Keighley Community Nursery

Guardhouse

Inspection report for early years provision

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Guardhouse

Unique Reference Number EY288392 Inspection date 21 June 2005 Inspector Helene Anne Terry

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Guardhouse

Setting Address Braithwaite Grove, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD22 6JB

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Guardhouse

Telephone number 01535 600 222 E-mail alternate tel 01535 665648 (10:00-15:00) Registered person Keighley Community Nursery Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Full day care

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Guardhouse

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Keighley Community Nursery Guardhouse was registered in 2004. It operates from a purpose built property which incorporates Keighley Surestart and is situated in the grounds of Guardhouse Primary School in the Guardhouse area of Keighley, West Yorkshire. This neighbourhood nursery is one of two settings run by a voluntary management group and is a non profit making organisation. The nursery serves families in the Surestart areas of Guardhouse and Braithewaite. A maximum of 50

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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 children may attend the nursery at any one time and it is open each weekday from 07:45 to 17:45 for 50 weeks of the year. There are fully enclosed outdoor play areas for all the children. There are currently nineteen children aged five months to four years on roll. Of these five children receive funding for nursery education. There are currently no children attending who speak English as an additional language or who have special educational needs. The nursery currently employs ten staff. Nine of the staff, including the manager hold appropriate early years qualifications to level 2 or 3. The setting receives support from the local authority although there is no support from an advisory teacher. They are working towards the quality assurance scheme Practical Quality Assurance

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a very clean and well maintained environment where effective procedures and practices ensure that children's physical, nutritional and health needs are fully addressed. The staff provide excellent support and guidance to ensure that children develop a good understanding of hygiene, such as brushing their teeth, encouraging them to wash their hands after toileting and after playing with the pets. Children are very well protected from cross infection through the use of very thorough hygiene practices and a comprehensive sickness policy, which is given to parents, use of individual cloths, bed linen and the regular washing of toys and equipment. However, staff are not consistently asking parents to sign the accident records when they collect their children. A good balanced healthy diet is offered to the children promoting their health and development. They are offered meals, drinks and snacks regularly throughout the

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Helping children to be healthy

day. Older children have free access to a water cooler. Meals are freshly prepared in the nursery by the cook. Menus are displayed for parents information. Children are also beginning to understand about food that is good for them as they are encouraged to make healthy choices. They have also done topics about this issue. Children delight in being able to observe and chat to the cook in the kitchen whilst she is preparing meals, due to the position of the serving hatch, and frequently help her stir and mix a cake. Individual dietary needs are fully considered to promote their well being. Children enjoy a wide range of physical activities which contribute to their good health. They have regular access to physical activities both indoors and outdoors; such as the use of a balancing equipment, small bikes, and bats and balls. However, more able children are limited in their abilities to develop their large physical skills,

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Helping children to be healthy

due to lack of equipment to enable them to climb and swing.

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Helping children to be healthy

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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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children move around safely and freely in the very well organised setting, where risks on the whole are identified and minimised by staff through very good practices. However, the patio doors in each of the playrooms may present a hazard as their existence is not clearly identified. Regular risk assessments are done by staff both inside the playroom and on outings to ensure safety. Access to the provision is monitored very well through key pad locks and vision panels in the door. This protects children from unknown visitors and the good procedures in place prevent children from leaving the setting with unknown adults. Staff fully comply with health and safety requirements to keep children safe. Children are also learning well about their own personal safety as they are reminded throughout the day to be careful when using scissors, handling hot drinks, walking on wet floors. Children use a broad range of good quality, developmentally appropriate resources

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

which fosters all areas of their development. Resources are age related within the playrooms. These are very well organised into specific areas of learning and are stored at child height, encouraging children to make choices and promote their independence skills. Staff have a good understanding of child protection issues through some having attended training, ensuring that children are protected and their well being is enhanced.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Staff provide a very good range of activities and play opportunities to foster all areas of children's development. They make very good use of the Birth to three matters framework to improve children's achievements. Planning and children's assessments are used clearly to extend learning. Children enthusiastically take part in a wide range of sensory and creative experiences, such as water painting outdoors, mixing powder paints, cornflour play, collages, water, sand and playing in the soil and wood chippings as they pretend to plant bulbs and hunt for mini beasts. Activities and resources in all the playrooms are age specific for children attending and these are all easily accessible ensuring children have free choice, which promotes independence. The daily routine is varied and flexible with times for children to have snacks, meals, activities indoors, outdoors and time for rests. Younger children

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

benefit from routines which are consistent with their experiences at home promoting their feelings of security and ensuring continuity of care. The interaction between staff and children is very good, ensuring that warm trusting relationships are developed and that children are happy and settled. Staff spend most of their time playing with the children, giving lots of cuddles, using playful talk and encouraging them to explore their environment. Staff and babies were observed to imitate one another and staff respond well to babies sounds during play which promotes their communication skills.

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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 Nursery Education. The quality of teaching and learning are satisfactory. The majority of the staff have good knowledge of the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and of how children learn effectively. However, staff do miss opportunities to extend learning for the more able children, resulting in some children not being effectively challenged in some areas of their development. Planning for the activities effectively covers all six areas of learning and the stepping stones, on which children are progressing. These are clearly identified in their development profiles. However, children's assessment records are inconsistently completed and used to inform future planning, which impacts on staff's ability to assess where the children are progressing and which aspects need to be improved. Methods used to engage children in the activities are

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

very good. Staff are patient, they listen to the children, respect their views and create warm caring relationships, which gives children a sense of belonging and boosts self esteem. Overall the children are making sound progress in all areas of learning. They are happy to attend the setting and enter the playroom confidently. They operate independently within the nursery, seeing to their own personal hygiene, choosing activities from the shelves, helping staff tidy activities away and take pleasure in sweeping the floor with the child sized brush. The children are developing good caring skills towards others and living things. They are fascinated by the African snails, as they feed and spray them with water to keep their environment moist. They learn how to carefully pick up the hamster and stroke him and are aware that he sleeps through the day and is awake during the night. Children are beginning to

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

make good attachments to others in the group and have friends they like to be with. Children are confident speakers, older children question why things happen. For example a child questioned staff why they threw water over the spilt milk outdoors and then carefully considered their reply. They confidently state their needs, likes and dislikes and are beginning to show an awareness of rhyme and alliteration as they play with words. Older children are beginning to develop early reading and writing skills as they are linking sounds to letters of the alphabet and use good pencil control to form recognisable letters, including writing their own names. Children are beginning to develop a good interest in numbers; they count well, more able children can recognise some numbers, and they talk about numbers in their play, for example a child stated 'I have two hats on'. However, the children are not using simple

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

calculation skills in everyday activities, such as comparing how many children are present therefore, how many places at the table need to set for lunch. Children greatly enjoy looking at the world around them. They relish at finding mini beasts and worms in the outdoor play area, as they dig in the soil, grass and wood chippings and collect the eggs from the African snails' tank to watch them grow. They create, experimenting with technology as they build using construction sets, collage and recycled materials. They learn how to use simple equipment on the computer with older children being able to complete simple programmes. However, children have little opportunities to explore how and why things happen, such as through the use of magnifying glasses, magnets, binoculars, cameras. Children confidently explore a very good range of creative materials, such as paint, malleable materials, collage, sand, water, and cornflour. They freely access these

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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 materials to represent their feelings, thoughts and ideas. Staff effectively support them to extend learning. Children enjoy music, they learn about how to change sounds by playing musical instruments as they hit them with their hands or a stick and shake them. They confidently take part in imaginative play and re-enact situations they have previously been involved in, such as the bear hunt they had been on the previous day. Children move freely with pleasure and confidence both indoors and outdoors and they are developing very good hand and eye co-ordination skills as they intricately cut their own sticky tape for creative activities. However, the more able children are restricted in the use of their large physical skills through the lack of use of more challenging apparatus.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children's individual needs are very effectively met through a variety of means including information received from parents at the gradual induction of the child. Children with special needs are well catered for and the staff work well with parents and other professionals to enhance development. Resources that positively represent diversity in society are limited at present, however, children do celebrate a variety of festivals from around the world and there are positive images of ethnicity on displays on the walls. This enables children to develop a positive attitude towards others. The staff have a very good awareness of positive behaviour management techniques to enhance children's well being. Children learn to share, take turns and learn about the consequences of their behaviour on others. Lots of praise and encouragement was observed to be offered to children; boosting children's confidence and self

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Helping children make a positive contribution

esteem. This fosters their spiritual, moral and social development. Children benefit from the very good partnership developed between staff and parents. Children are cared for according to parents wishes which promotes continuity of care and their well being. There are very effective systems in place to ensure information is shared on a regular basis about the child's progress and daily activities, for example through daily chats with the child's key person, good access to development records and written information on babies' daily routines. Policies and procedures are available to parents about the setting and a newsletter is used to up date on any changes and forth coming events. For nursery education funded children the staff compile a report which is shared with parents, to promote the two way process in enhancing children's progress. The setting is also currently developing systems for a home liaison system and a lending library. Parents are also actively

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Helping children make a positive contribution

encouraged to be involved in their child's learning by bringing in items related to themes being followed. However information is hazy on how parents can extend learning at home; to enrich their child's development.

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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 Space, resources and deployment of staff are used very effectively to meet the needs of the children and enhance their well being. The very good policies and procedures in place ensure that staff are suitable to care for children and that adult child ratios are consistently maintained. Leadership and management within the setting is satisfactory. All staff are appropriately qualified to care for children and they are supported well through a good appraisal system and training programme, by a good management team who oversee the running of the setting. Satisfactory systems are in place for the monitoring of the nursery, however these are not rigorous enough to identify areas that need improving in the nursery education offered. The setting is under going a quality assurance scheme to enhance the

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Organisation

service being provided. Overall the provision meets the needs of the children who attend.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure that parents consistently sign the accident records to protect children's health • ensure that the patio doors in the playrooms do not present a hazard to adults and children by clearly marking their existence • extend resources that positively represent diversity in society to further ensure that children develop an understanding about peoples' differences and similarities.

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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

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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): • provide opportunities for children to develop problem solving/calculation skills in everyday activities and for older children to develop large physical skills through greater challenges for them to climb and swing • further develop information for parents about the curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, including regular updates on how they can extend learning at home • ensure that staff regularly update children's assessment records to enable them to identify children's progress along the stepping stones and use these records to inform the planning of the curriculum.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

procedures set out in the leaflet Building better childcare: Compliments and concerns about inspectors' judgements 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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