outstanding. The setting meets the needs of the range of children attending. The well qualified staff team use their knowledge exceptionally well to ensure that children make excellent progress in all areas. Practitioners demonstrate excellent knowledge of the setting's policies and procedures and implement these most effectively to ensure that children are kept safe and well.

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Organisation

There is an ethos of reflective practice throughout the setting with staff making excellent evaluations of what they do in order that children continue to flourish. Children benefit from good staff ratios which ensures that they are consistently well supported.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of nursery education is outstanding. The proprietor and the manager, along with the operations manager, are passionate about early years education and have developed a skilled, enthusiastic and dynamic staff team. Staff show strong commitment to children's achievement and development, which is demonstrated by the children's enthusiasm for, and involvement in, their learning. Processes for monitoring and evaluating children's progress are excellent and ensure that children consistently receive high quality care and that nursery education meets each child's individual needs. For example, staff meet regularly to assess planned activities and review their suitability in terms of enabling individual children to progress. There is excellent recognition of individual staff skills within the team and staff, resulting in confident staff who are proactive in ensuring an inclusive environment where every

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Organisation

child matters. There is a clear vision for the provision and a strong commitment to providing the best possible outcomes for all children.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection, a recommendation was made to provide for parents regular information on their children's progress. Systems have been very effectively developed and the nursery uses parent questionnaires in conjunction with child profile meetings to ensure that parents are fully and regularly informed. This has had a very positive impact on working in partnership with parents at the setting.

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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 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 outstanding. 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 outstanding.

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The quality and standards of the care

No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of care are outstanding.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.

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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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