Seesaws Avenue Road

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 01/10/2004 Inspector Name Shirley Delaney

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name See-Saws Day Nursery Setting Address 1 Avenue Road Erdington Birmingham West Midlands B23 6UY

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

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 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 of the quality and standard of day care in accordance with the National Standards for Under Eights Day Care and Childminding; and 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

See-Saws Day Nursery registered in 1996. It operates from a converted residential property in Erdington, within easy access of a main high street and bus routes across the city. The group serves the local and wider community. There are currently 63 children on roll. This includes funded 3 and 4 year olds. Children can attend for a variety of sessions. The group supports children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs. The group is open throughout the year excluding Christmas and Boxing Day. Operating between the hours of 07:00 and 18:00. Children can attend for a variety of sessions. There are 14 members of staff are employed to work with the children. Half the staff hold early years qualifications, the remaining staff members are currently working towards an early years qualification. The group are currently in the process of undertaking a bronze quality framework

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How good is the Day Care?

See-Saws Day Nursery provides good quality care for children. They provide a welcoming environment for the children and their parents. Information is made available to the parents in the entrance area regarding the operation of the nursery. Children are provided with easy access to a good range of toys and equipment in well-planned areas. Staff are aware of policies and procedures in place to maintain children's safety and security and ensure they are followed. Most required documentation is in place, however some procedures are not up to date and records of attendance are not kept for an appropriate period of time. Children are encouraged to learn about good hygiene practices through daily

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How good is the Day Care?

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 routines and staff support. They are provided with regular meals, snacks and drinks as part of the daily routine. Children's individual needs are met appropriately and children with special needs are well supported in the group. Child protection procedures are in place, however all aspects are not included and some staff are unclear about their responsibilities. Children have good access to a range of activities, which support their play and learning. Routines detail periods of structured and free play, however the structure of the day for children aged 2-3 years does not always allow for flexibility in the length of time children in this age group are expected to take part in organised activities. Access to outdoor play is provided daily, this area is well equipped and provides

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How good is the Day Care?

children with the opportunities to participate in a range of physical activities. A behaviour management policy is in place and known to staff, however staff's approach to managing children's behaviour is not always consistently applied. Partnership with parents is good. Information is shared as part of a two way process and parents are made to feel welcome in the nursery.

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What is being done well?

• Staff plan a good range of activities and play opportunities to promote children's learning and play. • The environment is made welcoming, staff have a friendly approach with parents and the surroundings are well maintained for children's comfort and safety. • Children have good access to a range of resources. Space and equipment are well organised to support children's needs and promote their overall development. • Children are supervised at all times, with staff deployed effectively in order to provide good support to the children and ensure children's welfare and safety. • Good procedures and working practices in place foster good partnerships with parents. Parent's are kept well informed about their child's care, routine and progress. Information is shared as part of a two way process to enable the needs of the children to be met, and keep parents informed about the group and service offered.

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What needs to be improved?

• the procedure for retaining records of children and staff attendance in the group

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What needs to be improved?

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 • the organisation of large group activities for children aged 2 to under 3 years • the consistency of behaviour management strategies used by staff • the complaints procedure to include the address and telephone number of the regulator • the child protection procedure to include the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation being a made against a member of staff or volunteer, and improve staff knowledge of the procedure.

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CONDITIONS OF REGISTRATION

All registered persons must comply with all conditions of registration included on his/her certificate of registration. As a result of this inspection conditions of registration have been imposed / varied / removed and a new certificate of registration will be issued.

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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 3 Review the organisation of large group activities for children aged 2 – 3 years. 11 Make sure that appropriate strategies used to manage children's behaviour are consistently applied by all staff. 14 Review policies and procedures specifically to ensure; that the complaints procedure includes the address and telephone number of the regulator and the child protection procedure includes guidelines which are understood by staff to be followed in the event of an allegation being made against a staff member, ensuring all attendance records are retained for an appropriate period of time.

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by the time of the next 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; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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How effective is the nursery education?

See-saws Day Nursery offers children good quality nursery education overall which enables children to make generally good progress towards the early learning goals. Provision for mathematical development and creative development is generally good with very good progress in all other areas. The quality of teaching is generally good. The nursery has developed a very good system for planning activities and assessing children's progress that is designed to be responsive to children's current needs and to ensure good coverage of the early learning goals. It also takes into account the needs of children who learn more quickly or more slowly. Staff provide children with plenty of attention and offer a high level of information but often do not pitch their questions at an appropriate level to encourage children to think. Children have access to a good range of resources in the preschool room, but staff do not make the best use of space to display children's

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How effective is the nursery education?

work or carry out activities. The leadership and management are very good. There are robust procedures in place to monitor the quality of provision and identify strengths and weaknesses. Activities are evaluated weekly and planning is evaluated termly to match provision to children's needs. Senior staff carry out internal audits and, in response to the findings, staff draw up and implement action plans to remedy weaknesses and improve provision. There is strong commitment to developing staff's knowledge and skills through training. The partnership with parents is very good. Parents appreciate the friendly, caring atmosphere and find staff approachable. This makes it easy for them to talk informally about their children's progress. They also receive termly reports of their children's achievements and are invited to discuss these at parents' evenings. Parents are provided with a good range of information about the educational

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How effective is the nursery education?

programme, which helps them to become involved their children's learning.

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What is being done well?

• The nursery makes effective use of the bank of planning ideas shared between nurseries in the Seesaws group and adapts these to suit the needs of the children currently attending this particular nursery. The assessment system gathers useful information that is shared with parents in an accessible way and is also used to guide future planning. Together these two elements of provision enable staff to use what they know about the children in their care to plan activities that will help them to make steady progress towards the early learning goals. • Children are given plenty of opportunities to develop control with tools and this is contributing to their very good progress in physical development,

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What is being done well?

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 construction and the use of various mark-making tools to write and draw. • Imaginative play is well resourced, given high priority on the timetable and well supported by staff as they interact with children during their play. Consequently, children show very good progress in this area, introducing story lines and involving other children in their play. • Children have excellent opportunities to find out about the natural world through projects about living creatures and investigation of simple physical processes such as floating and sinking. • Children use language well to interact and to talk about their families and significant events that they have experienced.

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What needs to be improved?

• the use of space in the preschool room to display children's work and to give children enough room to take part in activities. • staff's understanding about how to question children to encourage them to think through problems for themselves. In particular, ensure that staff prompt children to think about what a total means and to experience equal and unequal quantities in practical situations.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

The nursery has made generally good progress since the last inspection. In response to the previous inspection report, the nursery has extended the range of equipment for outdoor play and the new climbing frame offers more challenging opportunities to the older and more agile children. Children now have independent access to books in the library corner of the preschool room, and can use the special books from the higher shelves on request. Together these measures enable them to share books with friends and use books for reference. The policy for special educational needs now complies with the requirements of the 1994 Code of Practice, and staff also show awareness of how they would carry out this policy in practice. The last inspection highlighted some weaknesses in the programme for creative development and most of these have been addressed. Children now have opportunities to respond to a variety of sensory experiences and to listen and

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What has improved since the last inspection?

respond to a broad range of music. However, displays still place more emphasis on adult-chosen themes and do not include children's own representations. This does not encourage children to think that their own work is valued and, over time, can reduce their confidence in expressing their own ideas. This aspect will be carried 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 Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children talk freely and confidently about their families and their home life. They are able to stand up for themselves and readily approach adults for help. Children are able to sit and concentrate when appropriate; they become involved in what they are doing and show enthusiasm for new activities. Children develop good relationships; they learn to share and take turns and readily offer help to other children.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children use language well to communicate and develop simple story lines, and are also beginning to use more sophisticated expressions to add emphasis and make contrasts. Children are starting to use language to make connections between ideas and to describe imaginary situations, particularly in role-play. They learn to use symbols and words for a range of purposes, to label their work, record the weather and write messages.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children learn to count by rote and recognise numerals to ten, and are also able to recognise and represent small quantities. Children learn about shape and size in topics and less structured work and can make patterns and fit shapes together. They are introduced to addition and subtraction but do not have enough opportunities to build up an understanding about what a total is, or to work with equal and unequal quantities in practical situations.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children have excellent opportunities to observe the natural world, and also investigate simple physical processes. Through everyday talk and aspects of topic work, children develop a sense of time and an interest in the lives of people they know. Children learn to build and construct with different materials, sometimes learning new techniques to build for a purpose and sometimes trying these out for themselves.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children learn to move in different ways, hold fixed positions and adjust their movements to suit different spaces inside and outside. Children develop control with a wide range of tools and materials, particularly in role-play and construction. They learn to use a variety of equipment to climb, jump, catch and strike, and also show understanding that games have to be played according to rules.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children introduce story lines into their role-play and develop these by involving other children. They enjoy responding to music by singing, dancing, playing instruments and exploring how sounds are made. While children have good opportunities to express themselves with a variety of materials, they are not developing confidence in their own ideas through seeing them displayed alongside work that adults have directed or produced.

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

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 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

• make greater use of space in the preschool room to display children's work and to give children enough room to take part in activities • develop staff's understanding about how to question children to encourage them to think through problems for themselves. In particular, ensure that staff prompt children to think about what a total means and to experience equal and unequal quantities in practical situations.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

The provider must draw up an action plan within 40 working days of receipt of this 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 Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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STANDARD 1 - SUITABLE PERSON

Adults providing day care, looking after children or having unsupervised access to them are suitable to do so.

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STANDARD 2 - ORGANISATION

The registered person meets required adult: child ratios, ensures that training and qualifications requirements are met and organises space and resources to meet the children's needs effectively.

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STANDARD 3 - CARE, LEARNING AND PLAY

The registered person meets children's individual needs and promotes their welfare. They plan and provide activities and play opportunities to develop children's emotional, physical, social and intellectual capabilities.

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STANDARD 4 - PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

The premises are safe, secure and suitable for their purpose. They provide adequate space in an appropriate location, are welcoming to children and offer access to the necessary facilities for a range of activities which promote their development.

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STANDARD 5 - EQUIPMENT

Furniture, equipment and toys are provided which are appropriate for their purpose and help to create an accessible and stimulating environment. They are of suitable design and condition, well maintained and conform to safety standards.

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STANDARD 6 - SAFETY

The registered person takes positive steps to promote safety within the setting and on outings and ensures proper precautions are taken to prevent accidents.

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STANDARD 7 - HEALTH

The registered person promotes the good health of children and takes positive steps to prevent the spread of infection and appropriate measures when they are ill.

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STANDARD 8 - FOOD AND DRINK

Children are provided with regular drinks and food in adequate quantities for their needs. Food and drink is properly prepared, nutritious and complies with dietary and religious requirements.

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STANDARD 9 - EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The registered person and staff actively promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children.

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

The registered person is aware that some children may have special needs and is

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 proactive in ensuring that appropriate action can be taken when such a child is identified or admitted to the provision. Steps are taken to promote the welfare and development of the child within the setting in partnership with the parents and other relevant parties.

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STANDARD 11 - BEHAVIOUR

Adults caring for children in the provision are able to manage a wide range of children's behaviour in a way which promotes their welfare and development.

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STANDARD 12 - WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS AND CARERS

The registered person and staff work in partnership with parents and to meet the needs of the children, both individually and as a group. Information is shared.

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STANDARD 13 - CHILD PROTECTION

The registered person complies with local child protection procedures approved by the Area Child Protection Committee and ensures that all adults working and looking after children in the provision are able to put the procedures into practice.

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STANDARD 14 - DOCUMENTATION

Records, policies and procedures which are required for the efficient and safe management of the provision, or to promote the welfare, care and learning of children are maintained. Records about individual children are shared with the child's parent.

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STANDARD 14 - DOCUMENTATION

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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