Busy Bees Day Nursery at Swindon Peatmoor

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Swindon Peatmoor Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 507993 Inspection date 29/04/2010 Inspector Jenny Read

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Setting address Peatmoor Village Centre, Shearwood Road, Peatmoor, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 5DJ Telephone number 01793 887602 Email Type of setting Childcare on non-domestic premises to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It rates council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. Royal Exchange Buildings St Ann's Square Manchester M2 7LA

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.

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Introduction

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the setting

Busy Bees Day Nursery opened in 1998 and was re-branded in 2008. The nursery operates from purpose-built premises in the rural area of Peatmoor in Swindon and serves the local community. The two storey premises includes an entrance hall, office, kitchen, four base rooms, a library/childcare room, training room/childcare room, toilets and nappy change areas on the ground floor. There are three base rooms, a staff room, toilets and nappy change areas on the first floor. Children are accommodated in groups according to age, with the under two's on the ground floor and older children on the first floor. There are three enclosed outdoor play areas which have grass, decking and hard standing surfaces.

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Description of the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. They may provide care for a maximum of 100 children, of these, 76 children may be under 3 years, and of these, not more than 48 may be under 2 years at any one time. There are currently 128 children on roll attending full- and part-time sessions, all of whom are in the early years age group. Of these, 39 three and four-year-old children receive funding for early education. No children currently attend in the later years age group. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those whom speak English as an additional language. The nursery opens each week day from 7.30am to 6pm, all year round excluding bank holidays.

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Description of the setting

The nursery employs 18 staff to work directly with the children, excluding the manager and cook. There are an additional nine relief staff to cover staff absence. The manager holds the National Vocational Qualification in Childcare and Education at Level 3. 14 staff hold appropriate early years qualifications to level 2 and 3. One member of staff is currently working towards a childcare qualification.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is satisfactory.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Children are making generally good progress in their learning because welcoming, inviting play areas and good organisation of resources promotes children's independence and learning experiences. Strong focus is given to providing a highly stimulating outdoor environment with divided areas specific to the different age groups. This enables all children to benefit from free-flowing indoor and outdoor play for most of the year. Staff are friendly and dedicated to the children and know their key children's needs well. Planning is detailed, however the different plans in place do not link to ensure the focus of daily activities are purposeful and meet children's individual needs. Systems for self-evaluation are comprehensive and clearly identify strengths and areas for improvement. However, these are not inclusive of staff and systems to monitor procedures and the quality of care on a daily basis is not secure, meaning some gaps remain.

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further?

This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 develop further the observation of children's play and progress to ensure systems are consistent for all children  develop further the assessment arrangements to ensure children's next steps are in place to inform planning and ensure these are well known and understood by key person's and buddy's  extend the information to parents about their children and their on-going progress  ensure parental written consent is in place for all children attending, with particularly reference to taking photographs  ensure the activities set out each day are purposeful and reflect the needs of the children

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the early years provision

The staff team are friendly, professional and dedicated to the children. Some staff are very animated and enthusiastic, inspiring children's play and learning. As a result, some children are making good progress in their learning. Whilst the corporate planning systems are complex and do not link successfully together, some staff are skilled in their knowledge of child development and in their interaction and questioning during play. Implementation of the key person approach is effective, ensuring children's personal care needs are well met. However, the link between the key person and buddy is not secure meaning information about children's next steps and individual learning needs are not shared sufficiently. As a result, the buddy is not able to plan appropriately or provide purposeful support and challenge. Whilst the company and manager promote staff's personal development through access to regular training, not all

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the early years provision

courses advertised are open to all staff, such as Information, Communication Technology. The extensive operational plan contains detailed generic policies and procedures that are reviewed by the company and discussed with staff during regular staff meetings. Procedures are generally well implemented by staff, and knowledge of safeguarding issues is satisfactory. Risk assessments are thorough and individual to each group room ensuring children play in a safe, secure environment.

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the early years provision

Children benefit from bright, comfortable and colourful base rooms. Most rooms are spacious with a broad range of well organised resources and activities that encourage children's independent play. Ample heuristic/treasure basket resources for the youngest children, provides a wide range of experiences that inspire their exploration of texture. Children have great fun in the highly stimulating outdoor areas, confidently investigating the different spaces and extremely inviting play areas. The nursery demonstrates a strong commitment to sustainability, with some children having fun planting and growing vegetables for the chef to cook for their lunch and others helping to recycle paper and card. This helps children learn to care for their environment. The staff are proactive in building good relationships with other settings children attend to support children's learning. Partnerships with This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

parents are generally good. Staff link well to obtain detailed information about any allergies, special needs or cultural requirements, ensuring children's needs are valued and well met. Useful information in the parent pack, access to the nursery's policies and procedures and termly newsletters ensure parents are well informed about the setting and their children's care. Parent's praise the staff's friendliness and dedication to their children and value the daily diary sheets and informal feedback. However, the sharing of children's summary reports and learning journals is not consistent for all parents to ensure they are well informed about their children's learning.

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the early years provision

Well-planned activities and resources are reflective of the children attending the setting helping them to learn about their own and other cultures. Staff are proactive in learning key words in children's native language and some staff use these during daily routines. The oldest children benefit from various additional activities implemented by outside professionals that extend their experiences. These include: music and imagination sessions; large physical skills training and basic French lessons. The management team are ambitious and identify clear priorities for improvement through the detailed action plans, self-evaluation forms and extensive corporate systems, such as equality audits, reflection documents and health and safety audits. Nevertheless, some areas for development have not been rigorously identified and addressed, meaning some gaps in practice remain. Whilst the base room managers and the deputy assist the manager in observing

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the early years provision

practice and meet frequently as a management team to review the quality of practice, informing staff of the results, staff do not readily contribute to the process to promote inclusion. However, the use of parent questionnaires enables parents to easily contribute to the setting.

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and outcomes for children

Children feel safe and secure and build strong bonds with their key person. They snuggle in when tired or need reassurance, use their comforters and smile and laugh with each other. The babies make sounds of pleasure as they instigate peek- a-boo, while older children are busy and engaged. Children behave in ways that are safe for themselves and others, demonstrating a good understanding of the dangers inside and outside. Senior pre-school children confidently recall appropriate action to take in an emergency. Children are learning from a young age to be independent in meeting their personal care needs. Whilst they have good awareness of hand washing and toileting routines, meal time routines in the senior pre-school room do not minimise the spread of germs. However, the children recognise the importance of oral hygiene, stating "if you don't brush your teeth, your teeth fall out and then you can't put your teeth back on again",

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and outcomes for children

concluding "my granddad puts his teeth in again, he puts them on with glue".

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and outcomes for children

All children benefit from nutritious, home-cooked meals and easy access to their individual water bottles inside and outside. However, some children have difficulty eating their meals because cutlery is not readily available, meaning children have to use their hands. Any children with food allergies have a red plate and staff supervise the children carefully throughout the whole meal. Children are happy This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 and well behaved throughout the nursery. Senior pre-school children learn to manage their own behaviour, helping to discuss and devise their golden rules. These are attached to their large papier mache spider, which is suspended from the ceiling. This gives the children ownership and enables them to refer and police the rules themselves. . Children are made to feel special and a valued member of the nursery. Older children have their individual named coat pets and named

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and outcomes for children

draws to put their personal items and pictures in and some children use bumble bee bags to store their belongings. Children excitedly explore the highly stimulating and well-planned outdoor play areas, which cover the six areas of learning and are cleverly divided for children of different ages.

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and outcomes for children

The all about me planning for individual children enables staff to plan specific activities during key group times. However, continuous planning, individual planning and group planning are not linked because they all work independently of each other meaning there is no purpose to the activities set out to ensure they meet the identified needs of the children. Communication, language and literacy is a key strength throughout the nursery. Children choose library books each week to take home and share with their parents and excitedly recognise and name letters on the computer. This is actively supported and extended when introducing the letter of the week. Children readily make marks, writing letters and putting them in the envelope and using their own first-hand experiences to 'write' the address and pretend to post. Useful questioning from staff, such as "how many plates do we need?", "how many people are on the table?" engages children's interest in

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and outcomes for children

numbers and enables them to compare and calculate. They respond excitedly, "We have seven children on our table and they have six children on that table". Additional questioning, such as "who has the most?" and recognising numerals beyond 10 on completion of the daily calendar, routinely introduces mathematical language and challenges children's learning.

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and outcomes for children

The older children show an awareness of change and excitedly examine objects and living things to find out more about them. For example, they help to feed the pre-school hamster and water the potatoes, carrots and numerous plants in the dedicated planters. Children indicate that when the potatoes have grown they will pick them and give them to the chef to cook for their lunch. Whilst the oldest children work together to skilfully operate the computer and headphones to negotiate various programmes, the younger children who show interest in technology have little access to programmable toys and resources. Children enjoy regular opportunities to be creative and explore different media to encourage their senses and imagination, using facial expressions, movement and conversation to express themselves. Introducing new language during play, such as "does it feel gooey?", "is it smooth?" encourages the younger children's early communication

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and outcomes for children

and curiosity. They eagerly explore the cornflour and water and numerous metal, material, wooden and plastic objects in the well-organised treasure baskets. Children have fun experimenting with the paint, spending much time using brushes, sponges and their hands, observing how it feels and tastes. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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and managed?

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources 2 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 3 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 2 The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 3

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 3 The extent to which children feel safe 2 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 3 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 2 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 3

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Stage

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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