Bligh Primary School (Juniors)

Coconut Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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144566 Unique Reference Number 19 November 2007 Inspection date Roulla Xyrizos Inspector

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133 Stoke Newington Church Street, London, N16 0UH Setting Address

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020 7923 0720 Telephone number info@coconutnursery.co.uk E-mail Yael Witting 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?

Coconut Nursery Ltd opened in 1992. It operates from a one storey renovated factory building situated off the main road and surrounded by town houses. The spacious premises comprise of a self contained baby/toddler unit and pre-school, children's toilet and washing facilities, kitchen, laundry facilities, office, staff room, staff toilets and enclosed spacious outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery is located in Stoke Newington which is in the London borough of Hackney and serves the local community. The nursery is registered to provide care for 49 children under 5 years of age. Children attend a variety of sessions and can attend on a full or part time basis. There are currently 84 children on roll. This includes 24 funded three and four year olds. The setting currently supports one child who has learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery opens five days a week all year round excluding bank holidays. Christmas, Easter and inset days. Sessions are from 08:00 until 18:00. The setting receives support from the local authority and the Pre School Learning Alliance.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 The manager, deputy and 15 members of staff, including one volunteer work with the children. The setting also employs an additional four members of staff for cover, office and kitchen duties respectively. Over 85% of the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 2, 3 or 4. A total of two staff members are currently working towards a recognised early years qualification and one staff is working towards an early years management qualification.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a clean and well-organised environment. They benefit from the settings effective procedures and staff's good hygiene practices. These meet children's health needs very well. The majority of staff are first aid trained to include training in first aid for infants and young children. Children have a clear understanding about the importance of good hygiene and personal care. Visual signs and simple wording such as 'wash your hands' 'brush your teeth' remind children of the importance of good hygiene. During lunch, when children accidentally dropped food on the floor, children entered into discussions about why they must not eat food from the floor because of germs.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are protected from the risk of cross infection. Work surfaces, nappy changing mats, tables and high chairs are cleaned with antibacterial cleaner. Children stay healthy and generally learn about keeping themselves healthy because staff promote good hygiene. For example, staff wear aprons and gloves during each nappy changing routine. Kitchen staff wear aprons and hairnets, and all staff wear shoe covers when entering the baby unit. Very good standards of hygiene were observed throughout the setting, and during meal and snack times.

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Helping children to be healthy

A broad range of documentation is in place. Accident records are signed by staff and parents. Consent to administer medication is in place for most children, although there are inconsistencies in obtaining prior written parental consent to administer non prescribed medication such as teething gels and nappy creams. Records of medication administered to children are kept, and countersigned by two members of staff. However there are some inconsistencies as on the day of inspection, one particular record was not entered in the medication book. Written parental consent to seek emergency medical aid is in place although this is sometimes unclear on the written record obtained by the nursery.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are able to freely access regular drinks throughout the day. Younger children are offered boiled water throughout the day and pre-school children help themselves to water from a low table containing beakers and jugs of water. This helps children further develop their independence skills. The children enjoy a broad variety of healthy, balanced meals and snacks and all children's individual dietary needs are addressed and recorded. Mealtimes are social occasions which are thoroughly enjoyed by all the children. Children learn about healthy food options and are provided with extremely nutritious meals. Menus are displayed on notice boards throughout the nursery and include a broad variety of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads. On the day of inspection, children enjoyed eating ratatouille, jacket potatoes with cheese, salad and beans and learn for themselves what foods are good for them.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children increase their understanding of healthy living through daily exercise and outdoor play, whatever the weather. Children have excellent opportunities to play in the fully enclosed, spacious garden area and enjoy sliding, climbing, riding wheeled toys and playing in the large sand pit area. Children move confidently, imaginatively and demonstrate good control and

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Helping children to be healthy

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 co-ordination skills through a variety of activities such as dance and exercise classes. During exercise classes, children are encouraged to 'stretch up to the moon, wave to the man in the moon and bow to the man in the moon' thus developing exercise through play.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are given good opportunities to use large equipment to balance and climb, such as climbing frames, slides and a ski type walker machine. This exposes children to different types of equipment which are imitating real life such as the ski type machine which is used in gymnasiums. Children are developing their finer manipulative skills through the use of a range of small and large equipment such as pencils, role play, brushes, cutler and tools used when making robots on the sticking and gluing table.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Children play in a spacious, well organised, safe and extremely well-maintained environment. The nursery's well implemented safety policies and procedures help to protect children from harm. Children have ample space to play and move around safely and confidently. Staff undertake twice daily checks of the premises each morning and afternoon which help to protect children from harm.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The nursery has created a child orientated, inviting and welcoming environment. Children's work and photos of the children and their families are displayed throughout the nursery. Information for parents is displayed on notice boards throughout the setting, bright emergency evacuation procedures are displayed within each base room and each child has their own named peg for hanging up their outdoor clothing.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The nursery provides a large fully enclosed outdoor play area equipped with a herb garden where children help to plant seeds, pick vegetables and herbs and use these in their cooking activities. Low level safety mirrors and flower displays add to the general bright and welcoming environment in the outdoor play area.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The nursery ensures the premises are spotlessly clean and extremely well maintained due to the settings extensive cleaning rota. The nursery has built up an excellent range of equipment which is used to meet the needs of all the children. Children are able to freely access toys and equipment which are safe, clean, suitable for use and in excellent condition.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are able to self select their own selection of toys and resources which are all age appropriate. Children have access to a vast range of large and small equipment both indoors and outdoors which provide them with wide ranging opportunities to test and explore their physical skills. Children are kept safe due to the excellent range of safety measures in place. The setting takes positive steps to promote safety and takes precautions to prevent accidents. All fire safety doors are unobstructed and clearly identifiable, and all low level cupboards and doors are fitted with safety catches.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children learn to keep themselves safe and are developing good awareness of safety. For example, staff will emphasise the importance of not running around within the nursery, and every single area of the nursery is covered by a staff member. Children's safety is further promoted due to the exceptionally high staff to children ratio that the setting adopts. Staff engage children in group discussions regarding safety, and use a broad range of role play to reinforce this. For example, children play transport games about crossing the road at traffic lights.

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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 Excellent child protection procedures are in place and children's welfare is given high priority as they are protected from possible neglect or abuse. Staff are fully aware of the types of abuse and the signs to look for and how to handle and report any concerns. Local Social Services duty teams telephone numbers are displayed throughout the nursery, together with leaflets explaining what to do if you think a child is being abused.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. Children take part in a highly exceptional range of exceedingly well planned activities. Outdoor play is actively promoted all year round. Colourful displays of children's work help children to feel part of the setting. An extensive range of activities and plans are displayed throughout the nursery. Plans show clear links between Birth to three matters and the Foundation Stage curriculum and what these mean for the children's overall learning and development. An excellent, varied, stimulating and comprehensive range of activities offer the children a wide range of experiences such as dance, French lessons, exercise and music sessions where children enjoy dancing to favourite tunes and playing a wide range of musical instruments. Children enjoy regular outings within the community and take part in interactive puppet shows and story telling activities using a variety of props.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children settle and are extremely happy within the setting. All children are greeted warmly by staff and the setting's highly comprehensive settling in procedure ensures that all children feel confident, settled and secure within the nursery. Considerable thought has gone into ensuring that staff are fully aware of individual children's needs such as favourite toys, stories, comforters, sleep routines, time for eating and types of foods that children enjoy. Activities and routines are geared towards children's individual needs and requirements.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children develop confidence and self esteem because the staff offer high praise and encouragement throughout the children's day. Children are involved in setting rules, offering suggestions for activities and their views are actively sought when planning the curriculum. Children are extremely interested and active in their own learning such as making robots with a variety of materials, asking the inspector about the fan she was holding in her hand, how it works, what it does and so on.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are developing strong positive relationships and respond exceptionally well to the adults who are interested in what children say and do. Children play together, sharing toys and equipment and asking questions. When a child was putting building bricks back in their box, staff extend the child's language by using simple words such as 'more bricks, put them in, how many is that?' The setting adopts an excellent motivated robust key worker system which promotes the children's learning and development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding. Children are inspired by the extensive range of stimulating and challenging activities, which are planned around the children’s individual needs, likes and dislikes. The nursery operates a flexible approach to planning, totally geared around the children’s individual needs which helps children to learn at their own pace.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

From the very start, staff find out about children’s interests and skills and build on this information effectively in order to help children achieve as much as they can. The nursery uses

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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 highly effective systems to observe, monitor and record children’s achievements which are then used to plan experiences that help children take the next step in their learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Planning shows that children are being challenged and individual children’s progress is being monitored constantly. Children learn at their own pace, and their learning is extended through excellent planning and forward thinking.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children benefit from staff's extensive knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum and their effective teaching helps the children make good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff have attended training, sought advice and show an ever improving awareness of the Foundation Stage and the purpose of activities. Opportunities for children to develop knowledge and understanding of the world are successfully incorporated into planning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Visits to and from the local police force and fire department provide the children with extensive opportunities to extend their learning about their local community. Comprehensively planned activities help the children to understand about the world around them, valuing and respecting different cultures.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are confident, motivated and interested in their surroundings, activities and resources. Staff are highly skilled at asking open ended questions in order to encourage children to think for themselves and develop their language skills. Children enjoy listening and contributing at interactive story time where the member of staff uses a variety of props to relate the story of the very hungry caterpillar. Children are given props to put over their heads that is large picture cards of apple, pineapple and so on and wait patiently for their turn so that they can place the props onto the large caterpillar arm puppet.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children access an extensive range of well chosen resources which support their learning across all areas of learning. All children are self assured in their play, and confident to try new experiences. All children use marks readily to represent their ideas and older children are adept at writing their own names. Children gain confidence in using number games in their play and respond enthusiastically to challenges in order to extend their mathematical vocabulary. Staff engage children in guessing games where children guess how many pegs are placed in their hands.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy planting seeds in the outdoor garden and learning how things grow. All children are inquisitive, and are fascinated by how things work. The walls within the nursery show an extensive range of colourful displays of work created by the children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children respond with a wide range of feelings, awareness of their own needs and respect for others. Children enjoy looking at photos of themselves and their families which are displayed throughout the nursery and they enjoy talking about the variety of foods they eat at home.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children work well together. For example, children learn how to operate computer equipment following gentle guidance by the staff. Children’s confidence is developing as they learn how to use a mouse to complete simple matching games on the computer.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's physical skills develop and improve through a wide variety of experiences including dance, and physical exercise. There is an excellent balance between adult and child led activities. Children enjoy playing with windup robots and staff start the children off by showing them how to wind up the robots, and then allow children to explore and experiment with the robot toys themselves.

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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 The day is exceedingly well planned in order to provide a variety of experiences both adult and child led.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is outstanding. Staff show a superior commitment to equal opportunities and this is evident throughout the outstanding practice at the nursery. Background music from various languages is played to the children at regular intervals throughout the day. Menus reflect children’s cultures. Staff reflect children’s cultures. Resources are exceptionally wide and varied reflecting diversity in the community. The children have extensive opportunities to learn about themselves, each other and the world around them through planned activities, visitors to the nursery and outings to local places of interest. Topics include celebrating Black History Month, Our bodies, and various activities celebrating our similarities and differences.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The children and staff show respect, consideration and care for themselves and each other. Staff support children in sharing and turn taking, and set consistent boundaries for the three to five year olds which helps them learn to negotiate with others and take responsibility for their own behaviour.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff listen to children, value their input and respond to children's needs showing high levels of interest and concern. The nursery benefits from a Special Educational Needs Coordinator and staff who demonstrate an excellent understanding of the needs of children with learning difficulties and disabilities and is committed to working with parents and outside agencies in order to ensure that individual needs are met.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The setting enjoys an excellent partnership with parents, which significantly contributes to children’s well-being at the nursery. The setting actively seeks parents' views about their children’s needs and interests, before the children start at the setting and on a regular basis throughout their time at the setting. The nursery undertakes a bilingual family survey for children who speak more than one language, and encourages parents to complete the survey providing information regarding their country of origin, languages spoken, and asks parents to translate various words into the children's own language that is hello, goodbye, how are you and so on.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The setting ensures that all parents know how their children are progressing and developing and children benefit greatly from the involvement of their parents in projects which contribute to their good health, safety, development and learning.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents is outstanding.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents receive excellent quality information about the Foundation Stage programme and how children learn. Parents are constantly advised about their children's progress and achievements. Extensive informal and formal feedback is given to parents about children's progress towards the stepping stones and early learning goals. Written reports, informal discussions, and parents' evening, provide them with excellent opportunities to discuss their children's progress.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents' views and involvement within the nursery are actively sought, highly valued and respected. Parents express extremely high levels of satisfaction and praise the nursery. Parents praise the caring and consistent staff team whom parents consider to be highly skilled. Parents'

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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 comments include 'hitting the jackpot with this nursery' and all parents spoken to gave extremely high praise of the nursery and its staff.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff's emphasis is on caring for each other and their environment, their developing awareness of the wider world through resources and planned activities. This excellent and positive approach fosters children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The environment is effectively organised and space is used very well in order to maximise play opportunities for the children. Children are cared for by appropriately qualified staff, who have been vetted and are competent in administering first aid. Children benefit from the staff attending ongoing training, which includes training around Ofsted National Standards, Foundation Stage, Speech and Language development. High and constantly maintained ratios enable the staff to get to know their children very well and spend time talking and playing with them.

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Organisation

The nursery has clear and detailed policies and procedures in place although revision of some of the medication policies is necessary in order to ensure that all records are logged. Public liability insurance is in place and child protection procedures are displayed throughout the nursery. Confidentiality is strictly adhered to and children's records are safely stored in locked cabinets in the office. Children's care is efficiently managed.

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Organisation

The high quality of the nursery means that the nursery meets the needs of the range of children extremely well.

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Organisation

The quality of Leadership and Management is outstanding.

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Organisation

Children's learning and care is greatly enhanced due to the exceptional and outstanding leadership and management of the nursery education. The management team motivate staff and children by providing day to day constant support. Staff said they fell very well supported and felt they could speak with management at any time.

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Organisation

Children’s care and learning is greatly benefited by highly skilled and qualified staff. Staff turnover is extremely low. The key worker system is highly effective and staff are dedicated to the children in their care, and know their children well. All staff are committed to continuous improvement and development. All staff regularly reflect, monitor and improve the quality of care and education.

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Organisation

The setting has built highly committed teams. Staff work extremely well as a team, and meet regularly to discuss and plan the following weeks activities. There is a very happy atmosphere throughout the setting which the staff refer to as a family.

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Organisation

The management team provide very positive role models to staff and are supportive and empowering to staff. The management team operate a formal appraisal system for staff to discuss training or other considerations and promotes integration of nursery education and care to enhance children’s learning.

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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 The staff team work well together and times are organised for children to spend in the preschool class prior to moving there. Staff are provided with non contact time on a weekly basis, where they can update the records they hold of their key children, and plan children’s next steps in their learning and development.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the setting was asked to develop risk assessments to ensure that all areas of the premises are covered. They were also asked to ensure that sleeping children are monitored effectively. The setting was also asked to meet any recommendations made by the Fire Safety Officer regarding the new toddler unit, and to develop their child protection policy.

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Improvements since the last inspection

All the above have been positively addressed, which has had a positive impact on the children's well being. The setting undertakes risk assessments to all areas of the nursery each morning and afternoon. Staff have robust systems in place for record keeping and monitoring the sleep times for all children, and sit with children until they are sound asleep. Baby monitors are installed in all sleep rooms and throughout the nursery. The setting has received a visit from the local Fire department who have issued them with a certificate confirming that the premises are satisfactory as far as fire safety matters are concerned. The setting has also obtained up to date and relevant child protection procedures from their local authority, and have also revised their child protection policy.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The setting has addressed all the previous recommendations and meets all the needs for the children for whom it provides.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since the last inspection.

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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): • continue developing procedures for: the administration of non prescribed medication, for example nappy creams and teething gels; recording of medication administered and procedures for emergency medical treatment

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The quality and standards of the care

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

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The quality and standards of the 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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