Bright Stars Children's Day Nursery Ltd

Bright Stars Day Nursery & Kids Club Inspection report for early years provision

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EY340949 Unique Reference Number 04 April 2007 Inspection date Rachel Ruth Britten Inspector

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Parkers Road, Crewe, CW1 4PY Setting Address

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07748651935 Telephone number sharon.m.johnson@btinternet.com E-mail Bright Stars Day Nursery & Kids Club Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care, Out of School care Type of care

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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 satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Bright Stars Children's Day Nursery and Kids Club was registered in 2006. The registered providers have a daily involvement in the nursery which operates from four rooms in a purpose built building on the outskirts of Crewe. The nursery is open each weekday from 07.00 to 19.00. All children share access to a secure outdoor play area. There are currently 24 children on roll. Of these, three are receiving funding for early education. There are no children attending at present who have identified disabilities or learning difficulties and there are no children attending who speak English as an additional language. The nursery can accommodate up to 29 children aged under five years for full day care or under eight years for out of school and holiday care. The nursery employs six staff of whom five hold 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 satisfactory. Children stay generally healthy because practitioners employ their knowledge of appropriate health and hygiene guidelines and procedures. They keep all kitchen and toilet areas clean and remind children to wash hands, blow noses, cover mouths when coughing, keep warm and protect their clothes with suitable aprons. Staff wear aprons and disposable gloves for food preparation and serving and employ meticulous nappy changing procedures. Tables are cleaned before snacks and meals and every child has a clean cup and plate. Children do not have much involvement in learning how to prepare, serve or clear up their meals and snacks, but they are competent and enthusiastic in helping to tidy up.

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Helping children to be healthy

Sufficient staff are trained in first aid and food hygiene and the nursery keep parents informed about childhood illnesses and diseases. Accidents are properly treated and recorded, with parental signatures of acknowledgement each time. However, enrolment forms do not have a place for parents to give consent for the seeking of any necessary emergency treatment. This jeopardises children's health in the event of an emergency if their parents cannot be contacted. In addition, written medication records are not being retained on the premises or signed by parents. This is a breach of the regulations. However, it is not compromising the care of children because written parental consent is being obtained and a written record is going home on the child's daily diary sheet.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy satisfactory levels of physical activity and fresh air outdoors because time is given to this in most weathers and sessions. For example, children use balls and ride on toys in the playground at the front of their building. Children occasionally go on local walks. Children can sleep in cots, on sleep mats or in buggies if they are very tired.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are sufficiently well nourished and enjoy a varied menu for snacks and meals, including fruit, vegetables and sugar free crackers and bread. There is a policy not to give hard chunks of food, such as raw carrot and the skin on apples, and menus are planned and displayed. However, these are not always followed, especially while managers have not taken on a cook. On the day of inspection, children have quorn burgers, potato waffles, grapes and cucumber for their main meal, followed by chocolate Swiss roll. Children are given milk or water to drink, but are able to bring any drink in their individual covered cups from home, which they have with them as they play.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a purpose built, warm, bright, secure and safe environment. There is good security to the entrance door because there is high fencing and a gate before the combination keypad entrance door. Only staff may use the keypad and the door bell is always answered by designated staff. The nursery is on the ground floor only and each room is welcoming and contains suitable furniture and resources for the age range of the children using it. Toilet facilities are close by, so that all children move around the setting with confidence. Displays are bright, include photos and relate mostly to the activities being undertaken.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff are generally vigilant to ensure that children can move about safely within the setting. They keep areas clean, dry and safe, making good use of safety gates with finger guards to all

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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 rooms. Toddlers are encouraged to take part in sweeping up and cleaning up after painting, wet or sand activities, so that their play space is kept dry and tripping hazards are minimised. However, there is one trailing lead in the toddler room on the day of inspection and older children at the holiday club on occasions use the hallways to practise gymnastic moves. Nevertheless, older children are closely supervised and are behaving appropriately when in children's home rooms.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children use suitable and stimulating resources which support children's enjoyment and achievement and are well set out for children to access easily. All rooms also have comfortable areas and rocking chairs or sofas to rest or look at books. Resources for out of school club children are kept in their base room and include air hockey, pool and large board games. Outdoor ride on equipment is robust and varied each day and the tarmac area is well used, but there is no fixed equipment available and not yet anywhere for children to nurture their own plants.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are adequately protected from abuse because staff have enough understanding of their role in child protection. Staff are aware of what to do in the event of an allegation being made against them and know who to contact if they are concerned about a child. However, fire drills are not yet regularly held and documentation about what to do in the event of any emergency is not posted in all rooms. This means that not all staff and children are familiar with what to do to safely evacuate.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children are developing good levels of confidence and self-esteem because they have consistent carers, staff ratios are high and staff make time to talk and listen to them. Children separate easily from their carers and go straight to play with stimulating activities that are set out for them to choose from. Most staff understand what children can be learning from their play with different resources and question and extend this as the children play. Activities are planned and the 'Birth to three matters' framework is underpinning the work being done with children aged under three years. However, there is no written material available in the base rooms about the 'Birth to three matters' framework and staff are not making regular observation notes or records of children's progress through it. Daily record sheets are sent home and scrapbook evidence of each child's work are being made, but there is no clear evaluation of individual

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children's progress for use in planning and providing for their next steps or for showing to parents.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

School age children at the out of school holiday club enjoy more independence and make use of their base room, the pre-school room, the hall and the playground when these are not in use by under five-year-olds. They greatly enjoy craft activities, large board games, air hockey, pool and practise their roller blade and gymnastic skills outside. If they wish, they can spend small amounts of time playing with the babies or reading a story to a toddler. This promotes the caring family atmosphere while the nursery roll is still building up to capacity. Staff do not have high expectations of what children in out of school care should achieve, but aim to make sure they are comfortable, occupied and enjoying themselves in a fun environment.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's enjoyment and achievements are sound because staff know children well and are committed to their care. Children trust and are confident to seek help from them, perhaps to fasten a coat. They conform well to the routines of the day, such as tidying up after painting activities. Two-year-olds particularly enjoy role play with the barbecue set or mark making on the chalk easel. They are quickly developing independence as they wipe the board clean ready

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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 for another turn or fetch the dust pan and brush to collect the spilt sand from the sand tray. Staff praise and assist them, working hard to encourage developing speech.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Staff are committed to providing a welcoming atmosphere and a varied programme of activities covering all the areas of learning. Children enjoy an adequate range of activity areas within their base room and can choose from a range of toys and games within these. However, they do not presently use a computer and have few chances to explore and investigate through first hand experiences, perhaps using water, sand, gloop, or other natural materials. This holds back their knowledge and understanding of the world.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff's knowledge of the Foundation Stage is adequate and they can question, challenge and purposefully extend children through the activities they offer. Themed activities run each half term and children have some opportunities to discuss the session and how activities link to the current theme. Staff have sufficient grasp of what individual children can do and are using simple assessments to chart their progress in each of the six areas of learning. However, they are not making regular observational notes of what children do and say to provide examples for the developmental profile. Likewise, they are not annotating scrapbook evidence or photos to show which stepping stones they are evidence of. This holds back the process of identifying and providing for the next steps that individual children need to take in order to progress through the stepping stones.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children understand what behaviour is expected of them and they are making satisfactory progress in most areas of learning. This is because staff are generally successful in providing for their personal, social and emotional development. Staff know each child well and encourage friendships between them, so that they know about one another and consider one another well. They are able to speak to the whole group and their independence grows when staff allow them to fully participate and choose for themselves. Children have good opportunities to construct, create, role play and look at books, but they do not yet have access to computer technology or varied fixed large play equipment to develop their large movements for climbing and balancing. They listen well to story and song times when these are presented interactively and they enjoy a good sense of community and belonging.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children's emotional well-being is promoted well in the setting because staff are warm and responsive to all children, ensuring that they have care, attention and support. For example, they sit on the rocking chair with a toddler and look at a story book and have a cuddle. As a result, children are caring towards one another and read, role play and play games cooperatively together. Some give cuddles to their friends when they are going home. In addition, there is a key worker system for children and parents to relate to a special staff member, but this system is not well explained or displayed to remind parents who their child's key worker is.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children with learning difficulties and disabilities have their needs met by the allocated staff members. They are giving input which supports these children's progress in the setting and overall. However, no record system has been established to record significant incidents involving behaviour. This omission means that there is no record to support the work of the setting with children who have behaviour needs and nothing to show parents about the patterns or

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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 significance of the incidents. Nevertheless, staff are successful in tackling behaviour problems through consistent practice. Children behave well and work harmoniously together because staff provide an encouraging, yet informal atmosphere and explain what behaviour is wanted. Older children are taught to think of the needs of others and can usually listen well and use good manners. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The quality of partnership with parents and carers is satisfactory. Children receive consistency of care between home and nursery because staff communicate adequately with parents and manage parent's concerns about their children to reassure and advise where appropriate. The complaints policy is notified to parents and the Ofsted parent poster displayed so that parents know how to contact Ofsted. However, no complaints log system is established, which is a breach of regulations. However, there has been no adverse impact upon children as a result of this because there have been no complaints received to date.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents express satisfaction with the care and education in the setting, the small family atmosphere and the daily feedback sheets. Parents receive newsletters and when their child first starts they receive a pack of policies and procedures, including some information about the Foundation Stage and the 'Birth to three matters' framework. Pre-school children will shortly start to take home books to read with their parents and occasionally parents are asked to supply items to support the theme, but mostly parents do not know about the curriculum their child follows and do not regularly see their child's developmental record. As a result, parents and carers are poorly informed about their child's progress and what they can do to promote their child's learning at home.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Recruitment and vetting procedures work adequately to ensure that children are well protected and cared for by suitable staff, some of whom have qualifications in childcare. Those directors who do not presently have childcare qualifications are intending to undertake these. Staff files show contact information, evidence of vetting, qualifications and suitable contracts. However, many staff do not yet have staff development plans and the named people for child protection and for learning difficulties have not yet undertaken specific training about this.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the nursery education is satisfactory. The directors and manager spend time in the setting and give out information brochures about the setting and its policies and procedures. However, the nursery education has only been provided for a few weeks at the time of inspection, so that meetings and evaluation of the service have not yet taken place. In addition, information about the Foundation Stage and the involvement of parents is presently underdeveloped. For example, there is no displayed information for parents about the staff, their qualifications and which children they are key workers for. Nevertheless, the manager is committed and determined to develop the nursery education and earn a strong reputation and parental confidence.

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Organisation

Staff deployment contributes well to children’s good health, safety, enjoyment and achievement and ability to take an active part in the setting. Staff ratios are generally high and the directors all work around the setting to assist and support children. However, cooking routines do reduce the amount of time that the manager spends in direct contact with children. All staff are generally vigilant and have a clear sense of purpose as they spread their observation, assistance and support to all the children attending. As a result, they are quite successful at motivating and enhancing children's enjoyment and social skills.

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Organisation

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Policies and procedures are sound and are mostly working well in practice to promote the outcomes for children. For example, child details provide sufficient information to enable good care to be given and the daily registers and signing in books are accurate at all times and are reliable in the event of an emergency. However, some policies do not make reference to the procedures they underpin, for example, the medicine and behaviour policies do not describe what medicine or incident records are kept. In addition, the child protection policy does not contain the required contact details for the local police and social services.

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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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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. The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaint 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 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): • ensure that medicine records are retained and that parents sign to acknowledge every entry • ensure that parents give written permission for the seeking of any necessary emergency medical treatment or advice • ensure that fire procedures are displayed and that drills are practised so that all children are familiar with what to do • ensure that regular observations and records are made of children's progress through the 'Birth to three matters' framework so that parents are well informed and so that staff can identify and provide the next steps for each child's development • ensure that significant incidents of behaviour are recorded and parents informed of the incident on the day • establish a complaint record system and ensure that this can be viewed by parents upon request

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The quality and standards of the care

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 the named people for child protection and for learning difficulties have undertaken appropriate training for these roles and ensure that the child protection policy contains the contact numbers for the police and social services.

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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): • ensure that regular evidence is gathered to identify children's progress in each of the six areas of learning and use this to identify and provide the next steps in each child's development • ensure that parents have good information about the Foundation Stage and are given regular opportunities to be involved in extending their child's learning at home.

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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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