The Brambles Nursery School and Children's Centre

The Brambles Nursery School and Children's Centre Inspection report for early years provision

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EY307547 Unique Reference Number 12 June 2008 Inspection date Heidi Wilton Inspector

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Bramble Road, Southsea, Hampshire, PO4 0DT Setting Address

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02392 828 606 Telephone number enquiries@brambles.portsmouth.sch.uk E-mail The Governing Body Of The Brambles Nursery School and Children's Centre

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Registered person

Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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Registered person

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 Brambles Nursery School became a Children's Centre in September 2005 and was formally renamed in January 2006. It operates from a redesigned nursery school and one room in Goldsmith Infant School, which is immediately adjacent to the main building. The centre is in Southsea, a residential area of Hampshire. A maximum of 60 children may attend at any one time. The centre is open each weekday from 07:45 to 18:00 for 51 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area and younger children have the use of an additional area as necessary.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 149 children aged under 5 years on roll and of these 60 children are in receipt of funded nursery education. Children attend from the surrounding areas and referrals from a wider catchment area. The centre supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs 23 staff who all hold appropriate early years qualifications, including the manager. These staff work directly with children receiving childcare provision and nursery education funding. The centre receives support from the Local Authority.

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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 outstanding. The nursery is exceptionally clean and is ready for the arrival of the children each day. The nursery uses high quality procedures for cleaning toys and resources which ensures children are protected from cross infection. Stringent hygiene procedures are used as staff spray nappy changing mats with antibacterial cleaners between changes, wear aprons and gloves and thoroughly wash their hands. Children learn about excellent hygiene procedures as they demonstrate a very clear understanding of why they need to wash their hands stating 'it's to clean our hands and get rid of the germs'.

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Helping children to be healthy

The nursery have comprehensive policies in place which include a very detailed and clear sickness policy. The policy is shared effectively with parents and includes concise written guidelines about incubation periods related to common childhood illnesses and infections. Accident and medication records include all required details and all staff demonstrate a very good understanding of how to complete these records. In addition, supervisors of each room complete annual reviews on accidents which have occurred during the year to ensure any patterns of occurrences of accidents are highlighted. Action is then taken to minimise the risks in the future.

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Helping children to be healthy

Parents provide children with their meals and staff demonstrate an excellent understanding of storing these appropriately and at the correct temperature. Staff use comprehensive cleaning checklists to ensure foods are stored hygienically and fridge temperature checks are monitored daily. Staff sit with children at their level during meal times and discuss their different foods, fostering an awareness of healthy eating. Staff preparing children's foods all have up-to-date food and hygiene qualifications. They show an excellent understanding of reheating foods appropriately, such as using temperature probes, and record these temperatures meticulously within relevant records.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children experience extensive opportunities to develop their physical skills and older children are able to freely flow between the inside and outside areas for most of the day. Children demonstrate an excellent understanding of the benefits of exercise on their bodies. Staff extend their learning by encouraging children to feel their heart beats after they have run around the garden. Children have a wonderful time as they climb a climbing apparatus and thoroughly enjoy crawling through tunnels. They experience all areas of the curriculum within the outside area as they engage with imaginary play, explore pipes and running water and draw with chalks on the ground. They relish moving around on tricycles and giggle excitedly as they pedal together on tricycles made for two or three people. Children demonstrate an excellent awareness of the space around them. For example, when running around the area they stop and change

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Helping children to be healthy

their route to prevent them from banging into their friends. Young babies and toddlers have an absolutely lovely time as they move their bodies through small tunnels and use child sized furniture around the environment as a support to aid them with their walking skills.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Staff within the nursery ensure children's safety is of utmost priority. There is an extensive staff team and they are deployed very effectively throughout the nursery. Children arrive to a welcoming and buzzing environment and very excitedly choose from the activities on offer and

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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 find their friends. Children's work is attractively displayed on the walls of the nursery which ensures children have a firm sense of belonging to the setting. The nursery have presented activities and resources extremely well and these provide children with lots of stimulation and an excellent range of choice.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are kept extremely safe with vigilant staff procedures. The nursery have excellent procedures to ensure children are collected by their designated person and all doors are fully secured when not in use. The nursery have stair gates throughout the nursery to ensure children remain within designated areas to keep them extremely safe and secure. Children's safety is highly considered throughout the rooms in the nursery and all staff follow comprehensive procedures to ensure risk assessments are conducted and children are kept safe. Staff ensure they gain all essential information from parents at the beginning of the session to ensure children's health and safety is highly maintained throughout the session. For example, staff communicate effectively with parents, finding out if their children already have suntan lotion on, and apply friendly child stickers to children's t-shirts which inform the whole staff team

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

which children already have cream applied from home. Children are protected extremely well from the hot midday sun when playing within the outside area as the nursery have three undercover areas where children can freely play. Staff highly effectively equip children with the tools to manage their own safety because they talk to the children at their level and explain the reasons why safety rules need to be in place. For example, staff explain to children why they need to walk carefully down steps and why they need to carry chairs carefully. This enables children to develop a firm understanding and equips them with the tools to manage these situations safely and independently in the future.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Regular effective practice of the fire drill is conducted with both the staff and the children which ensures all are fully aware of what to do in a fire or emergency. The head teacher has the main responsibility for child protection procedures and demonstrates an excellent knowledge of child protection procedures and has a very secure knowledge of how to make referrals. The whole staff team have attended various child protection training courses ranging from basic child protection to more advanced training sessions. This is clearly evident as the staff team all demonstrate an excellent knowledge and understanding of child protection, how to record signs and symptoms and where to make referrals. The nursery have a very clear and detailed child protection policy in place which details all required elements and is in line with the current Local Safeguarding Children Board's procedures.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children arrive happily to nursery and separate well from the main carer. Those who become upset are nurtured by staff and given a reassuring cuddle. Children are eager to join the group choosing activities and find their friends. Children, younger toddlers and babies are able to select resources independently from low level shelving and storage. They can freely move around the environment and are able to use the resource room to engage with a wide selection of role play resources. Children enjoy making beds for each other and pretend to make their friends better with the thermometer and stethoscope. Children in the toddlers and older rooms are able to rest and relax within the role-play areas, on the beanbags and cushions in the book corner.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children of all ages love to explore messy play and submerge their whole hands in flour and water play. They play within a child orientated environment and all rooms have appropriate child sized furniture and equipment to meet the needs of the children. They all love to join in

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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 familiar rhymes and actions and young toddlers love to choose pictures relating to the songs they would like to sing. Babies babble happily and staff use eye contact and repeat their babbles to ensure they feel valued for their communications. Staff interact with all the children well and position themselves at their level, offering support and encouragement for their achievements. They use the Birth to three matters framework well and observe the children's development. These observations are tracked into children's individual records. However, although the observations are tracked, children's next steps in their individual development are not identified and are not regularly shared with parents. This does not ensure other staff and parents are fully aware of their children's next developmental stages.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning for children in receipt of funded nursery education is good. Children make good progress towards the early learning goals and staff demonstrate a good understanding of the curriculum. Weekly plans are displayed which show clear links to the learning intentions in relation to the curriculum. Staff observe the children and track these observations into their individual records. However, although the key workers know their children well, next steps in learning are not identified for children. This does not ensure other staff and parents are fully aware of the children's individual next stages in learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have lots of independence during the session and older children show care and affection towards their younger peers. They have many opportunities to explore emergent writing as they make marks on the ground with chalks, paint marks with water and large paintbrushes and use an assortment of paper within their role-play. They love to listen to familiar stories and staff keep children interested by changing the tone and expression in their voices. Children learn about number incidentally through the day as they count towers and count how many children are in the group. They enjoy exploring volume as they fill different containers with water using the hose and long piping.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children gain an awareness, knowledge and understanding of the world through many first hand experiences. They become excited as they see and touch the variety of farm animals when the farm visits the nursery and staff extend the learning by talking to children about the names, shapes and sizes of the different animals. Children love to plant vegetables and seeds in the garden. They have access to a computer during the day to develop mouse control and they enjoy interacting with a variety of age and stage appropriate programs. Children have many opportunities to engage with both structured and free arts and crafts and they love to use the role-play resources within their imaginary play both inside and outside. Children dance and move their bodies to familiar rhymes and action songs and have fun as they explore a variety of musical instruments.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. The nursery staff have a good understanding of equal opportunities and implement the nursery policies effectively. Staff treat all children as individuals and show them equal respect. The staff also show equal respect to their colleagues and serve as good role models to the children. Children's requirements, starting points and preferences are recorded on children's registration forms to ensure the needs of individual children are well met. Children who receive nursery education funding do integrate with children from the maintained nursery which ensures all children are benefiting from the teaching staff and are able to socialise with all of their peers. Staff communicate with both the parents and children at settling in visits and staff gather

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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 information about the children's home lives and families. This enables them to build good relationships with all the children.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are supported well within all rooms in the nursery. There are two staff members who hold joint responsibility for the role. They hold meetings with the supervisors of all the rooms regularly to ensure any identified needs or concerns about any of the children are confidentially discussed. The setting works effectively with outside agencies such as speech therapists and health visitors and continue action plans with the children within the nursery environment. This ensures children's needs are met and consistency in learning and care is achieved. The learning difficulties and/or disabilities coordinators have detailed individual learning plans in place to effectively support children within the group. The setting have employed bilingual speaking nursery assistants who work effectively with the children and read dual language books with all the children. They have

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Helping children make a positive contribution

obtained help and support from outside agencies to ensure the needs of children with English as an additional language are met.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The staff team use consistent behavioural methods with the children and offer lots of praise and encouragement for children's good behaviour and achievements. This in turn boosts children's self esteem and confidence. Staff talk to children about being kind to their friends and encourage them to share the toys and resources. They communicate with parents at the end of the day about their children's behaviour to ensure they are well informed and consistent behavioural methods can be achieved between the home and the setting. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Parents receive good verbal feedback from staff at the end of the day and this is supported in the younger rooms with written feedback about their child's routine. Parents inform the childcare inspector that they are able to discuss any concerns with staff at anytime and that they receive regular newsletters detailing important

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Helping children make a positive contribution

information. However, parents of children within the younger rooms do not often see their children's records which does not enable them to know their child's current stages of development. This does not enable parents to continue their learning at home. Parents are able to access information from the parents' notice boards. They are given a parents' prospectus at the outset which details significant policies and procedures to ensure they are well informed. Parents are happy with the nursery and state on recent parents' questionnaires 'the staff seem so very dedicated, committed and passionate about their role… the staff are all fabulous… they make sure all the children are treated as individuals'.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership for parents and carers for children in receipt of funded nursery education is good. Parents are able to read about the curriculum within the parent prospectus and information about the curriculum is displayed on notice boards around the setting. Parents of children receiving funded nursery education are kept well informed about their children's development and are invited to parents' open evenings where parents can look at their child's records and communicate with their child's key worker. Regular newsletters inform parents of events and topics the children are doing which enables parents to continue learning at home. Weekly plans are displayed showing activities planned for all the children and links to the stepping stones. This ensures parents are knowledgeable about what their children are learning and this can be consolidated at home.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Daily sessions are run well by the staff team and staff are deployed effectively within the nursery to ensure the needs of the children are met. Children are able to independently move around

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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 environment and freely choose from the activities and resources. Parents record their children's arrival and departure into a register. In addition, staff complete a register of the children's times of arrival and departure. This ensures children are accounted for during the day and in the event of an emergency. The setting have plenty of staff who hold up-to-date paediatric first aid qualifications which ensures children are treated appropriately in the event of an accident. The staff team are well qualified and all staff have access to further training to enhance and develop their nursery practice. Robust procedures are in place to ensure all adults are checked and are suitable to be around the children. New staff and students experience a comprehensive induction procedure which ensures children are cared for by knowledgeable

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Organisation

adults. The setting have all required paperwork in place and store this securely to maintain confidentiality. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom they provide.

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Organisation

The leadership and management for children in receipt of funded nursery education are good. The head teacher, childcare manager and the extended school co-ordinator work effectively together to ensure children's needs are met and staff are well supported. They have clear roles and responsibilities but do work closely together to ensure children are cared for in a safe and stimulating environment. They monitor staff on a day to day basis and gain feedback from supervisors of all the rooms. The managers address concerns and achievements with staff as they arise to ensure they are dealt with or celebrated. Staff reviews are conducted every six months and appraisals are conducted annually. This is a two way process where concerns, targets, achievements and training needs are discussed. The staff do have a good understanding of the children's needs and conduct regular observations of the children. However, although

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Organisation

these observations are tracked, children's individual next steps in learning are not planned. The staff team are all dedicated to the children and work hard to create a fun and interesting environment where children can explore and learn.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection the provision were asked to address one recommendation. They were asked to ensure parents sign to acknowledge all entries on the accident forms. All parents now sign accidents forms which ensures all parents are fully informed.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last education inspection the provision were asked to address one recommendation. They were asked to continue to develop and consolidate the less experienced nursery staff's understanding of the Foundation Stage, to further improve the delivery of the curriculum, with particular regard to adult led group activities. The setting have addressed this recommendation and the staff team have attended both in-house and external training. The extended schools co-ordinator oversees the planning including the adult led group activities. She communicates with staff to ensure they are pitching activities at the right level for all the children.

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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. 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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Complaints 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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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): • further develop the children's individual records to show children's next developmental stages and share these records regularly with parents

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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): • further develop the children's individual records to indicate children's next steps in learning.

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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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