St James's Church of England High School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 27/10/2004 Inspector Name Ann Hilary Guy

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Seabrook Day Nursery Setting Address 32 Lewsey Road Luton Bedfordshire LU4 0EP

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Child Base Ltd Address Kingston House, Northampton Road Newport Pagnell Buckinghamshire MK16 8NJ

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ORGANISATION 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

Seabrook Day Nursery is part of the Childbase Nursery chain. It opened in January 2000, and operates from a two-storey building adjacent to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. The nursery has the sole use of the building and is divided into four separate areas according to the age of the children. A maximum of 94 children attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 07:00 to 18:30 all year round. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. There are currently 97 children from birth to under five years on roll. Of these 20 children receive funding for nursery education. Children attend for a variety of sessions and come from a wide catchment area. The nursery makes suitable provision for children with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language. There are 17 staff employed to work with the children, 13 of the staff have early

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Information about the setting

years qualifications to NVQ level two, three, or equivalent. One member of staff is working towards furthering her early years qualifications and three other staff are about to begin working towards an early years qualification.

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How good is the Day Care?

Seabrook Nursery provides a good standard of care for children. The nursery has recently undergone a number of staffing changes, including a new manager. The new staff team works very well together and they are effectively deployed throughout the nursery. Effective use is made of the space and resources to ensure all the children are well cared for and have access to a wide range of activities. A sound set of policies and procedures, which are understood and consistently implemented by the staff, underpin the work of the nursery. High priority is given to ensuring the safety of the children both in the building and in the garden. Regular monitoring of sleeping children takes place and is suitably recorded. Suitable systems are in place to monitor children with allergies or dietary

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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 needs. The nursery offers good support to children who have special educational needs or English as an additional language. A key worker system operates throughout the nursery enabling staff to establish good relationships with both the children and their parents and to offer the best possible care to the children. All rooms provide a stimulating variety of practical experiences for the children, which are planned using the Child Base Sound Foundations programme. High quality interaction with the children enables their play and skills to be extended and developed appropriately. Staff are consistent throughout the nursery when dealing with instances of adverse behaviour and ensure they are at the child's level and able to maintain eye contact when speaking

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How good is the Day Care?

to them. There is a good partnership with parents. They are kept well informed through white boards outside every room detailing the week's programme and informing them of the staff on duty. Staff have daily informal contact with the parents, topic information sheets are given, together with newsletters and parents information evenings.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the last inspection the nursery were asked to ensure sleeping babies were checked regularly by staff entering the sleep room; maintain accurate registers that clearly identify the number of children in each room; manage the number of incoming children so that staff ratios are maintained. A suitable system is in place for recording every five minutes when sleeping children are checked by a staff member entering the room. A central staff register is maintained and the children are signed in and out of their room. The new manager is closely monitoring the staffing ratios to ensure they are maintained at all times, and is only taking on children up to maximum of the current levels of staffing.

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What is being done well?

• Staff are skilled at meeting the individual needs of the children and planning a stimulating environment with a wide range of activities. • A good health and hygiene routine is in place, containing daily risk assessments, that ensures the children are safe at all times. • The learning environment through out the nursery, in both the rooms and the garden, is stimulating and interesting giving many opportunities for children to develop sensory and imaginative play. • Staff value their relationship with the parents and keep them well informed through their daily informal discussions and information given on the white boards.

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An aspect of outstanding practice:

Throughout the nursery a child centred learning environment has been created with a strong emphasis on learning through play. All children are given a wide variety of exploratory play opportunities and encouraged to develop their imaginations. There are discovery boxes for the younger children, a sensory garden, and many other

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An aspect of outstanding practice:

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 opportunities both inside and outside the building.

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What needs to be improved?

• the information for parents if they wish to make a complaint.

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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 12 ensure the correct telephone number of the regulator's complaints line is available to parents

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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?

The provision for nursery education at Seabrook Day Nursery is of high quality. Children are making very good progress towards the early learning goals in all six areas. The pre-school room is a very well organised, child centred educational environment where the emphasis is placed upon learning through play and exploration. Staff have a thorough knowledge and understanding of how children learn and achieve high quality interaction with the children. It is a language rich environment in which the children are developing good skills for speaking, listening, reading, writing and numeracy. Frequent open-ended questions are asked to encourage the children to think about what they are doing and why they are doing it. The children are encouraged to develop their personal independence and use their imagination throughout all the activities offered. Comprehensive planning is in place, ensuring a wide range of activities, that are

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How effective is the nursery education?

both interesting, stimulating and offer a challenge, are available to the children. When planning, staff are skilled at including activities and interests initiated by the children. The planning cycle is completed through the competent use of observation, assessment and evaluation, effectively tracking children's progress against the stepping-stones. An extensive range of equipment is available, both inside and outside, that supports all areas of learning in this friendly learning environment of exceptional quality. The leadership and management of the setting is very good. The new manager works closely with the staff and is committed to offering the best possible care. She is well supported by the regional director. The strong staff team are committed to improvement through the use of effective strategies to review and monitor practice. Here is a very good partnership with parents and carers. Daily informal contact

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How effective is the nursery education?

together with an informative notice board, newsletters and parents evenings ensure they are kept well informed.

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What is being done well?

• Outstanding team work in the pre-school room, together with a very good knowledge and understanding of the individual children and how children learn, ensures a rich effective child-centred learning environment is available to the children. • The staff make time to listen to the children and develop their language skills. This was demonstrated by a group of children playing in the sand and making a volcano. The staff member found a book to show the children what volcanoes looked like and some tissue paper to enable them to create a lava flow and show the flames leaping from the crater. The activity then moved to

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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 the construction corner where they began making a volcano. Throughout the member of staff was listening to the children's knowledge and understanding and then through the use of effective open-ended questions and the resource books, developed their knowledge, understanding and vocabulary in a very effective way. • Confident planning ensures all six areas of learning are covered within the education programme. Skilled evaluation of children's attainments enables the staff to plan for the next steps of learning for all the children. The staff respect the children's individuality whilst helping them to progress in all areas. • The rich learning environment both inside and outside the classroom provides many opportunities to develop children's imaginations and play. This

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What is being done well?

is skilfully achieved through integrating resources to create stimulating opportunities for role play and small world play.

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What needs to be improved?

• No areas for improvement were identified.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the last inspection the nursery were asked to look at ways to include more opportunities in the curriculum planning to extend four-year-old mathematical skills with regard to addition and subtraction. This is now fully integrated into the daily routine, with tasks set that challenge the children according to their age and ability.

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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 happy and confident and express their needs and ideas in meaningful ways. They relate well to each other and adults. Children become interested and involved in their play which underpins their learning in all areas. They are developing very good concentration skills and sit quietly when appropriate. They show a sound understanding of the classroom rules and are happy to explain these to others. They are developing independence and a respect for other cultures.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good The children are confident speakers and engage easily in conversation with others. Many opportunities are available for them to make marks and practice writing, and to use language for thinking. The children have written many labels for the classroom. Books are well used, with a variety of fact and fiction available. Staff actively support children through discussion and interaction in role play. Many opportunities throughout the session enable children to link sounds and letters.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Staff effectively promote children's mathematical skills in all areas within the daily routine. Children can count to ten and beyond, using these skills effectively when setting the table for lunch or counting the number of children present. Many opportunities are given for the children to calculate through the daily routine. Shape, space and measure is well covered through a wide variety of activities. Good use is made of pattern making and comparison.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children learn about the natural world and their environment using exploratory skills, direct observation and investigation. They construct using a wide variety of objects, materials and tools. Their digging area of the garden provides a wide range of opportunities for investigation and observation, together with the sensory garden and flower garden. The computer is effectively used to support children's learning in all areas. They learn about cultures and beliefs through topics and festivals.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good A wide variety of opportunities, both inside and outside, enable the children to move, climb and balance. They have a good awareness of space. A wide selection of small and large equipment is available both inside and outside, giving the children the opportunity to develop their skills with balls, bikes, scissors and pencils. They have free selection of construction toys and have opportunities to use a wide variety of malleable materials like soap flakes and playdoh.

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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: Very Good Daily opportunities are given for children to enjoy music-based activities, either through the use of CD's, the visiting Music Man or Dinky Dancers. The children are familiar with a wide range of songs and rhymes, which they will sing independently with the CD. Good use is made of percussion instruments. They effectively use their imaginations and express their ideas through art, dance and stories. Creative work effectively reinforces learning in other areas.

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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 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 the following: • Demonstrate how you will further develop nursery practice in order to maintain the high standards of education identified at this inspection.

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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 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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