The Oxford Nursery Summertown

The Oxford Nursery Summertown Inspection report for early years provision

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EY266376 Unique Reference Number 26 March 2008 Inspection date Caroline Hearn Inspector

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Marston Ferry Road, Summertown, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX2 7EE Setting Address

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E-mail

Acacia Care and Education Ltd. Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day 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?

The Oxford Nursery Summertown, Acacia Care and Education is one of two nurseries run by Acacia Care and Education Ltd and affiliated with the Oxford Nursery Limited. It opened in 2003 and operates from three rooms in a modular building. It is situated in an area close to local schools in the city of Oxford. A maximum of 44 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each week day from 08.00 to 18.00 for 52 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 60 children aged under eight years on roll. Of these five children receive funding for nursery education. Children come from a wide catchment area, as most of the parents travel in to work in or around the local area. The nursery currently supports a number of children with special needs and who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs 13 staff. Of these 11, including the three mangers hold appropriate early years qualifications. Of these two staff are working towards a qualification.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

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

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children learn about how they can help prevent the spread of infection. They are reminded to wash their hands prior to meal times and after outside play. Staff act as positive role models showing children that they are washing their hands. The staff also discuss with the children why they need to wash their hands. This is obviously taken on board by the children and older ones remind their younger peers. Children who are unwell or in need of treatment for minor bumps and scrapes receive quick appropriate care. All staff hold approved first aid certificates and are clearly aware of how best to implement this training.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are offered a balanced diet containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. They are encouraged to try foods which are new to them, however staff know each child well enough to know which food they dislike and ensure they are offered an alternative selection. During mealtimes staff working with the older children tend not to sit with the children and this results in them receiving less support than required with tasks such as cutting up their foods and using their cutlery. Children have good access to drinks during the day, jugs are set out for the older children and the babies are offered bottles and drinks at regular intervals. Babies established routines are followed with regard to mealtimes and this well supports the continuity of care between the nursery and home.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children make good use of the outside space. This has been set out with designated play spaces such as a home corner or water trays with bubbles for the children to explore. All the children share access to the garden and the older ones are considerate to the needs of the younger babies. The babies fully enjoy sitting in the tractor tyres to sing songs and have a great deal of fresh air each day. Older children have a selection of ride on toys and larger climbing equipment which helps to develop their physical skills such as climbing and balancing. Children also develop their finer hand and movement control when writing on the patio with chalks.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children make excellent use of the facilities and space available. Staff constantly reflect on how the children are using the space and make any changes required to support this such as reorganising the reading areas to encourage children to make greater use of this space. Parents are made to feel welcome and encouraged to stay and give their baby a bottle or just settle them in. Children have good access to a wide range of high quality resources. These are stored in clearly labelled boxes at their height to allow children to independently access them.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children have freedom to explore their environment safely due to the careful consideration given to undertaking risk assessments in all areas. To ensure all children are aware of how to keep themselves safe and how to react in an emergency staff carry out periodic emergency evacuations with the children on different days and at different times.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are safeguarded as all staff have undertaken appropriate child protection training. They clearly understand how to put it into practice to ensure the children's wellbeing.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

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

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Babies and toddlers have a wide range of stimulating activities. Staff observe the children well and activities reflect these children's interests. When they noticed a baby enjoyed posting blocks through slots they made him a post box and provided him with a range of items to post. These activities effectively develop these children's existing knowledge. Children aged two to three years who are not in receipt of funding for nursery education are offered activities which closely reflect those offered to the older children. These are at times not appropriate for their age and stage of development and due to this they lose interest in these activities quickly. Children in all areas have formed close relationships with staff and actively seek them out to show off their work or for support with new tasks. It is evident that staff know the children well and this enables them to offer appropriate support.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of the teaching and learning is good. Children make good progress towards the early learning goals of the Foundation Stage. The planning is closely monitored although is not consistently evaluated. This lack of constant evaluation results in staff not having a clear picture as to how effective the planned activities have been. The planning effectively covers all of the six areas of learning to ensure children develop quickly across these. Development records are maintained for all children, these do not show what each child has done to achieve the areas of learning. Not having these details makes it harder for parents to see what their children have been doing to achieve each stage of development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have many opportunities to use counting and other basic maths skills in everyday situations. The staff ask the children to count how many blocks they may have or how many children are playing at the sand tray. Their knowledge of the children allows them to tailor these questions and ask older more able children, "how many children would there be if some children moved away from the sand?" This ensures all children are offered activities to extend their existing knowledge base.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have lots of opportunities to see print all around them. The nursery has plenty of signs and writing at their height and toy boxes are all labelled. To encourage them to further develop their emergent writing skills children playing outside are given chalk and draw lots of large circles and shapes on the path.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are taken out on many local trips such as to post a letter or for larger days out to join a sponsored toddle. These trips help the children gain a greater understanding of the wider world as staff talk to them about why they are raising sponsor money or what the post office do with the letters. Children are encouraged to consider how their actions effect others. Staff support them during discussions helping them to decide whose turn it is to play with a toy or helping them see that others want to play with the same items as them and how they can resolve this. These experiences support the development of the children's social skills and learning how to negotiate.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children undertake music and singing sessions with obvious enjoyment. They learn to explore sound and how they can play quietly or make lots of noise. Children have lots of good opportunities to undertake a wide range of art and craft activities. They learn about mixing colours or painting with bubble mixture. Their work is prominently displayed around the room and the children take pride in pointing out their efforts.

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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's individual needs are very well met. When children join the nursery parents fill in 'all about me' booklets with the staff and these form the basis for future developmental records. The children learn about other cultures and religions as the nursery explores different cultures and festivals with the children. The children and their families are encouraged to share their family celebrations and if relevant different languages. Children who have additional needs have these well met. All staff are offered appropriate training to develop skills such as signing. This enables them to understand how they can best meet each child's individual needs and requirements.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children’s behaviour is dealt with in a sensitive manner. They are given clear guidelines and boundaries. Staff act as good role models. Children are encouraged to think about how their behaviour may make others feel. This gives them a sense of responsibility for their actions. Children's, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents spoken to commented that they are extremely happy with the care and education offered to their children. They are provided with a wealth of information. They have a notice board in the main entrance area and in each base room. This type of information exchange further develops continuity of care between the nursery and home for the children. The partnership with parents and carers of children who receive funding for nursery education is good. Parents have regular opportunities to discuss their children's educational progress. They are given detailed information regarding current topic work and areas of interest to allow them to carry these activities on at home should they wish.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The quality of the leadership and management of nursery education is good. The staff are committed to developing their existing childcare knowledge and they regularly attend relevant training. This develops their existing good practice which in turn raises the standard of childcare and education. The staff are well supported by the highly proactive management team who have recently obtained Early Years Practitioner Status. This ensures they are able to best support the staff in delivering positive outcomes for children.

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Organisation

All documents relating to the children are comprehensive and contain all of the required information. The policies and procedures are very much working documents. The management team and staff regularly review these to ensure they continue to be relevant to the children and staff. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection of care, the nursery was set a recommendation to continue to review and extend written risk assessments to include all hazards, i.e. from other people. The nursery maintains comprehensive risk assessments which cover all aspects of the nursery. This gives the children freedom to explore their environment safely.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection of the nursery education the nursery was asked to review the system of recording children's development towards the early learning goals to reflect children's incidental achievements and to inform planning. Staff have systems in place which allow them to record

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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 this development such as sticky notes they complete then transfer into the children's records. These are then used to inform planning. This enables them to give a clearer picture of each child's stage of development.

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Complaints since the last inspection

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

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Complaints since the last inspection

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are 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): • ensure deployment of staff fully supports children at meal times • ensure activities for younger children are appropriate for their age and stage of development.

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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 planning is consistently evaluated • consider how children's profiles can show what the children did to achieve the various stepping stones of the early learning goals

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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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