Farndon Fields Primary School

Cherryvale Nursery

Inspection report for early years provision

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Cherryvale Nursery

Unique Reference Number 119980 Inspection date 20 June 2005 Inspector Catherine Hill

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Cherryvale Nursery

Setting Address Frimley Road, Ash Vale, Surrey, GU12 5NZ

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E-mail

Registered person Cherry Nurseries Ltd. Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Full day 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 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?

Cherryvale Day Nursery opened in 1998. It operates from a former school building in a residential area of Ash Vale in Surrey and serves the surrounding areas. Children are accommodated in age related groups. There are enclosed outside play areas, an indoor play area and the nursery also has a sensory area. Cherryvale is a private day nursery, which is part of the Cherry Childcare Group. There are currently 90 children from 3 months up to 5 years on roll. This includes 25

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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 funded children. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery welcomes children with special needs and those who speak English as an additional language. The group opens five days a week all year round from 07.30 to 18.30, apart from a week between Christmas and New Year and Bank holidays. Eighteen full time staff work with the children and there are two supernumerary staff members. Three of the staff work with the funded children and all have early years qualifications. Twelve staff in total are qualified and three members of staff are currently on training with training being actioned for others. The setting receives support from an early education advisor from Surrey.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children stay healthy because staff follow appropriate and well documented health and hygiene policies and procedures. Staff act as positive role models for children who develop an understanding of good personal hygiene practice. Children wash their hands before lunch, after messy play and after using the toilets. They enjoy a varied, balanced diet and independently feed themselves. Some children, however, wait for lunch as staff have to cut it into manageable portions for them. They freely access drinks and staff encourage all children to have plenty to drink in hot weather. Staff meet children's needs well as they exchange information on children's diet and routines with parents. Children rest and sleep according to their individual needs although not all sleep areas allow for quiet undisturbed rest. An infection control policy helps protect children from illness and infection and staff work with parents to

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Helping children to be healthy

share information regarding accidents and medication. Children enjoy a wide range of physical play and have good opportunities to develop their skills. They enthusiastically play outside daily in the fresh air. They competently throw and kick balls, ride wheeled toys, use the climbing frame and play with hoops. Older children show a good sense of balance as they walk on low level stilts and children under two receive sensitive support to practise their walking skills and develop a healthy body through exercise. All children in the nursery use a range of age appropriate resources to develop their fine motor skills. They use brushes, pens, crayons and successfully join construction pieces together to make models.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children keep safe within the nursery owing to the care given by staff who are vetted and who demonstrate a good understanding of safety policies and procedures. Children take part in regular fire drills and learn about safety as staff carefully explain the appropriate handling of resources. Children are familiar with the layout of the nursery and are secure and safe both indoors and in the outside play area as staff make regular checks of all areas, which are usually recorded. Staff supervise children

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 well outside and children have good access to age appropriate equipment. They wear hats and apply suncream in hot weather and older children learn why they cannot use the slide as the sun makes the metal surface too hot. They carefully and safely negotiate steps as they venture into the outside play areas. Children actively explore a wide range of resources in the nursery. They access toys and equipment which are clean, safe and suitable for their ages. They move safely between rooms which are warm and welcoming with excellent displays of their creative work and educational posters to promote stimulation.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children receive good quality care and actively occupy themselves throughout the nursery. They show interest in their environment as they look for worms in the outside area. They enjoy developing their early writing skills by making marks on paper with paints and chalking on the outside chalkboard. They experiment with sound as they beat ordinary kitchen utensils against new, hanging dustbin lids and enthusiastically join in with music sessions. They carefully observe the actions of others before they excitedly practise them themselves. Staff plan a good range of activities to give children opportunities to progress in all skill areas. Children receive good levels of support to practise and develop new skills. Young children rise to the challenge of trying to walk, secure in their trust of staff who are on hand to support and encourage them with their efforts. Children adapt well to

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

changes in routines as they switch from indoor to outdoor play, get ready for meal times and settle for naps. They have good relationships with staff who are kind, caring and attentive to their needs. Nursery Education The quality of teaching and learning is good. Children are friendly and sociable and actively occupy themselves through play. They have good relationships with staff and one another. For example, two children spontaneously dance together as they listen to another room's music session in the hall. They share resources and most children behave very well. They are keen to extend their learning and ask questions about pictures they see in non-fiction books. They independently access books and enjoy looking at them although some find it hard to concentrate when music sessions are in close proximity. They are confident, articulate speakers who readily initiate conversations with others and organise their thoughts well before talking. Some

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children write their names with clear recognisable letters and all children develop a good knowledge of letter sounds through regular planned phonic sessions. Children understand the use of mathematical tools as they select a ruler to measure and then use as a guide to draw straight lines. They are confident with numbers and ably recognise written numbers to ten. They have a good understanding of the passage of time and develop an understanding of the natural world as they plant and water seeds to make them grow. They learn about different countries as they complete a large jigsaw of a map of Europe. Staff support them to complete the puzzle and use questions to effectively further their learning.

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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 use headsets to listen to taped stories and are confident in the use of the computer as a learning aid. They show good hand-eye co-ordination as they manipulate the mouse and reinforce their fine motor skills daily through the use of a range of tools. They have fun with outside play and are at ease in their bodies as they run around carefully manoeuvring around others. They use their imagination very well as they pretend to make porridge in the role play area and as they make model houses from construction. Staff confidently use a good range of teaching strategies to further develop children's skills. They maintain good, detailed planning and observation records to ensure children have good opportunities to develop daily in all skill areas. Children have their

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

development continually monitored with observations used by staff to inform future individual learning targets in all areas. Staff are calm, cheerful and enthusiastic and have very good relationships with children. They skilfully use most opportunities well to extend children's knowledge and maintain a positive. stimulating learning environment in which children make good progress through the Foundation Stage.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children develop good self-esteem and confidence as staff show a continual interest in them and praise their efforts. They feel valued and a sense of belonging as staff greet them warmly when they arrive and display a wide range of their creative work throughout the nursery. They learn to develop respect and consideration for others as they share resources and staff appropriately foster children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Children make choices about what they do and older children successfully negotiate when they share sequencing cards. They are aware of their own needs and attend to personal hygiene, drink when thirsty and wash their hands after messy play. Staff are aware of children's individual needs and work in partnership with parents and outside agencies, as appropriate, to ensure children can access all aspects of nursery life. Children, in general, behave very well throughout the nursery as they

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Helping children make a positive contribution

occupy themselves purposefully and receive good support from kind, caring staff. Children learn about acceptable behaviour and how to, for example, tidy toys away carefully to prevent damage. Staff quickly intervene when they observe inappropriate behaviour but room organisation sometimes results in unacceptable behaviour initially going unchecked. The nursery's partnership with parents is outstanding. Parents have access to an extensive range of information regarding the setting. They receive regular newsletters and information on current learning topics, with ideas of how they can support their child's learning by exploring the topic at home. They receive regular and detailed information on their child's progress and there is a wealth of information displayed throughout the nursery. Parents of funded children receive regular information on their child's progress in each learning area and newly introduced records, to which

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Helping children make a positive contribution

they can contribute, clearly show the next steps in learning. Parents evenings and seminars provide an added opportunity to develop their knowledge of their child's

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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 education.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children settle well and are happy within the nursery where they are familiar with the routines and have trusting relationships with the staff. Staff work effectively as a team. They are aware of their roles and responsibilities and organise rooms well so children have space for play. They plan activities so children have opportunities to progress in all skill areas with plans reflecting the age and stage of children and their developmental needs. A strong in-house training department ensures all staff access training to further develop their knowledge and understanding of childcare and education. For example, all staff are to receive training this year on the Birth to Three Matters framework to support children in their earliest years. The leadership and management of the nursery education is good. Children make good progress towards the early learning goals and managers regularly monitor and

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Organisation

evaluate practice. Dedicated staff work hard to further develop children's learning but, as a member of staff has to escort children to the toilets, there are regular short periods where support and supervision is limited. Policies and procedures work in practice to promote children's health, safety, enjoyment, achievement and ability to make a positive contribution. Management review and update documentation and most written records contain all necessary detail. The management quickly attend to issues and are committed to ensuring they maintain good standards and work to further improve them. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The previous care inspection recommended that the nursery ensure children's safety when using the 0-2 garden area and that all records were kept for the required time scales. Both issues have been addressed. In the garden the area behind the shed, which was the cause of concern, has been blocked off so children can no longer access it. The nursery has also introduced a new record keeping system for attendance records and when completed records are retained in the manager's office and will be kept for the required time scales. Since the inspection of their funded nursery education in February of this year the nursery have reviewed and sorted the software children use to support their learning. They have a time scaled action plan in place to ensure that children's opportunities to develop and reinforce technology and creative skills are supported and maximized.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since April 2004 Ofsted has received one complaint relating to National Standard

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Complaints 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 2:Organisation, concerning staff ratios in the 3-5s room. The provider was asked to investigate and report back to Ofsted within 10 working days. The provider reported back with the details of the staff rota and children's attendance record for a period of time along with a report of their review. Ofsted is satisfied that the registered person has taken appropriate steps to address the concern and the provider remains qualified for registration.

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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 full names are recorded in accident records; accident and medication records are kept confidential and that the garden safety checklist is appropriately completed as clear evidence that checks have been carried out. • review and improve the organisation within nursery rooms to ensure quiet areas are provided for sleep and children are not kept waiting for their lunch.

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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): • review and improve the organisation within the provision for funded children to ensure they have adequate learning support and supervision at all times and to ensure they are able to concentrate when using the area allocated for knowledge and understanding in the main hall.

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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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