Grosvenor Daycare Centre

Grosvenor Daycare Centre Inspection report for early years provision

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EY273067 Unique Reference Number 21 February 2008 Inspection date Victoria Gail Halliwell Inspector

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Lord Street, Kearsley, Bolton, Lancashire, BL4 8AR Setting Address

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E-mail

Grosvenor Daycare Centre 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?

Grosvenor Day Care Centre was registered in 2003. It operates from Grosvenor Nursery School which is part of Lord Street and Grosvenor Children's Centre. The day care provision is run by the Local Education Authority. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, from 08.00 until 18.00 for 51 weeks of the year. Children have access to three playrooms with adjacent outdoor play areas and are grouped according to their age and stage of development. Children over the age of three years are integrated into the nursery school and the staff caring for these children work as part of the nursery school staff team.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 58 children aged from birth to under five years on roll. Of these, one child receives funding for early education. The daycare setting does not currently support any children with learning difficulties or disabilities or children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The day care centre employs nine members of staff, including the manager. All hold appropriate early years qualifications equivalent to level three.

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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's good health is effectively promoted because staff consistently implement good hygiene practices, for example, wearing disposable gloves and aprons when changing nappies. Children are learning about the importance of good personal hygiene through established routines, such as, washing their hands before meals and snacks. Planned activities include visits from the dental hygienist, such visits and opportunities to brush teeth after meals help raise children's awareness of dental hygiene. Exclusion policies are effectively shared with parents to help prevent the spread of infection should a child become unwell.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are well nourished and are encouraged to develop healthy eating habits at snack and lunch times. For example, children routinely enjoy fruit at snack time and lunches, such as meat and potato pie served with vegetables are freshly prepared on site, in the centres kitchen. A snack tea is also provided, however, in comparison this meal often contains processed foods, for example, tinned spaghetti hoops or hot dog sausages. Parents of younger children are well informed about their child's food intake, parents questionnaires are also used to consult with parents about the food provided. Older children have some opportunities to grow and taste their own vegetables.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children of all ages have excellent opportunities to benefit from regular access to fresh air and sunlight which contributes to a healthy lifestyle. Babies routinely sleep outdoors under a covered area, during the summer months mats are taken outdoors so non mobile babies can play outdoors in comfort or watch older children from their prams. Pre-school children have direct access to several interesting outdoor play area's, which stimulate their interest in the natural world, as they observe the plant life and grow their own saplings. Children also have very good opportunities to develop their physical skills and co-ordination as, for example, they skilfully manoeuvre tricycles along paths and road ways. A good selection of large equipment is also provided, consequently children are able to learn new skills, such as, balancing and climbing with the potential to move onto more challenging apparatus and equipment when they become

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children benefit from a well resourced modern environment. The baby and pre-school rooms are particularly well resourced, older children move around confidently making informed choices about the resources they use and how they spend their time. The baby room has been thoughtfully equipped, for example, large domestic style furniture is used to create a more relaxing environment and to assist babies are they develop their mobility. Staff have also created a stimulating low level environment for the babies to explore, positioning large mirrors, sensory boards and children's art work at the babies level.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Attention to children's safety is generally good. Staff are proactive and routinely check their individual rooms and resources to ensure they are safe and suitable for use. Good systems are in place to ensure that sleeping babies both indoor and outside are carefully monitored. Outdoor areas are routinely checked prior to use and appropriate action taken, for example, icy surfaces are gritted. All area's in use at the time of the inspection were observed to be suitable for use, however, following recent ground maintenance work the gap under one area of the perimeter

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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 fencing poses a potential risk. Detailed risk assessments are completed prior to any outings or new experiences, for example, handling a hamster. Appropriate steps are taken to ensure hot drinks do not pose a hazards to children under three years, however, systems are not as rigorous in the pre-school room.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's welfare is effectively safeguarded. Staff are familiar with the settings child protection procedure, they are able to identify possible signs and symptoms of abuse and are clear about their responsibility to report any possible concerns to their room leader, a member of the management team or the designated child protection officer immediately. Clear guidance has been produced to ensure that all concerns are recorded and where appropriate reported to the local safeguarding children board. All parents are advised of the setting's duty of care to children and the setting have devised a clear procedure to be followed in the event an allegation is made against a member of staff.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. The setting implement a very good gradual admission procedure, parents are encouraged to visit with their child and leave their child for short periods of time until they feel settled. Consequently, children are happy and feel secure, they enter the setting confidently and many older children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging as they move around purposefully. Many children benefit from secure relationships with a stable staff team. Staff caring for children under three years implement a basic key worker system, although this is initially very well implemented to help children settle. Staff take account of children's choices and preferences, for example, children are able to choose who they want to spend time with and are able to maintain stronger links with their key worker according to individual children's needs. Children over three years have identified key groups and staff, these staff provide good levels of support

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

particularly for new or less confident children, who choose to remain in area's where there key staff are located. To ensure all children benefit from the wide range of activities and resources within this very large pre-school room, base area's for key staff are rotated on a weekly basis.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children under three enjoy a broad range of interesting activities. The provision of sensory experiences and the exploration of natural objects is particularly good in the baby room. Many babies become totally engrossed as they examine a range of wooden objects from the 'treasure basket'. Staff have a clear understanding of how children learn, for example, it is the process of painting that is important and not the finished product. Consequently, one baby is supported as he becomes absorbed in the touch and feel of the paint and forgets about his 'picture'. Staff provide a broad range of activities to help children make progress and maintain an informative record of children's development. However, planned learning for children under three is not routinely based on observations of what children can do.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Children over three years benefit from a broad range of well planned activities and experiences, which help them make good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff plan an interesting topic based curriculum and utilise all area's of the nursery to provide some rich and stimulating activities. For example, during a farm topic, children look at pictures and examine plastic farm animals, before naming and making their own representational drawings, the water tray becomes a duck pond, tractors are placed in the sand tray and creative activities, such as Wellington prints and making hay bales encourage the children to talk and think about aspects of farm life. Children's learning is very well supported

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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 with real experiences, visits are an integral part of the planned curriculum, so during a farm topic children have the opportunity to observe farm animals and learn about aspects of farming for themselves.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The continuous provision of resources is very good in many area's, for example, children have excellent access to a varied and interesting range of construction and 'small world' materials. Consequently these well resourced area's are used constructively by the children, to build farm vehicles and play imaginatively with small play figures and furniture. In comparison some areas, such as the mark making area are not as well resourced, as a result children show little interest and do not routinely use this area to consolidate their mark making skills. The role play area is well utilised to extend children's experiences beyond that of a home corner, however, the farm shop is not well resourced which limits children's role play experience.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Many children have formed secure friendships with their peers and operate independently within the setting. They seek out others to share experiences, for example, one child begins to dance spontaneously to music and encourages a friend to join her, together they experiment with new ways of moving in response to the music as they copy one another's movements. Children enjoy routine singing sessions and are building a good repertoire of songs and rhymes. Visual props are well used to encourage younger children in the selection of songs and to help them identify how many are left or have been taken away in number rhymes. Children have many opportunities to learn about the natural world, as they grow vegetables or follow the lifecycle of the frog. They confidently use technical equipment, such as a mouse and keyboard to complete pre-school programmes on the computer.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The skilled and experienced staff team provide individual levels of support or extend activities according to individual children's stage of development, although there is little differentiation in written plans. Staff initially complete a baseline assessment and continue to assess children's progress periodically. In consultation with parents, individual written targets are devised for each child although the process for monitoring children's progress towards these targets is limited.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is appropriately fostered. Children have regular planned opportunities to learn about the cultures and beliefs of others, for example, during Chinese new Year, children makes lanterns and dragons, they listen to stories about Chinese new year and attempt to write Chinese letters and numbers. Children are encouraged to explore their own feeling and talks about their experiences, quiet area's outdoors provide good opportunities for children to sit and think. Ribbons and wind chimes are effectively suspended from the trees and encourage children to pause and reflect and they listen and watch them move in the breeze.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children are learning the importance of socially acceptable behaviour. Staff provide clear and consistent explanations, consequently children know right from wrong and confidently seek adult support to resolve issues, such as sharing or taking turns. Children who require a period of time out to reflect on their actions are well supported, a large egg timer is used to help children monitor time and understand how long they have to wait before they can return to their activity. Children are routinely praised and stickers are awarded to recognise and encourage good behaviour. Staff question children to ensure they understand why they are receiving a sticker and to reinforce that the reward is in recognition of good behaviour.

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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 Partnerships with parents in respect of nursery education are good. Parents receive an informative handbook which explains the nurseries curriculum and introduces the Foundation stage. Information is also provided on the adults role and the assessment and monitoring process the nursery implement. Parents are also very well informed about individual themes and are encouraged to share their own ideas or things their child might like. They are actively encouraged to provide feedback following each topic, sharing what their child has enjoyed or learned and commenting on other aspects that could have been included. Parents have an open invitation to come into the nursery, to work with the children or to share their idea's or skills.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents throughout the setting are valued as their child's first educators, parents of babies are encouraged to provide detailed information about their child's routines, needs and development to ease their transition into nursery. A large well presented daily diary is maintained for parents of younger children, photographs are well used to provide a greater insight into their child's time at the nursery. Parents are also encouraged to share details of their child's experiences at home, as a result, staff are well informed about and able to make links between children's time at home and their time in the nursery.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. A clear and effective management structure is in place. All members of the management team are clear about their respective roles and responsibilities and lead the staff team by positive example. Members of the day care management team are routinely utilized to ensure appropriate staffing levels are maintained during staff breaks. Good systems are in place to ensure the staff are well supported and have good opportunities for personal development. For example, staff training and development needs are identified through regular supervision and appraisal, room leaders have additional opportunities to meet formally with the manager and room meeting are held to discuss relevant issues and future planning. Recruitment procedures are strong and ensure all staff are appropriately vetted, suitably experienced and qualified to work with young children. Consequently, children's welfare, care and learning is effectively promoted by a stable

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Organisation

staff team who work well together to meet the needs of the children.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the nursery education is good. Responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the nursery curriculum is retained by the head and deputy head teacher of the nursery school. Good systems, such as weekly planning and evaluation meetings are in place and staff with responsibility for delivering the foundation stage curriculum are routinely observed to ensure their practice is effective.

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Organisation

Attention to written documentation is very good. All required records are well maintained and are readily available for inspection. The setting have devised a comprehensive range of policies and procedures, which cover all aspects of the provision, these are effectively shared with parents. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Since the last inspection the setting have improved written records relating to fire drills, procedures for outings or children who become lost and additional staff now hold current first aid certificates. As a result the children's care and welfare has been further enhanced.

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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

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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 any 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): • improve the range of foods provided at tea time to further promote healthy eating • complete a risk assessment in relation to the perimeter fence and the provision of hot drinks in the pre-school room and take any required action to minimise identified risks • ensure planned learning for children under three years is based on observations of what children can do.

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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): • improve the range of resources provided to support the development of mark making and for the provision of role play. • ensure planned learning differentiates between more and less able children and takes greater account of children's individual targets.

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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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