Quality Kidz Nurseries Ltd

Quality Kidz Nurseries Ltd

Inspection report for early years provision

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Quality Kidz Nurseries Ltd

Unique Reference Number EY285088 Inspection date 28 November 2005 Inspector Deborah Ann Benn

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Quality Kidz Nurseries Ltd

Setting Address 79 Campden Crescent, Dagenham, Essex, RM8 2RS

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E-mail

Registered person Quality Kidz Nurseries Ltd Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Full day care

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E-mail

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 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 satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery at Campden Crescent is 1 of 2 run by Quality Kidz Nurseries Limited and opened in 2004. The nursery operates from 2 buildings on 1 site, with pre-school children being cared for in 1 and 2 to 3-year-olds in the other. All children have access to a fully enclosed garden for outdoor play. The site is in a residential area of Dagenham in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham. The majority of families are from the local area, although some come from outside of the borough.

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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 The nursery is open for 51 weeks a year, closing at Christmas and for Bank Holidays. There are currently 42 children attending aged between 2 years and 4 years of whom 16 are in receipt of funded education. The hours of operation are 08:00 to 18:30. The nursery supports a number of children who are learning English as an additional language. There are 9 staff working with the children in total. The majority of staff are qualified in childcare and education to National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2, with 1 currently in training. The manager, deputy and directors are qualified to NVQ level 4. The nursery receives support from an advisory teacher via the local Early Years Development Childcare Partnership.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. The premises are clean and cleaning routines are effective for keeping the toys and resources in an appropriate condition. Good health and hygiene procedures are in place to limit the risk of cross- infection such as using paper covers on the changing mats in addition to cleaning them with anti-bacterial spray and the use of disposable gloves and aprons for food preparation and nappy changing. Effective daily routines help children understand the importance of personal hygiene. Children know they must wash their hands after going to the toilet and before eating to prevent the spread of germs. Good practice is supported by the provision of resources such as liquid soap, disposable towels and one-use flannels in the children's toilets. Children's nutritional needs are met, they are provided with substantial and well balanced meals which take into consideration their individual dietary needs. Children

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Helping children to be healthy

have access to drinks throughout the day. Children confidently access a recently implemented rolling snack table where they have a choice of different fruits and milk, squash or water to drink and a fresh water cooler is made freely available during the summer months. The management team are very aware of the importance of encouraging children to eat healthily and make efforts to work towards the "five a day" principle; fresh fruit is provided for snacks and at tea time. Children use small tools to cut and shape clay with accuracy and older children show dexterity when using construction kits. All children have daily access to outside play activities and the provision of a well resourced covered soft play area means that they are able to participate in vigorous activity in all weathers.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are cared for in bright and attractive rooms made welcoming to all through the use of displays of children's work, photographs and appropriate posters. Particularly good use is made of the ample space in the 2 to 3-year-old unit providing opportunities for children to take part in small group activities without impinging on others and to rest in a quiet room without being disturbed. The covered soft play area

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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 is well resourced with suitable equipment providing children with a good range of large physical play activities in addition to the range of resources used in the safety-surfaced playgrounds. Children are aware of keeping themselves safe such as not eating food that is too hot because it may burn and not running indoors as they may bump each other. Children benefit from good security systems. The use of a buzzer on the external doors, which are kept locked and only opened by staff members, and gated outdoor play areas coupled with the use of visitors badges ensures a high level of monitoring. Daily checks of the premises, supported by more detailed and logged ones carried out monthly, help to maintain a safe environment. Safety surfaces on both outdoor play areas help to reduce hazards. Good risk assessment systems are in place.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

These are used effectively to protect children and staff both on and off the premises. Children benefit from staff's vigilance regarding the regular checking of play equipment and the provision of good quality, age-appropriate toys. Practitioners show a good knowledge and understanding of child protection issues which helps them protect children from harm and neglect. Child protection awareness is discussed within the first week of staff joining the nursery as part of their induction and good use is made of local authority training to ensure knowledge is kept current. Staff are clear about appropriate procedures to follow if they have concerns regarding a child's welfare. Appropriate policies and procedures are in place and contact numbers readily accessible.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Practitioners’ warm interaction and good support helps build positive relationships, children confidently approach staff members and chat happily about what they are doing. An effective key worker system is in operation and staff have a good knowledge of children's individual needs. Lots of appropriate cuddles are evident, particularly for the new and younger children which help them feel secure. Children throughout the nursery are confident to handle books, they enjoy stories and concentrate well. However, opportunities for children to express themselves in art and design are limited for both the younger children and those receiving funded nursery education. Art and craft activities are adult-designed and planned and children are instructed on how to complete these rather than being encouraged to explore colour, design, texture and express their own feelings on a daily basis.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Nursery education The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Permanent staff members have a sound understanding of the Foundation Stage and provide a sufficient range of activities and experiences. The level of teaching is sufficient to interest the children and enable them to make satisfactory progress. However, the reliance on students and volunteers to ensure adult:child ratios are met throughout the day means that the quality of teaching varies. Although some staff do extend children's thinking by adding to activities such as encouraging children to hone their cycling skills by

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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 following a chalked road on the playground, opportunities are missed to cross the areas of learning and children's thinking is not consistently challenged. Children are beginning to hold pencils and crayons with control. However, the organisation of resources and the planning of activities does not encourage children to access writing materials freely across the curriculum and see the different purposes of writing. Children identify their own names on name cards used at lunch time but opportunities are missed to encourage children to use these to support their early writing skills. Children develop very good communication skills as they contribute to group discussions at circle time and join in singing with enthusiasm. They enjoy taking part and confidently choose their favourite song, leading their peers and taking part with

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

actions. They learn about growth and change in the natural world through practical activities such as seeing chicks hatch from eggs and planting and caring for cress seeds. Children are learning to count and understand numbers and are starting to apply this knowledge in their daily activities such as stating how many wheels there are on the scooter and comparing it to the tricycle. They confidently count when joining in with number rhymes and songs. Their understanding of numbers is further reinforced as they take part in routine tasks such as working out how many children are present and if there are sufficient chairs or too many pieces of fruit. Practitioners make regular observations of children and keep a record of their progress toward the early learning goals. Assessments are used appropriately but not fully to plan how children will be supported to continue to move through the stepping stones. Individual educational plans are formulated for each child and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

reviewed regularly to help identify how to provide focus activities to support their learning. However, these are not used for all activities and weekly plans do not clearly identify how activities can be extended or adapted to meet children's' individual learning needs.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children's social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is appropriately fostered. Children from a variety of cultural backgrounds are warmly welcomed into the setting. They learn about diversity and the wider world through planned activities throughout the nursery. For example, taking part in world festival celebrations, tasting food and listening to music from a variety of cultures on a regular basis. A wide number of resources and displays positively reflect families of various cultures, lifestyles and abilities. There are currently no children with special educational needs or disabilities attending the provision. However, appropriate systems are in place to provide good support and enable inclusion. Practitioners work closely with parents to support children learning English as an additional language, valuing children's first language and using picture books and basic signing and action songs to give confidence.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children show high levels of confidence and self-esteem; they value themselves and

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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 one another. For example, thanking adults and their peers when receiving their snack. Children have a sense of belonging, they enthusiastically volunteer to carry out tasks such as collecting cups or handing out fruit and take pride in their role. The effective key-worker system helps them to feel included and settled and all staff make an effort to learn all the children's names. Children greet staff and each other with warmth and affection, younger children show a sense of security and belonging as they snuggle into a familiar staff member for comfort on waking. Children's behaviour is very good, they respond to practitioners' positive and gentle manner and use of clear praise such as thanking a child for sitting sensibly or listening well. Children settle well into the nursery due to parents being actively

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Helping children make a positive contribution

encouraged to share appropriate information concerning their child’s routine. This helps key-workers to quickly learn children's individual needs well and contributes considerably to children’s wellbeing whilst in the care of the nursery. Good quality information about the setting and regular newsletters contribute to parents being aware of the ethos of the nursery. Parents are kept well informed of their child's day through daily sheets and appropriate systems which highlight when an additional conversation is necessary. Parents views are actively sought by the setting, a comments box is available in both areas and regular written feedback forms are distributed. The partnership with parents of children who receive nursery education is good. Parents are given good quality, clear information about the Foundation Stage of learning which is further enhanced by a curriculum information evening where staff

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Helping children make a positive contribution

explain in more detail. Parents receive a termly report on how their child is progressing and meet with their child's key-worker where they are given more information about how they can support their child's learning. Flexible hours and a crèche facility enables all parents to attend.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Records are clear, current and stored with an awareness of confidentiality. All required documentation is in place, personal details and information about each child is kept in separate folders and stored in a locked cabinet. Appropriate systems are in place to ensure that any adults whose vetting is not complete are never left unsupervised with children. Systems are not yet fully developed to carry out all necessary checks to ensure the suitability of new members of staff, although these are in process. Although staff ratios are met overall in that there are sufficient adults on the premises, weaknesses in staff deployment means there are not always sufficient staff working directly with the children, particularly over staff break times. Leadership and management of nursery education is satisfactory. Regular individual supervision and annual appraisals are used to identify training needs and staff are

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Organisation

actively encouraged and supported to access a wide range of both internal and external training. The providers and manager are committed to improvement. However, strategies to evaluate teaching are not fully effective and therefore weaknesses in the delivery of the Foundation Stage have not been identified.

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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 setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since registration. 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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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 satisfactory.

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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): • provide daily opportunities for children to express their own ideas in art, craft and design through a variety of media and experiences • improve staff deployment to ensure that the number of adults working directly with the children meets with the required ratios at all times

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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): • provide more opportunities for children to learn the purpose of writing and the printed word across the curriculum • improve systems to monitor the delivery of the Foundation Stage curriculum and make the use of observations more effective in ongoing assessments and planning

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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 procedures set out in the leaflet Building better childcare: Compliments and concerns about inspectors' judgements 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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