UCL Nursery

UCL Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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EY345528 Unique Reference Number 17 May 2007 Inspection date Helen Maria Steven Inspector

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50-51 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PQ Setting Address

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E-mail

University College London 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 inadequate - notice of action to improve. The registered person does not meet 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?

University College London Day Nursery registered in this premises in January 2007. The nursery is run by the university. It is situated within a short walk of the main university site in Bloomsbury in the London borough of Camden. It operates from basement premises; they have an open plan space which is divided to provide two separate areas for children to be cared in. In addition, there is an office, staff room, kitchen, toilet facilities, nappy changing area and an enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery opens Monday - Friday, 08:45 - 17:30 for 49 weeks each year. Children of parents attending the university are given priority for admission, in addition the setting provides places for children living in the local community. The nursery can care for a maximum of 38 children. There are currently 33 children on role, of which eight receive funding for nursery education. The nursery supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and children with English as an additional language.

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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 The manager holds a Level three early years qualification. There are currently nine staff members of which two are working towards an early years qualification. The setting receives support from the local authority.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children’s good health is generally promoted well as practitioners implement effective hygiene procedures to minimise the risk of cross infection across the setting, for example, with good nappy changing practices. However, the nursery does not display or ensure that all persons implement their ‘no outdoor shoe’ policy for the baby room to maintain the hygiene levels for crawling babies. The manager is keen for all staff members to undertake relevant first aid training, which is on a rolling programme. Currently there are two staff who have first aid training although there is no evidence of this on site. They have appropriate systems to record administration of medicines and accidents. Staff support children to develop good personal hygiene practices, for example, staff encourage all children to wash their hands even if initially they are not keen to do so. Children independently access tissues to wipe their noses and are

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Helping children to be healthy

encouraged to put them in the bin after use.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children benefit from well balanced lunches and snacks, which are cooked freshly on the premises. The meals offered are a mixture of familiar foods to the children and food from other cultures. Children learn about healthy eating as they are able to make choices from a selection of fruits at snack times. Drinks are offered at snack and meal times. A jug of water and cups are set out for older children to access when they identify they are thirsty at other times during the day. However, on some days the water is positioned where it cannot be accessed by the children and staff do not remind or encourage them to quench their thirst. Children are not able to view their keyworkers as good role models at lunch time as most staff do not eat with the children.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy fresh air and physical activities each day as they have time to use the garden. Children skilfully throw and kick a variety of balls of different sizes and colours. They negotiate space as they manoeuvre scooters around the garden and run under the parachute. Children enjoy playing ‘ghosts’, one child hides others find him and they are chased around the garden shouting 'whoooo'. Physical and outdoor activities are not included in the planning, resources are not set out prior to children going outside, which results in insufficient opportunities to promote children’s development and provide them with sufficient challenge.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is inadequate. Children move freely around the inside of the environment, which is warm and welcoming. Risk assessments are in place, but some hazards are overlooked, for example, not all sockets are protected in areas accessed by children and a rusty screw was on the windowsill in the garden, which is a choking hazard.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children develop a sound understanding of how to keep themselves safe as staff give children appropriate explanations as to how to maintain safety. For example, they are told that if they tip the chair they will fall forward and hurt themselves.

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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 Fire equipment checks are carried out weekly, however, staff have not carried out a fire drill since registration. Therefore, they do not ensure all children develop confidence in following the procedures and or identify any complications that will prevent them from evacuating the building competently in the event of a real emergency. The lack of recording of attendance of all staff and visitors puts them at risk in an emergency evacuation, as there is no definite record of persons present at any specific time.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There is an organised range of suitable and safe equipment. Although, as children are cared for in family groups, staff have to supervise children vigilantly to ensure that resources which are not suitable for children under three, for example, small construction pieces or collage materials, do not harm toddlers. Resources stored in low-level displays are easy for the children to access and they are becoming more comfortable in doing this.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are not adequately protected, as there is not a robust staff vetting procedure in place. Staff know how to implement local procedures. However, the written child protection policy does not include the procedure to be carried out if an allegation is made against a member of staff, which is a breach of regulation.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children settle well into the session and are confident in the routine. They enjoy their activities and generally interact well with practitioners and their peers. Children play independently and with their peers, as well as enjoying opportunities to work more directly with practitioners though activities, such as cookery.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Independence is promoted when older children use the bathroom by themselves and assist with scraping their leftover food from lunch. However, they are unable to use the skills they develop in play in real life situations, for example, at snack and lunch times the drinks of water are pre-poured and food is served by adults, sometimes without comment. Babies are given the opportunity to feed themselves and are supported by staff.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The babies benefit from an environment which is bright and welcoming; staff have creatively used dark paper and lights to create a different mood in the sleep area. Babies enjoy spinning the wooden resources on a wall display, competently making it turn faster. They skilfully attach carriages of a train together and push it along the room.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Children’s attitude to learning is positive and they generally concentrate well and persist in their chosen activities. Staff work well with children in small groups and ask questions to develop their understanding of topics. For example, children are excited about 'whooshing' divers and sea creatures around the water tray. The staff member talks to the children about why some become stuck and ask how they think slower ones may move faster. However, children are not routinely initiating their own activities and tend to rely on resources that are set out for them. In addition, children’s progress through the stepping stones is not monitored effectively, as records are not kept sufficiently up to date and an initial assessment is not made to determine children’s starting point.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Most children enjoy opportunities to share books at specific times and listen to stories in small groups. Staff introduce activities using books as reference, for example, when looking at traffic

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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 lights. However, the organisation of these activities is not always successful, for example, when too many children are grouped in a small space. There is a mark making trolley, although there are limited opportunities for children to scribe in other areas of the nursery. For instance, there are no diaries, calendars or notepads in the role-play area and children are not always encouraged to mark making for a purpose by labelling their paintings. Children lack opportunities to link sounds to letters.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use mathematics in activities, for example, by comparing and sorting shapes and they use mathematical language when describing the size of toys. Children enjoy collecting data, they predict what they might see when they stand outside the nursery for five minutes. Guesses include cars, pink flowers, people in blue coats and dinosaurs. They log the things they observe. However, the environment lacks numerical displays and children are not encouraged to calculate in practical activities, for example, by setting up the lunch table.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children’s creativity is enhanced by regular opportunities to respond to music as staff use classical music to create a calm atmosphere for sleep time and children dance to world music. Staff provide daily opportunities for children to explore different media and materials. Children create collages, paintings and drawings that are displayed around the provision. Children use a magnifying glass to observe items in the room more closely. A computer is present but is not currently available to enable the children to develop their skills in technology. Children recall events, for example, they talk about their time in the previous nursery.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is inadequate. Children learn about a variety of different cultures, for example, by celebrating festivals to enable the children to gain knowledge of people’s different customs and traditions. The children benefit from being cared for by a culturally diverse staff team and there are resources available that reflect the community. This positive approach fosters children’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children’s behaviour overall is satisfactory; they are given praise when they display good behaviour, which encourages them to continue. Younger children are supported in developing their skills in sharing resources. However, the organisation of activities, such as story time, does not encourage positive behaviour.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff know children’s individual needs and those with special needs are well supported in the setting, as staff are proactive in developing links with outside agencies. Children benefit from a friendly professional relationship between practitioners and parents. Parents are invited to be involved in the nursery, for example, by helping out on outings, taking an active role as a parent rep or supporting fundraising events. The quality of feedback given to the parents at the end of the day is variable, feedback is verbal and parents are able to look at sleep and nappy changing charts which are displayed. Parents welcome the new weekly electronic message from the nursery and use emails to forward comments to the manager. There is a complaints policy in place, a version of which is included in the parents’ information. However, it does not meet current regulations.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents of children who receive nursery education is satisfactory. Parents are given an initial information booklet, which includes a section on nursery education. It lists the areas of learning covered by the Foundation Stage curriculum. The weekly emails inform parents of topics and events, but they do not link to the learning outcomes. Parents receive

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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 feedback on their children’s personal and social development, but there is limited information given regarding children’s next steps in learning to enable parents to support their children’s development at home.

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Organisation

The organisation is inadequate. The nursery is in breach of their conditions as they care for more children under the age of two than they are registered for, therefore children may not be receiving appropriate care. The deployment of staff does not always ensure that each area of the nursery has 50% of qualified staff caring for the children. Records relating to day care activities are not all readily accessible and available for inspection. For example, there is no evidence of staff qualifications. The current vetting procedure is not robust enough to ensure that suitability checks are completed on all staff. There are no basic personal details recorded on agency staff that care for the children. The attendance register for staff is incomplete as it does not include all persons responsible for the children. This is a breach of regulation. This register does not record times of attendance and therefore does not provide historical evidence of how ratios are being met

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Organisation

and which staff are accountable for the children. Not all policies and procedures have been updated in line with current requirements. For example, there is no clear policy on how staff should proceed if a child is lost or uncollected and the complaints policy does not meet current regulations. As a result, the needs of the range of children who attend are not met.

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Organisation

Staff are developing as a team and children’s learning is promoted through satisfactory leadership and management of nursery education. The staff are supported by regular team meetings and one to one meetings and appraisals are beginning to take place. Representatives from each area of the nursery plan the curriculum together and discuss how activities went. However, systems to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum and the impact on children’s individual progress are not yet fully developed. Management provide opportunities for staff to attend courses to develop positive outcomes for children. For example some of the team have attended training on the early years framework.

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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.

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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 inadequate - notice of action to improve. The registered person does not meet 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 AND 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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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care, the registered person must take the following actions: • ensure that children are cared for in line with conditions of registration • improve the vetting procedures to ensure that all staff are suitably checked • improve the system for recording staff attendance by the showing hours they are present and include all staff members, also ensure that individual records of all adults looking after the children are kept on the premises • ensure that there is a clearly defined procedure to be followed in the event of a child being lost or not collected • develop the complaints procedure and recording system to ensure that it reflects the children act regulations • ensure that all records relating to day care activities are readily accessible and available for inspection at all times These actions are set out in a notice of action to improve and must be completed by the date

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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): • improve opportunities for children to develop in communication language and literacy and mathematics for example by providing activities to encourage children to link sounds to letters, supporting them in being able to mark make throughout the nursery and develop their understanding of numbers as labels and for counting • provide learning opportunities to support children in making progress in information and communication technology • ensure effective systems are in place to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum to ensure that sufficient challenges are offered to more able children

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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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