South Wonston Day NurseryOfsted inspection, 13 Apr 2010

South Wonston Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY243114 Inspection date 13/04/2010 Inspector Sylvia Shane

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Setting address Groves Close, South Wonston, Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 3EP Telephone number 01962 881180 Email anita@swons.co.uk 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

South Wonston Nursery School opened in 2002 and operates from a single storey building in the rural village of South Wonston. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. A maximum of 26 children under eight may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am until 6pm for 50 weeks a year. All children have access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. There are currently 45 children on roll, of which 36 children are in receipt of nursery education funding.

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Description of the setting

Children come from the surrounding area. The nursery is able to support children with additional needs, including those who may speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The nursery employs three full-time staff members and two part-time. Three are qualified to level 3, one is working towards her level 4 qualification, and one is undertaking a Graduate Leadership Course to gain Early Years Professional Status.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Children are making excellent progress in their learning and development and enjoy their time within a vibrant learning environment. The owner and staff are highly motivated and have gained clear knowledge and awareness of the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements through ongoing professional development. Each child is valued and recognised for their uniqueness and their learning and welfare needs are extensively promoted. Highly effective procedures are implemented to keep the children safeguarded and secure. A professional and strong partnership with parents is fostered and information is fully shared. Rigorous reflective practice and flexibility ensures sustained improvements to this early years setting where improvements are identified and implemented efficiently; this has extremely positive impact on the children and demonstrates the group's ongoing capacity for continuous improvement.

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider:

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further?

 continue to develop and build on the existing best practice to develop further the partnerships with all the providers of care and education. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

Children benefit as staff have excellent knowledge of the early years framework and implement it extremely well ensuring each child's individual needs are met. Safeguarding is a high priority for the nursery. Robust recruitment procedures are in place ensuring that all adults working with the children are suitable to do so. This includes effective induction procedures to ensure that all new staff promote the children's welfare and safety. Visitors and volunteers are supervised and never left with the children on their own. They are given a safety sheet to read; this informs them about their responsibilities in regard to fire evacuations, confidentiality and safeguarding children. Highly effective risk assessments are carried out thoroughly and these include outings. All accidents are reviewed to trace any common issues and action is taken to minimise further risks to children. Children take part in risk assessments so learn to monitor their own safety and

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the early years provision

staff supervision is excellent. As a result children feel very safe and are kept secure. Excellent signage throughout the nursery reminds all who come to the nursery that children's security is paramount. All staff undertake core training, such as first aid, child protection and food hygiene, to ensure flexible deployment of staff and children are safe at all times. Through consultation with staff training needs are identified and training is sought to enable staff to keep their skills and knowledge up to date.

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the early years provision

Reflective practice is constant and effective in the nursery. It is undertaken by the owner, and all staff, parents and children are able to participate and make their views known. This ensures the high standards are adhered to. Children are making excellent progress in their learning and development. Flexible and highly responsive staff plan individual and realistic targets for individual children to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Resources are reviewed to ensure that they meet the needs of all the children and equality maintained. Adjustments are made where necessary to improve the outcomes for children. For instance, the nursery reviewed the menus to add more variety and talked to children about their favourite foods incorporating them into the menu. When the staff recognised that they had a bigger intake of boys than girls they bought additional superhero figures and other resources to support their interests

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the early years provision

and used these effectively to engage the children. They review the way space and signage is used consistently, to meet the needs of individual children and ensure that every child understands how to access the resources and to support them in learning about flexible routines.

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the early years provision

Effective communication with parents and other providers of care and education is high on the agenda in this nurturing setting and they implement this very well. Staff are observed to take time each day to talk to parents about their child's day. In addition, notices on and other interesting childcare information is displayed effectively. Parents particularly like the 'ask me about… star stickers', where parents are given key information about things their children particularly enjoyed or an achievement or, at the other end of the scale, something that caused their child concern. Parents are asked to contribute and share home experiences with the staff. These are then shared with the other children, giving children an insight This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 into each other's lives. Alongside this parents are able to access a secure internet site where they can view photographs taken of, and some by, the children,

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the early years provision

through their busy day at nursery. There are termly consultations and parents receive written reports on their children that are linked to the six areas of learning. Parents are very supportive of the staff and appreciate the care and education their child receives. Parents who spoke with the inspector stated that they had excellent relationships with the staff, who are open and friendly, and that they are always ready to listen to them and their children. They state that they are fully involved in their child's education and welcomed the open evening where they were given an explanation of the early years framework and what it means to their child. They understand how important the engagement with parents is in decision making and sharing in their child's education and welfare. They appreciate the links the staff have made with them in their own homes. Parents are impressed with the links the nursery have with the local schools, in particular the village

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the early years provision

school where there is a seamless transition as children move on to the next stage in their education. Staff recognise there is more work to be done with schools where fewer children attend and have this on top of their agenda to develop. Through effective networking the nursery has close links with a wide range of professionals who they can call on to support families and their children in all areas of their welfare and learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children's personal, social and emotional well-being is extremely well promoted, as a result, children show high levels of confidence and self-esteem. This is because staff know how very important it is for children to feel safe and see this as a building block to children's successful learning. Children show trust and enjoy being in the presence of adults who respond in very positive ways; staff show excellent listening skills, help children find ways of resolving conflicts and remind children they can use their language to express themselves. Staff ask children questions that make them think, so that they become inquisitive learners. The key worker system provides each child with a special person to relate to; they liaise with other members of staff to ensure children's unique needs are met. In addition, the staff work highly effectively as a team to share information and ensure consistency of care and education. Staff are highly responsive to the

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and outcomes for children

children's body language and give the all important cuddle when children are upset or when they show signs of feeling weary. They change activities to provide a variety of busy and quiet time; this ensures children can renew their energy levels. The staff’s gentle and nurturing ways soon have children refreshed and ready to play again. Children demonstrate a real sense of belonging as they access many of the resources independently, this fosters their self-esteem. Children take turns to tidy up and are very keen helpers, knowing they are rewarded with praise and stickers. The children use the nursery timer independently and consistently to ensure fairness prevails, so each child gets an equal chance to use the equipment. Staff gently remind them to say 'please' and' thank you' if they forget. Children are developing independence. For example, they help set the tables for meals and pour their own drinks. Staff encourage them to use their counting and calculating

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and outcomes for children

skills to work out how many plates and cups are needed. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Children thrive in the stimulating and imaginative environment that is created for them by the highly motivated staff team. Staff are enthusiastic and skilfully facilitate play, providing an excellent balance of child and adult-initiated activities. They are confident in their knowledge of child development and understand when to stand back and allow children to explore the opportunities for themselves; this encourages children to be active learners. Careful planning ensures that children can take part in activities which reflect their current interest so that play is meaningful and fun. For example, children show a keen interest in acting out adult roles, such as construction workers. In this activity they cover the six areas of learning. They communicate with each other about what it is they need. They use

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and outcomes for children

their imagination and dress in hard hats and high glow jackets to show they are learning about how to keep safe. They show high levels of involvement and exploration as they explore and operate pulleys, and they work out how to get their tools up to the top of the climbing frame and how many trowels they will need. Staff encourage them to experiment with resources to find something that will represent cement; children access the sand and water and work out a consistency that will stick. They confidently climb the steps and slide down the slide to get more resources. Staff encourage children to recall and reflect on their past experiences and to think about the signs they have seen whilst visiting the local building site. This prompts children to make their own signs and the activity is further extended giving children the opportunity to practise their mark making skills.

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and outcomes for children

High priority is given to promoting children's language skills. Young children soon learn where things belong as staff ensure everything is clearly labelled with pictures as well as print. Older children learn to recognise their names, and the sounds of their favourite cartoon animals. Children have designed their own alphabet frieze and each of them is represented on it, giving them the opportunity to link sounds to letters. Staff consistently support children to verbalise their needs, as a result, older children are talking in complex sentences and younger children are learning simple ones. They are thrilled when the member of staff asks them if they would like to play the listening game and keenly take part, older children are asked to give the younger ones chance to respond to the simple sounds they know, ensuring they are sufficiently challenged with the more difficult sounds. They make suggestions about what they want to do and what they want

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and outcomes for children

Children learn about technology, for example as they use the nursery's digital camera and take photos. They have daily access to a computer with an extensive range of programs and use programmable toys and timers confidently. Through a wide range of meaningful activities children learn about the wider world and the toys and resources reflect and support their learning. They visit the local school on a regular basis and join in with fundraising events encouraging them to think about others. They visit the local building site to see how their community is growing and developing and discuss the machinery and skills needed. They learn about each other through a range of activities. For example, they show and tell and talk about the things that are important to them at circle time. A range of topics in books are used effectively to help children to understand others and to deal with strong emotions and events in their lives. As a result, they are tolerant and learn respect

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and outcomes for children

This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 for each other.

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and outcomes for children

Children enjoy the freshly prepared nutritious food they receive at the nursery. A café style snack time helps children to develop an awareness of their bodily needs, whilst letting them play uninterrupted. However, staff gently remind the children so that they are warned that snack time is coming to an end. Fresh water is always available and children help themselves from their individual containers which are clearly labelled to prevent cross contamination. The children are clearly developing a love of the outdoors and recognise the benefit of fresh air and exercise. They are showing increasing confidence in their physical skills as they balance and manage obstacle courses. They confidently climb and are learning how to move their bodies to swing. The show increasing control and coordination using different types of wheeled toys, such as scooters, tricycles and bikes, as well as the very popular plastic car.

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and outcomes for children

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 1 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 1 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 1

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Stage

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

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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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Annex B: the Childcare Register

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

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