Positive Steps Shellingford

Pre-School

Inspection report for early years provision

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Pre-School

Unique Reference Number EY283818 Inspection date 11 January 2006 Inspector Ruth George / Tracy Bartholomew

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Pre-School

Setting Address Home Farm, Church Street, Shellingford, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 7QA Telephone number 01367 718888 E-mail 07932 395668 - Michelle hibbert operations manager Registered person Positive Steps Day Nursery Limited Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Full day care

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Pre-School

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 satisfactory. 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?

Positive Steps Children’s Day Nursery opened in 2004 and operates from a purpose built single storey building in the village of Shellingford, Oxfordshire. It is one of three settings owned by Positive Steps Day Nursery Limited. A maximum of 57 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 07:45 to 18:15, for 51 weeks a year, excluding bank holidays. All children have shared access to a secure enclosed play area. There are currently 50 children age 6

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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 weeks to under 8 years on roll, of these 7 children receive funding for Nursery Education. Children come from the local community. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and children with English as an additional language. The nursery employs 13 staff. Six of the staff, including the manager, hold an appropriate Early Years qualification and six staff are working towards a qualification.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children learn good hygiene practice, they go to the bathroom independently and wash their hands, staff remind some of the reason why. Staff protect younger children from cross contamination, for example, nappies are changed following good hygiene procedures. There are good procedures in place for administering medicines and accidents are dealt with effectively protecting children's welfare. The children receive good nutritious meals and snacks; they enjoy vegetable lasagne and plum crumble for lunch, and muffins and fruit for snack. Children are offered milk and water throughout the day. Pre-school children do not have opportunities to freely access and pour drinks or to help serve meals and snacks. The menu is prepared on a four-week rolling programme offering variety. Children have a good understanding of what fuels their energy, for example, when a staff member remarks 'you are full of

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Helping children to be healthy

energy' the child replies 'that is because I ate up all my Rice Krispies and raisins'. All children have daily access to fresh air and physical play to develop fitness. Younger children enjoy to toddle, ride on toys and kick balls. Pre-school children pedal and push bikes along competently. They run, climb into tyres and on the climbing frame, they walk on stilts and negotiate cones when riding on bikes. They have a good awareness of space, negotiating the inside space with ease and outside space even whilst racing on bikes. They can move forward and backwards and stop when needed. Children have access to a range of equipment and tools to develop both large and fine motor skills.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Premises are clean and welcoming to children, they enter nursery happily welcomed by staff and settle to activities. Children enjoy the safe outdoor space, which is secure. Access to the premises does not fully protect children’s safety; access is allowed as others leave the building. There are good procedures in place for evacuation of the building and children practise regularly learning safe evacuation procedures. Staff do visual risk assessments daily removing anything that may cause children harm; however, access to the staff toilet area jeopardises the children’s safety. Children’s welfare is protected by staff, who demonstrate a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities and lines of communication to report

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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 concerns. Children have access to a range of toys and resources to support their development. Babies play with activity centres, they are engaged and happy when exploring sand and pasta. Toddlers enjoy experiences such as squeezing dough and are competent at completing puzzles. There are minimal home furnishings in the nursery or adult size chairs, which prevents more than one baby at a time being fed by staff comfortably or the ability of children of all ages to snuggle into staff in a comfortable chair. All children access resources from low-level shelves with pull out drawers promoting independence and confidence to make choices.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are confident in their environment; they arrive happy and eager and settle at activities. The activities provide good levels of challenge and promote children’s development. Children in the toddler room respond to stories, putting forward their ideas; a child says, ‘that's his girlfriend’ when pointing out a second crocodile in the book. Children respond well to the routine changes and are aware of expectations to tidy away. Children use dustpans and brushes to clear up the sand. They develop close relationships with staff, they enjoy playing ‘peep a boo’, staff say ‘boo’ and children giggle. Staff have attended recent training on the Birth to three matters framework, they are slowly introducing the ethos in the baby room, observing children and building on what they are interested in. Nursery Education The quality of teaching and learning is good. The staff have a sound understanding

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

of how children learn. They plan a range of activities based on real life situations that help children’s learning progress, for example, the pet shop. Challenges set are at the right level to extend children’s learning, to develop thinking and to help them express their ideas. The assessment system is very detailed, reflecting individual development, and is linked to planning to develop children’s next steps in learning. Children show increasing independence, they select Lego and roadway from the low-level drawers. Children demonstrate pride in their achievements as they successfully complete a puzzle. They listen to stories with increasing attention and ask questions, ‘why does the rabbit need water in a bowl?’ They distinguish one sound from another and can recognise letters. Some children can sound out the initial sounds of their name. However, the pre-school environment has limited labelling of resources and equipment to develop children’s understanding that print

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

carries meaning. Children count each other, 1 to 6, and count confidently to 10 and above. Some children count in French to 10. Children talk about shapes of every day objects, for example, a child says his roadway is a circle. Children remember and talk about significant things that have happened to them, they recall Santa and the Christmas play. There are very few opportunities for children to operate simple equipment and access a widening range of materials and tools to express themselves creatively. Children explore and learn how sounds change; they make gentle rain with the triangle, building up to loud rain with a drum. They use available

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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 resources to support their imagination in role-play, in the pet shop; they place animals in carry cases and take them to the vet.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children are treated with equal concern and feel a sense of belonging; they display a positive self-esteem, confidently expressing their likes and dislikes. They access a range of books and dressing up clothes, which promote positive images and help children to learn about the wider world. Children with special needs receive good support and staff work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure development is stimulated appropriately. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Children behave well overall. Most staff use appropriate strategies to support children to resolve squabbles, they are beginning to understand the importance of sharing and good manners. Children’s behaviour deteriorates at meal times between courses, when staff leave the tables to clear away. Babies are introduced to nursery life slowly with good settling procedures and home

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Helping children make a positive contribution

routines are respected. Staff provide verbal feedback to all parents, who say they are happy with the care their children receive. There is a monthly newsletter for parents and information is updated on the nursery website. Partnership with parents is satisfactory. Parents’ evenings are regular and children’s progress is shared. However, there is very little literature about the Foundation Stage available to parents, or information to show how they can become involved in their child’s learning by extending pre-school activities at home.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Staff have good relationships and work well as a team. They have attended recent training and this reflects in the understanding of children’s individual needs. There are good recruitment procedures for ensuring suitable staff and the manager oversees induction, regular appraisals and team meetings. This supports staff in their roles and contributes to the well being of children. Policies and procedures are in place but do not all reflect current practice. The nursery uses two systems for registration, and one is not updated accurately, and does not reflect who is working with the children. Staff deployment is generally well organised; however, unexpected staff absences affect deployment and reduce the continuity of care for the children. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. Leadership and management are good. The management have appointed strong

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Organisation

leaders to deliver the nursery education curriculum. They recognise the nursery’s strengths and some weaknesses. There are systems in place for evaluating the overall provision for nursery education but these are not fully effective.

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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

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the nursery were asked to improve domestic style furnishings for children under two years and update child protection procedures and share with parents. The nursery have made some improvements in each of these areas. There has been a comfortable chair provided in the baby room. The child protection procedures have been updated although this requires further revision.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection, there has been one complaint relating to National Standard 7: Health and National Standard 6: Safety. The complaint related to inappropriate action following an accident and asking parents to transport children in their own vehicles on a nursery outing. The provider conducted an internal investigation. Ofsted found the provider to be meeting the National Standards. The provider remains suitable 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 satisfactory. 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): • review the systems for managing access to the premises and ensure children do not have access to the staff toilet • improve organisation of meal times to prevent deterioration of children's behaviour • review all policies and procedures and keep an accurate record of attendance of both children and staff reflecting who is working with the children.

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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 To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • provide opportunities for children to operate simple equipment and access a widening range of materials and tools to express themselves creatively • develop ways to inform parents of the Foundation Stage and how they can become involved in their child's learning.

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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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