Fleetville Infant and Nursery School

Carousel Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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138206 Unique Reference Number 29 May 2007 Inspection date Patricia Ann Edward Inspector

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Old Blues Club, Arthur Road, Motspur Park, Surrey, KT3 6LX Setting Address

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E-mail

Carousel Nursery London Limited 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?

Carousel is one of two nurseries. It opened in 1997 and operates from one room in a purpose-built building. It is situated in a rugby club in the London borough of Merton. A maximum of 24 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 08.00 to 18.00 for 50 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 48 children aged from two to under five years on roll. Of these 18 children receive funding for early education. The nursery currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and also supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs seven members of staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications

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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 learn about the importance of good hygiene practices through everyday routines. They learn to wash their hands after messy play, before cooking and before and after eating. Older children understand about germs and the role of hand washing. There are effective hand washing signs displayed in the bathroom area. Anti-bacterial cleaners are used safely to wipe tables used for meals. Children have access to clean individual bed linen and are able to have a sleep if their parents request or they need it. Children are well protected as a number of staff hold current first aid qualifications. They fully understand the procedures to follow if children have accidents or require medication.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have a good understanding of food that is good for them; they are developing a taste for healthy food and healthy living through well planned topics and discussions. Menus detail that children are provided with a broad range of fruits and vegetables, at snack and meal times. Menus detail meals, such as Sheppard's pie and broccoli, tuna rice salad and pumpkin soup. Healthy and nutritious meals are prepared from fresh on the premises. Meal times are a social occasion, where all staff sit with children and encourage and guide them in the use of cutlery and table manners. They have good access to milk and water throughout the day, which further promotes their good health. Staff are fully aware of and meet children's individual dietary requirements.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children benefit from daily fresh air and physical exercise. This helps foster and promote children's health, growth and skill. They have fun in the large outside area, which is cordoned off to ensure children's safety. They skilfully ride bikes and scooters within the parameters and use footballs, hockey sticks and balls with gusto. Children’s fine motor skills are well developed and they have access to an excellent range of resources and malleable materials, such as one handed tools and clay and play dough.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children benefit from a very well-organised environment which includes areas for rest and sleep, quiet times and messy play. They have access to a wide, stimulating range of good quality toys and natural resources that conform to British safety standards. Children are able to move around freely and make independent choices about their play, which develops children’s confidence and self-esteem.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's safety is given a high priority in a safe and secure setting. Risks are identified and minimised, both indoors and outside, by regular risk assessments and checklists. Staff have implemented a number of precautions, which include covers on electrical sockets and safety gates on doors that lead to exits. This ensures that children are unable to leave the premises unsupervised. Children’s understanding of fire safety is appropriately protected because fire drills are completed at regularly intervals. Details of drills are recorded. However, the time the drill has taken is not recorded. Children are proactive in keeping the large play area safe and help tidy away toys with praise and encouragement from staff.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected because staff members have a good awareness of the different types of abuse and possible signs and symptoms that may indicate that a child was at risk. Both

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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 senior staff have attended additional child protection training. They are aware of their role and responsibility to safeguard children and of the agencies to contact with concerns. As a result children’s welfare is effectively safeguarded.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children play happily in the setting. Their confidence is well promoted by the staff who have a good understanding of children’s individual needs and personalities. Children are able to move around freely and can choose to play alone or join in group activities. There are good settling-in procedures, which ensure new children are given lots of one-to-one attention. This guarantees an easy transition from home to the group. Children's individual needs are well met through observation and good planning. Staff are skilled in offering reassurance to new children, such as allowing children to have their comforter until they feel ready to part with it.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

All children experience a wide variety of stimulating play opportunities. They have access to outdoor play, paint, sand and water on a daily basis. Staff are skilled at providing activities to suit the developmental stage of the children. They enjoy planned and spontaneous activities, such as making fruit salad. Staff are proactive in giving children support when needed and know when to intervene.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. All staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage and support children's progress well through the stepping stones. They plan and provide a broad range of stimulating activities and experiences across the six areas of learning. Children are also given opportunities on a daily basis to plan activities that they want on children's choice forms. They enjoy getting fully involved in focused activities, which are planned at different levels to ensure they are suitable for all children to participate in at their own pace. Observations inform staff of children's progress, this information is used productively to plan the next stage in children's learning. The teaching skills of staff ensure that activities provide interest to children, help them to become focused, able to resist distractions and to persist for some time. The methods of teaching provide challenge and staff

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

have realistic and appropriate expectations for children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children arrive and settle quickly, they separate easily from parents or carers and seek out their friends. Staff warmly welcome children into the setting by name. They are becoming confident enthusiastic learners as they move between the stimulating activities on offer. The range of experiences offered are good; children have access to a wide range of educational materials which are well presented in display units and interest tables. Children rapidly become engrossed in the activities, which are planned to capture their interests and help them learn. Currently, children are learning about growth and express their knowledge in various ways through models, paintings, role play and discussion. They have a valuable growing area for plants and are currently growing sunflowers. Creativity is fostered very well and children relish using exciting materials for artwork, such as glitter, soil and textured materials.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children approach staff to talk to and express their views and ideas and have established warm and friendly relationships with both staff and peers. Children are able to concentrate on self-chosen activities, for example, making fruit salad for lunch. They discuss where and how fruit is grown, and learn new words, such as ripe. Children benefit from the wide range of books in the welcoming book area; books are stored at low level and are easy for children to access.

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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 enjoy stimulating stories either read with staff, friends, or in small groups. They know how to handle books correctly, turn pages carefully and show interest in their content. Children talk confidently about events in their lives, such as trips to the fun fair. They are able to recognise their own written name as they self-register with name cards. Children are given roles of responsibility. For example, one child was asked to give a detailed message to another staff member. All of which enables children to use language to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have many opportunities for mark making, including the use of paint, chalk and pens, both indoors and outdoors. The well equipped writing area allows children to access resources freely and independently. Children are gaining confidence in using numbers in their play and during daily routines. They respond enthusiastically to challenges, such as matching, sequencing addition and subtraction. They enjoy activities which extend their mathematical vocabulary, for example, during number games, such as hop scotch and singing songs, which involve adding and subtracting numbers. Children have good opportunities to explore amounts, sort and match quantities and amounts of six and twelve through accessing dough and egg boxes. They also sequence numerals, match and recognise colour shades. This is done by staff effectively providing activities that make learning fun, such as melting coloured ice cubes and the sequence washing

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have lots of support to help them learn about the natural world. They have a valuable area for mini beasts. They respond enthusiastically to them when using magnifying glasses to observe them closely. Children's independence is generally encouraged, however, it could be further developed by children taking a more proactive role at lunch time, for example, laying the table and serving their own meals.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children's individual and cultural requirements are fully discussed with parents and are competently met by the staff. They are very aware of the children's physical and emotional needs and ensure that children settle well and feel secure quickly. Children have many opportunities to make choices and take decisions in their play and learning. They can easily access a good range of resources independently. There is an effective balance of adult initiated and child led indoor and outdoor learning activities, which are linked well to the topic and role play area. Children are well behaved and polite. Staff are good role models and give children praise for remembering to say 'please' and 'thank you' and for good table manners. This increases children's self-esteem. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children have many opportunities to become aware of diversity within society and the wider world. They have access to an excellent range of resources that reflect positive images; they learn about their own culture and beliefs and those of others. Children celebrate Christian festivals, such as Easter and become aware of festivals and celebrations in other communities, such as Chinese New Year and Diwali. The multicultural instrument table provides children with the opportunity of discovering the sounds of musical instruments from around the world, such as African rattles and drums. Staff are experienced in meeting the needs of children with English as an additional language and take every opportunity to increase children's language skills. Staff work closely with parents and outside agencies to ensure that the welfare and care of children with additional needs are being met. Staff are proactive in using various methods of

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Helping children make a positive contribution

communication with children throughout the day, such as sign language.

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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 Children benefit from the close and supportive relationship staff have with parents. Information is shared through daily discussion, written daily updates, regular newsletters and the parent notice board. Parents are welcome in the nursery at any time. They have access to written information about the learning programme, such as the 'Birth to three matters' framework. Formalised meetings with key workers are organised twice a year. This enables parents to meet and talk with staff. The partnership with parents of educationally funded children is good. Parents may access their child's files at any time. Parents and staff work in partnership to devise achievable goals for individual development plans. This allows parents to effectively reinforce their children's learning in their home environment. Staff are currently developing a reading

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Helping children make a positive contribution

from home scheme, where each child has a book bag. This will enable children and their parents to sign out books and take them home to enjoy. This further allows parents to be part of their child's learning at home.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children are well protected because there are very good procedures in place. There is a robust recruitment and vetting system in place. Staff use their experience, knowledge and skills to ensure that the children's welfare is met. They have access to training from the local authority partnership. This allows them to access training on new initiatives and to keep up to date on childcare issues. Staff training needs are identified through regular meetings and appraisal sessions.

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Organisation

Children's needs are met effectively because staff are well deployed both indoors and out allowing children to receive appropriate adult attention. The appropriate staffing levels ensure all children build effective relationships and develop a positive approach to the learning experiences on offer. Children's personal information is securely stored to ensure confidentiality. This ensures a relaxed, secure and caring environment.

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Organisation

There are systems in place for recording the daily attendance of children, staff and visitors. However details of staff's times of arrival and departure are not recorded appropriately.

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Organisation

The quality of leadership and management of the nursery education is good. The manager is keen to improve the care and education for all children. She closely monitors staff and evaluates the educational programme. All regulatory documentation is in place and staff follow comprehensively written policies and procedures. The organisation of documentation is very good and the operational plan is made available for parents. Policies and procedures are reviewed and updated as and when necessary.

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Organisation

Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection, the group were asked to: make sure all electrical appliances conform to safety standards; make sure daily registers include hours of attendance; and make sure that the child protection policy includes procedures to be followed in the event that an allegation is made against a member of staff. The group have employed a handy person, who annually checks all electrical appliances. Procedures are now in place for the event that an allegation is made against a staff member. All of which has improved the safety of children. The group have revised their registration system to include children's times of arrival and their times of departure.

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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 However staff's times of arrival and departure are not recorded. This has been raised again at this inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The previous nursery education inspection recommended that the group continue to develop to develop the use of the outdoor area to further extend children's learning across all areas of the curriculum and consider ways of further encouraging children to practise their number skills during role play and other everyday activities. Excellent effort has been made to address these issues. Staff are proactive in encouraging number skills in everyday activities, such as hop scotch in the outdoor area and encouraging children to use mathematical language. Staff are also effective in planning for the outdoor area in partnership with children. They ensure children have access to the six areas of learning in the outdoor area.

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure fire drill records contain information about the time taken to complete • ensure the register contains details of children's departure times and staff's times of arrival and departure.

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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): • increase children's independent skills during lunch time activities

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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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