Duddeston Manor Community School

Bumble Bees Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 127060 Inspection date 19/03/2010 Inspector Stacey Sangster

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Setting address 47 Station Road, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Kent, TN12 6AB Telephone number 01892 835502 Email angmanser@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

Children only attend this setting before and/or after the school day and/or during the school holidays. The judgements in this report reflect the quality of early years provision offered to children during those periods.

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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

Bumble Bees Day Nursery is privately owned and run. It opened in 1994 and operates from a converted building in Paddock Wood, Kent.

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Description of the setting

The setting is registered on the Early Years Register. A maximum of 58 children from birth to eight years may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm all year round. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 98 children in the early years age range are on roll. Children come from the local areas. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and also supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The nursery employs 16 members of staff, of these, 12 hold NVQ Level 3 qualifications, two staff hold a Level 2 qualification and two staff have a National Association for Maternal and Child Welfare (N.A.M.C.W) qualification.

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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

Children make good progress in this setting in all six areas of learning and are well supported by staff to enjoy their time as they make progress to reach their full potential. The setting has strong arrangements in place to review and reflect on what they do. Management and staff share an exceptionally strong commitment to drive the setting forward and all contribute towards identifying creative solutions to any areas they perceive can be enhanced. The arrangements for ongoing improvement are outstanding.

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further?

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

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further?

 ensure that assessments of children's progress includes an element of benchmarking against the Early Years Foundation Stage and increase the record of observations made by parents  streamline the written record of risk assessments and monitor to ensure that all areas are assessed consistently  ensure that babies have access to more regular opportunities for outdoor play throughout the year. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

The setting is well led and safeguarding children is given high priority. Staff are subject to robust recruitment and vetting procedures, with all staff supervised closely until they receive satisfactory clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau. The manager is the lead trained member of staff identified as the designated child protection officer. Most staff have attended recent child protection training, the information and guidance from which is disseminated among all staff to ensure there is a clear understanding of what every practitioner's role and responsibility is; this is further detailed in the written policies and procedures which guide staff and inform parents of the child protection procedures of the setting. Recruitment procedures include health questionnaires, references and interviews in which the applicant's interaction with children is observed and assessed. All staff are included

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the early years provision

in opportunities to attend first aid training which is held every three years. All but one member of staff holds a current first aid training certificate.

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the early years provision

Newly appointed staff are carefully selected and probationary periods are used to ensure that staff performance is of a high standard. Staff who do not meet the exacting standards of the setting are not retained. Staff appraisals and supervision meetings are held on a regular basis to ensure that management are able to support staff's development, address any practice issues and check staff understanding of subjects such as updated policies and procedures. Management lead a collaborative learning culture, providing time and space for knowledge sharing and support for continuous professional development for all staff. This results in a staff team who are appropriately trained, with up-to-date skills and qualifications. All staff are involved in the self evaluation process and are encouraged to take a part in developing the setting. Non-contact time with children allows staff to concentrate on producing assessment records in the office, without

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the early years provision

compromising time spent providing childcare. Management share their drive and ambition to continually improve the setting and the whole staff team demonstrates a sense of joint pride in the enhancements that are made, which contributes to the judgment that the arrangements for ensuring continual improvement are outstanding. Most of the paperwork is of high quality, is well organised and supports the setting very effectively. Occasionally, the updating and trialling of new systems, such of in the case of the risk assessment, results in short periods where several systems are in use at the same time. Where this is not closely monitored inconsistencies occur which reduce the effectiveness of the system.

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the early years provision

Resources are well deployed, the youngest babies and toddlers are accommodated in two age based rooms on the first floor. Older pre-school aged children use the ground floor. The ground floor is organised into rooms with specific themes. Children move from room to room throughout the day. This enables children to have access to all of the different types of resources, and staff support children if they want to visit a particular room, for example if they want to engage in art and craft activities. The outside is used at set times by the different age groups. Younger children have less opportunities to use the outdoors, particularly in the winter months as the setting has not identified effective ways to enable crawling or non-ambulant children to use the outside play space comfortably. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 The partnership with parents is strong. They are provided with good quality and

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the early years provision

daily information which details how the setting has met their children's care needs. The development of a partnership with parents in relationship to education is developing well. Extremely effective systems have been developed to forge excellent partnerships and support working together with other practitioners to support transition, both between settings and between the setting and school. The setting recognises the contribution that they are making locally when other settings duplicate their systems and that this supports best practice with other practitioners, which may extend beyond their own development to support the development of other local settings.

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the early years provision

The setting works hard to ensure that they actively include all members of society. Plans and systems are in place to support children who are gifted and talented, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who have English as an additional language. Staff use sign language to support children's developmental skills from when they are babies, this enable them to develop skills that will also support their communication with children who use signing as a main form of communication as well as reducing the frustration that many younger children experience as they are unable to express verbally what they want to say.

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and outcomes for children

Staff create a safe, warm and welcoming environment for children. All of the play rooms are colourful and attractive with plenty of displays of children’s work. The low storage enables children to help themselves easily to toys. Children are greeted on arrival, warmly by staff who know them well. This helps them to settle and engage quickly at activities of their choice. Children build good relationships with each other and with adults in the setting. Children and staff have fun and the atmosphere is warm and caring with lots of laughter. Children play well together and share resources. They learn to negotiate as they play games together supported by staff.

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and outcomes for children

Children's key workers get to know the children well by regularly observing and assessing their progress. Staff use the Early Years Foundation Stage to identify next steps for individual children. They record brief observations which demonstrate that children have reached a particular milestone and this milestone is then marked off in an assessment file. However, the assessment records track rather than assess children's progress. No benchmarking is recorded to demonstrate how well a child is progressing in each area of learning. Investigations are currently underway to develop the use of a system which will monitor children's progress as a group, so that the setting can assess its own success in delivering each of the six areas of learning. Managers acknowledge that benchmarking each individual child's rate of progress will be necessary for this system to be put into place.

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and outcomes for children

Staff plan and provide a wide variety of activities for children that cover all areas of learning. The sessions are well organised and children are well occupied with This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 stimulating and age appropriate activities. Children make good progress towards the early learning goals in relation to their starting points, capabilities and interests. They are encouraged to develop independence and be active learners, creative and think critically. Children are observed to work well both independently and with each other. Staff encourage children to explore different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and celebrations with each other so that they learn to respect and value differences. Resources in place are an appropriate mix of images that positively reflect diversity and children join in, make friends and respect each other.

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and outcomes for children

Staff provide good support to children to develop a good understanding of how to support their own health, to be active and understand the benefits of physical activity, understand and adopt healthy habits such as good hygiene practices and make healthy choices about what they eat and drink. Adults teach children to behave in ways that are safe for themselves and others and develop an understanding of dangers and how to stay safe.

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and outcomes for children

Children are given good opportunities to develop skills that contribute to future economic well-being. Routines are organised to ensure that each child is encouraged to make as much progress as they can in communicating, literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technology. They develop good habits as active, inquisitive and independent learners, develop collaborative skills and problem solving attitudes. They are able to demonstrate through their play and communications that they understand increasing features of the wider world. 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 1 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 2 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 2 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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