Buttercups Nursery School Ltd

Buttercups Nursery School Ltd Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY226083 Inspection date 13/01/2010 Inspector Judith Reed

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Setting address Gull Coppice, Whiteley, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 7LA

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Telephone number 01489 881802 Email buttercupsat3@aol.com 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 . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as

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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

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

Buttercups Pre-School Nursery has been registered since 1998 and has been in its current premises since 2002. It is a privately owned, family run group that is situated in a community centre in Whiteley, Fareham. The nursery serves children from the local and surrounding areas and has systems in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those that have English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The nursery is registered to provide care for 24 children aged from two years to under five years, although it is the policy of the group not to admit children before they reach the age of two years and nine months. There are currently 46 children on roll.

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Description of the setting

The nursery provides full day care and is open Monday to Friday from 8:00am - 6:00pm for 50 weeks of the year. Children can attend on a full or part-time basis.

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Description of the setting

There are six members of staff that work with the children. Of these, four staff members hold a relevant early years qualification and two are currently on appropriate training courses.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Key workers ensure children's individual needs are met as they know each child well and are aware of their next steps of development. Parents are involved in setting these next steps and are kept fully informed about children's activities and learning. Equality and diversity is suitably promoted. Staff strive for continuous improvement of the provision through ongoing evaluation of planning and activities to ensure all children's needs are met.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 improve equal opportunities policy to include further information for parents to ensure they are fully aware of how diversity is promoted within the nursery  ensure all records are available when required for the efficient management of the setting

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the early years provision

Children are safeguarded as a clear safeguarding policy is in place and is discussed with parents. Staff are suitably trained to protect children and the flow chart This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 regarding safeguarding children is displayed on a notice board. Staff record existing injuries as children enter the nursery and keep a record of all visitors. Children’s safety is assured and supported because they are observed by skilled and knowledgeable staff. The owners ensure risk assessments are in place and take all necessary steps to keep children safe. However, some documentation and records are not available when required. Children feel safe due to their gradual introduction into the nursery. Staff and parents work closely to ensure children are happy and settled. Staff make visits to the home to meet the children with their family and initial accompanied visits to nursery are arranged with the parents.

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the early years provision

Children are confident that staff are aware of their individual needs and their parents are also confident regarding their child's care.

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the early years provision

The nursery owners carry out evaluation of the provision to ensure continuous development and improvement. They evaluate planning to ensure all children's individual needs are met and all areas of the curriculum are included. Individual activities are also evaluated to ensure the desired learning outcome is achieved. Staff have a professional approach to childcare and are committed to developing their knowledge through ongoing training. Evaluation is also completed with the local authority. Parents and children are also invited to take part in evaluation of the nursery. The excellent partnerships with parents are built from the beginning of children's attendance at nursery. The owners get to know parents when they accompany their children on visits and meet to complete the necessary documentation. Parents inform the staff about their child's development to help set their starting points for ongoing development. They also inform staff about their

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the early years provision

child's interests throughout their time at nursery to ensure their learning is relevant and appropriately targeted. Key workers build a very positive relationship with parents through frequent verbal communication and the home-link books. Parents also appreciate the formal parents meetings and the hard work of the staff. Parents state that they are very happy with their children's development and learning. They feel their children are achieving very well. They also support the use of the outdoor environment in helping children learn about the world. Staff attend local cluster meetings with other early years providers and make every effort to communicate with feeder schools. They work with the local area advisor regarding special educational needs when necessary.

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the early years provision

Equality and diversity is promoted as the nursery acknowledges festivals from many cultures and ensures all children are included. Children who speak English as an additional language are welcomed into the nursery and staff take time to find out key words in their home language. Posters and signs show children from other cultures as well as those with disabilities. All children are invited to bring in photographs of their families and to talk about their families. Currently a brief equal opportunities policy is in place, however, further detail will help parents to fully understand how diversity is promoted within the nursery. A wide range of resources are available to the children throughout their time at nursery. The learning environment effectively helps children to make good progress as children help themselves to toys and equipment. They experience many activities both inside and outside the building. High staff ratios are in place and staff move

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the early years provision

around as required. They work together well to support the needs of the children. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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and outcomes for children

Children are busy and interested in the various activities available. They are also encouraged to choose toys and activities from storage. Children move around freely and help themselves to items from storage, such as construction equipment. Staff strike a suitable balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities. The owners plan a registration time with separate older and younger groups of children. Older children join in counting together and answer their names for the register. They also discuss the weather and the letter of the day, including many areas of the curriculum. Younger children gather together and are helped to recognise their names and place a small teddy bear next to their name label. They have a general chat about who is present and what they have been doing when not at nursery, helping to develop their personal, social and emotional learning in particular. All children experience free play time and interact with one another.

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and outcomes for children

Staff plan a wide range of activities both indoors and out, and they ensure children experience all six areas of learning outside in the play area, as well as inside. Plans include well thought out differentiation suggestions and particularly focus on letters and sounds activities. Staff also know the children very well and support those who need help or extend those who are more able, as necessary. Staff make incidental observations of children's learning to include in their learning journey records. They also take lots of photographs to illustrate children's learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children are very enthusiastic about being outside and eager to put on their coats, gloves, hats and boots. They usually experience free flow play activities inside the play room and in the outside play areas, however during extremely cold weather the door is kept closed and children are taken outside in groups to play in the snow. Children are praised for their efforts in getting dressed in preparation for playing outdoors. Children scrape the snow from the surfaces with a spade. They observe what is underneath the snow and a member of staff talks about what they can see and how they feel. Children gently throw the snow and watch it disintegrate in the air. They observe when it begins to snow again and talk about the activities they have joined in with their families, such as building a snowman and going sledging. Children are confident when speaking and proud of their families. To help children be more aware of what is going on around them staff

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and outcomes for children

recently took them on a listening walk in nearby woods. Children and staff wore large 'elephant ears' to assist their hearing and made a list of all they could hear. Children also enjoy building dens in the woods and having their snack while outside. Children's creative development is very much encouraged and children delight in creating pictures with paint. New, younger children particularly relish the opportunity to paint and make many pictures, talking about the colours and shapes with a member of staff. They also begin to learn about sharing equipment with other children. Some children choose to do a picture with colouring crayons and access the table with paper and a large variety of different drawing implements, to create free pictures. During group time children enjoy joining in singing action songs together.

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and outcomes for children

Children are helped to make healthy choices about their food and drink. Staff offer a choice of water or milk drinks. Children also choose a cracker, cheese and pieces This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 of banana alongside their drink. They spread butter onto their own crackers and help cut the bananas. Children are reminded to wash their hands after using the toilet and before having snacks or meals. Individual hand drying towels are available. Children also use wipes to clean themselves up after lunch and use their napkins. The nursery owners are currently assessing the foods provided for children to ensure that children are offered a wider range of food types whilst still providing suitable and nutritious meals. Changes include adding the option of crackers in the morning and warm food at lunch time. Children enjoy baked beans and toast for their lunch. Staff report that the children are relishing the new menu

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and outcomes for children

and particularly enjoyed tomato soup on a previous snowy day. Parents are also pleased that children have hot food on the cold days. Children brush their teeth after lunch.

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and outcomes for children

All children learn how to share toys and equipment. Staff assist children in learning how to share and they use sand timers and buzzers to enable children to take turns. For example two children argue over who should wear some oven gloves in home corner. A member of staff asks if she should set the timer. Children agree this would be a good idea. The ember of staff explains that when the timer goes off the children should exchange the gloves. Children learn to care for one another. A new young child takes a toy from another child and a member of staff gently speaks to him about taking turns and being kind to one another. The child is not old enough to understand about saying sorry, so the member of staff asked them to smile at the other child to help them feel happy. 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 2 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 2

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 1 The extent to which children feel safe 2 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 1 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 2

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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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