Turtles Day Nursery

Turtles Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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EY221653 Unique Reference Number 25 September 2007 Inspection date Linda Tomkins Inspector

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Wolverhampton Road, Penkridge, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST19 5DR Setting Address

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01785 716111 Telephone number karenlaycock@talktalk.net E-mail Turtles Nurseries (Penkridge) Ltd Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day 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 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 outstanding.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Turtles Day Nursery Penkridge is one of three nurseries run by Turtles Nurseries (Penkridge) Ltd. It opened in 2002 and operates from four rooms in a building close to the centre of Penkridge, Staffordshire. A maximum of 36 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 07.30 to 18.00 all year round. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 61 children aged from three months to four years on roll. Of these, 15 children receive funding for early education. The nursery supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and also currently supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs 14 members of staff. All staff have early years qualifications and five members of staff are working towards an advanced qualification.

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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 good. Children learn the importance of personal hygiene through planned routines and procedures. Older children know, for example, that they have to wash their hands before food and after using the toilet. Staff follow effective procedures such as routinely cleaning the tables with anti-bacterial spray before food and practising the clear procedures for managing sick and infectious children to prevent the spread of infection. However, some toys and resources in the pre-school room are not always maintained in a hygienic condition which has the potential for cross-infection of children.

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Helping children to be healthy

All children have frequent regular opportunities for play and activities in the outside area during the day. The staff ensure toddlers and pre-school children play outside at least twice a day. Babies are taken out in their pushchairs at least once a day and as often as their individual routines allow. The children use wheeled toys, slides and climbing equipment. This ensures the development of their physical skills and access to fresh air.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children benefit from a healthy diet, they have a variety of balanced meals prepared from fresh ingredients by a qualified cook in the kitchen. Fresh water is freely available to all toddlers and pre-school children. Staff ensure children under 12 months follow their individual feeding routines as discussed with parents. All dietary and health requirements are recorded on children's individual record forms. This helps to ensure children remain healthy.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Children use a range of safe developmentally appropriate resources. These are well maintained and presented by staff to enable children to choose from the varied range stored at low-level. Children display an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves safe. They describe with clarity how they must go slowly on the stairs and look in front, in case they fall. Babies and toddlers are securely strapped into high-chairs and pushchairs.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The outside play area is secure and provides children with a spacious outside play area. The area is accessed by a rear door and steps and children have a choice of equipment such as pushchairs, wheeled toys and climbing equipment. Children and staff enhance the fencing with large displays of laminated paintings and drawings.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Risk assessments and premises checks are undertaken regularly to maintain the safety and security of the nursery. The front entrance door is monitored with a close circuit television and intercom system and is always locked. Staff maintain an accurate record of visitors and consistently check identity of visitors to the nursery. Parents provide a password and children are collected by identified persons.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff have attended training to ensure they are able to operate fire fighting equipment and children practise fire drills every two months. This means that children will be safe in an emergency situation.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected by staff who have a good understanding of child protection issues and follow the correct procedures to record existing injuries and report concerns to the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

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

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. The nursery makes exemplary use of the 'Birth to three matters' framework to plan and provide a range of stimulating and appropriate activities for children under three years. In the 'two to three's room, the children's development of communication and language is impressively well promoted by staff through constant conversation, questions and individual attention. Staff sit with children to talk about their toys and books and prompt them to name characters in their favourite books. Children and staff play together, children lead and staff attentively respond by gently encouraging thinking and response. For example, encouraging children to explain their feelings as they painted with ice-cubes, asking 'what is it like?'. Children smile and laugh as they said 'its cold, we are making pretty patterns'. Consequently, children are developing their communication skills very well and are able to express their needs.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

All children are happy, settled and relaxed in the nursery's welcoming, caring environment. They have positive relationships with staff and each other. Children play happily together using resources such as treasure baskets, books, role play and art materials suitable to their age and stage of development. Children enjoy exploration with glue, paint, water and sand. They have enjoyable experience of sensory play such as exploring the feel of jelly cubes in the water tray which helps children represent their feelings and ideas in a variety of ways. Staff are actively involved with the children, for example, they sit on the floor and support infants to enable them to develop their physical skills. They practise standing and walking and laugh together as they 'bury' each other in shredded paper.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The daily timetables ensure that all children spend periods of time outside either in the rear play area or on walks to the village. Children play with specialised large fixed climbing equipment such as a wooden boat and balancing beams.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children and staff discuss favourite activities and focus their planning to include activities such as baking cakes, and eating them.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding. It is consistently inspiring and challenging for all children. The activities and experiences provided are exceptionally well matched to children's needs and interests. The staff team have developed and increased their knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage and plan and provide a varied range of activities which are rich, imaginative and refer to each area of learning. Staff have developed their practice of recording their observations on the children's progress and the records clearly show children's attitude to learning to provide a complete picture of achievements. Continual and rigorous monitoring of procedures enable the staff to maintain the high standards of teaching. This enables staff to make accurate progress reports to parents.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff record the next steps for each child's level of future development and the evaluation of activities and teaching methods are fully developed to show the impact of planned activities and daily routines on the children and used to inform future planning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Teaching highly motivates children so they are engrossed in their activities and make rapid progress. Plans are flexible and allow children to lead whilst staff spend the majority of their time interacting with the children and asking understandable questions. The children are split into two small groups and have a key worker which ensures they have opportunities for one to one attention.

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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 are clear about the purpose of planned activities and frequently join in with their own ideas and home experiences. Development is outstanding in all six areas of learning but particularly in the areas of communication, language and literacy and knowledge and understanding of the world because the children are in small groups and staff frequently engage the children in individual conversations and outside experiences in the local community.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Behaviour is well-managed by consistent methods. For example, children understand the behaviour boundaries and respond to staff with 'please' and 'thank you' and praise each other's achievements. Children are also encouraged to help each other and staff to tidy resources away. This results in an ordered caring environment for children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children show a strong sense of belonging and are highly motivated to learn. They are friendly and confident to try new activities and speak in a familiar group. Children behave well and show care and concern for each other. For example, children eagerly volunteer to help new children to settle-in and show them the toys. There personal independence is well developed as they manage their clothing when visiting the toilets, lay the food tables, and serve their own food and drinks.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children make recognisable marks on paper and recognise labels of their own names and resources. They have very well developed skills to speak clearly and select books for pleasure. For example, as they looked at books children said 'we are looking for a recipe, we are going to make a cake'. They listen and discuss their books such as 'Trains' and interact with staff to say 'what happens next'. They join in with rhymes and songs and use descriptive language and gestures to express themselves.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children discover the natural world as they grow sunflowers and beans in the greenhouse. They know how to competently use computers as they expertly use the controls and interact with games and programmes. Children celebrate festivals such as Chinese New Year by visiting a Chinese restaurant and sampling food. They enrich their understanding of their own culture and the wider world by interacting with visitors the nursery, such as grandparents, the mobile library van and large earth moving equipment that a parent brings to explore.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have a sound understanding of numbers and are progressing well with problem solving using addition and subtraction and mathematical language whilst counting and singing 'Five current buns in a baker's shop'. They experience comparison and measuring with weighing scales and measuring jugs as they play in the water tray and mix ingredients for play dough. They demonstrate an impressive understanding of shape and size as they identify shapes during 'circle-time'.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children routinely use large physical equipment to travel around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment to develop their physical skills in the outside play area. Children discuss their health and hygiene and enjoy activities such as 'All about me'. They have a clear understanding of why they wear sun hats and wrap up their dolls on a cold day, they said 'it's to keep them warm'. They use small tools and construction materials with increasing dexterity and control.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children express themselves through creative activities and role play. For example, playing together with the cars and making engine noises as the pushed the cars and cooking sausages for staff as they played in the outside play house. Children know and identify shades and colours as they compare the colours of paint and collage materials. They use recycled plastic bottles

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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 to make musical instruments to use with an interactive music system. They sing songs and enjoy regular dance and music and movement sessions.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is outstanding. Children celebrate other nations festivals such as Ramadan with art work and displays. They have frequent visitors and contact with the surrounding community to increase their knowledge of the wider world and to help raise their awareness of diversity in society and develop a positive attitude to others. Children are aware of various feelings and have a keen sense of humour as they readily break into laughter when playing. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children have close relationships with the staff and each other. They are valued and respected as individuals, their confidence and self-esteem is developed by staff with use of praise and encouragement on arrival and during their play throughout the day. Staff ensure that resources positively represent the children who attend, as well as individuals from the wider community. The nursery has strong family values. Brothers and sisters relish visits to each others rooms where they are greeted with real pleasure and affection by all the children. Children said 'I love my little brother' others said 'I haven't got one'.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children behave well, they take turns and share. Staff are good role models and encourage all the children to help tidy the toys away, they teach the children how to return toys to the correct container. Children are enthusiastic and take a pride in helping. Staff reward them with verbal praise, clapping, stickers and being chosen as a special helper. Lists of rules are displayed in the rooms featuring positive statements. For example, 'be kind' and 'be happy'.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The nursery has good access and to the ground floor. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and specific language requirements are fully included and supported because senior staff have formulated a system to offer appropriate support and ensure the policies and procedures promote inclusion for all children. Staff work closely with fellow professionals and parents to develop an individual plan for progress.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

All children benefit from the commendable partnership staff have developed with parents. The individual routines and preferences are discussed and recorded which means that staff are aware of all the children's care needs. Each room has a notice board providing information for parents and staff photographs. Staff wear uniforms and are easily identified within the building. Parents regularly meet with staff at the Parents forum meetings to discuss items of mutual interest and/or concern, the minutes are displayed on the notice board. This means there is an exceptionally high level of communication between the nursery and parents.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers of children in receipt of early education is outstanding. They are made aware of how the setting operates in a detailed prospectus. They are informed of topics and operational changes verbally and in regular newsletters. The children occasionally have homework and parents are asked to help the children. For example, colouring a flag or learning the words of the concert songs. This ensures parents are involved in their children's education. Development records are freely available at all times for them to track the progress of their children. In addition parents are invited to open evenings to discuss records and development. Children's health and dietary needs are discussed and recorded. Verbal and written exchange of progress every day keep parents informed of their child's well-being and progress.

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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

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children's records and staff details are stored securely and available for inspection. Staff attend training on a rolling programme. For example, fire safety, first aid, food hygiene and are continually increasing their understanding of children's development and knowledge of appropriate activities. Staff are experienced and knowledgeable and ensure children's individual needs are met.

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Organisation

The manager has effective recruitment methods to ensure staff are appropriately checked, vetted and qualified. The registered person has also developed procedures which ensure there are efficient systems in place to monitor the continued suitability of staff to care for children.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of early education is outstanding. The registered person has ensured the staff team have attended training on the Foundation Stage and continue to increase their knowledge of the stepping stones and the early learning goals. They are confident and have established their own methods of recording and evaluating children's progress. The leadership has a commitment to continually monitor the effectiveness of the staff team in promoting an inclusive environment in which every child matters. Staff have regular meetings to share and discuss good practice and continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of planning and how children learn. Children in receipt of funding for early education make outstanding progress in their learning because the teaching methods are highly stimulating and imaginative.

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Organisation

The staff team work well together and are continually striving to perfect appropriate policies, procedures and practice to keep children healthy and safeguard their welfare. There are clear systems in place for recording accidents and medication. The staff and children's attendance records clearly show the actual arrival and departure times and the rooms that staff work in. All documentation is meticulously maintained, up to date and regularly reviewed to reflect the progressive improvement of the operational practice. All staff work well together to plan and provide children with exciting innovative experiences to enhance their development and progress. Overall, children's needs are met.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection the provider was asked to ensure the revised policy and procedures are shared with parents.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The registered person has reviewed and implemented the procedures to inform parents on the operation of the nursery and provides all parents with a comprehensive prospectus and regular newsletters.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last early education inspection the provider was asked to evaluate and implement the planning of snack and meal times to allow opportunities for the children to initiate and manage their own tasks.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The registered person and senior staff have reorganised snack and meal times and children now engage in laying the table and serving their own food. These improvements now ensure that there are regular opportunities for children to develop their personal independence.

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Improvements since the last inspection

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

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.

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Complaints since the last inspection

The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are 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 outstanding.

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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 the toys and equipment in the pre-school room are in a hygienic condition at all times.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.

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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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