Pennypot Day Nursery

Childbase Ltd. Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY291970 Inspection date 07/03/2011 Inspector Anne Nicholson

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Setting address Pennypot Nursery School, Pennypot Lane, Chobham, Woking, Surrey, GU24 8DH Telephone number 01276 855886 Email pennypot.nursery@childbase.com Type of setting Childcare on non-domestic premises to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.

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Introduction

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the setting

Pennypot Nursery School is one of 32 day care provisions owned and operated by Child Base Limited, which is a private company. The nursery first opened in 1999 and was taken over by Child Base in 2005. It serves families from the local community and further afield. Pennypot is located in a rural location on the outskirts of Chobham in Surrey. Children are accommodated in four age related rooms and have access to several outside areas for outdoor play.

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Description of the setting

The nursery is registered by Ofsted on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare register. It is registered to accept a maximum of 84 under eight at any one time; of whom 84 may be in the early years group. There are currently 125 children in this age range on roll. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged three and four.

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Description of the setting

The nursery is open Monday to Friday all year round, excluding Christmas and Bank holidays, from 8am to 6pm. Children may attend on a sessional or full day basis. There are procedures in place to support children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

Currently there are 28 members of staff who work directly with the children; of these 24 hold relevant qualifications. The nursery receives support from the Early Years Childcare Partnership.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Children thrive in a nursery where they are highly valued as individuals. Highly effective partnerships with parents and other agencies have a significant impact on meeting children's needs. Dedicated staff successfully promotes the unique child, accurately identifying next steps in their learning ensuring they make exceptional progress, given their age, ability and starting points. Management, staff and parents all link into the comprehensive self-evaluation process ensuring priorities for development are identified and acted on. This means the capacity to maintain continuous improvement to meet the needs of the nursery and its users is excellent.

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider:

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further?

 extend labelling and displays depicting the different languages of the diverse cultural backgrounds of all those that attend throughout the nursery This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

Children are successfully protected through the comprehensive safeguarding procedures in place. Staff demonstrate an excellent understanding of the procedures to follow should they have concerns about a child's welfare. Highly effective recruitment and ongoing vetting procedures are rigorously followed and evidenced to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. Highly effective security systems are in place to prevent unauthorised access to children; security locks, cameras and verification of visitor's identification maintains children's safety. Staff are highly valued and emphasis is placed on actively promoting their ongoing professional development opportunities. This enables them to develop a variety of skills to most effectively support children's progress. They are highly motivated to implement improvements to children's learning opportunities. Morale amongst staff is extremely high and all staff work seamlessly together so children are effectively

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the early years provision

Children's well-being is significantly enhanced by exceptional organisation throughout the nursery. Children flourish in the totally enabling inside and outside environments where they freely make choices from an exceptional range of resources. Risks are extremely well assessed to ensure that children can safely play independently. Management collaborate with staff, children and the parent's forum to accurately identify strengths and implement ideas to improve the outcomes for all users. Staff effectively support and promote children's acceptance of equality and diversity by ensuring the uniqueness of each individual is valued and activities are fully inclusive.

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the early years provision

The nursery actively works with parents and outside agencies to ensure the needs of all children are met. Staff adapt activities, learn to communicate in children's home languages and display relevant words to support children's communication needs. This strength is currently not consistently extended around all parts of the nursery children access to assist other staff to communicate familiar words with them. Exceptional partnership with parents is seen as an integral part of the nursery's organisation. This successfully encourages parental input into the nursery, their children's 'learning Journals' and when planning the next steps for their learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children enter their brightly decorated room bases to be greeted by smiling staff and this supports them to settle quickly and make excellent bonds. The nursery sees the needs of children as paramount. They provide an excellent range of freely accessible resources both inside and outside to promote children's independence and support their continual developmental progress. Children of all ages are engrossed in activities, skilfully supported by staff that have a good knowledge of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 their individual needs. Babies build excellent bonds with staff and happily explore their environment and play with a range of resources, musical instruments and books developing their independent play. Children are encouraged to seek resources from both the inside and outside learning environment which are used almost seamlessly to promote their learning in all areas. The highly effective

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and outcomes for children

development of all three main outside play areas offers children further opportunities to use a wide variety of tools, toys and equipment to those accessible inside. Children throughout the nursery enjoy opportunities throughout the year to gain an awareness of other countries and cultural customs and enjoy trying new tastes such as shortbread and haggis. Their individualism is encouraged and their self-esteem boosted as they excitedly share details about their holidays and teach their peers how to say dog, cat and mum in their parent's home language. Children have excellent opportunities to develop their understanding of the natural world as they access the wildlife pond, mini-beast area and planting areas outside. They enjoy an extensive range of activities that use natural materials including making creative collages, floating leaves in water and planting bulbs.

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and outcomes for children

Children's health and well-being is top priority and highly effective hygiene practices are in place. All adults are encouraged to use anti-bacterial hand gel on entering rooms. Staff wear aprons and gloves to prevent cross infections when changing nappies and dealing with bodily fluids. Children benefit from an excellent range of nutritional meals and snacks which are provided on site and meet all the children's dietary requirements. The nursery implements a multi-tiered checking process to ensure that those children with allergies are given the correct meal. All children sit together to eat to develop their independent feeding skills and table manners. Staff sit and interact with the children at the tables, they encourage them to socialise whilst also quietly ensuring that children do not share their food with each other, especially those with allergies. All children have access to drinking water during the day to remain hydrated. Babies and younger children have

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and outcomes for children

labelled cups that staff regularly encourage them to drink from and older children pour their own from the water cooler.

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and outcomes for children

Children gain an excellent awareness of how to keep themselves safe during their play. They are effectively supported by staff providing verbal prompts to remind them about watching where they scoot and how to go carefully when balancing on upturned crates, large stones or going up and down steps. Young babies feel secure as they cuddle into staff to have their bottles, comforted through eye contact and gentle verbal reassurance. Children demonstrate extremely good behaviour and are courteous, kind and caring to one another, building exceptionally positive relationships with their peers and staff. Children are good at taking turns and sharing and there are sufficient resources for them all to access. When conflict over a resource does occurs staff encourage children to resolve this through talking and negotiating with each other.

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and outcomes for children

Children's language and communication skills are fully promoted throughout the nursery. There are pictorial signs, photographs of children and displays of their work developing their sense of belonging. They enjoy reading books and each room has an enticing area of cushions and books created for children to sit and explore these in. Babies enjoy looking at books, especially those created by This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 parents and staff showing home photographs for them to look through. This helps to reassure them and allows staff to encourage them to identify familiar people. Children can access a range of resources that promote mark making. They enjoy looking for their names on their little notebooks and sitting down to 'write' to mummy. This develops their pre-writing skills and awareness that print has meaning. Children have extensive opportunities to develop their creativity and

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and outcomes for children

imaginative skills. They enjoy painting at easels, participating in foot painting, playing with play-dough, dressing up and playing in sand and water. These provide children with excellent opportunities to develop their skills in using a wide variety of tools. Staff also use these activities as learning opportunities encouraging children to name the colours they use, the shapes and to count.

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and outcomes for children

Children make exceptional progress due to the staff's knowledge, enthusiasm and caring approach. They benefit from the extensive range of opportunities available and the willingness of staff to take what ever steps are needed in order to meet children's individual needs. Each room completes flexible planning ensuring that activities and resources for children cover all areas of learning. They effectively record observations of children's achievements and identify next steps to assist in promoting further progress. The use of daily diaries, newsletters, notice boards along with the development of a parent's forum and parent information sessions promotes a highly effective partnership. Staff and parents communicate daily about how children have been and their routines. Parents are encouraged to share details about their child's time away from the nursery in the weekend diary. Parents have free access to their child's 'Learning Journals' and also attend regular

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and outcomes for children

parents evening. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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Early Years Foundation Stage

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources 1 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 1 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 1 The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 1

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 1 The extent to which children feel safe 1 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 1 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 1

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Stage

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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