Hillyfields Day Nursery

Hillyfields Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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EY282539 Unique Reference Number 27 February 2008 Inspection date Christine Lynne Hodge Inspector

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Hillyfields Day Nursery, 41 Harcourt Road, London, SE4 2AJ Setting Address

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020 8694 1069 Telephone number hillyfields@fsmail.net E-mail Hillyfields 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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Hillyfields Day Nursery is privately owned and re-opened in its newly converted premises in 2004. The nursery which is set out over three floors, is situated in a residential area and serves the local community. The setting opens five days a week throughout the year with the exception of; one week at Christmas, one week at Easter and statuary bank holidays. In addition the nursery is closed for three statuary staff training days per year. Sessions are from 08:00 to 18:00.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery is registered to care for a maximum of 60 children from three months to under five years at any one time. There are currently 65 children on roll of whom 22 receive funding for nursery education. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are no children currently attending the setting with identified learning difficulties or disabilities or with English as a second language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery manager holds a level three qualification. There are Sixteen full time staff and four part time staff who make up the staff team. All but four member of staff hold an early years

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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 qualifications to NVQ Levels 2 or 3. There are three trainees working towards their Level 2. The nursery receives support from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children's health and welfare is very well promoted throughout the setting. Meals and snacks are freshly prepared daily by the nursery cook and include healthy menus containing fresh fruit and vegetables. Babies and children with special dietary requirements are provided with alternative menus if meals are not suitable for them, and staff have good system in place for the introduction of new foods and for recording children's allergies and special dietary requirements. Children have access to drinking water throughout the day. This encourages them to think about when they are thirsty. Meal times are social occasions where staff sit with children and encourage good table manners and social interaction. Older children help to dish up their own food promoting their independence. Children benefit from daily fresh air and exercise playing outside in the garden, on a rota basis, where they can run around, kick and

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Helping children to be healthy

throw balls, play with hoops and climb through tunnels and on the small climbing frame, to promote their large motor skills. In the baby room, babies have space to crawl around in and furniture and toys to pull themselves up on, to help develop their physical skills. Children have access to range of age appropriate resources which help them to promote the development of their fine motor skills. Theses include chopsticks, scissors, pencils, paint brushes, puzzles and various construction activties.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are cared for in a clean well maintained environment. The nursery has effective policies and procedures in place to ensure that staff promote and support children's health and hygiene and to protect children from germs and cross infection. For example, nappy changing procedures include the use of disposable gloves and aprons and antibacterial wipes for cleaning changing mats after each nappy change. Children are encouraged to learn good personal hygiene by washing their hands after nappy changing and going to the toilet and before snack and meal times. Staff have good systems in place to ensure that children have their own beds and bed linen. The nursery's sickness policy ensures that parents are aware of the need to keep children at home if they are unwell, to prevent infections spreading . Children are able to receive appropriate care in the event of an accident or emergency occurring, as all staff hold an

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Helping children to be healthy

up-to-date first aid qualification and parents give written permission for staff to seek emergency treatment. Accident and medication records are well maintained.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children play and relax in safe, secure surroundings. The nursery environment, which is on three levels, is warm and welcoming with lots of posters, children's art work and photographs on display, creating a child friendly atmosphere. Parents and children are greeted warmly by staff and made to feel welcome. Children move confidently and freely around their group rooms. Furniture, equipment and play resources throughout the nursery are in good condition and meet the needs of the children. Toys are stored in child height furniture allowing children to make independent choices and to access them safely. Good levels of supervision ensure that children play safely with toys and equipment. Daily safety check lists are carried out by staff to minimise risks and keep children safe and necessary safety precautions are in place. These include gates on all stair levels together with socket covers and window locks in each room.

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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 There are good procedures in place for the safe arrival and collection of children and to ensure unwanted visitors cannot gain access to the premises. Children are learning about personal safety by taking part in regular fire drills and by staff giving them gentle reminders about the dangers of running indoors and holding scissors correctly. Fire evacuation procedures are clearly displayed on all floors and fire drills are well recorded.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected as all adults working with children have been appropriately vetted and all staff have attended child protection training and understand their role in safeguarding children. The nursery has a comprehensive child protection policy in place, however this has not been updated in line with current Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures as it still refers to the old Area Child Protection Committee procedures.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are happy and confident in a relaxed and caring environment. They enjoy their time spent at the nursery because they take part in a good range of well planned, stimulating activities throughout the day. Activities and play resources promote all areas of their learning and development and encourage children to be creative, to explore and experiment and to develop their social and physical skills. The Birth to three matters framework is used to plan activities for children under three years and the Foundation Stage for children three years of age and over. An effective keyworker system is in place with observations and assessments completed for younger children in line with the Birth to three matters framework.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The ground floor baby room is divided into two areas, so there is separated area for younger babies and for children who need to sleep. Younger babies follow their individual routines for eating, sleeping and playing, to ensure consistency and continuity of care. Children benefit from having a good range of age appropriate toys and activities to play with. They happily take part in messy activities such as painting and water and sand play and at the inspection had fun investigating and exploring jelly and hair gel, during a sensory activity. Children enjoy good interaction with staff who are kind and caring. Adults sit with children on the floor and join in their play, giving lots of cuddles as children become tired or need reassuring. Staff talk and sing to children, encouraging them to become skilful communicators. During the day babies benefit from time spent in the garden and enjoy being taken on organised outings.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children in the first floor toddler room readily engage in a broad range of interesting activities. Children are very inquisitive and confidently approach adults and visitors asking lot of questions. They are learning to play co-operatively together, to share and take turns. Children benefit from good interaction with staff who sit with them at activities and extend their learning. Children enjoy doing puzzles and listening to stories and singing familiar songs to help them to become skilful communicators, and playing outside in the garden. They have great fun developing their imaginations in the well resourced role play area, making cups of tea and cooking dinner for the inspector and a member of staff, who uses the activity to help children learn to count and to recognise shapes and colours of the crockery and play foods. Toddler room children also benefit from outings to the local park, train station and pet shop to help

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff work well together as a team. They demonstrate a good understanding of the Foundation Stage and that children learn best through

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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 play. Staff plan a good range of interesting and stimulating activities which cover the six areas of learning. Activities are adapted to challenge older and more abled children in the pre school room. Children's learning is extended as staff join in activities and ask open ended questions to encourage children's thinking and reasoning. An effective keyworker system is in place with staff completing regular observations and assessments on their key children, which are transferred to the children's individual profiles. However, the assessments are not clear about how children are to be moved onto the next stage in the learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's personal, social and emotional development is progressing well. Children are happy, confident and show a real sense of belonging. They readily engage in activities and work harmoniously together using the computer and playing in the role play area. Children are developing good independent and self help skills by taking themselves to the toilet and by dishing up their meals and helping themselves to drinks throughout the day from the water dispenser. Children have good language and listening skills and use these confidently to organise their play in the garden and role play area. They talk confidently about real life situations, make up imaginary stories, and happily stand up on their own at circle time to sing their favourite songs. Children enjoy listening to stories and looking at books. They have good opportunities to practise their emergent writing throughout their play, using a good range of resources and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

they are beginning to link sounds to letters. Children take part in many activities that help them to develop their early maths skills. These include, sorting, matching, counting, construction, number and shape recognition. A display in the pre- school room is helping children to learn about the concept of opposites. For example, big and little, empty and full, heavy and light. Staff use nursery routines to encourage children to count numbers of plates and cups needed for dinner. Children have good opportunities to develop their creativity through various messy activities such as free painting and collage and exploring with sand and water. They have great fun developing their imaginations in the role play area and dressing up and they enjoy singing familiar songs. Children are confident at using the computer and laugh and giggle as they negotiate computer programmes such as 'Flump' They learn about the community and wider

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

world through outings to the local pet shop, library, fire station, train station and Chinese supermarket. They take part in themed activities to celebrate different festival such as Chinese New Year and have access to a good range of positive image play resources, pictures and posters. They are learning about nature through planting flowers in the garden and understand that plants need sunshine and water to help them grow. Children take part in daily activities both indoor and outdoors that promote all areas of their physical development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. The nursery welcomes children and families of all ethnic and religious background and employs a good mix of staff from different backgrounds, including two male members of staff. Children's individual needs are consistently met throughout the nursery. Comprehensive 'Individual Child Profile' forms, completed by parents on admission, ensure that staff have sufficient information to meet children's individual care needs and treat them with equal concern. Children take part in a wide range of activities that help them to learn about the wider world, diversity and disability. They have access to positive image play resources that include books, puzzles, role play and small world resources, they celebrate various festivals and go on outings in the community. Although there are no children currently attending the nursery with identified learning difficulties and disabilities or with English as an additional language the nursery has

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Helping children make a positive contribution

good procedures in place to support children if necessary. The named Special Educational Needs

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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 Coordinator (SENCO) has attended training and will work with Area SENCO. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Strategies for managing children's behaviour are focused on positive reinforcement. Staff are kind and caring and act as good role models by showing respect and supporting children to share, take turns, to be polite and to respect one another. They offer children lots of praise and encouragement to promote their self esteem. As a result children are happy, confident and well behaved.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is good. This contributes to children's care, well being and development. Pre-school parents are provided with good information about the Foundation Stage curriculum which includes different aspects of learning and a parent's guide to learning through play and early literacy, writing and number work avoiding worksheets. There is also a display on the Foundation Stage on the wall outside the pre- school room. Toddler and baby room parents are also provided with good information about the Birth to three matters framework. Regular news letters and notice boards on each floor keep parents well informed about nursery events, themes and keyworkers, together with the nursery's policies and procedures. The nursery operates an open door policy and has effective systems in place for keeping parents informed about how their children are progressing and developing through daily contact books for

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Helping children make a positive contribution

younger children and open days where parents talk to their child's keyworker.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Leadership and management are good. The management team work well together to ensure that children are provided with good quality education and care. They have a good understanding of the Foundation Stage and spend time in the rooms to monitor and evaluate the curriculum and to identify strengths and areas for improvement. They work with the Early Years Advisory teacher and support the consistent, committed staff team to build their skills through regular room meetings, supervision, staff meetings and by encouraging staff to go on training.

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Organisation

Children benefit from being cared for by a consistent, enthusiastic team of staff who provide good levels of support and supervision. The nursery is well organised so that children can move around their group rooms safely and confidently. Play resources and activities are very accessible to children allowing them a good level of independence. Rigorous recruitment and induction procedures ensure that all adults working with children are suitable to do so. The nursery currently employs nine staff who hold a Level 2 qualification, three of whom are working towards their Level 3 and five staff who hold a Level 3 qualification. there are three trainees who are working towards their Level 2. All staff have a current Enhanced CRB Disclosure. The management team demonstrate a good understanding of the National Standards and of the requirements of the Nursery's registration. Children's health, safety and well-being are well

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Organisation

promoted as the nursery has all legally required documentation in place together with a comprehensive set of policies and procedures which promote children's care and education. Records are shared with parents as necessary.

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Organisation

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 previous inspection the nursery was asked to develop an action plan that’s sets out how staff training and qualifications will be met, to ensure that stair gates are safe and operate

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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 effectively and that the window lock in 'Sharks' room is made safe. An action plan was implemented and has ensured that all but one member of staff now holds a Level 2 or 3 qualification or are working towards one. This has improved outcomes for children. The stair gates and window lock in Sharks room have been made safe, improving children's safety.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Key issues for improvement raised at the previous Nursery Education inspection included ensuring that children have more opportunities to use writing for a purpose, to provide more opportunities for children to explore information technology and to provide opportunities for children to develop maths skills that encourage their awareness of shape, space and measure. Children are provided with good opportunities to practise their emergent writing in the graphics area and role play area using a wide range of resources. They confidently use computer programmes and take part in other activities that help them to learn about shape, space and measure.

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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 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 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): • update the child protection policy in line with current Local Safeguarding Children Board procedure

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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 that observations and assessments clearly show how children are to be moved onto the next stage in their learning • extend the use of phonics to further develop children's understanding of linking sounds to letters

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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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