Charlestown Private Day Nursery Ltd

Charlestown Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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312298 Unique Reference Number 21 May 2007 Inspection date Ann Law Inspector

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Turner Lane, Ashton Under Lyne, Tameside, OL6 8LW Setting Address

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E-mail

Charlestown Private Day Nursery 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 satisfactory. 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?

Charlestown Day Nursery is a private organisation. It opened in 1989 and operates from a purpose built building in Ashton-Under-Lyne. A maximum of 140 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 07.30 to 18.00. All children share access to fully enclosed outdoor play areas.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 214 children aged from three months to 11 years on roll. Of these, 74 children receive funding for nursery education. The nursery currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs 41 staff. Of these, 33 hold appropriate early years qualifications and one member of staff is working towards a qualification. The nursery operates within the Tameside Quality Standards Framework for Early Years Settings and is working towards a National Day Nurseries Quality Assurance Award.

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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 satisfactory. Children are cared for in a very clean and well maintained setting. Consistent routines are in place for nursery children to learn simple good health and hygiene practices, such as washing their hands after using the toilet and before eating. Photographic displays in the toilet blocks help to consolidate that learning. However, children attending the out of school provision are not always encouraged to wash their hands prior to tea.

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Helping children to be healthy

There are procedures in place regarding the administration of medication, whereby staff usually obtain written consent from parents to administer medication. However, staff do not always record when they have administered medication to the children. This places some children at risk and is a breach of regulations.

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Helping children to be healthy

Healthy and nutritionally balanced meals are provided for all children and staff continually promote good social skills with children, for example, table manners. Children attend the provision with special dietary requirements. Although these requirements are noted and displayed, the information does not securely identify the children and this system could be made more effective.

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Helping children to be healthy

There are a good range of outdoor areas where all children can develop their gross motor skills. The older children particularly enjoy climbing, scrambling and sliding, developing their balance. The younger children enthusiastically crawl through tunnels and use push and pull wheeled toys to develop their coordination. Younger children sleep according to their individual needs and babies follow consistent sleep patterns in cots. Older children who have a nap during the day sleep on mats and the caring and sensitive staff stay with them as they fall asleep in their own time. This ensures that their physical and emotional needs are well met.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. The nursery is a welcoming environment, with bright cheery rooms which are attractively decorated. Staff pay attention to providing a homely air and small touches, such as setting meal tables with flowers and table cloths, go a long way to achieving this. There are many photographs of children in the nursery and this provides them with a sense of belonging as they see themselves reflected in the setting.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff make full use of local resource libraries to vary and enhance the topics provided for the children. For example, a topic box for 'Exploring, Gardening and Growing' is currently in use for the topic of mini beasts. Risk assessments are in place for all areas of the nursery and these work very well in most areas to ensure that children are kept safe. However, two safety issues were identified at this inspection. A cot is situated under plug sockets, one with a trailing wire from a plug and one with a socket exposed, and there is a loose leg on a sand tray. These compromise the safety of some children on the premises.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are safeguarded in the setting because staff have a sound understanding of child protection issues. Effective procedures are in place to ensure that children are not released to anyone unknown and a password system was observed to work very well. However, the child protection statement does not include the procedures to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse being made against a member of staff or volunteer and this is a breach of regulations.

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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

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Young children enjoy many sensory activities in the nursery. For example, they explore the texture of cornflour and water and observe it dribbling through their fingers. Children display great excitement as they play in bubbles, patting their hands together and watching the bubbles fly up in the air. They develop a realisation of their own identity when they observe themselves in the low mirrors and they enjoy recognising their friends and family in photographs displayed on the walls. Young children's achievements are recorded in observations, artwork and photographs which build up a holistic picture of their development, providing their parents with an informative account of their time in the nursery.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children in the out of school provision have access to a good range of toys and resources which are rotated to ensure that they enjoy variety. Written plans evidence that children take part in interesting activities, such as making kites. The activities are evaluated by the children, which provide them with the opportunity to influence further activities. For example, children comment, 'It was a fun activity and I would like to do some more art and craft work'. They also give ideas for extensions of activities including, 'We can make bags to match our purses and stuff to put in'. In this way, children play an active part in the organisation of the out of school provision.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and children's learning is good. Children are making good progress towards the early learning goals because staff have a secure knowledge of the Foundation Stage and the planning systems contain clear learning intentions for all six areas of learning. Although informative records clearly highlight children's progress towards the early learning goals and children's next steps for learning are identified, the information is not effectively used to inform the future planning for individual children's learning. Consequently, the planning is general.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children take an active part in the day-to-day routine of the nursery. They act as servers at mealtimes and this allows them responsibility in the job and to experience pride in their achievements. Children develop good relationships as they play together in the role play area and use language that reflects the breadth of their experience, for example, play acting a visit to the supermarket. Children ask each other, 'Have you got a pound?' as they scan items through the checkout. There are many mark making opportunities in the nursery, however, the quality of the pencil crayons is poor as the majority of them are blunt and children experience frustration as they try to write with them. Children imaginatively use mathematical language in their play when they count in a game of hide and seek, counting up to 17 before seeking out their friends.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children show an interest in the world in which they live as they observe heavy machinery, including excavators on a building site nearby, commenting on the work that is being carried out. They show an interest in information and communication technology as they use a digital camera to take photographs of their friends and observe the picture on the screen. Children keenly play musical instruments and sensitively turn rain sticks to listen to the different sounds that they make. They take great delight in painting with sponges, experimenting with the different effects that they can make when dabbing, squeezing and smearing them on the paper.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

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

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Effective communication between staff and parents facilitate consistency and continuity of care and ensure that children's individual care needs are well met. Children with learning difficulties are sensitively cared for and their privacy and dignity is maintained during personal care routines. Children develop self-esteem and respect for others through continual positive praise from staff. They proudly show the inspector their stickers that they achieved for helping to tidy away toys. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is good. Parents are provided with a variety of information regarding the setting and the plans for children's learning are displayed, keeping them up-to-date with the topic of learning. Parents are informed of how they can make a complaint if they wish to do so and a complaints log is in place, however, the log does not contain all the required elements.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Although some systems are in place to encourage parents to participate in children's learning, such as a home-nursery book, parents are not provided with regular information regarding how to extend children's learning at home. Children have individual records of achievement which are cross referenced to their individual stepping stone records, giving parents a clear picture of the progress towards the early learning goals.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The organisation of the setting is generally efficient. Most records are maintained to a good standard; the exception to this is the documentation relating to the administration of medication. This is not organised effectively to fully support the children's welfare and safety. At the inspection, three rooms were understaffed for a short period of time. This was due to staff sickness, however, there are no clear systems in place to demonstrate that staff are usually deployed effectively within the premises to ensure the safety and well-being of the children.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the nursery in relation to nursery education is good. Planning meetings are held which ensure that the staff have a sound understanding of the learning intentions in the activities provided. However, there is no monitoring system in place to ensure that the nursery will offer children a broad and balanced curriculum.

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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 care inspection the nursery was asked to make improvements to policies, documentation, staff deployment and furniture. Some domestic style furniture has been added to the baby rooms which means that the adults working with the children can do so in comfort. Staff have been deployed more effectively during the bathroom routine. This has resulted in fewer children queuing to access the facilities. Children's registers are fully compliant, however, the system of recording staff attendance in the nursery does not demonstrate that they are deployed effectively. There are still omissions in the policies, namely the child protection statement and this remains a recommendation from this inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last nursery education inspection the nursery was asked to improve aspects of children's mathematical and personal, social and emotional development. The plans for children's learning

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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 ensure that they have greater opportunity to use positional language and increase their concept and understanding of space, position and proximity. Children have been provided with more opportunities to take an active part in mealtimes and consolidate their learning.

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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 satisfactory. 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): • keep a written record, signed by parents, of medication given to children • extend the child protection policy to include the procedures to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse being made against a member of staff or volunteer • implement clear systems to demonstrate that staff are deployed effectively within the premises.

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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 the attention given to pencil crayons in the mark making areas to ensure they serve their purpose • develop the information given to parents to encourage them to extend their children's learning at home, for example, by providing them with the words of songs and the titles of books linked to the topic of learning • extend the planning systems to ensure that children's next steps are used effectively to inform the planning for their future learning.

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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 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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