Waterloo House Day Nursery Ltd

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 05/01/2003 Inspector Name Helene Anne Terry

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SETTING DETAILS

Setting Name Waterloo House II Private Day Nursery Setting Address 3 West Parade Halifax West Yorkshire HX1 2TE

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public that the nursery education for funded three and four year old children is of an acceptable quality. Inspection of nursery education also identifies strengths and weaknesses so that providers can improve the quality of educational provision and help children to achieve the early learning goals (elgs) by the end of the Foundation Stage. This inspection report must be made available to all parents. If the setting has been inspected previously, an action plan will have been drawn up to tackle issues identified. This inspection, therefore, must also assess what progress has been made in the implementation of this plan.

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Information about the setting

Waterloo house Nursery 2 is situated on the fringe of Halifax town centre. It has been operating since 1999 and serves parents and children of the surrounding areas. The nursery operates from a converted warehouse and the accommodation is on one level, with three areas for the different age groups. During school holiday periods the nursery also caters for children five to eight years. There are 52 children on the register aged between five months and eight years of age. There are 17 three year olds and one four-year-old receiving funding. None of the children has special educational needs or English as an additional language. There are 11 members of staff employed in the nursery, 4 of these staff hold a level 3 qualification in childcare, the majority of the other staff are qualified to level 2. The nursery has support from the Early Years Development Partnership. The provision is open Monday to Friday

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Information about the setting

throughout the year, between 8:00 and 18:00.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Waterloo House 2 offers good quality provision where the children make very good progress in the all areas of learning, apart from creative development where progress is generally good. The quality of teaching is generally good, staff have a reasonable knowledge and understanding of the early learning goals and are willing to take advantage of training opportunities to enhance knowledge. They are particularly strong in their ways of questioning, supporting and guiding the development of children's skills where appropriate to age and ability. Staff have high expectations of the children and manage their behaviour well. Leadership and management is generally good. The nursery benefits from strong leadership from the manager who has worked hard to develop a strong team and who is committed to staff development through appraisals, training and a bonus scheme. The manager continues to develop the role of reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of the

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How effective is the nursery education?

nursery through a variety of sources. The partnership with parents is generally good and contributes to children's progress towards the early learning goals. Parents are well informed about the foundation stage and the pre-school's activities and routines, however need to be encouraged to be involved in supporting project work through providing resources and materials enabling learning to be extended at home. Parents have the opportunity to share their observations about their child verbally and through their comments on the assessment sheets.

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What is being done well?

Staff interact with children, support and extend learning in a way that positively affects their attitudes to learning and results in children behaving well. Children make good progress in all areas of learning , particularly personal, social and emotional development where children are motivated, interested and eager to learn and mathematics where some children are using basic mathematical ideas and methods to solve problems. Children effectively explore features of living things, objects and materials using their senses and a variety of tools. Children move confidently with control and show an awareness of space around themselves and others. Children take part in a wide range of role play activities recreating real and imagined experiences.

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What needs to be improved?

Children's access to materials to encourage creative free expression of feelings, thoughts and ideas. Parental encouragement to support themes and topics to foster children's development. Staff's completion of the child assessment records so that they are linked to the evaluations of the activities.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good progress in personal, social and emotional development. They are interested, motivated and excited to learn. Children are confident and display high levels of cooperation with one another, sharing and taking turns. They show good levels of independence and are confident in expressing their needs to others. Behaviour is very good.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good progress in communication, language and literacy. They interact, negotiate and speak clearly and use language to explore feelings and ideas. Children are beginning to link sounds to letters, write and form recognisable letters and understand that print carries meaning. They can also discriminate between words and pictures in books and enjoy imitating staff retelling stories.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children's progress in mathematical development is very good. They are using numbers for counting and recognising them in familiar contexts. They use positional language, measure and compare size and are recognising shapes in different objects. Children recognise numbers up to 10 and use basic mathematical ideas to solve problems.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress towards knowledge and understanding of the world. They explore features of the living things, objects and materials using their senses and a variety of tools. Children build and construct with a wide range of materials and use technology competently to support their learning. They learn about and respect different cultures and beliefs enabling them to understand the world in which they live.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good progress in physical development. They use movement and space well to gain confidence and they have access to a good range of equipment to practice large and fine motor skills. Children are aware of their bodies, healthy practices and recognise changes within them.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children make generally good progress in creative development. They explore colour, shape and texture effectively and enjoy singing songs from memory. Children take part in a wide range of role play activities, recreating real or imagined situations. However children do not have frequent access to materials to encourage free expression of feelings and thoughts creatively.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Children's spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered appropriately: Y

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OUTCOME OF THE INSPECTION

The provision is acceptable and is of good quality overall. Children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The next inspection will take place in three to four years time.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT

Ensure that children have frequent access to materials that encourage free expression creatively. Continue to develop the systems for recording children's attainment and progress, linking evaluation of activities to individual children's records and through to future planning. Increase parents involvement in their child's learning by encouraging parents to be involved in providing resources and materials for projects, and themes.

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