The Nest Nursery and Preschool

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 28/09/2004 Inspector Name Hazel Taylor

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Busy Bees Day Nursery Setting Address 21 - 23 Portland Street Lincoln Lincolnshire LN5 7JZ

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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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

Busy Bees Nursery opened in 1994 and is privately owned. It operates from two adapted end of terrace houses near to the centre of Lincoln. The pre-school unit has the use of four rooms, with associated toilet and kitchen facilities, on the first floor. There is a fully enclosed play area, to provide outdoor play, at the rear of the building. The nursery serves the immediate locality and also the surrounding towns and villages. There are currently 16 pre-school children from 2 to 4 years on roll. This includes eight funded three-year-olds. Children attend a variety of sessions. There are currently no children with special educational needs and all children speak English as their first language.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens five days a week, from 08:00 until 18:00, all year round. Three staff, including the nursery owner, work within the pre-school unit. Two of the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 3. The staff use teaching methods attributed to the High/Scope, active learning, approach to the early years curriculum. The setting receives support from the Early Years development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) and is affiliated to the Lincoln Day Nurseries Association.

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Information about the setting

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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How effective is the nursery education?

Busy Bees Day Nursery offers a good quality educational programme in a friendly and stimulating environment. In some areas, such as personal, social and emotional development, maths and language skills, creative development and knowledge and understanding of the world progress is very good. This is a result of the skilful methods staff use to engage children's interest and to foster their independence and confidence as learners. The quality of teaching is generally good. Staff have a sound understanding of the foundation stage and provide interesting activities to help children learn. Planning and assessment systems generally provide a suitable framework to help children make progress. These systems, however, are not consistently used effectively to focus on the sequence and pace of learning to meet the diverse needs of all children. Staff encourage children to develop good concentration skills and persevere with

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How effective is the nursery education?

more challenging tasks, although they have more limited independent opportunities to make choices from the full range of large equipment and resources to meet challenges in their physical development. The leadership and management of the school is generally good. Effective leadership ensures that good early years practice is shared and staff have a strong commitment to developing and improving standards through training. Staff regularly evaluate the provision, however, further review and Calm and positive management of children's behaviour helps children feel secure and settled and they begin to understand the effect of their actions on others. Staff respond well to children, and this has a positive impact on relationships. refinement of the monitoring system will enhance planning. The partnership with parents is very good. Key workers talk to and share information with parents about their child's progress. Parents receive good quality written

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How effective is the nursery education?

information about the educational programme.

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What is being done well?

• Staff promote children's learning well through careful questioning which extends children's thinking. The staff work collaboratively to provide a wide range of authentic and engaging first-hand experiences which motivate children well and help them make good progress. • Children's personal, social and emotional development is very good and a strength of the nursery. Children are happy, interested and able to work on their own. Children are becoming good communicators, they negotiate and use talk to organise their play with others, behaviour and relationships are

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What is being done well?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 good. Staff provide good role models and a harmonious learning environment in which children feel safe to explore new experiences. • Children's opportunity to explore, use their senses and find out about the natural environment. Children benefit from staff support to help them design and make things. They become adept at using construction sets, recycled materials, scissors, glue and tape. They are encouraged to be systematic, and to review and improve their work. Excellent use is made of technological resources to support children's learning. • Staff consolidate and extend children's language, literacy and mathematical learning by giving them opportunities to practice their skills and knowledge in a variety of purposeful activities, well resourced role play situations and by linking activities effectively to daily routine.

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What is being done well?

• Staff have a clear understanding of the importance of partnership with parents and this has a positive impact on children's development and learning. Parents receive good quality written information about the provision and the curriculum which is reinforced verbally on a regular basis and by attending parent's evenings. Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their children's learning with suggestions for home activities and theme boxes.

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What needs to be improved?

• the planning so that it identifies how activities can be sufficiently and consistently differentiated to ensure that children of all abilities have effective accessibility to resources, particularly with regard to physical development, and learning opportunities • the approaches to the recording of assessments of children's learning, using current guidance, in order to improve the effectiveness of the evidence and evaluative judgements in supporting progression of learning and continuity of teaching • the monitoring systems so that evaluations which take account of how children are responding to planned provision are used more methodically to inform future planning and thus ensure that children's learning opportunities are broad and balanced over time and that teaching strategies are effectively matched to children's individual stage of development. •

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the last inspection, the nursery agreed to develop staff's knowledge of the early learning goals in order to inform further development of the long and medium planning procedures and to make full use of all opportunities for children to extend their learning, particularly with regard to their physical development and knowledge and understanding of the world. The nursery has made generally good progress since the last inspection and staff

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What has improved since the last inspection?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 training has covered review of the early learning goals. Along with the nursery's implementation of a High/Scope approach to the curriculum, the resources for indoor play have been reorganised so that toys and equipment, are more readily accessed by children, supporting their growing knowledge and understanding of the world around them through increasingly independent and active investigation. There are more limited opportunities for children to make choices from the full range of large equipment to support certain aspects of their physical development. Discussion with staff and consideration of documents indicates that planning systems have been reviewed and developed in the light of various training and support opportunities. However, planning procedures are not yet always used to best effect in order to fully exploit planned teaching and learning opportunities and,

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What has improved since the last inspection?

thereby, to ensure that the activities are consistently differentiated, particularly with regard to physical development, so that children of all abilities gain the most from the activity and learning resources. This will carry forward as a key issue from this inspection.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children work well independently and in groups. They are enthusiastic and well motivated. Children are confident, expressing their needs and taking the initiative in a variety of situations. Children are developing an awareness of self and others of different cultures and beliefs. They develop good relationships both with adults and their peers. Behaviour is very good.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children are good communicators. They interact well with adults and peers, negotiate and use talk to organise their play with others. Children are learning the conventions of reading, respond enthusiastically to stories and staff introduce new vocabulary well. Children are able to write or trace their names independently and have opportunities to attempt writing for different purposes in role play. Older and more able children link sounds to letters and write simple words.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children can count in sequence to ten. More able children are developing their awareness of larger numbers and can recognise and write some numerals. Children use number names and mathematical vocabulary spontaneously and are developing problem solving skills during everyday situations such as role play, singing and snack time. Good one to one activities are used to develop children's understanding of addition and subtraction. Children use language well to compare shape, position and size.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children learn about the natural world and living things and have regular opportunities to explore the environment and use their senses to describe materials. They talk about past experiences in their own lives and learn about the lives of others, including those from other cultures. They are encouraged to construct with a purpose in mind and using a variety of natural and man made resources. Very good use is made of a wide range of technology resources to support their learning.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are developing good control of their bodies and move around with an awareness of space and each other. They have opportunities to practice a broad range of skills indoors and use available tools and equipment with increasing confidence. They have fewer independent opportunities to develop their skills with large equipment outdoors. Children are beginning to understand that good practices with regard to eating, hygiene and exercise can lead to good health.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children respond well to the imaginative role play opportunities offered which are linked to themes. Children explore colour, shape and texture during planned creative activities but have more limited opportunities to independently select tools and resources and to express their ideas freely and imaginatively when designing and making. Children enjoy playing musical instruments and are able to express themselves creatively through a variety of musical activities including movement.

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

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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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: THE KEY ISSUES

• develop the planning to identify how activities can be sufficiently and consistently differentiated to ensure that children of all abilities have effective accessibility to resources, particularly with regard to physical development, and learning opportunities • develop the approaches to the recording of assessments of children's learning, using current guidance, in order to improve the effectiveness of the evidence and evaluative judgements in supporting progression of learning and continuity of teaching • further develop the monitoring systems so that evaluations which take account of how children are responding to planned provision are used more methodically to inform future planning and thus ensure that children's learning opportunities are broad and balanced over time and that teaching strategies are effectively matched to children's individual stage of development. • The provider must draw up an action plan within 40 working days of receipt of this

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

report showing how the key issues detailed above will be addressed. The action plan must be made available to all parents and to the Local Authority if required. An evaluation of the action taken will form part of the next inspection of funded nursery education.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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