Bright Horizons Epsom Waltham House Day Nursery and Preschool

Asquith Nursery - Epsom

Inspection report for early years provision

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Asquith Nursery - Epsom

Unique Reference Number EY289713 Inspection date 07 December 2005 Inspector Lindsay Ann Farenden

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Asquith Nursery - Epsom

Setting Address 28 Worple Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5EH

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E-mail

Registered person Asquith Court Nurseries Limited 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 good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Asquith Court Nursery - Epsom is part of Asquith Court Nurseries Ltd and has been registered since June 1999. The nursery is accommodated within a large detached building of four storeys. Children occupy the lower three levels which consist of ten nursery rooms. There is a secure garden for outdoor play, which is divided to provide suitable areas for different age groups. The nursery has is own access and car parking. It operates five days a week throughout the year from 08:00 to 18:00 with a

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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 breakfast club starting at 07:45 at parental request. The nursery serves Epsom and the surrounding area. The nursery cares for a maximum 73 children aged from 0 to 5 years. There are currently 110 children on roll, 27 receive funded nursery education. There are 18 permanent staff. The Asquith organisation also has a team of supply staff, who can be called on for staff absences. Over half the staff have Early Years qualifications. The setting receives support from an advisor from the Early Years Childcare Service.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is outstanding. Children thrive because staff follow highly effective procedures and practices which meet children's physical, nutritional and health needs. Children learn the importance of good personal hygiene through well planned daily routines. Older children know for example , that it stops germs spreading, when they wash their hands after using the toilet. Excellent procedures such as, staff consistently wearing disposable gloves and aprons for nappy changing and when serving finger foods, sustain high levels of hygiene and help to prevent the spread of infection. Children receive very nutritious snacks and meals that help them develop healthy eating habits from a young age. All food is freshly cooked using fresh meat and vegetables. Children's fondness of fruit is encouraged by being offered it every day. Staff work closely with parents to ensure children's special dietary requirements and

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Helping children to be healthy

cultural needs are known, and account is taken of these when planning and preparing foods. There are excellent lunch time arrangements which enable older children to serve themselves lunch and pudding, and scrape their plates when they are finished. Older children choose when they want to have a snack of a variety of fruit and a drink. All children are encouraged to pour their own drinks and water is available to them throughout the day. This helps to develop children's independence and to make choices. Meal times are a sociable occasion in which children learn good table manners. Children explore, test and develop physical control from stimulating daily indoor and outdoor experiences. Children enjoy running and chase one another in the garden and manoeuvre bikes and wheeled toys. They enthusiastically climb on and through the climbing frame, balancing and playing on fixed play equipment. Children benefit

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Helping children to be healthy

from sports sessions each week, where they play games such as rugby, tennis and cricket and throw and catch balls. They move their bodies to music and to action rhymes. Their hand and eye co-ordination is encouraged as they play with sand and water, build with construction resources, mould with play dough and use a variety of resources when undertaking activities. All children are able to rest and be active according to their needs.

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Helping children to be healthy

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Babies benefit from opportunities to play in the garden during the summer and from being taken on walks to receive fresh air in the winter time. They enjoy moving through and rolling over the balls in the ball pool and are encouraged to crawl and walk, which helps them learn control of their bodies gaining physical skills, appropriate to their stage of development. Babies feeding needs are met well, they are encouraged to taste a variety of freshly pureed foods, such as squash, green peppers and parsnip. They benefit from being cuddled and held, whist being bottle fed. Parents are informed of babies food intakes, which ensures continuity of care. Children's health and welfare are protected because 10 staff hold a first aid certificate and the first aid boxes are suitably stocked. This means children are safeguarded in

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Helping children to be healthy

the event of an accident. For continuity of care parents are notified of any accidents and parents have provided appropriate consents in relation to medication and emergency treatment.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Risks of accidental injury to children are minimised because staff are extremely vigilant and use risk assessments to reduce potential hazards. To protect children, staff ensure equipment is in place to keep children safe, for example there are safety gates fitted at the top and bottom of all staircases used with the children. Children are well supervised and staff ensure children are able to move from room to room safely. When older children are able to use several rooms, they monitor the number of children in each room, to ensure their safety. Security arrangements ensure that children are kept safe. For example, there is a video intercom system with TV screen on each floor, which ensures that all parents and visitors to the group are identified prior to gaining access. Children are encouraged to develop an awareness of keeping themselves safe, for example when they use the stairs they are reminded to hold onto the hand rail and not to run

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

indoors. Children are safeguarded in the garden, because it is secured by a high fence and areas are sectioned off with a low fence, with good quality fixed equipment to meet children's different developmental needs. Children have access to an excellent range of toys, which are safe, of good quality and developmentally appropriate. These are well organised so that children are able to make independent choices. Furniture and equipment provided is age appropriate and encourages children's development. Children benefit from a sufficient number of child sized tables and chairs to allow them to play and eat in groups. Comfortable book and carpeted areas provide opportunities for children to look at books and play in comfort. Cushions and supporting rings enable babies to sit with support and are able to crawl in comfort on a large carpeted area. Children are kept safe on outings because staff follow appropriate procedures of high

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

staff/child ratios. Through planned activities children learn about road safety, for example children know that they can cross the road when the light shows the green man.

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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 Children are well protected by staff who have a clear understanding of child protection procedures. This gives top priority to children's welfare within the setting.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. All children arrive happily and are eager to participate. Staff are welcoming to parents and children and greet them with smiles and positive comments. Children move straight into the resources, play happily and link up with friends. Good planning ensures children are provided with a wide range of interesting activities to promote their high quality care and learning. The organisation of the resources is very good and children are fully encouraged to move about freely in the playrooms to explore through play. An extensive range of craft activities are encouraged every day, such as finger painting, feeling the texture of paint on hands and feet, sponge painting and sticking activities. Children enjoy the experience of moulding and playing with play dough and doing cooking activities. For example children enjoyed making star biscuits. They like painting freely at the easels

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

and more able children are able to name orange, blue and red paints. They use their imaginations well, dressing up in clothes and pretending to go to the doctors' surgery and cuddling dolls and putting them to bed. Children make marks at the writing table to represent their ideas and are learning to use scissors effectively to cut paper. From various resources children build constructions and are able to count up to five bricks. Children's listening skills are encouraged every day, as they enjoy looking at books and listen avidly to stories and participate in discussions and questions about the stories. Sand and water play is readily available and children like to pour dry sand from one container to another and playing with shells in water, discussing with each other which shells are bigger and smaller. Children are able to follow simple instructions, for example at the music session, they jump and clap when asked to. They have opportunities to move their bodies to music,

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

such as slithering on the floor like snakes. Children's listening skills are encouraged every day, as they enjoy listening to stories and taking part in singing sessions and action songs. Children and babies enjoy the sensory rooms where they are able to listen to sounds and watch different lights. Close, caring relationships increase children's sense of trust and help them develop a strong sense of self. Babies receive lots of cuddles and have warm and affectionate relationships with staff, who are caring and fully aware of their needs. A range of resources is provided for babies, which they use to explore colours and sounds. Some staff have attended Birth to three matters training and effective planning means babies have an extensive range of experiences, such as painting, playing and feeling sand, watching and catching bubbles. NURSERY EDUCATION The quality of Teaching and Learning is good. Children show a strong sense of

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

belonging, separating well from their main carers and quickly settle into the nursery and link up with friends. On a daily basis the three rooms used by the pre-school 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 set up with key resources, such as sand, water, construction, role play area, painting easel and computers. Children confidently initiate their own play, selecting from the resources independently. They use their imagination well, role playing the nativity play using the stable set up in the role play area. They move to music on a regular basis and enjoy moving their bodies to action songs. Children are very confident speakers , they talk to each as they play and about their home life. They talk openly at circle time and are keen to answer questions. The children listen intently, to stories read by staff and enjoy looking at books and talking about illustrations with each other. They are beginning to learn that print carries meaning , as they pretend to read books following words with their fingers and more able children are able to recognise

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

their name on their place mat. Children are able to recite stories, for example a small group of children used figures in the puppet theatre, telling the story of the three bears. Children enjoy mark making and practising their writing skills at the writing table. Children are able to use a pencil and hold it effectively, making marks and forming letters. More able children are able to form letters correctly and write their names. Children have opportunities to draw and are able to produce pin men, by drawing circles and lines. Children's mathematical thinking is extended through a broad range of interesting activities. For example children drew a design of a building, then did an activity in the garden using real bricks and different size pieces of wood. They put them in and took them out of wheel barrows, learning about different weights. They used play tool kits and pretended to saw wood and drilled into bricks and measured pieces of wood with

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

tape measures. Children develop an awareness of measurement during cooking activities, through measuring out ingredients with spoons and matching different sized figures. Children enjoy playing with sand and water and are able to choose from a variety of different size containers, jugs, cups, water wheels etc to encourage awareness of capacity and volume. Children are able to work out which shapes fit into wooden puzzles and build constructions with play resources. Children are confident in counting and recognise numerals 1-10 and are able to write numbers up to 7 with no prompting. More able children are beginning to understand the concept of simple additions and subtractions. Children enjoy singing number songs which helps to extend their numeric vocabulary. Children's creative development is through regular music sessions, they enjoy playing musical instruments on their own and as a group. Children are provided with

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

a very good range of art activities. Children enjoy taking part in art activities, such as sponge, brush, and string painting and experimenting with different textures such as corn flour. Children helped to construct and painted a large pirates boat from cardboard, made eye pads and then played imaginatively in the boat. Children develop a sense of time through discussions about the day of the week and the weather. They learn about changes over time and life cycles, for example they dig in the garden, grow plants, water them and watch them grow. They brought snow in from the garden and put into the water tray and watched it change as it melted. Children learn about keeping themselves healthy through tasting different fruits and then making a graph through discussions about the fruits they liked best. They learn about their own and other beliefs and cultures through meaningful activities relating to culture celebrations. Some children are learning French through sessions held

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

weekly in the nursery. Children have well developed self help skills, they use a knife

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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 and fork well at meal times, put on their coats and hats and more able children are able to do up buttons and zips. Children are confident and enjoy using computers and demonstrate good mouse control. Staff have an awareness of the Foundation Stage and are able to plan a good range of activities under all areas of learning. Although the planning is not always used effectively to develop all children's learning on an every day basis. For example the letter of the week is not used every day within the environment. Observations of children's progress are not recorded and staff do not make effective use of what they know about children's achievements, to always fully extend individual children's learning.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. All children are welcomed and play a full part in the nursery because staff value and respect their individuality and the family context of each child. Children develop positive attitudes to one another through festival celebrations and when playing with resources which depict positive images of diversity. Older children develop some awareness of their local vicinity when occasionally visiting the library, but there are few opportunities for them to explore and develop an awareness of their local community on a regular basis. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. The partnership with parents is good. Children benefit from the positive partnership staff have developed with parents. Staff actively seek information from parents when they first start at the nursery, which helps to ensure children's needs are met and babies home routines are followed. Parents receive detailed reports twice a year on

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Helping children make a positive contribution

how their children are progressing and developing. For continuity of children's care information is exchanged informally with parents about their daily routines, needs and progress they are making on a daily basis. Staff complete daily diaries and information cards on children under two years to inform parents of their baby's day. Comprehensive notice boards throughout the nursery keep parents informed of activities, menus, policies and procedures and staff qualifications. Parents receive regular newsletters to keep them informed of events at the nursery. Children are generally well behaved, they take turns when playing games and share resources with each other. Older children learn to negotiate with each other, when they ask if any one wants to swap with them to access another playroom and some children effectively negotiate with each other, when playing and wanting the same toys. There are a few occasions when some older children's behaviour becomes

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Helping children make a positive contribution

restless due to some routines in the nursery and activities do not fully challenge them. Although there are no children with special needs currently in the nursery, they are warmly welcomed into the nursery. There is one designated member of staff who has undertaken training in this area and good procedures are in place to support children

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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 with special needs.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children are cared for in an environment which gives them confidence to select resources independently and to settle well. Hygiene and safety are strong areas, which ensures children are kept safe and remain healthy. The excellent displays of children's work throughout the nursery, show that staff value their contributions and efforts. The nursery took part in an accredited quality assurance scheme which ensures child care meets a good standard. Children are well protected and kept safe through effective recruitment procedures, which ensure staff are appropriately vetted and qualified to determine their suitability to work with children. New staff undertake a good induction programme to ensure they are aware of procedures and are able to meet the children's needs and routines. Most staff are qualified and staff appraisal systems and in house training ensures that the nursery's comprehensive policies and procedures are consistently applied.

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Organisation

Staffing ratios are well maintained and staff are employed effectively throughout the nursery, which provides good consistency of care for children. Leadership and management is good. The indoor and outdoor space is laid out to maximise play opportunities for children. All legally required documentation which contributes to children's health, safety and well-being is in place. Overall, children make good progress in all areas of learning. This is recorded in photographs and children's twice yearly developmental progress reports. The planning includes the six areas of learning, but observations of children are not always used successfully to inform planning to help children move onto the next stage of learning and to challenge the more able children, although meetings are currently taking place with staff to develop the planning and to continue to improve the quality of education and care. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Since the last inspection children's safety has improved. The fire exits have been made clear and the cots kept in the outside area are now suitable to be used for children in an emergency. This helps to safeguard children's welfare and safety within the setting.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since April 2004 there have been three complaints relating to Standard1 Suitable Person: Standard 2 Organisation :Staff ratios : Standard 11 Behaviour : Standard 4 Physical Environment : Standard 5 Equipment : Standard 6 Safety. An Ofsted inspector investigated all three complaints and no evidence was found that the National Standards had been breached. The provider remains qualified for registration.

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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 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 good.

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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 systems so children do not have to wait and queue for long periods during daily routines of the nursery

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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 observations to inform planning to help individual children move into the next stage of learning and to challenge the more able children

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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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