Islamia School for Girls'

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 16/12/2004 Inspector Name Linda Janet Witts

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Chipmunks Day Nursery Setting Address The Old Primary School Churchfield Road, Upton St Leonards, Gloucester Glos GL4 8AE

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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

Chipmunks Day Nursery is registered to offer full day care to 50 children aged under eight years. It is open all year round with the exception of Bank Holidays and the Christmas week. The hours of opening are 08.00 hours to 17.45 hours. Children may also attend on a sessional basis. The morning session is from 08.00 hours to 12.45 hours and the afternoon session is from 13.00 hours to 17.45 hours. The nursery is privately owned and operates from the old village school in the village of Upton-St-Leonards, on the outskirts of Gloucester. It has been operating since 1997. The entire property is devoted to the nursery. Children are cared for in age-related groups; each with their own base play room and shared use of a hall area, quiet room, sleep room, craft area, toilets and outside play area. There are currently 99 children attending the nursery. Most of these families live within the village or neighbouring areas, such as Abbeydale and Abbeymead. There

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Information about the setting

are currently 32 funded three and four-year-olds. A team of 15 childcare staff are employed as well as a cook, office manager and maintenance staff. The owner is a qualified early years teacher and the manager holds a level three qualification relevant to the role, as do many of the child care staff and others are working towards level two or three qualifications. A high percentage of staff are also trained in first aid, child protection and food hygiene. The nursery provides meals and snacks. A gym club and a creative movement class are also offered, by external instructors.

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How good is the Day Care?

Chipmunks Day Nursery provides satisfactory care for children. The manager is competent in her role and is supported well by the owner. Group leaders are also experienced in their roles. A high percentage of staff hold level three qualifications in child care and most are trained in first aid, child protection and food hygiene. Organisation is generally good making good use of space, time and resources,

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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 although there is scope to improve the use of the outdoor areas. The induction programme for babies has led to a breach in the conditions of registration. Adult to child ratios within the younger age group do not always support staff to meet the needs of individual children. The nursery premise is attractive, clean and well maintained. Each group has a good range of resources for children to use. Group policies and procedures are comprehensive and reflect group practice. Records are efficiently maintained. Children are safe and secure whilst at nursery. Staff are safety aware and supervise the children well. The staff team undertake thorough risk assessments of all areas used. These are reviewed regularly. Hygienic routines are followed for nappy

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How good is the Day Care?

changing but procedures for hand washing and practice at snack time do not always minimise the risk of cross-infection. Children enjoy the healthy, varied meals and snacks provided. Children are happy and enthusiastically engage in the activities offered. Staff have a good knowledge of children's individual needs and show warmth and affection towards the children in their care. They support children with special needs appropriately. Equal opportunities are promoted. Children are very well behaved. Parents are welcomed into the nursery. They are given good information about the provision and care offered. An open door policy is operated and staff happily give time to talk with parents/carers. Parents report that they are happy with all aspects of the care their children receive.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Not applicable as no actions were raised at the last inspection.

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What is being done well?

• Children of all ages are happy whilst at the nursery. They enjoy a good variety of activities throughout the day, supported by caring, enthusiastic staff. • Meals and snacks are healthy and nutritious and the nursery has achieved the Fit to Eat Award. The cook and all staff are fully aware of children's allergies and dietary needs. Children are able to see meals being prepared by the friendly cook and meal times are very much a social event when children of all ages and staff come together. • Parents are welcomed into the nursery. Staff greet parents upon arrival and give time to talk to them, as they wish. Good information is given about the nursery and regular newsletters keep parents updated of forthcoming themes and events. Daily diary sheets are used to inform parents about how their children have been and activities undertaken. Parents report that they value the friendly atmosphere, range of activities and personal service offered.

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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 • organisation to ensure conditions of registration are met at all times, with regard to children's age range • deployment of staff to ensure that staff are able to meet the needs of all children • hygiene practice with regards to hand washing and snack time to ensure that good hygiene is promoted by hand washing prior to eating and risk of cross-infection minimised when serving snacks • use of outside areas, to enable children of all ages to enjoy the outdoor environment, utilising them to their full potential.

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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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The Registered Person must take the following actions by the date shown

Std Action Date 2 Ensure that the condition of registration relating to the age range of children is met at all times. 16/12/2004

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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 2 Deploy staff appropriately to ensure that staff are able to meet the needs of all children 7 Improve hygiene practices with regards to hand washing and snack-time to ensure that good hygiene is promoted by hand washing prior to eating

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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 and risk of cross-infection minimised when serving snacks.

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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?

Chipmunks Day Nursery provides good quality education and children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. Children's progress in personal, social and emotional development is very good. Children are enthusiastic and motivated to learn. Teaching is generally good. All staff working with the pre-school children demonstrate a good knowledge of the Foundation Stage, early learning goals and associated developmental stepping stones and are enthusiastic in their roles. Staff have created an attractive, print-rich play environment for children, but there are few numerals to see. Resources are plentiful. Outside areas are not utilised to their full learning potential. Staff know the children well and plan activities which the children enjoy. However planning is not monitored effectively to ensure that all aspects of each area of learning receive adequate attention. Regular planned or spontaneous

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How effective is the nursery education?

observations are not undertaken to support summative assessments made or to inform future planning to build upon what children already know and can do. Staff pose questions to promote children's thinking and encourage language development and support children with special educational needs well.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Leadership and management is generally good. The owner and manager foster team spirit with staff and are fully committed to improvement in the care and education they offer for children. Staff have good access to training and are given time for planning. The pre-school leader supports her staff well, giving direction as appropriate. Work of staff is monitored but the system used does not evaluate the broad coverage of the curriculum effectively. Partnership with parents is very good. Parents find staff friendly and approachable. They are well informed about routines and the range of activities offered. Parents are introduced to the Foundation Stage and stepping stones and staff regularly give verbal feedback about children's progress.

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What is being done well?

• Children are confident and have good relationships with adults and other children. Children are very well behaved and staff foster children's self-esteem. Children's independence is encouraged. • Good use is made of visitors and visits to enhance children's knowledge and understanding of the world. • The nursery management and staff have worked pro-actively to create a very good partnership with parents. They provide good information about the nursery provision and helped to promote parents' awareness of the Foundation Stage and how the curriculum is delivered within the nursery.

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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 Meetings to introduce the developmental stepping stones have been offered, giving parents a chance to see how activities promote children's learning. Two-way communication is actively encouraged.

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What needs to be improved?

• planning to ensure that there is broad coverage of the curriculum, incorporating activities to promote children's learning sufficiently across all six areas; making effective use of outside areas to create greater opportunities for children to explore and investigate the natural environment • the use of assessments, to ensure they are used effectively to inform future planning and provide a means of sharing children's progress over time with parents • children's opportunities to see and handle numerals and to create freely combining different media using their own ideas.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Improvement since the last inspection is generally good. The staff have implemented an action plan to address the weaknesses identified at the last inspection. They have reviewed their records of children's learning, using their knowledge of individual children, but evidence to show learning is limited and information gathered is not always used effectively to inform planning across the full spectrum of the curriculum. Staff now incorporate greater opportunities for children to problem-solve using practical activities, to count and add groups of objects. Children are gaining confidence in numbers but see few numerals within the nursery environment.

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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 are confident, initiate interactions with other people and work co-operatively. They are well behaved, follow instructions, showing awareness of behavioural expectations within the nursery. They are polite and considerate of others. Children demonstrate independence; they volunteer as helpers to serve snack, help to clear away and are keen to run errands to the office. Children excitedly talk about Christmas, showing awareness of their own culture.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children are keen to talk at circle-time, answer questions, recall experiences and listen to what others say. Children handle books carefully and enjoy stories told by adults, even when they cannot see the illustrations. They see print around them, including labels in different languages. Most children enjoy mark making and more able children are able to write their own name. Children are not encouraged to recognise rhythm in words or to know which letters represent some of the sounds.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children willingly count. They can count the number of children present and count down from five to sing. Children see few numerals to recognise or handle. They do use mathematical ideas and language such as 'big', 'more', within their play. Some children recognise simple shapes and select puzzle pieces by shape to fit. Children follow positional/ directional clues to retrieve an object. They also combine groups of numbers, calculating the total.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children examine objects on an interest table. They talk about the weather and about past and future events. Children do not regularly explore the outdoor environment. Children operate the computer and some are able to complete a simple program. They can access a range of construction materials. Children undertake exciting activities to raise awareness of their own culture, such as a wedding celebration and harvest at the church. A Hindu visitor helping them to learn about Divali.

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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 run, march and skip, joining in ring games, stopping and changing direction as instructed. They negotiate the play space, avoiding obstacles and respecting the personal space of others. Children are able to use a range of wheeled toys and physical play resources. They manipulate small resources competently and many are able to cut skilfully. Children are learning how to use and carry tools or equipment safely. Children are not regularly encouraged to learn about healthy practices.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children have plenty of opportunities to enjoy planned craft activities with pre-defined end results, using a variety of techniques. They differentiate colours and can paint freely at an easel, but have few opportunities to create, combining media using their own ideas. Children sing simple songs from memory and have regular opportunities to use musical instruments. Boys and girls engage in imaginative play based on their own first-hand experiences, in the home corner and with small world toys.

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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

• monitor planning to ensure that there is broad coverage of the curriculum, incorporating activities to promote children's learning sufficiently across all six areas; making effective use of outside areas to create greater opportunities for children to explore and investigate the natural environment • further develop the use of assessments to ensure they are used effectively to inform future planning and provide a means of sharing children's progress over time with parents. • enable children to have more regular opportunities to see and handle numerals and to create freely combining different media using their own ideas.

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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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