Next Generation Day Nursery

Next Generation Inspection report for early years provision

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EY286456 Unique Reference Number 06 February 2008 Inspection date Janice Walker Inspector

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115 Langwith Road, Langwith Junction, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG20 9RN

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E-mail

Tracy Crowther and Kym Morgan-Armstrong Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care, Sessional care, Out of School 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 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?

Next Generation Day Nursery is a privately run nursery. It opened in 2004 and operates from a converted domestic building in the village of Langwith Junction, Derbyshire. Children aged under three years are cared for in two rooms at ground floor level and the pre-school room is on the first floor. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area which has a safety surface.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery is open each week day from 07.45 to 17.45. It is open for 51 weeks of the year, closing for Bank Holidays and for the week between Christmas and New Year. The nursery offers an after school and holiday club provision for children aged up to 14 years. A maximum of 45 children may attend the nursery at any one time. There are currently 25 children on roll. Of these, eight children receive funding for early education. Children attending come from the local and surrounding areas. There are currently no children attending who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities and all children currently attending speak English as their first 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 nursery employs four members of staff, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications. Three of the staff are working towards a higher level of qualification. The setting receives support from the early years support team from the local authority.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a warm and clean environment. They are protected from the risk of cross- infection as staff routinely clean all toys and equipment and implement daily cleaning routines for all general areas. Children have their own identified linen for sleep times and outdoor shoes are not used indoors in order to keep floor coverings clean for children to play on. Children learn basic personal hygiene practices through daily routines such as hand-washing after using the toilet and before meals; they know to clean runny noses and do so independently, putting used tissues in the bin. Documents to promote children’s health and welfare are all in place. There are suitable arrangements in place for the administration of first aid as most staff hold a current first aid certificate and first aid boxes are conveniently sited and appropriately stocked.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are well-nourished, promoting their healthy growth and development. The on-site cook has attended food hygiene training and methodically undertakes routine checks to maintain high standards of hygiene in the kitchen and ensure that meals are properly prepared. There are sound systems in place to ensure that all staff are aware of children’s individual dietary needs and any alternative meals needed are well balanced and nutritious. Children enjoy fresh fruits at snack times and are able to freely access drinks at all times which means they are all able to respond appropriately to their health needs if they are thirsty. Main meals are varied, including a selection of cosmopolitan dishes, they are nutritionally balanced and children eat heartily, with evident enjoyment.

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Helping children to be healthy

Most children enjoy regular times outdoors as part of their daily routines. During good weather they spend lengthy periods outdoors where they access a wide variety of toys and activities such as sand and water play, art and craft activities and imaginative play. They thoroughly enjoy practising controlling and co-ordination their movements during organised fun games such as ‘please Mr Policeman’. They pedal and steer vehicles around obstacles and practise balancing, throwing and catching. They develop their fine motor skills though regular opportunities to use small tools, for example, whilst playing with construction toys. Topics and planned activities support children’s learning about health and bodily awareness and nutritious daily snacks and regular tasting of different foods helps to develop their knowledge of a healthy diet.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in an environment where an effective security system ensures that staff are able to monitor access to the provision and that children are not able to leave unsupervised and are only collected by known adults. Staff work in teams throughout the nursery, deploying themselves appropriately to ensure that they supervise children in all areas. Children are grouped according to age and ability, which ensures that they access activities and resources that are appropriate to their level of development. Risk assessments are in place and staff undertake daily routine checks of children’s play areas and equipment prior to use. However, these checks

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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 are not fully effective in ensuring that toys and equipment remain safe for children to use and the environment is hazard-free. A missing hinge on a cupboard door in the home corner exposes children to possible risk of an accident and very hot water in the children’s bathrooms poses a possible risk of scalding. The storage of pushchairs in the toddler room poses a possible risk to younger children and an obstruction to those who are older and trying to access materials stored behind them.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children begin to learn how to keep themselves safe through gentle reminders, for example, to walk nicely indoors and to hold on to the banister when coming down the stair, appropriately explaining the consequences of not doing so. They begin to learn about possible dangers and how to keep themselves safe through discussions, for example, about road safety. They take part in regular fire drills, ensuring that in the event of an emergency all can evacuate safely with minimal disruption or distress. Children’s welfare is safeguarded because staff have a sound understanding of their responsibilities regarding child protection. They are aware of possible signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect and know the relevant agencies to contact if they have concerns. The designated person has attended relevant training to reinforce her knowledge.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are happy, confident and enjoy their time at the nursery. They receive high levels of attention due to high staffing ratios and they build warm relationships. Staff know them well and are sensitive to their needs and feelings, offering comfort and support when needed and praise and encouragement for achievements. Staff make good use of the 'Birth to three matters' framework to plan and provide a varied and interesting range of age-appropriate activities for these younger children. They use their observations and assessments of children’s progress well to plan the next steps for children’s learning. Children freely explore a wide range of play materials such as sand, water, paints and puppets and make progress in their development as they learn through play. They develop early communication skills as staff interact warmly with them throughout the day.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children attending the out-of-school club are confident and content in the setting. They join the younger children for a meal and enjoy sharing their daily news. They freely choose activities of interest, evidencing a particular enjoyment of outdoor activities. Staff organise this well, ensuring that the space is available for them at this time so that their play does not pose a danger to the younger children. They interact positively with each other and engage in comfortable conversation as they play. These children have secure relationships with staff, they greet them warmly, keen to share their news and happily engage in conversation.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff have a secure knowledge of the Curriculum guidance for the foundations stage and plan and provide a broad range of indoor and outdoor activities. Planning takes into consideration children’s interests and current family situations which captures their curiosity and motivation to learn. However, it is not fully secure in ensuring that all aspects of learning are covered so that children make progress in all areas of their development. Practitioners observe and monitor children’s progress regularly in a variety of different ways and then use this to identify individual targets for children. However, information is not collated effectively to monitor children’s achievements in all areas and is therefore not fully effective in identifying knowledge, skills and understanding needed in order to progress

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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 towards all of the early learning goals. Children interact confidently with staff who support their learning well by using effective questioning. Time and resources are used effectively to provide children with opportunities to work in large and small groups and make their own choices regarding their play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children behave well due to the positive and consistent methods staff use for managing behaviour. They learn to be courteous and well-mannered because staff speak to them nicely, listen attentively to what they have to say and remind them when it is appropriate to say please and thank-you. They are happy and settled, displaying a positive attitude to learning as they contribute eagerly to group discussions. They enjoy making their own decisions, moving independently around the room and selecting their play materials. They concentrate well and persevere with tasks such as fastening their zips on their coats, showing high levels of confidence and self-esteem. They build good relationships with staff and each other, confidently expressing their needs, opinions and excitement at forthcoming events. Children are developing a range of language skills. They listen intently during group activities and contribute confidently to

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

discussions. They engage in animated conversation with adults and each other, excitedly relaying news and events from home. They freely select from a wide range of age-appropriate books and listen eagerly at story times, which helps to foster their enjoyment of reading. Children use a wide range of materials to make marks and enjoy creating writing patterns in the sand and in paints. They begin to recognise familiar letters as they search for their named items during daily routines such as name cards for registration, place mats and cups. Children confidently use numbers during practical activities and daily routines, and older children can recognise some number symbols. Children are developing a good awareness of simple addition and subtraction through number rhymes and older children display their confidence calculating using numbers higher than 10. Children learn about patterns through activities such as

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

sequencing games and bead threading. They confidently use good mathematical language, for example, children tell an adult she cannot wear the dressing up outfit because it is too small and she is too big for it. They explore and discuss the properties of shape and correctly use positional language during play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's knowledge and understanding of the world is developing well through interesting planned activities. They learn about space, confidently recalling details of each planet such as which one is the smallest, largest, coldest, closest to earth, along with discussions about how to travel there. Older children are able to link this learning to favourite films and confidently contribute their thoughts and ideas. Staff seize on children’s excitement at events at home to build on their learning, for example, by transforming the role play area into a hospital with cameras, dolls, medical and baby accessories following a child’s visit to the local hospital with her mother for a scan of her baby. Children enjoy visits to places in the local community and staff make good use of the environment as a learning resource. They are developing good awareness of the uses of information technology in everyday life. For example, they are able

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

to operate simple equipment such as battery toys and the computer. Children use their well developed imagination in the role play area to re-enact familiar scenarios. Good resources support this and staff make very good use of these opportunities to extend their learning, encouraging them to think through their ideas and solve their own problems. They explore a range of art and craft materials, designing and constructing large and complex models with a purpose. They freely access and listen to a range of music and have learnt a wide variety of songs, which they sing with gusto.

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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

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children from all backgrounds and abilities feel welcome and develop a strong sense of belonging because staff value what they have to offer. Children’s art work is displayed around the setting and activities are adapted to include their interests and contributions. Staff have a good knowledge of children’s individual needs through effective, up to date documentation and ongoing communication with parents and other professionals. These systems ensure that all children, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities can integrate well within the nursery. Children are developing their awareness of the local community through regular visits to local facilities such as the park and local Sure Start centre where they access organised activities along with the soft play room and sensory room. They participate in a wide range of activities that help develop their awareness of the wider world. They explore festivals such as

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Rosh Hashanah, Hannukah and Diwali through art and craft activities, fiction and non-fiction books. They see posters and photographs of people from around the world and of different abilities and access play equipment such as dressing up clothes, small figures and jigsaw puzzles that promote positive images of diversity. Children who speak English as an additional language are well supported as staff actively work with parents to find out common words from their first language to use in the setting.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children behave very well due to the high levels of support from, and the very good example set, by staff. They develop a strong sense of ownership as they are included in making many toys and games as part of planned activities and learn to care for these as part of daily routines. They are busy and appropriately challenged throughout the day. Clear and consistently applied boundaries are in place and children have a clear understanding of right and wrong. Through daily routines and fun games and activities, they learn to take turns and through staff’s gentle support and reasoning, they learn to negotiate and share resources. Overall, children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Children settle well because staff form good relationships with parents and work closely with them to share information. Useful information is gathered on admission to enable staff to respond to children’s individual needs and staff

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Helping children make a positive contribution

and parents make effective use of daily diaries to share information relating to routines and daily activities. Ongoing information is shared on notice boards and through regular letters and parent’s evenings. These strong links with parents contribute to promoting consistency of care for children.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers of children in receipt of funding for nursery education is good. Parents receive useful information about the Foundation Stage in the parents’ prospectus and their children’s progress folders so that they develop an awareness of the curriculum. Children benefit from their parents having some opportunities to be involved in their learning; parents receive regular newsletters which details what their children will be learning in the forthcoming topic and how this can be supported at home and invitations to contribute linked artefacts. There are excellent systems in place to share information about children’s progress and development through ongoing verbal communication along with detailed written weekly progress reports. Parents are actively encouraged to contribute their own observations of their child’s learning outside of the nursery provision although systems are not

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Helping children make a positive contribution

yet in place for them to share what they know about their children on admission so that staff can establish clear starting points for learning.

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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 satisfactory. Effective organisation of staff ensures that there are qualified staff working in each area. Children benefit from being cared for by a consistent staff team who know them well and with whom they form warm and close relationships. Sound recruitment procedures ensure that staff are appropriately qualified and vetted and a structured induction programme, followed by regular meetings supports them in competently undertaking their identified duties. Staff continue to extend their skills and knowledge through an appraisal system and ongoing attendance at relevant training. The management team are continually reflecting on practice as a result of their training experiences and discussions with other relevant professionals in order to improve the quality of care for children attending. Children are relaxed and confident within the setting. They are well supervised and supported during activities and the staff team

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Organisation

work well together to ensure the smooth running of the day.

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Organisation

The premises are well organised, children are cared for according to their age and level of ability so that activities are appropriate to their developmental needs and there are many opportunities for them to join together for social interaction. Resources are well organised to allow children to move around freely and they confidently make independent choices regarding their play. Daily routines ensure that children have regular snacks and meals and opportunities for rest for those who need. However, at certain times, routines lack flexibility which means that during cooler weather, the younger children do not have a morning outdoor play session which limits their access to fresh air and outdoor physical activity and exploration at these times. All legally required documentation which contributes to children's health, safety and welfare is in place and mainly contains a good level of detail, although records of staff attendance do not fully

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Organisation

meet requirements. Policies and procedures, which help to ensure the efficient and safe management of the provision, are in place. The management team review these as a result of their positive response to comments and suggestions to improve practice.

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Organisation

Leadership and management of early education is good. Senior staff have a clear understanding of their areas of strengths and those to improve. There are minor weaknesses in the planning and assessment systems but staff deliver a broad and interesting curriculum, act as positive role models and provide high levels of support to children along with appropriate challenges. Staff demonstrate a commitment to improving the educational provision as they attend relevant training courses to develop their skills and knowledge and actively use newly acquired knowledge to review current practice. Effective links with development workers contributes to monitoring the effectiveness of the education provision. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection, the provider agreed to two recommendations. These were to ensure medication records maintain confidentially and ensure that child protection procedures are shared with parents and include procedures regarding allegations being made against a member of staff.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The format for recording medication administered has since been reviewed and now contain only information relevant to one particular child so that they remain confidential. An addition has been made to the child protection procedures which now comply with the Local Safeguarding Children Board and include procedures to follow should an allegation be made against a member

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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 of staff. Child protection procedures now form part of the induction package for parents so that they are fully aware of the nursery’s responsibility regarding safe-guarding.

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Improvements since the last inspection

This is the first inspection of the provision for early education.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection Ofsted has received a concern regarding behaviour management (National Standard 11: Behaviour), inadequate food (National Standard 8: Food and drink), uncleared individuals having unsupervised access to children (National Standard 1: Suitable person), inappropriate behaviour of members of staff and inadequate adult: child ratios (National Standard 2: Organisation). Ofsted conducted two unannounced visits and an action was agreed with the provider to provide an action plan demonstrating how the procedures for checking that staff looking after children or having unsupervised access to them are effective. The provider has now carried out this action and remains qualified for registration.

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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 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): • assess the risks to children in relation to the hot water taps, the broken door in the home corner area in the pre-school room and the storage of pushchairs in the toddler room and take action to minimise these • review the organisation of daily routines to ensure that all children have opportunities for outdoor play during the morning session and ensure that staff registers clearly indicate staffs’ actual hours of attendance, with regard to leaving the premises at lunch times.

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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): • develop planning to ensure that all aspects of learning are covered equally and frequently and improve assessment records to ensure that they clearly show children’s progress along the stepping stones and are used to identify the next steps in children’s 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 • gather appropriate information from parents to identify starting points for children’s learning to better enable staff to build on children’s previous learning and skills.

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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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