Westside Day Nursery

Westside Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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EY349651 Unique Reference Number 11 September 2007 Inspection date Margaret Bryant Inspector

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The Acorns Children's Centre, Nestor Grove, Bilton Grange, Hull, HU9 4DB

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Setting Address

01482 710991 or 07890 600 505 Telephone number alistair2002@btinternet.com E-mail Westside Day Nursery Limited Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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Setting Address

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

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Westside Day Nursery is based in self-contained premises within the Acorns Children's Centre, in the east of the city of Hull, some six miles from the city centre. It is one of two nurseries owned by the proprietor. The nursery was registered in March 2007 and may care for a maximum of 33 children under five years. It is open Monday to Friday from 07.00 to 18.00, all year round except for one week during the Christmas and new year period. There is a total of 49 children on roll, 10 of whom are in receipt of nursery education funding.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Children are cared for in separate rooms according to age and there are enclosed outdoor areas for all children's use. The nursery is privately owned and there is a manager employed who has daily responsibility for it's operation. There are seven staff employed, including the manager, five of whom have an appropriate childcare qualification. The nursery have built good links with the local early years department, health visitors and local schools. They also receive support from the early years mentor for education.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

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

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children begin to learn about the importance of keeping healthy through daily routines and practices. Toddlers begin to recognise their own bodily needs as they tell staff they need to go to the toilet. They also know when they are tired as they sit or lie down to rest. Pre-school children manage their own bodily needs quite well. They begin to understand the importance of hygiene in relation to washing of hands and why they need to do this. Staff provide positive role models for children as they wash their hands after using tissues and some children copy this good practice. The health and welfare of babies is considered well as staff wear gloves and aprons when they change their nappies. Records of accidents are shared with parents as well as any medication which is given. This ensures they know about any accidents and that medication is given to children in line with their written instructions. All staff are expected to

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Helping children to be healthy

attend first aid training as well as food hygiene, following appropriate procedures to protect children's health. Visits to the nursery by dental hygienists help children learn about the care of their teeth.

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Helping children to be healthy

All children have regular opportunities for fresh air and exercise. There are two defined areas, one which has a soft rubberised surface and is under cover as well as an enclosed grassed area. Toddlers and pre-school children begin to learn about taking care near babies when they play under the covered area. However, when they use the grassed area, there is plenty of space for them to run around. There is plenty of equipment for them also which includes climbing frames, slides, bikes, scooters and wheelbarrows. Children move spontaneously with confidence and negotiate well the pathways and obstacles. They operate the equipment quite well by means of pushing, for example, the wheelbarrows. They also peddle their cars at different speeds with their feet, and attempt quite well to ride and balance their scooters without falling off.

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Helping children to be healthy

Procedures in place for illness include the exclusion periods for those children with infectious illnesses. This protects the welfare of all children. Toys, resources and equipment are cleaned regularly and bedding in the cots which babies use is very clean. This is changed after each separate child. Children benefit from having healthy meals and snacks. They enjoy fresh fruit including bananas, oranges and apples. Although they wash their hands beforehand, all children help themselves with their fingers from the same bowl. This practice does not sufficiently protect children from the risk of possible cross infection. Feeding of babies is carried out in line with parents' wishes, records are kept of their intake, and children who are old enough are encouraged to feed themselves. Toddlers and pre-school children sit together for meals. Some staff sit with them and help them realise about proper use of the cutlery and give them

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Helping children to be healthy

encouragement with use of manners. Individual flannels are given to children after meals to wipe their hands and faces. However, children's health is not best protected when staff wet these in the sink where paint pots are cleaned.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children's safety is adequately protected by staff who help them know about how to keep safe, both when indoors and on outings. For example, staff help children have regard for one another and one another's personal space, taking care not to bump into one another. They also help children to understand about road safety when they go on trips to the park. Children take part in regular fire drills and staff help them, through these practises and discussion, to begin to

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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 understand about the importance of their own safety in the event of a fire. Staff caring for babies receive help from other staff to get them to places of safety. Children benefit from being cared for in rooms according to their age. They also have easily and readily available, age-appropriate resources.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Risk assessments are carried out by staff and determine any possible risks to children's safety. The support of the centre maintenance staff ensures any areas of concern are attended to immediately, without delay. This includes any broken or damaged resources, regular maintenance of the heating system and the electricity supply, and electric goods.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There are firm procedures in place for the safety of children as they arrive and depart with their parents. Entrance into the nursery foyer is by invitation and the further secure door into the nursery can only be entered with staff by a key pad entry system. This system ensures the protection of children from unwanted persons. Staff only allow entry to persons they recognise and for whom they have received prior authorisation from parents. Staff are expected to attend training in child protection and know the procedures in place which protect them from possible harm. However, not all staff demonstrate a clear understanding of the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures and in this respect, children's safety is not adequately protected.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. All children in the nursery are happy and settled. They show contentment and growing confidence as staff support their play and choices about what they do. Children are given plenty of praise and encouragement and are justly proud of their efforts. For example, babies are happy when staff clap them as they perform simple tasks and older children are proud of their work which is on display. All children have the opportunity to be creative and experiment with synthetic and natural materials. For example, babies and toddlers enjoy hand and feet painting as well as playing with water and sand. Older children use a range of different collage materials which they arrange and glue together. Most of them can competently and confidently use scissors to cut out their desired shapes and patterns.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff respond well to babies and toddlers and are very aware of their needs of rest and play, as well as their routines. Staff show a developing awareness of the 'Birth to three matters' framework and plan their daily activities around this to help benefit children. They observe children's progress and record their developmental stages. Photographs on display and in their individual folders, support and evidence what children enjoy and achieve.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Some children who receive nursery education are already known to staff as they have progressed through from the toddler room. Staff know them well, though as with new children to the nursery, they do not necessarily know the stages they are at in terms of the areas of learning. Staff, therefore, assess children's knowledge and their stages of development over the first few weeks with them. This is because they have no formal systems in place which establish what children already know and can do when they enter nursery education, and from which they can build. Staff show some understanding of the 'Curriculum guidance to the foundation stage' and the areas of learning. However, their recordings do not clearly show how their observations of children link to the stepping stones. Nor do they show how they use this information to help children progress to their next steps

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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 show some interest in numbers, shapes and counting. They happily draw simple shapes and most children easily count to five and beyond, some with help. Staff sing some number rhymes with children and sometimes children count together, without staff. For example, as they wait for their lunch, children point at and count with each other, how many of them are at the table. However, there is insufficient encouragement by staff to develop children's interest in numbers further, through applying counting skills in everyday play opportunities. As they explore different materials, children differentiate well between the different colours they use. They also initiate their own opportunities to mix colours. They hold several brushes together of different coloured paint, paint their pictures with these and enjoy seeing the effect.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are confident, seek out others to share experiences in their play and initiate conversations with one another. Children behave mainly well together and form good relationships with each other as well as staff. They use their imaginations and the available props to support their play. For example, several children decide the cardboard box in which they sit is a boat, in which they will go to the park. They talk together about what they will see when they get there. When one child starts to drive the boat, using her hands as if using a steering wheel, other children inform her that they do not drive their boat but paddle it. Staff intervene sometimes in children's play and ask children questions about what they see on trips to the park with them. They discuss this and recall some of the animals they saw. When a plane flies overhead children's interest is averted as they make connections with their recent holidays.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

For example, some children talk about the aeroplane on which they went.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Organised 'circle' times help children develop confidence and understand about time. For example, staff ask children about what they eat for breakfast and what they do at the weekends. They also use this time to help children recognise their names. Children are asked to collect their names, one by one, from the wall, and place them on the doors to indicate their presence for the session. Some children recognise their names easily. Children ascribe meanings to marks as they know how to write the first letter of their names, with some children able to write their full name with help. Improved access to books helps children appreciate these. However, there is not enough interaction by staff, at times, to sustain children's interest in learning through purposeful use of communication and language. This is because opportunities are sometimes missed to develop children's learning as they play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children show an interest in the world in which they live and the lives of people with whom they are familiar. For example, they run to the fence when they see people they know and watch the local minibus as it daily collects people from within the centre. Children negotiate space well as they drive their cars. They use pretend tools as they turn their cars upside down to fix them when they break down. Photographs show children constructing towers and they use large play shapes to make tunnels which they crawl through. Children enjoy programmable toys and sing into the microphone; they then enjoy listening and laugh as the machine plays their singing back to them.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Initial discussions with parents establish children's individual needs and these are respected by staff. This helps all children develop a real sense of belonging, feel important and valued as individuals. Staff who care for babies plan their time well. They ensure that not only their rest and sleep needs are met, but also their individual physical development and capabilities are carefully considered. They do this through arrangement of the room. There is different sized equipment for their growing needs, as well as separate areas in place for mobile and non-mobile

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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 children. This helps all children feel contented and secure in their surroundings and they enjoy the time staff make to talk and play with them.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Toddlers and pre-school children receive clear guidance from staff about how to get along together. Any disputes amongst the youngest, mainly in respect of sharing, are clearly sorted out by staff, through explanation. This helps all children understand about how to get along together, which in the main they do quite well. They are helped to understand about the world in which they live. Their knowledge is helped through discussion about other countries and their customs. This often happens as a result of holidays and the different places where children go. They also have positive images about race and diversity through the resources available with which they play. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is satisfactory. All parents, as well as children, receive a very warm and friendly welcome as they arrive at the nursery. They are reassured their children settle well and are invited if they wish to see this fact, by viewing their children in their rooms, via closed circuit television to screens in the main office. Parents receive information about the nursery's operation, including some of the procedures staff follow, which ensures their overall well-being. Parents report satisfaction with the care their children receive. However, whilst they are informed about the progress their children make, those parents whose children receive funding, are unclear about what it means in terms of their children's education. They only receive brief information about the areas of learning with no explanation about what they are. Nor do they know about how staff help them progress through the stepping stones towards the early

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Helping children make a positive contribution

learning goals. Parents are consulted about what their children know and can do when they commence nursery education. It is not clear, however, that this information is used positively by staff on which to build and help children make further progress in their learning.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. All children happily arrive and easily settle into the care of mostly familiar, very friendly staff who know them well. Children's welfare is safeguarded as staff are suitably vetted to be in the proximity of children and their recruitment procedures are reasonably effective. Detailed induction procedures, contracts of employment and job descriptions, clearly show the expectations and responsibilities of staff for children's care and well-being. Regular appraisals and ongoing mandatory training help ensure staff continue to have the appropriate skills to do their job. Most staff hold a childcare qualification, and those without are working towards achieving qualified status.

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Organisation

Documentation, as required by regulation, is easily accessible, well organised and of a satisfactory standard. Confidentiality of information is respected as when not in use, all records are securely locked away. Parents receive daily information about what their children do, through conversation with staff and written information. Parents say they welcome the stability for their children being cared for by some familiar staff.

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Organisation

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The proprietor shows a firm commitment to improving the quality of care and education for all children. Identified plans of action, displayed for parents' information as well as staff, clearly show where further improvement is identified by her. The manager oversees the daily operation of the nursery which includes supervision of staff. She plans regular meetings for them and helps them care for the children from time to time. However, she does not sufficiently check the records staff complete in respect of children's development, progress and learning. Nor does she make sure they fully understand and feel

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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 confident about the curriculum planning and how it links to children's individual progress through the stepping stones.

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Organisation

Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since registration there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards. The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaint record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • review hygiene practices with regard to the use of flannels • continue to develop the 'Birth to three matters' framework for the benefit of all children in this age range • increase all staff's awareness of the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure all staff fully understand the planning of the curriculum, and are confident about how it links to children's individual progress through the stepping stones • continue to promote and sustain children's interest in learning, through purposeful use of communication and language; develop children's interest in numbers through every day play opportunities • develop systems which establish what children know and can do when they enter nursery education and on which staff can build • develop information provided to parents about the areas of learning.

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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 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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