Birchills Church of England Community Academy

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 13/07/2004 Inspector Name Linda Dawe

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Rainbow Day Nursery Setting Address Torbay Hosptial Annexe Newton Road Torquay Devon TQ2 7AA

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name South Devon Healthcare Trust Address Torbay Hospital Annexe Newton Road Torquay Devon TQ2 7AA

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ORGANISATION 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

Rainbow Day Nursery is based in a purpose built building set in large gardens on the Annexe site of Torbay Hospital. Owned by South Devon Healthcare Trust, the nursery provides full day care and holiday care for children of staff employed within the hospital. There are currently 110 children aged from 3 months to 4 years on roll; this includes 16 funded three-year-olds and 16 funded four-year-olds. There are currently no children attending who have special needs or who speak English as an additional language. It is a policy of the trust that all staff have a childcare qualification. The nursery offers day care for up to 18 children under 2 years, 16 children aged 2 to 3 years and 16 children aged 3 to 5 years. The setting also runs a holiday club, which is registered for up to 20 children aged 4 to 8 years. Additional children up to the age of 11 years may also attend. The nursery is open from 07:00 to 18:00 with funded nursery sessions available for

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Information about the setting

three and four-year-olds. Children attend a variety of sessions. Children are grouped according to age and ability with flexibility to meet the needs of individual children. Currently children are grouped in five rooms, two baby rooms, two toddler rooms and the pre-school room. There is a separate room for sleeping babies and toddlers. The holiday club is accommodated in a modular building attached to the nursery.

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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?

Rainbow Day Nursery provides high-quality nursery education, which enables children to make very good progress towards the early learning goals in all six areas of learning. The quality of teaching is very good. The sessions are led by a dedicated team of practitioners who have a sound knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum. Staff have very good relationships with all the children and manage their behaviour very well, and as a result children are polite and considerate. They effectively plan a wide variety of activities using high-quality resources. Although written short-term plans for individual children are limited, staff are clear about learning intentions and children are suitably challenged. Good use is made of the large garden to promote children's physical skills and to develop their imaginative play. Staff support children well in their play and constant discussions with children develop their language and

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How effective is the nursery education?

thinking. The leadership and management of the sessions is very good. There is a consistent, professional team of staff who work closely together, meeting regularly to evaluate the quality of their teaching. Staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities for delivering nursery education. Regular opportunities are given for training and staff training needs are formally identified through an effective staff appraisal system. The nursery is currently undertaking a quality assurance scheme to evaluate its effectiveness. The partnership with parents is very good. Staff are proactive in involving parents in all aspects of their children's learning. They use a variety of ways to do this, for example, by written communications with parents, suggesting activities for parents to do at home with their children and through information displayed on the walls of the room.

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What is being done well?

• Children are helped to explore their senses using an excellent range of well-planned resources such as a ‘senses’ table where they feel, touch, smell and listen to a variety of objects. This topic is supported with additional high-quality resources such as puzzles, books and activities, which the staff prepare in advance to consolidate children's learning. • Children are making very good progress in communication, language and literacy as a result of staff's constant interaction with them developing their language by introducing new vocabulary and by giving them lots of opportunities to write for a purpose. • Staff support children well in their play whilst also allowing them the freedom

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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 to discover for themselves. • Children are very confident both with familiar and unfamiliar adults. They are polite and considerate of each other as a result of staff providing good role models.

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What needs to be improved?

• the planning and assessment process to ensure all children continue to receive appropriate challenge.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

The improvement since the last inspection is very good overall. The nursery was asked to develop the partnership with parents and this has been achieved very effectively, which has had a positive impact on children's learning. Staff were asked to increase their knowledge of the Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs and implement the requirements in the nursery. The nursery's special needs co-ordinator has recently left and two new staff have been given this role. They are currently undergoing training to ensure they can fully meet the requirements. The nursery was also asked to develop the assessment records and use them to plan and monitor the children's progress. This has been achieved effectively with support from the Foundation Stage advisory teachers and continues to be an area that staff are developing. Finally, staff were asked to develop the programme for physical development'

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What has improved since the last inspection?

particularly in relation to activities that develop children's large muscle skills. This is now being done effectively and a considerable amount of outdoor play equipment has recently been purchased to increase children's development in this area.

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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 are quickly absorbed in their learning. They take pride in their work, which is attractively displayed, and enjoy helping staff tidy up at the end of each session. Children are polite and considerate to each other and to adults, for example, saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and taking turns happily without squabbling. Children are personally independent and are able to dress themselves and put on their own shoes with little support from adults.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good The children are very confident communicators who interact well with each other and adults. They listen intently to stories and handle books well on a regular basis. Children regularly use writing in a meaningful way, for example, booking appointments at their 'opticians' during role play. They confidently links sounds with letters and this is enforced by staff using a recognised phonic system.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children use mathematics in a real and practical way, for example, to count the number of dots needed to write their name in Braille and to discover how many children have green, brown or blue eyes. Children are able to recognise simple shapes and know their names. They are able to sort by size and order objects in both ascending and descending order, for example, when putting Russian dolls in size order using computer games.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children have a very good sense of time and regularly talk about past and future events in their lives such as their holidays and trips to the cinema. Children possess a good understanding of the community in which they live through topics such as ‘people who help us’ when they have the opportunity to meet police, paramedics and fire fighters.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are developing good physical skills. They run, jump and hop making good use of the setting’s large garden and good resources such as hoops, bats, balls and bikes, with good staff support. Children are enabled to understand how their bodies work and how to take care of themselves as a result of staff introducing topics on the dentist, optician and discovering their senses. Older children are able to describe how the digestive system works from pictures in a book.

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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 use their imagination particularly well both in prescribed role play and whilst playing in the garden, where they become very involved in a game where an old tree stump becomes a cooker and they prepare 'meals' for each other using twigs and leaves. Children access a range of art and craft resources, which they freely use to explore colour.

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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 high quality. Children are making very 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

There are no significant weaknesses to report, but considerations should be given to improving the following: • There are no significant weaknesses to report, but consideration should be given to improving the following: • continue to develop the planning and assessment process to ensure all children receive appropriate challenge.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT

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

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

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