Paper Moon Nurseries

The Gooseberry Bush

Inspection report for early years provision

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The Gooseberry Bush

Unique Reference Number 253395 Inspection date 12 December 2005 Inspector Tina Garner

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The Gooseberry Bush

Setting Address Gamston District Centre, Gamston, Nottinghamshire, NG2 6PS

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E-mail

Registered person Nicholas Keith Mayfield 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 Gooseberry Bush Day Nursery opened in 1998. It operates from purpose built, single storey premises in Gamston, and is located close to the A52, within easy reach of Nottingham. The outside area consists of a large enclosed secure garden providing a sheltered play area, lawned, tarmac and bark chipped play areas. The Day Nursery is registered to provide 70 places for children under five years. There are currently 86 children on the register, this includes 9 funded four year olds

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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 and 26 funded three year olds. Children attend both full and part time. They are organized into areas for babies, toddlers and pre school. Staff have experience of working with children with special educational needs (SEN) and English as an additional language (EAL). The nursery opens Monday to Friday 07:30 to 18:00. It operates 51 weeks a year excluding bank holidays, and is closed for one full week at Christmas. There are 18 staff available to work with the children, 15 of which hold a relevant childcare qualification. Of these half have undergone recent first aid training. The nursery receives support from the Local Authority.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children benefit from good levels of adult support, and guidance, to enable them to develop an understanding of hygiene and keeping healthy. For example, children are guided to wash their hands before handling food and after using the toilet. Daily routines further promote their understanding as they observe staff wiping down tables before snack time and putting used tissues straight in the bin. The premises are clean and well maintained which helps keep children healthy. Children's dietary requirements are given careful consideration when menus and snacks are planned. Staff ensure children only eat foods which are suitable to their individual needs this ensures their dietary needs are well catered for. Meals have appropriate regard to offering children a balanced diet which includes fresh fruit and vegetables daily. Children are developing an early understanding of healthy eating,

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Helping children to be healthy

and life styles, as they select nutritious snacks, such as fresh fruit, and sit together during snack times. Staff take account of parents' wishes for feeding babies, and work with the child's individual routines. They have a sound knowledge of the children in their care so that babies are well nourished. Children have daily opportunities for physical activities. Well laid out areas enable children to access resources, which promote their large motor development such as climbing equipment and wheeled toys. They benefit from additional planned indoor activities such as ballet and music and movement. Children move with confidence and safety and are able to negotiate pathways around others as they ride bikes and manoeuvre sit on toys. Older children confidently use small tools such as pencils, paint brushes, and stencils helping them to develop their fine manipulative skills.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children’s risk of accidental injury is minimised through the well laid out areas, which allows staff to monitor them easily. Good safety and security procedures further enhance children’s safety. For example, staff carry out daily risk assessments on

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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 areas used by the children. Children are well protected from persons who are not vetted, and only collected by agreed adults. They develop an understanding of procedures to be followed in an emergency through taking part in regular fire drills. This supports their developing awareness of how to keep themselves and others safe. Children gain from a range of safe, good quality play materials and resources. In the majority of rooms these are presented at suitable levels to encourage independent access. However, children within the tweenies room have insufficient access to a range of supporting resources. This impacts on the breadth of activities which are offered to this age group. A good range of documents and procedures are in place to safeguard and promote children’s welfare, such as procedures to follow in the event of a child being lost.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children’s welfare is suitably safeguarded regarding child protection. Staff understand their responsibility to act on any concerns and a well written policy offers clear advice.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children of all ages are happy and feel welcomed at the setting. Older children settle quickly and become purposefully engaged, whilst younger children are offered good levels of support to separate from their carer and feel secure. Children benefit from staff establishing a calm and affectionate environment. They are valued and adults help them fell good about themselves by frequently providing praise and encouragement. They are forming friendships with other children and chat comfortably as they play. The staff are beginning to get to know and use the 'Birth to three matters' framework, and meet the care needs of children well. However, planned activities do not always provide a broad and balanced programme for all children. This hinders some children's progress. Babies receive lots of cuddles and have an obvious bond with their key worker which increases their sense of

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

well-being. They benefit from routines which are consistent with their experiences at home. They enjoy a suitable range of toys and books, and respond to the sounds and colours with interest. Babies develop early communication skills as they attract the attention of staff who respond positively to their sounds during play. Nursery Education The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Children's development is assessed regularly; this gives staff a summary of children's learning and progress. However, staff are not always clear in their knowledge of where the children have started in their development. This sometimes limits the challenge set for children. Staff provide a mainly suitably stimulating environment. Children make generally good progress as they access the range of free play activities. They enjoy their play and are active. Free play activities suitably encourage incidental learning and enable

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children to consolidate what they already know and can do. Children also take part in structured activities which have appropriate learning intentions and are evaluated. However, the majority of these activities, along with planned art and craft work, are

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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 adult led and prevent children from developing their own learning and independent creative ideas. Children are friendly and show care and concern for others. They enjoy close relationships with staff and each other, with some older children forming particular friendships amongst their peers. Children's independence is well promoted through daily routines. For example, they wash hands and put on their own coats and aprons. They are confident to select activities and show increasing personal independence as they begin to manage their own toileting needs. Children speak well and are keen to engage adults in conversation, they enjoy sharing views and all join in with favourite songs and rhymes. Children are developing a keen interest in books; they listen with enthusiasm to stories and enjoy looking at books alone. They are

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

developing good mathematical understanding and skills. Older children begin to count, question and solve practical problems whilst engaged in free flow activities, such as, negotiating places with one another in the role play area. Planned topics help children learn about their environment, have a sense of time and awareness of other cultures. For example, as they listen to visitors talk about their occupations and demonstrate equipment.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. All children are welcomed into the setting and begin to develop confidence as they make their own choices and decisions within their free play. Children begin to understand what is expected of them, and how to behave appropriately, due to staffs' calm and consistent approach to behaviour management. For example, they begin to manage their own feelings as staff use appropriate techniques such as explanations and distraction. Staff encourage children to use good manners and give gentle reminders not to run indoors because they might fall and hurt themselves. The provision fosters children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Parents and staff work well together to meet individual children's care needs. Children begin to develop an awareness of the wider community through the use of resources that reflect diversity. The use of activities and equipment is well monitored

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Helping children make a positive contribution

to ensure all children have equality of access. Children's well-being is promoted by the friendly relationships that staff develop with parents. Parents have access to policies and procedures, and receive termly newsletters, keeping them well informed about practices and current issues within the setting. Staff maintain daily diaries for younger children which keep parents fully up to date on children's daily activities and routines. Channels of communication with parents are largely informal and mainly focus on the care of the children rather than their learning and development. The partnership with parents of children who receive nursery education is satisfactory. Children benefit from the setting encouraging parents to be involved in their children's learning at home. However, no formal system is in place for the mutual sharing of children's starting points, progress and achievements. This means that the potential to maximise children's learning is not

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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

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children benefit from continuity of care and a well organised environment. The setting is managed by a committed and motivated management team. They set high standards for recruitment and provide ongoing training, and have created a coherent and stable staff team. This ensures that children are well cared for by trained and experienced staff. Staff are clear with regard to their designated roles and responsibilities and work well together. They have high regard for the children's welfare, which is supported by suitably maintained record systems which are required for the safe management of the provision. The comprehensive review of policies and procedures has further improved the quality of care which is received by the children. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the children who attend. Leadership and management for nursery education are satisfactory. The manager works closely with the staff in developing a clear vision and focus on improving the

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Organisation

personal development and achievements for all funded children. Staff evaluate focused activities, whilst the manager along with the mentor teachers help monitor and evaluate the educational provision as a whole.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection recommendations were raised in relation to systems to record medication and existing injuries and the provision of positive reflection to promote diversity. Successful progress has been made. Parents now sign all medication records to acknowledge entry and separate systems have been devised to ensure confidentiality is maintained when recording any existing injuries. These actions further promote the care and welfare of children who attend. The nursery have developed the range of resources which positively reflect diversity. These help children learn to appreciate and value each others similarities and differences. Since the last nursery education inspection good progress has been made. The setting were asked to evaluate time spent sitting at large group activities to ensure all children's needs were met. Children are now separated into smaller groups according to their ability. Group times are monitored by staff to ensure children are interested

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Improvements since the last inspection

and remain engaged. Activities to increase children's access to technology needed to be increased. Children now have daily access to computers. They explore and investigate calculators, tills and telephones during general play. This further supports their learning. The group were requested to develop the use of child assessments to identify children's next steps in learning. A new system has recently been introduced which now links to individual next steps. This enables staff to plan effectively to meet the needs of individual children.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Concerns were raised that records kept by the nursery and information supplied to another agency were inaccurate. This relates to National Standards 13 Child

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Complaints since the last inspection

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Protection and Standard 14 Documentation. Ofsted investigated this by requiring the registered person to report back on this information. The provider responded and Ofsted is satisfied that National Standards are not being breached. Separate concerns were raised by a complainant regarding education funded children being unfairly treated. This relates to National Standard 9 Equal opportunities. We asked the provider to let us have a report and no evidence was found of a breach of standards. The facility remains qualified for 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): • develop the range and accessibility of extending resources to enable children to initiate their own learning, extend their own play ideas, and build on what they already know [also applies to nursery education] • plan a wider range of child lead, free play activities, which are well extended to ensure adequate age appropriate challenge is offered [also applies to nursery education].

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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): • develop systems to improve the mutual sharing of information between parents and staff with regard to the 'Foundation Stage Curriculum'; the range of topics which are planned; children's progress, development and starting points • evaluate and develop creative activities to ensure these offer age appropriate challenge and focus on children's own independent creative ideas [also

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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 applies to childcare].

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

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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