Poppy's Children's Nursery

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 08/06/2004 Inspector Name Nicola Mary Eileen Matthews

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Poppys Childrens Nursery Setting Address Fairfield Hill Stowmarket Suffolk IP14 1NG

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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

Poppys Children's Day Nursery opened in 1995. The present owners took over in April 2004. It operates from one main room in a converted building in the town of Stowmarket. The nursery serves the local area and surrounding villages. There are currently 64 children from 2 to 5 years on roll. This includes 27 funded three-year-olds and 12 funded four-year-olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting currently supports a number of children with special educational needs. There are no children attending who speak English as an additional language. The group opens five days a week all year round. Sessions are from 08:00 until 18:00. There are two part time and four full time staff working with the children. Over half the staff have recognised early years qualifications to NVQ level 2 or 3. There is one member staff currently working towards a recognised early years qualification. The setting receives support from a teacher from the Early Years Development and

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How good is the Day Care?

Poppys Children's Day Nursery is providing good care for children. The staff's knowledge of child care helps them to effectively provide for the children's individual needs. The well documented, clear policies and procedures ensures the smooth running of the provision. Children and parents are given a very warm welcome, which ensures the children settle quickly. The playroom is attractively set out and children can access the clean and good quality play resources as soon as they arrive. The children's safety is given high priority by the staff. The comprehensive risk assessment ensures hazards are minimised indoors, which maintains the safety of the children. Good hygiene practices are encouraged through topic work and regular

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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 hand washing routines. Children are treated with equal concern and good support is given to individuals to meet their needs. The staff ensure the welfare of the child comes first. The range of activities presented to the children supports their overall development. Children's behaviour is very good, they share and take turns and play co-operatively. The partnership with parents is very good. They have access to all the policies and procedures, which are attractively presented in the entrance area. Parents speak highly of the provision and many state they like the continuity of staff and how friendly every one is.

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What is being done well?

• The staff pay particular attention to making sure each person is valued as an individual. They make a point of talking to parents and children as they arrive and leave and attractively display the children's work. • The clear and well written policies and procedures, which are being updated, ensure staff know how to carry out their responsibilities throughout the day to provide children with good quality care. • Staff attend training regularly to update their first aid and child care knowledge. This ensures they are able to meet the individual child's needs well. • Good hygiene practices are carried out rigorously and children demonstrate an understanding of why they need to wash their hands, which they have learnt through well presented topics on hygiene.

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What needs to be improved?

• safety of the alley, to ensure that all hazards are made safe • documentation, to include in the complaints procedure the address and telephone number of Ofsted.

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Outcome of the 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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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 6 Ensure hazards in the alley are made safe

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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?

Poppys Children's Day Nursery provides good quality nursery education overall, which enables children to make generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The quality of teaching is generally good. Staff have built up good trusting relationships with the children using the effective key worker system. They use their knowledge of the stepping stones to plan a varied programme of interesting activities using themes and topics to support the children's learning. However, the balance between self-chosen and adult directed groups of children limits their progress. Staff use effective open ended questioning enabling children to demonstrate what they know. Children with special educational needs are given a good level of support and are encouraged to participate in the full range of nursery activities. The planning is comprehensive and covers the areas of learning well. The short term planning includes clearly documented learning intentions and each focused activity

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How effective is the nursery education?

is evaluated, but does not show the adaptation for individual children. The assessment records are systematically updated using a variety of direct observations. The children's next step is identified, however this is not used to inform the short term planning. Leadership and management is generally good. The staff work collaboratively to produce varied activities to support the theme each week, which makes the education programme interesting for the children. They work well as a team. The high expectations of the owners is reflected in the staff's practice. They have clearly documented roles and responsibilities regarding the children's well being and early education. The partnership with parents is generally good. Parents are given good information about their child's programme of learning throughout the term. The assessment records are shared on an informal basis, however parents are not able to contribute

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What is being done well?

• Children's communication skills are developing very well. They initiate conversations amongst themselves and the adults. They maintain the theme of the conversation and recall information linked to the topic to keep the dialogue ongoing. • Children are developing very good gross motor skills. They work collaboratively using the parachute and show excitement and extreme delight when participating in the games using this equipment. • Children experience meaningful activities to develop their simple calculation

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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 skills. Many are confident to accurately predict how many more or less than a given number and they use this language in their play. • Support for children with special educational needs is good. Regard to the Code of Practice 2001 is maintained and children are given individual support so they can fully access the resources available. The SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) ensures parents are empowered to comment on the educational and care programme planned for their child.

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What needs to be improved?

• the balance between child initiated and adult determined groups • children's opportunities for independent choice of resources and activities • the use of the children's identified next step to inform the planning • parent's contributions to their child's assessment record and planning for the child's next step

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Generally good progress has been made since the last inspection. The owner has introduced a comprehensive assessment system to observe and record the children's development. This was raised as a key issue in the last inspection report. Children are assessed regularly through direct observation and their records updated accordingly. The second key issue was to provide strategies to encourage children to recognise their own name. Some have been implemented by using coat peg labels and named labels on the wall to find when they arrive and register themselves using the velcro strips in the 'learning centre'.

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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: Generally Good Children are developing very good social skills. They spontaneously say please and thank you and have developed care and consideration for others. Children's behaviour is good, they share and take turns and play co-operatively. They show interest and enjoyment when participating in activities and awe and wonder when playing with the parachute. Children seek out preferred playmates some of the time, however their progress is limited by spending a lot of time in adult prescribed groups.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children are developing good recall of stories, when in a large group situation, however they do not often handle books for pleasure. They are eager to communicate with each other and the adults. Children recognise their name and know some letter sounds. However they are not given sufficient opportunities to write their names or for a purpose. Children enjoy participating in rhythmic activities and they use large circular movements when painting.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children confidently count and recognises numbers to ten and above. They accurately say the number before and after a given number to ten and they use mathematical language in their play for example, bigger and smaller than. However, children have insufficient opportunities to compare height and length and look at and repeat patterns. Children recognise simple shapes and use these in their construction activities to represent shape in the environment.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children are developing a good awareness of change through observation of animals and plants. They have developed a sense of past, present and future which is demonstrated well through conversations about home-life. They enjoy building with plastic and wooden construction pieces and produce recognisable structures like houses and streets. Children have limited experience of the computer and handling other materials to develop joining and construction techniques.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

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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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are developing good gross motor skills. The older ones confidently catch and retrieve balls and quoits. Children have good spatial awareness when manoeuvring wheeled toys around the playroom and sitting in large groups on the floor. They use some tools to affect change but have few opportunities to experience play dough and clay. Children take pride in their personal care and independently use the toilet and clean themselves up after meal times.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children explore colour using a variety of painting techniques and they can name many shades. They enjoy listening to and participating in songs and rhymes. Children explore the rhythm and tempo using an electronic toy organ. They use words creatively in their imaginative play and describe what they are doing, for example cutting the doll's finger nails. However the art and craft work is pre-determined by the adults and also the materials to be used, which limits the child's own creativity.

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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

• provide children with independence to participate in self chosen group activities and select resources which support their overall learning and help them make progress towards the early learning goals • develop the short term planning so that it is informed by the children's assessment records • enable the parents to contribute to their children's assessment records and help plan for the next step.

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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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